Christmas

Big E and Miss A loved counting down to Christmas day.  It went something like this, "Sunday, Monday, Christmas Eve, Christmas!" Having Mom and Dad here made the day much more special.  And Steve went to great lengths to have things under the tree that I didn't know about.  Last year I knew what everything under the tree was, except maybe one thing. So it really took the excitement out of it. But we had a magical day.  Big E showed interest in Santa and who he "is" and what he does.  So we did Santa this year.  We set out pumpkin roll and egg nog for Santa and a carrot for the reindeer.

Steve woke up before everyone and had a surprise breakfast waiting for everyone, fruit, nuts and juice. I actually woke up before the kids and had to wait for them to wake up.  I'm not sure that's going to happen again any time too soon. :)

We didn't open presents right away.  We all got to "open" our stockings and the kids played with the cars and trinkets that were in them.  Both of the kids got chocolate reindeer and a santa.  Miss A decided to unwrap all of her reindeer at once.

But we had to wait until 7 am to call my sister who is serving a mission in Japan and we didn't want to interrupt the present opening for the kids.  So we covered "Santa's" gifts (which traditionally in my house were almost never wrapped) with a sheet and waited until after the phone call.  It was great to be able to be in on the conversation.  She is doing great. Here we are talking to Jessica via Skype, and no, it was not a video call. :(

After talking to my sister, we then opened presents. Big E got a new bike and helmet, a noisy dump truck, and some books.



Miss A got a stroller for her doll (I frequently have to reminder her that it is for her doll and not for her to sit in.  It's just the right size for her.), a shopping basket full of play food, and an old school play stove.

It was fun to watch them open the gifts. Miss A loved to crawl under the tree to get the gifts. She and Big E would hand them out to everyone.

After Christmas we went to the Souq.  Mom loved it.  She found a beautiful necklace and vases.  Dad found a cool looking knife that didn't have a real blade. :/ But it still looks cool.
We also had lunch at the Souq.





We toured Fanar, which is a mosque that is open to the public to come and have a tour and learn more about Islam.  Mom and I had to wear the Abaya to go in.



We went to the Museum of Islamic Art.  Steve took the kids to the park that is near there while I took Mom and Dad in.  They only saw two floors of the 3 or 4.  You'd need a whole day to see everything. Or to walk through faster.

We also went to the singing sand dunes with some friends from the ward.  We had fun making the dune hum and playing in the sand.  We had a picnic lunch on the dune and then went home.

The break went by way to fast. I can't believe that Mom and Dad have been home for over a month now.  But that does mean that next Christmas is that much closer.  This year for Christmas, we will be in the States, spending one week with the Stay side of the family and another week with my side.  I can't wait. :)

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.  

And They're Off!

So on Saturday we did something new.  We went to the camel races.  It was quite a different experience than the horse race we went to last year.  But totally worth going.  The weather has turned nice, finally, and the day happened to be cloudy for the first time in a very long time.  It felt so nice.

Behind us is the starting line.


The first major difference is that there aren't any stands for spectators to watch from.  You drive along the inside of the track and follow the camels.  It's a bit hard for the driver to watch and drive, but you don't go very fast.

The white suv on the right of the picture is waiting to follow the camels.  He's probably one of the ones who owns a camel that is racing as there is a barrier between that car and were we could drive.  In the center of the picture is the tv camera that is broadcasting the races.  They get the start, and then guys sitting on top of suvs with cameras get the rest.

On the far left you can see a camera guy.


Another big difference is that camels don't run very fast.  As we jumped in our car to follow, the fastest we drove was about 35 km/h (about 20 mph) and that kept us at the same speed as the camels.

The third major difference is that the camels don't have a rider.  There is a robot that has a whip on it. The robot is controlled by someone in a car who probably owns the camel.  The whip goes in a circle and whips the camel.

As we waited for a race to start, one of the people with us asked the guy in the ambulance about the races. He said that one camel costs 1.5-5 million qatari riyals ($412,000-$1,373,400).  There was a lot of money at the races.  We saw so many camels. Not all of them were racing.  There were young camels, probably in training, as well as racing ones.

Here are some camels that weren't racing that crossed the street right after we finished a race.


One funny tidbit, a camels bottom lip flaps as it runs.  It looks rather odd.

Big E fell asleep on the way there and when we woke him up to see the camels, his eyes lit up.  I wish I had a camera on to capture his expression.  Miss A also loved seeing the camels.  Neither of them minded being in their car seats to watch the races.  And both were sorely disappointed when it was time for us to go. 

Happy Birthday, Miss A!

Yesterday, Miss A turned 2!  I can hardly believe she's 2 already.  We celebrated with cake and presents at home.



She has grown so much in the last few months.  She has started talking much more and putting words together in short phrases.  She asks where people are.  She got a baby doll for her birthday and it was love at first sight.  Today she has told me that she has put the baby down for a nap a few times "baby, nap", and she tells me when the baby is up, "baby up".  She loves to do what Big E does.  She watches him and tries to do the same. Most of the time it's cute.

Here's to another year of learning and growing!

Back to a New Normal

Well, we've been back in Doha for a month now.  Where does time go?

My flight with two kids by myself went fine.  I could do it again if I had to. The biggest thing that happened was that since I can't go through the body scan (which I'm glad for, I don't like those things) in the Tulsa Airport with a chid in my arms and I had no one to help watch them, I had to be patted down.  Why do you ask?  Because my maxi skirt, which I chose to wear for comfort, was too long. Are you kidding me????  What is happening to our world?  Modesty is rewarded with suspicion and a pat down. Anyway, that was the worst of the trip, thankfully.  Big E fell asleep in Chicago as we waited to taxi for take-off.  Miss A had trouble getting comfortable enough to stay asleep, but she wasn't fussy much.

Coming to Doha this time around was soooo much easier than last year.  We just had to get over jet-lag.  There was no trying to figure things out, no jumping through hoops or getting lost trying to get somewhere.  We know people and have things that we need to do.  Also, though Doha doesn't feel like home like Carthage did, my house feels a bit more homey now.  Maybe Steve coming two weeks before me helped. :)

To get over jet lag, which was completely different this time around, I had to just keep busy.  36 hours after I arrived in Doha, I started watching kids again.  The first week I had 8 kids (including my two) from 6:20 until 3:35.  I actually think it helped us get over jet lag.  Big E only fell asleep once during the day.  I reorganized my kitchen cupboards, which I had been wanting to do, I sorted through some things that I brought back with me and put them away, I cleaned a lot.  Anything to keep myself awake.  Last year I had no trouble falling asleep at a normal bed time, but we'd all wake up around 3 am. This time around, I had a hard time sleeping at bed time and sometimes wouldn't fall asleep until 3 am.  So glad that's over with.  

Big E is a  master at going to school, though it's taken this long for him to remember his backpack on his own when we walk out the door in the morning. :)  But hey, he's doing great for a 4 year-old. He doesn't say much when you ask him about his day.  Usually it's "I don't know" to whatever you ask. Maybe I don't ask soon enough. :)  It's odd to go from having him home all day every day and knowing what goes on in his life all the time, to having this 6 1/2- 7 hour gap of time that I don't really know what he does.  But he seems happy.  He has homework to do each night on the computer, reading and math.  He enjoys doing it.

Miss A missed Big E at first.  She'd ask where he was through out the morning.  Now she's used to it.  She is starting to talk more and put words together in short sentences, such as "where Daddy do?" (like go, only with a d).  She tells me when she's hungry and when she wants a nap, which is thankfully earlier in the day, so that way she gets to nap before we go pick up Big E

Oh, another interesting thing that happened was that someone in Georgia tried to spend $178 at Walmart a few weeks ago.  Somehow they got ahold of our US credit card number, made a card and tried to use it. Thankfully our bank caught it as the distance was too far away from our usual spending, and denied the transaction.  But what a hassle.  I had to wait for working hours over in the US before I could call and settle things.  Well, Steve ended up calling, but still. It is all taken care of now, though.

I've been asked to organize the play group this year.  Hopefully it'll turn out better than the last time I did it.  :)