September/October Break 2008

We started off our break celebrating Saudi National day (September 23), a wonderful family day, Ashton, Sandi & Tyler joined us for some shopping in Bahrain before home, relax and then spinning in the evening. The next few weekdays, Andre was still working so while he headed to work. the girls of the house had a lazy pj-day watching movies and eating junk ! A wonderfully relaxing time together !

Once Andre was on leave for Eid though we headed down to Doha, Qatar to visit with Larry & Nikki Kenton (friends from SA). We arrived after a long but uneventful journey on September 30 - Larry's birthday ! Happy Happy Larry =) We enjoyed a picnic on the corniche in the evening before collapsing after a tiring day. Then is was off to shop for our camping trip. Once back the girls enjoyed a swim while Nikki prepared for Larry's birthday dinner with friends.

Thursday saw us head out to the desert for a day/night of playing on the quads and camping. Mmmmm an experience ! The girls had a ball on the quads and as usual it was difficult to get Aimee out of the water when we took a walk down to the beach hehehe. All in all a hot, windy but fun experience, made all the more fun spending it with special friends.

Only low-point of the whole break was that Snowbell took a turn for the worse. She ended up being taken to the vet midway through the week and had to stay for treatment. We were due to fetch her on Saturday after we returned from Doha. Dr. Seega was confident the antibiotics and other meds she was taking would clear her kidneys and the parasite that was causing her aneamia. He called on Thursday but we missed the call... when we called back on Friday, we received the sad news that Snowbell had passed away the night before. Sad news for us but finally she wasn't suffering anymore. Snowbell we love you, you were quite the character, you will be missed !

Vistiting The Kentons

Although Lucy was all spotty, we decided to make the planned visit to Doha anyway. André was appointed to ref on Thursday night. We headed off on Thursday mid-morning and managed to get in a good few hours of relief from the.... (said in a very exasperated tone) "Why did I have to get chicken pox ?" hehehe
Girls were very excited to see Uncle 'Lerry' again and considering that Nikki and Brad were out to visit - all having had The Pox before, we thought it safe for an overnight visit :)
So it was the game Thursday night and then to the pool for a few hours Friday morning before travelling back. Only thing missing from the weekend was Brett :(

TaDa !

André and his spotted child enjoying a bit of shade hehehe



As always, wonderful to spend time with Larry, and the family this time !
(Lucy was too busy watching cartoons - in arabic, to get in to the group shot hehehe)

this past week...

The week was pretty uneventful. School and work, up in the morning, out the door, home at night, and repeat !
Wednesday however was International Day at school. First thing in the morning, we all dressed up in clothing from/representing our home country, carried flags we'd made and had a parade at school. Throughout the day, students then got to "visit" the many countries represented at our school by visiting displays our wonderful PTG had put together.
Back to school in the evening for dance, music and food from around our world !

Up earlyish on Thursday morning, we headed for Doha to visit Larry and because André had been appointed to ref a Ladies Rugby Tournament Thursday/Friday. Decent drive, we took it slow because of the wet weather, arrived around 3pm. Off to the rugby where the girls had an absolute ball getting thoroughly soaked and muddy.
Back again Friday mid-morning where we got to get a few signatures from some visiting rugby greats. They have been travelling around the gulf doing some coaching and special appearances.

Couldn't leave without a photo with the host ladies team - Doha Oryx.

André being the ref appointed to the tournament got everyone organised, and then the games were on again.

"look at my nice clean clothes !"

(Lucy was pretty pooped and miserable by this stage and was fast asleep minutes after climbing in the car.)

The day was long but absolutely fabulous. We left just before 5pm and thankfully didn't make the detour through Hofuf this time, arrived home just before 9pm. All in all, a good ending to a pretty non-eventful week.

Doha - Qatar

This last weekend we headed off to Qatar to visit our good friend Larry or as the girls says Uncle Lerry :)
After dinner at Rumors Wednesday night with Jana, Rick, Jen and Shawn and off course the kids , we woke not so early Thursday morning. Packed up the car and headed out. Leaving Saudi, driving through country that looked more like the desert than anywhere we live. It was marvelous to see the herds of camels with their minders close to the Hofuf area.
The weekend, well half day, night and half day was great. We had a look around Doha with Larry, popped in at the rugby club, enjoyed a local souk where the girls got to enjoy a donkey ride and of course André couldn't resist buying a small hanging carpet. At a park Friday morning where we played on a skateboard ramp sans skateboards :) and then the girls even got to try a bit of ice-skating.
We headed back mid afternoon Friday and after a looong unplanned detour - oops - through Hofuf and another non-english-signposted town, we finally arrived back home around 7:30pm.
We'll be heading back begining of February again as André is reffing a ladies rugby tournament there. Of course we're looking forward to spending time with Larry again !

The Desert

Arriving in Doha at Uncle Larry's, Thursday evening.

"from the modern and then back to the old"





The falcon's were awesome, seemed terribly cruel especially some of the injured ones we noticed but these amazing birds are so much of the culture and life here.


Friday
the sliding was a bit of a difficulty for those of us with a weight "advantage" hehehe



Ice Skating