Publishing Party

Taelyn has been working on a research project at school where she chose the topic of cheetahs and learned all about them in order to write a non-fiction book.  To complete the project and unit, her class had a publishing party today for students to show their books to their parents.  Taelyn did a great job with her research and writing, and was very enthusiastic about this project.  We are so proud of her!

Here is a slideshow of her non-fiction book.

Adventures in Jordan

View from the car around Amman

We just came back from an amazing vacation in Jordan, full of adventure and history.  We started in Jerash and Amman where we toured ancient ruins, some of which are dated back 2,000 years ago.  Jerash was fascinating because many of the ruins are still yet to be unearthed.  Our tour guide even told us that most of the ancient city was still underground when he was a child, and he had camping trips there with his friends.  That same spot today is now full of ancient markets, houses, buildings, streets, temples, and a theatre.  We really enjoyed the theatre because the girls got on stage for a while to do a little dance.  Then, some local men dressed in traditional clothes came out and played Scotland the Brave on bagpipes.  We definitely were not expecting that, but it was a unique and fun experience!

In Amman, we also went to ancient sites, including the forum, markets, housing, and theatre.  There was a museum at one of the sites where we saw skeletons of people from thousands of years ago.  The girls were especially interested in a baby skeleton and the skulls that showed the old practice of trepanning where holes were drilled into a head to relieve someone of bad ailments.

The  day was more of a Biblical journey as we went to the site where Jesus was baptized and then on to where Moses viewed the Promised Land and eventually died.  At the baptism site, we first viewed the exact location that is believed to be where John the Baptist baptized Jesus.  Then we walked a little further down the path to where the River Jordan now currently runs.  There we had a chance to put our feet in the water and also witnessed someone else getting baptized in the river from the other side.  This river separates Jordan from Israel, and there were serious military men present to prove it.  We did, however, manage to get a picture from the Jordan side with the Israeli flag in the background.  To view the Promised Land, our driver then took us up to the top of a mountain where it is believed that the Israelites travelled to get to the land.  At the top, we got a glimpse of the view, but it was pretty foggy.

Afterward, we headed to Petra to see the infamous rock-carved treasury building from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.  We soon found out, though, that this area was an entire village at one point, full of markets, temples, and homes for the wealthy and poor.  This trip entailed a lot of hiking, and our guide brought us off the beaten path a bit to actually go into some of the caves that were once homes.  We were essentially alone with our guide for the entire time and got some amazing photos all around Petra.  After about three hours of hiking, we gave the girls a break and rented mules to take us up a rocking mountain to an ancient sanctuary.  The ride was an adventure, full of gorgeous cliff-side views and bumpy terrain.  Once we got to the top, we took a rest at a cafe where we found several other teachers from our school.  Finally, we hiked back down on foot and made our way out of Petra to our hotel.  In total, we were there for five hours!  To celebrate the day, we enjoyed some Movenpick ice cream at our Movenpick hotel.  This was a truly amazing experience for us all and the best day of the trip.

The next day we headed to Wadi Rum to go camping with the traditional Bedouin people.  They took us on a jeep ride through the desert dunes where we were surrounded by beautiful rock formations.  At one point, we got out of the jeep to climb to the top of a steep, tall dune.  Once the girls got to the top, Justin and I each grabbed a hand and ran down with the girls.  They loved that even though they both ended up falling at the bottom.  That night, we also rented camels and rode them into the desert to watch the sunset.  One the way back to camp, Justin walked alongside us so that Taelyn could have her own camel for the first time.  Then we hung at the camp while the Bedouins cooked and served dinner with the traditional method on burying the food underground and heating the mound; it was very good.  To top off the evening, we slept in our tent which was really more like a wooded shack with a tent top and four beds inside.

Our next destination was to the beach in Aqaba.  We stayed at a 5-star beach resort where we spent most of our time relaxing at the pool, on the beach, and in lounge chairs.  The girls found a cat with four little kittens, and they spent hours of their day playing with them.  We also walked down the road to meet up with friends from our school and had a great time at their pool with a waterslide, enjoying happy hour.

We finished the trip by stopping by the Dead Sea on the way back to Amman.  It was quite the unique experience.  The water felt almost like oil because it contained so much salt.  Taelyn, Justin, and I enjoyed sitting back in the water while our bodies completely floated, but Kaelia didn't like all of the salt and quickly waited on shore.  We also scrubbed our arms with Dead Sea mud and felt it tingle all over.  Then we took a quick rinse off shower, swam in the resort pool next to the sea with slides and play structures in the water, and called it a day.  Our driver took us back to Amman where we flew out the next morning back to Doha.

Jordan was an incredible adventure, full of a diverse range of activities.  We are so glad we had the opportunity to go there while we are in the Middle East.

Make a scrapbook design

Bowling Night

Tonight is our first night of Spring Break, where we have arrived in Jordan for a week full of tours around the country.  Before the tours start tomorrow, however, we spent the evening with a little bowling in our hotel.  We had a great time, and the girls even attempted to bowl with one arm.  They of course had bumpers up in the lanes (and so we all did), but the did fairly well.  Kaelia even got a spare!  Of course, I didn't manage to get this on camera, but I did get one of her turns where she just missed a spare.  In the end, Justin won the game and I came in second with some help from the bumpers.

Kaelia's Turn

Taelyn's Turn

Kaelia Almost Gets a Spare

Canadian Snow Ball

Every year there is a Canadian fancy dress dinner and ball in Doha, and this year we were invited to

go along with a friend from Justin's hockey team.  It was a lovely evening full of Canadian music, food, and entertainment.

For dinner, we had the classic Canadian turduckin (turkey stuffed with duck stuffed with chicken).  During dinner, the host threw stuffed animal moose out to the tables, and whoever caught them got to keep them.  After the man that caught the moose at our table left without his prize, I was quick to swoop it up and give it to the girls the next day!  Then once dancing started up, baskets full of "snowballs" (extremely large craft pom-poms) were released so that all of the guests could have a snowball fight.  This went on for the rest of the night across tables and the dance floor; it was a blast!

To end the night, they served poutine at midnight.  We then through our last snowballs, grabbed our moose, and headed home.  The entire experience was complete when we woke up the next day, showed the girls the moose we had brought them, and then pulled out a few snowballs from the night and continued the snowball fight at home!

Easter Weekend

Easter kind of snuck up on us this year because we just celebrated St. Patrick's Day last weekend, but that did not stop us from having a jam-packed weekend of Easter activities.  We started off by making lots of various crafts together: bunnies and chickies holding suckers, colored paper egg strips, and egg-shaped yarn balls filled with candy.  Then we moved on to food activities by making an Easter carrot cake and decorating eggs.  This year, the girls experimented with multiple colors on their eggs and even attempted to make some minion eggs from Despicable Me.

On Friday night, the girls put their eggs and baskets out for the Easter bunny and woke up on Saturday to find that both were gone and hidden somewhere in the house. (We have to celebrate Easter here on a Saturday because we have school on Sunday through Thursday in the Middle East.)  The girls followed a trail of Easter hay from their bedroom to the upstairs living room where the Easter bunny left a new kids' Bible.  Then they searched the room and found their own Easter baskets.  They both received some books, crafts, and candy while Taelyn also got a Slinky, and Kaelia got a bathroom back scrubber (she loves those!).

Next, the girls make their way downstairs where they immediately started finding eggs scattered throughout the downstairs living room (since we don't have any outdoor grass space suitable for an egg hunt).  They had a great time finding all of the eggs and agreed to share and split all of their candy at the end.

After the egg hunt, we all drove to a new park that we have recently heard about and even got to bring Meeka.  Dogs are not allowed in parks here, but this park was completely empty so we gave it a try.  This was the first time Meeka was able to run around in a large grass space since moving to Doha, and she had an awesome time!  Kaelia also had a blast riding her scooter while Taelyn ran around and threw a ball to Meeka over and over again.

Finally, we went home, had some lunch, enjoyed our carrot cake, and the girls got to work on the crafts from their Easter baskets.  To complete the weekend, we watched the Easter movie, Hop, went for swim at our pool, and had a barbecue for dinner.  We all had a wonderful day and a fantastic Easter!

Happy Easter to all of our friends and family!

Free digital scrapbook made with Smilebox

Healthy Carnival

The PTA at our school organize a Healthy Carnival event at the school today.  Various vendors set up booths to educate both students and their parents about different entities of healthy living.  This ranged from firefighters teaching about how to avoid house fires, paramedics teaching about CPR, a yoga instructor holding a yoga session, and outdoor fitness games.

Kaelia's class has been studying healthy living in their current unit, so she actually worked at one of the booths that her class prepared ahead of time.  She had a bucket for visitors to pull out a picture of food to then stick on to a large diagram of food groups.  Then if someone correctly placed the picture, she handed out a sticker.  She did a great job and really enjoyed the booth - especially when she had a chance to guide her own friends through the game.

One of the highlights of the event was the ambulance station where a paramedic taught the girls about what an ambulance does for people and how to call them when an emergency arises.  The paramedic put bandages and a neck brace on the girls and then brought them inside an actual ambulance.  At the end, they got to set off the siren.

Another great booth was the fire station where the girls got to use a fire extinguisher to put out a real fire in the back of the school.  Overall, the entire Healthy Carnival was a hug success.

St. Paddy's Weekend

Doha did not disappoint this year for St. Patrick's Day.  We started the extravaganza on Thursday night with an evening Irish celebration at one of the hotels downtown.  There was a huge tent set-up similar to Octoberfest with a full Irish buffet, Irish beer, and a band that was flown in from Ireland.  Justin organized a table for many of the teachers at our school, so we all met up and celebrated the day.

The next morning, we took the girls to another hotel for an Irish brunch, along with a few other teachers from our school too.  The brunch was delicious, full of Irish food as well as lobster, steak, sushi, and endless desserts.  For the girls, there was a bouncy castle and a special kids' buffet.  During the brunch, a band played Irish music and some Irish dancers even came in to dance.  Afterward, we took the girls to the beach access at the hotel to swim a bit.

Top o' the mornin'!