Our First Visitors!

So you know the feeling when you haven't done something in a while and should start doing it again, but just don't get it done?  That's about how I feel.  So here is my attempt to get back in to blogging after a few months break.

December was a busy month.  We had our first visitors since moving here! My parents came mid-December to spend Christmas with us.  We had a wonderful time.  Steve had a half day of work on the 17th and the 18th was National Day and so that was the official 1st day of Winter break.  We spent the 18th cleaning house.  The bathroom in the spare bedroom hadn't been cleaned since we first moved in here.  We don't need 3.5 baths, so that one just stays closed.  We store things in there, but it was so dusty.  Steve vacuumed up the dust.  I've never seen something inside get so dusty.  A friend watched the kids so that Steve and I could clean.  Mom and Dad arrived in Doha around 11:40 pm, and by the time they went through passport control, it was the 19th, their 33rd anniversary.

Steve went to get them.  I wanted to be the one to pick them up, but I am not a night owl, and I didn't want to be so tired and have the possibility of crazy traffic with it being national day (it's kinda like the 4th of July for us). But I heard them close the car doors and come in at 1am.  The kids were up early of course, like 5:30.  So I did my best to keep them quite so that Nana and Papa could sleep some.  Miss A and Big E got to watch at least 2 shows on netflix on the computer after breakfast before I let them go in the guest room to wake Nana and Papa up.  Jet lag is a beast, but you have to get up and act like the time it is where you are, otherwise it'll just take longer to get over it.  Big E and Miss A were so excited to see them.  The first day we just went to the park and kept them moving without doing anything big.

We went to Afghan Brothers for dinner. It's a restaurant near our house where you eat sitting on the floor, and you eat with your hands.  We ordered one big dish to share - grilled chicken and rice.  It was really good.

Then we took them to Villaggio Mall to see the extravagance, even though that's not even the most expensive mall.  But it does have a water canal in it with gondola boats, like Venice.  The shops are set up to look like you're walking outside along the canal.  The ceiling is painted like the sky.  The first time I've ever seen a Tiffany & Co., or a Gucci, or Prada, or a Baby Gucci for that matter was in this mall.

The next day was Friday and we went to church.  Santa also made a special visit to our house.  He came to a Christmas party that we went to with some friends from Steve's work.  But Miss A threw up and Steve took her home before Santa came.  I think she gagged on something as she was fine after that.  But it was her first time to see Santa.  So our friends, who Santa suit it was, offered to come over before they went out of town and be Santa.  Miss A was scared of him and would not sit on his lap.  :)
This is what they did after Santa left. Ran to Papa.

 But after he left she said, "Santa, my house!" and "I sit on Santa!"  So it was a hit, even if she was scared while he was here.


While Mom and Dad were here we went to see:
The camel races again:



Sheik Fasil Museum (which is just a business man's private collection.  We went around with a tour guide for a portion of it and he said that the Sheik had just bought 160 cars from the US to put in his collection.  It's seriously the biggest collection of random stuff.  There is even a portion of a house from Syria that wasn't there when we went before):

Here's part of the house from Syria


We went on a Dhow cruise.  It was seriously chilly.  The day was cooler than usual, and then the sun went down and we were on the water with lots of wind, even when the dhow was anchored. Most people crowded into the tiny room to play games and talk after dinner.  Some of the youth jumped into the water before the sun went down.  The air temp was probably low-mid 60's.  Not idea swimming temps. Miss A did not like the wind blowing her hair around and so she stayed mostly in the little cabin.  She also refused to let me take her, so poor Steve was stuck inside most of the time.





I doubt the dhow would have passed safety inspections in the States for group tours.  There were seriously large gaps in the railings that kids could have fallen through.  But fortunately none did.




There was lots of playing outside:

And Nana and Papa reading bedtime stories.  This was the preferred arrangement.  Miss A seems to like men more than women.  She took to Papa right away, but it took a bit for her to warm up again to Nana.



We took Mom and Dad dune bashing.  We went last year with some friends.  This year we went earlier in the day and had a great time.  They all rode camels.  It was fun to see Mom's reaction to the dune bashing.  Steve had to talk the driver into doing a bit more bashing though. He was extra cautious with the kids in the car, which was very thoughtful of him.  But they are not scared of it, surprisingly.
We also enjoyed sand boarding (sort of).  They have a snow board that you can ride down a dune after you get to the camp.  We just sat on it and slid down the hill.  Steve had to talk me into it, but it was fun.

Here is the driver with mom and dad.

Saudi Arabia is the land across the water from us.

The camp where we played and ate lunch.

Here we are sand boarding, except we're sitting down rather than standing. I was nervous to go down at first, but you have complete control in stopping.  Just remember to keep your mouth closed.

The trek back up was rigorous, especially if you had the board.  Steve was kind enough to run down and get the board for me.

Big E loved going down and he also went down alone, but without the board.  He was pulling himself down.

Our first few days were filled with fun.  I can hardly believe that it's been over a month now.  Christmas was wonderful, which I'll write about next.