Halloween Doha Style

Today was a fairly eventful day as we discovered how to best celebrate Halloween in Doha.  Last weekend, I happened to find some pumpkins imported from the US, but they were about $35 for a very small pumpkin.  So we decided to get by without pumpkin carving this year.  Fortunately, they did get to partake in carving with the next door neighbors, but we also came up with our own activities.  Today, I woke up and found Justin making pumpkin-shaped pancakes for the girls.  Once he brought them to their plates, he took out a knife and started "carving" eyes, a nose, and a mouth out of the pancakes.  It was adorable!

After breakfast, the girls and I made Halloween crafts and hung them around the house.  In the afternoon, we went to a Halloween party where over 30 families got together to get in the Halloween spirit before trick-or-treating.  There were several games and prizes and even a piñata.  The girls had so much fun!

Next, we went with a group from the party to go trick-or-treating in the expat gated community where the party was.  All of the kids ran from house to house, excited to get more candy, and even more excited when they knew the people behind each door.  Kaelia was especially happy when she knocked on one door and found her teacher there, handing out candy!

Once we had had enough of walking around, we ended our night at another friend's house in the community for a little after party.  A Halloween movie was projected outside while the kids sat on the front lawn to watch.  It was the perfect ending to a great day.

Happy Halloween to everyone from Doha!

October Break in Doha

We just finished our first week-long break of the school year where we, unfortunately, were not able to travel any where.  The girls Qatari permits are still being processed, and we cannot leave the country until we have them.  On the bright side, the Jettners visited us from Saudi Arabia.  We are so lucky that our best friends from South Africa have now moved to Saudi and are just a 5-hour drive away!

The girls had a wonderful time playing with Arianna again, and we did several activities all together.  All three girls rode a gondola boat inside our Villagio Mall, we visited a local market (souq) where there were animals to hold and pet, street performances, and a bouncy castle area for the kids.  The souq had various festivities every day as a part of the big Muslin holiday, Eid.

We also went to the water park in Doha.  This was a great experience!  The kids enjoyed an incredible kiddie area with lots of different water slides as well as the wave pool and lazy river.  Then the adults traded off to take advantage of the thrill-seeking rides.  The weather was pretty hot at over 100 degrees, so the water was a nice relief.

After the Jettners left, we decided to try out a few things that Doha has to offer.  First, we took a dow boat out to see the city from a different view.  The captain of the boat played very loud music the entire time, and the girls did a lot of dancing along with it.

Next, we spent a day in the heart of the sand as we booked a dune-bashing trip.  A guide drove us up and down sand dunes and gave us quite a thrill.  At first, the girls asked if we were going to fall down the steep cliff of a dune, and we replied, "of course not .... we would flip over!"  But before we knew, the driver did, in fact, take us down the cliffs.  We all screamed and clung on to the door handles as hard as we could.  The girls kept yelling, "I don't think this is a good idea!" but on the driver continued. It was once of the scariest things I have ever done.

Halfway through the dune-bashing trip, the driver took us to a few sites.  We drove all the way to the Saudi Arabia border and then headed to the beach where we got to ride some camels.  The verdict from the girls was that the ride was very bumpy but fun.

Although we would have loved to have travelled during this break, we are so happy with what we did get to do, and we are especially grateful that we could get together with the Jettners!

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Our New House

We are finally feeling a little settled in our new home here in Qatar, so we decided to take a video of it to show everyone.  Our complex is brand new, and we are the first people to live in our house.  We were thrilled to arrive and find all new furniture and appliances as well.  The complex is small but perfect for us.  It has a small pool, weight room, games room, and playground.  Families live in every house, so there are plenty of kids for our girls to play with.  On most nights, our girls join the neighborhood kids as they ride their bikes outside after dinner on the street.

Here is the video of our house.