At Grandma and Grandpa's in Rocanville

Here are some pictures from our very quick trip home last week :0) The weather was nice and cold and Daudi had lots of fun eating the snow and playing outside with his Grandpas and cousins and Daddy. Adair wasn't too interested, I took her out one day and she just cried. I think she was probably tired, but anyway, she had lots of fun playing inside. I think Zane is her new favorite cousin, since he just patiently endured all her kisses and wrestling moves :0) All in all we had a great time, nice to see everyone and thanks to everyone who came to see us in Rocanville too. The extent of our driving was a trip to Moosomin for a very nice Valentine's date while the Grandparents looked after the kidlets! Our FIRST date since Daudi was born, wish we lived a little closer to Grandma and Grandpa :0)

We arrived home the same day as some visitors to Doha! Sheila and Brenda were over from Kuwait as well as Ken and Geralyn Nichols (from home), got here that morning :0)

Toboganing

Playing with Ringo :0)

Enjoying ice cream instead of snow.

Adair, enjoying Myla and Natalie's company

Making supper for Grandma and Great Grandma

Being snowmen with Zane, the snow wasn't sticky enough to actually build a snowman, so Grandpa buried them from the waist down and they were the snowmen!

On the way back home to Doha...played out, some more than others :0)

Visitors!

As we were a bit of a wreck when we got home Weds. night at midnight, it was nice the girls and Ken and Geralyn were able to spend a few nights at the Hughes first. We managed to get it together enough to have them here from Sat. through Tues. morning, when they all went on to Bahrain. It was really nice having them here. We had a little adventure to the camel races on Sat., courtesy of Hugh and Education City! Then, a picnic in the dunes and an evening at the Old souk yesterday. It was so nice to get to know Ken and Geralyn a bit too, glad we didn't miss them ;0)

Sheila and Brenda

Ken and Geralyn

Camel Races

And, they're off...

Coming back to the 'moving bleachers', a.k.a. the vehicles. This is what it looked like when we were waiting for a race to start and then everyone runs to their cars and jumps in to peal down the road alongside the racetrack. The camels are ridden by robot jockeys operated by remote control in the owner's land cruisers driving along the other side of the track! Amazingly, NO ACCIDENTS!

At the finish line, the camels were pretty tired by the finish, I think the race is about 5 kms long.

Picnic at the beach

A great big ocean and one small fisherman :0)

And from the Funny Papers...

This made me laugh today and I thought I'd better put it here in case I forget to tell his other fans (meaning Grandpas and Grandmas and Aunties) :0)

We were driving somewhere and Daudi was laying across the back seat, supposedly having a nap. After about 2 minutes go by he says 'hey mom, look at me', and when I look back there he's looking at me with his eyes all squinty and says 'do you like this look mom? with one eye open and one eye sleeping?' What a 'crackter'! :0)

Last week of Jan.

Wow, January is over already! We finished out the first month of the year with Adair's 1 year vaccinations that have been postponed for a month due to little illnesses that she had earlier in the month. She did great and no reaction this time either, so i guess her little immune system is conquering as normal ;0)

It was Carmen's birthday on Thurs. (she is our 'Kiwi' friend, for those of you who do not know her) so we had a little dinner party here on Friday after our mtg. It was nice, Carolyn brought supper and I only contributed some potatoes, salad veggies and the cake. The first pavlova cake I've ever made, but it turned out pretty good, no leftovers so that's always a good indication, right? :0)

Anyway, looking forward to a quick trip into winter wonderland next week! Daudi is talking everyday about building a snowman at Grandpa and Grandma's house.

Carmen's birthday.....and Daudi's, its always his birthday too, or so he thinks.

Love playing outside!

Starting to get the hang of it

A visit from Tyler and Sara!

This last week was WAY TOO SHORT! Ty and Sara arrived on Sat. night and left us Thurs. afternoon. They really should have stayed at least another week, but we definitely made the most of it while they were here. We did the little tour around the city, visited the old souk and the new Pearl Island that they are building here. There was a trip to the lovely fish market in town as well as the one right on the water where the boats come in. We went to the camel racetrack, didn't see a race but watched them training and Tyler and Daudi got to ride one. Then the boys met a local Qatari man who trains hunting falcons and got us invited out to watch and stay for a traditional meal with them afterwards. John Watt and Lloyd Kneesch came over from Dubai for the weekend and Andre Martoni (a friend from Brazil who works in Dubai) came as well just overnight to see Tyler and Sara. So, it was super busy, but so much fun. We are exhausted from all the late nights and laughs, and so very very glad they came :0)

I have to give Tyler the credit for these pictures because he took most of them.

This is jet lag at its most glamorous :0)

Aunty Sara

....and here is our beautiful city, Doha

Would you think it could be home to such a place as THIS?? The boys made a little visit to the fish market one morning, so here is the fish they bought being cleaned. Does it look like something you'd want to eat for supper? :0)