'All the flavor of Baileys without the alcohol'

...what's the point!? Haha Some products here make me chuckle. I still bought it though ;)

Birthday Brunch takes a turn for the worse.

Last weekend we decided to try a smaller hotel brunch for a change. We invited some friends along to help celebrate my birthday too. The morning started out great. The girls looked really sweet in their new matching dresses.

The buffet looked delicious.

I only got to try a small plateful before the kids got restless and I offered to take them over the the special play area set up for the brunch. The kids were having a great time jumping on the trampoline and going down the small slide when unfortunately Neko slipped going up the slide steps and fell backwards into the wall.

The fall was not far but the slide was too close to the wall and the back of her head hit the sharp edge on the granite baseboard. I knew right away from her cry it was more than just a simple fall. I was a little taken aback picking her up to find bright red blood gushing out!

It was hard to get a close look - she was not happy, and not letting anyone get close to it! I could barely hold a napkin to the back of her to get pressure on it. I figured it should get looked at in case stitches were needed.

The next flow of events was quite crazy and included getting in a car with a complete stranger, having to drive to 3 different medical centres all closed because of it being Friday/Holy day, ending up at the Hospital, getting dropped at the wrong place, getting in another car with a stranger to get dropped at Emergency. Long story short, Neko was great through it all, ended getting 'glued' back together, and her spirits were high for the rest of the day. Apparently unaffected because she was back to jumping on the couch that night!

These picture make it look way worse than it was.

Neko thought it was funny that she looked like a Mummy after getting treated.

A scary stressful day, but so glad she was okay. Thankfully even if a scar you'll never see it...and they didn't have to shave any of the precious few hairs she has now in the back!!

Walking the Corniche at night

Last weekend we had fun meeting up with a friend and her kids for a play and picnic dinner at the Museum of Islamic Arts Park. It was fun to see the lights come on across the water in the West Bay on all the tall towers. We discovered a great cafe at the end of the corniche with comfy chairs looking out on the view. Can't wait to go back on a Mom's night out or date night!

Not something...

...you see everyday back home beside the Spongebob stickers!

Hair clips anyone?

I went to check out this store last week that I had heard had things like beads and craft supplies, but what I wasn't expecting to find was rows and rows, and rows and rows of hair clips, bows, and elastics. It was an overwhelming insane amount of them.

These pictures only show about 2 of the 20 isles of them.

The crazy part is I only found about 2 that fit my aesthetic for the girls and really none for myself. Apparently there is a great demand for tacky hair things though here is Doha!

Night out in the Souq

After a long work week for Doug, meaning a lot of time on my own with the kids (including my birthday) we decided to get a babysitter to take a night off together. We enjoyed a really nice night in the Souq Waqif. It literally translates to "the standing market" and sells things like traditional garments, spices, souvenirs, handicrafts and art.

The last time we visited was in the summer and it ended in red blotchy faces and the girls in tears....too hot! Last evening was lovely and I won't dare say almost chilly. In the past people have asked "where are all the people in your photos", well this is apparently where everybody is on a Thursday night (like Friday night back home).

We spent some time just walking a checking out the crazy sights like neon coloured chicks anyone?

You can find pretty much any kind of bird here including baby ducklings. Or perhaps you'd like a kitten, bunny, or a pet eel!

We enjoyed a delicious dinner of Syrian food on an outdoor upper patio looking over the Souq. I'm now so anxious to try more of the restaurants in this area.

We then walked through an arts area with people doing live work at their crafts. I really enjoyed this and saw some beautiful things.

This picture doesn't quite show how pretty these lights were.

Handmade pulled glass T-Rex ornament, awesome!!

And shouldn't all good date nights end with some disturbing taxidermy?

Best part perhaps...coming home to two kids sleeping peaceful, 2 loads laundry done - folded and ironed and my kitchen floor washed :)

Dubai Vacation

So far we're having a wonderful time on vacation in Dubai. We are very fortunate to have the use of a Stantec apartment while here and a rental car. It is a beautiful development called the Green Community. There is a large park and walkways that link all the homes together. A short walk from our apartment and there is a small

Mall, grocery store and lots of restaurants.

We started our first day with a trip to the Mall of the Emirates so Doug could see Ski Dubai, the indoor ski hill. It's quite amusing to see this winter wonderland not only indoors but in a mall! I'll insert some video here later.

We then took a drive out on The Palm to check out the scenery and views. We attempted to visit the sail looking hotel, the Burj Al Arab but got turned around at the gate by security.

We did however discover that this is also the location for Wild Wadi Waterpark, so decided to hatch a waterpark plan for the next day.

We ended our day being invited over to Doug's boss' home for a Eid holiday celebration party. Enjoyed a lovely spread of homemade Indian food. So delicious.

Started day two today with our trip to the Waterpark.

Maëlle was so excited on the car ride there and announced that she was going to go down the slides 'all by herself' and she did! She absolutely loved it. Each time trying the next larger slide till she had tried them all. Her favourite was the orange slide that was actually a pitch black tunnel for half of it!

It was so fun for us to see her enjoy it so much that we didn't care so much about getting to try all the big slides. Or as they are called here 'rides', what is what they really are. You go on them riding a tube and they shoot you up the slide before going down.

It was such a great day. We ended it with a walk after dinner for ice cream, balloon animals, and a run through the sprinklers. Best day ever in Maelle's mind I'm sure!

Oops!

That last post was actually from a couple weeks ago. I had thought it posted but didn't go through.

We are actually in Dubai, we flew this afternoon for some family holiday time...and to renew our Qatar visas and let Doug work at the Dubai Stantec office. Luckily they have an apartment that we're able to use. We have a rental car so excited to see some new sights and return to Atlantis maybe! 

Morning walk on the Corniche

We didn't last very long since it's still reaching close to 40 degrees during the day, but we took a short stroll along the Corniche this morning. Cool views of the West Bay high rises and the boats crossing the bay. Too bad the kids still get instantly bright red in the heat. Hoping soon we'll get to actually spend extended time outside and at the park!

Pumpkins Procured

After finding out the cost of pumpkins at the grocery store I went with the girls this morning in search of pumpkins direct from the Fruit and Vegetable Market. It's an open air market, under shade, kind of like a farmer's market. It was easy to find and full of variety for items. 

I was a little disappointed to find that the only pumpkins here are more like squash. Guess I had the perfect bright orange pumpkins of home in my mind. These ones are a little more 'rustic' but Halloween is all about being ghoulish so this is probably better anyway. And the price a lot better too!

Maëlle was very excited to spot some little tiny ones and was so proud of the one she picked out.

Pumpkin procurement success! We ended up with 3 medium sized pumpkins and 2 small ones for 70 riyal plus 10 tip for the guy who followed us around with a wheel barrow, loaded our pumpkins, and took them to the car with us. That's about $20 Canadian. Now how to decide to carve them!

 

Happy Thankgiving!

Not planning to do a big turkey to celebrate but Maëlle and I did bake a pumpkin pie with Grandma's recipe. This one actually made with pumpkin and not our home grown squash though :(

Happy Thanksgiving Canadian friends and family!

Paparazzi

We very often get requests from people to take Maëlle and Neko's photos (at least one per outing to big public places). Many don't ask and I catch them trying to sneak a quick pic on their cell. There are lots of expats here and fair children but i guess few are quite as blonde and fair as Maëlle and especially Neko. Some want to be in the photo with the them too so my new thought is if someone asks for a photo with them, then I get to take one too. Keep our collection of random strange people wanting a photo of the kids! 

There are actually lots of older children that are quite intrigue by the kids. Today we had a request from a Mom and young girl for a photo, so I took one too :)

Celebrating the Holidays

Not only are we celebrating Canadian Thanksgiving this weekend but it's also the kick-off to Eid Al Adha holidays here. We went in search of ingredients to bake a pumpkin pie and happened upon a special set-up of women outside the supermarket offering Henna / Mehndi designs as part of Eid celebrations. Maëlle was immediately keen to get her hand painted.

She sat very still and even let it dry for about 15 minutes while I got mine done too to match! Originally planned to get Neko done but quickly realized it would get everywhere and turn into a big blob. There's no way she wouldn't want to touch it.

Neko made her own friends though while Maëlle and I were busy. She sat and snacked with these lovely ladies.

And the finished product...

So fun and a neat way to celebrate our Thanksgiving and our upcoming holidays. Looking forward to Doug having extra time off and an impromptu family trip to Dubai for a week.