Lotte fries an egg on the pavement

Daddy decided we should try and disprove the myth that you can fry an egg outdoors

Sous-chef Lotte Rolfe ready to get cracking by the garage

In she goes, nicely done with the yolk still whole

It's really true...Daddy can't believe it

Back indoors, Rosanna smells something good and moves in to 'help' with our experiment

Ski Dubai

Daddy swallows his green credentials (temporarily) in the name of child entertainment and we gear up for an afternoon on 6,000 tonnes of articial snow kept at a constant at -3C

It 'snowed' last night by the look of it...

There's an Ice Dragon behind us!

Just minutes ago, these people were wearing shorts and t-shirts

In the queue now, but it's shorter than those in Wengen

The Toboggan Run is the first thing we try

Mummy test drives the run and survives unscathed

Then it's us, and Lotte wins the race, by virtue of gravity Rosanna suspects

This confused Daddy somewhat - tennis, in a snow dome, whilst it's sunny outside....eh?!?!

Some of the ice sculptures are cool - peekaboo!

Rosanna, the ice barfly








Ice in your G & T sir?

Rosanna enjoys being taken for a ride

Lotte about to be kicked down the slope by Ahmed the friendly lift boy

Wheee - Rosanna flies past our ageing camera

Sister act

Time to go (especially as Daddy is wearing shorts under his ski-suit) - a warm goodbye from the polar bear

Another one of those rare family photos - doesn't Daddy look chilly?

Last Few Weeks of the Summer Term!

The Summer Holidays and a trip to the UK beckon, so we (mainly Rosanna) take a few more snaps for the blog

Rosanna experiments (just a few hundred times) around the house with some arty self-portraits

Limited edition #2/457

Lotte gets Mango Madness with the rise in temperatures

We take a family trip to the Indian Ocean to snorkel around Snoopy Island

Ready for the plunge, we later see angel fish, barracuda and lots more!

Back in Dubai, the Year 3 swimming gala sees Lotte waiting for the front crawl final, seated next to her aquatic nemesis, Aoife

Phoebe does well in the 'Noodle Race' category

Lotte is first out of the pool after taking bronze in the final (Aoife won of course)

Glamorous mothers in attendance, Dania & Catherine

Lotte proudly marches to the scorer to give her points towards the Dahl House total. Dahl didn't win but Class 3A did!

The Ushers come to Dreamland

We trek up to the Northern Emirates once again to show Polly, Will, Sam and Charlotte how to escape the ever-increasing temperatures

Lotte and Polly near the Water Bucket

Bruce and Daddy are caught under it!

Bruce keeps an eye on the twins from the safety of a mushroom

Nice and cool

Daddy helps Rosanna traverse the tricky (& very slippery) part of the floating obstacle course

Made it this far

Daddy sticks his chest wig back on and the men breathe in as some girls walk past

Time for some gentle paddling around

and keeping cool in the water with Charlotte

We love each other really

The next day sees the Usher children up bright and early at 6.20am!

Polly suits our 'Nurse' glasses

The boys were upstairs helping Masterchief conquer Halo 3 on the X-Box 360

while the girls practice their gymnastic routines downstairs







Daddy cooks a huge lasagne before we all head off the The Aquarium to see the sharks!

BBQ in Jumeirah Islands

A BBQ in Jumeirah Lakes, courtesy of Peter & Sara. Arty photos thanks to Natasha

Rosanna seems only interested in the pool

Who did my hair?

Nearly dry

Mmm...pistachios

Why can't I look at the camera?

Nope, still can't - nuts are more interesting

Slurp

Mummy

Chocolate eggies

Lotte makes eye contact

and again

Back in the pool!

Maybe I'll go for a swim

Actually it's more fun posing

Mummy on the diet Cokes

Night falls and it gets chilly, well, 28 degrees

Peter, naturally, is in charge of any outdoor cooking

The Lotte waxwork was fooling no-one

Check out the Omega

Supper in our swimmies

Someone got a new camera for Christmas

Tres arty

and this little piggy...said time for bed