
First Day Back at School After Summer
The kids are back at school, and summer is officially over. We’re back to early mornings, lunchboxes, school runs, homework, activities — and the everyday logistics of family life with three kids in Dubai

My youngest daughter, Dasha. She is growing up in Dubai, speaks Russian and English, and knows her own mind
Youngest daughter

The kids are back at school, and summer is officially over. We’re back to early mornings, lunchboxes, school runs, homework, activities — and the everyday logistics of family life with three kids in Dubai

The calendar presented its bill: 6,574 days under a blinding sun and 43.2% of my life on this side of our wedding day. Through hot concrete and millions of erased minutes, one equation remained: 2 → 5

For almost two years, several evenings a week, Ira traded home life for the lecture rooms of Middlesex University Dubai. Now that long route has ended with a Master of Laws diploma — and another point on our map of Dubai

Four years ago they let us out of Dubai Airport: Ira, three children with matching backpacks, and me — still a designer. Only now I’ve realised the escalator never stopped: all this time it has been carrying us through homes, careers, bills, cars and an entire sea towards a new version of the family

Bekki came to us as a reward for Alexander Jr’s jiu-jitsu victory, but quickly became something bigger: a friend to all three children, a guide through our move, and our little shepherd who now walks with me to Project 80 every morning

For 1,360 days an old Arab villa in Umm Suqeim raised our children, let rain into the bedroom, broke its air conditioners and sent me onto the roof to retrieve the electricity. In the end it summoned an army of cockroaches and kept half our deposit. We moved to the Palm — grateful, but exhausted.

Today, July 12, we are moving!
Today we are leaving our old Arab villa in Umm Suqeim and moving to Palm Jumeirah. Moving a family of five took two large trucks, an extra pickup, and the wonderful Union Movers team.

Not long ago Daria Alexandrovna slept in a pram among the Marina skyscrapers, travelled in my arms and learned the pool under her brothers’ watch. By 8 July, the baby had given way to a young lady with a book, a bow and opinions of her own.
@nevsky_alexander
On Instagram: Dubai beyond the postcard — family, the city, discoveries and life between projects. On Threads: thinking out loud about design and AI. On YouTube: videos that need more room than a story. Follow me wherever you feel at home, and let’s keep in touch