February Wrap-up

Along with having some fun things to do in Doha, taking a trip for winter break to Austria, and celebrating Valentine's Day this month, we also kept busy spending time with friends and family.

We kicked off the month by celebrating my friend Michelle with a fun Desserts in the Desert at the nearby Singing Sand Dunes. The kids went "sledding" down on cardboard {please note, it does not work}, making a fire, and running around with glow sticks.

We also got outside as much as we could enjoying the weather and a chance to scooter and bike ride around the Lusail Marina and Crescent Park. There were also a couple coffee dates and night's out. And awkward cats. Always that. Zoey was disheartened when she began seeing suitcases and tried to sabotage packing by laying on them.

I also got to celebrate a sweet mom and her soon-to-be daughter with a fun shower and then a formal evening out with my mom's group. Both such lovely events and great reminders of the wonderful community around us.

The other exciting thing that happened this month was my mom visiting! We always love having Grandma around - and so do Zoey and CeCe apparently, haha. Olivia was super proud of her kitty cat and wanted a picture, I got another night out with some friends, more awkward cats, and then we got to celebrate America at our school's International Food Festival and try lots of delicious foods from around the world.

The peacocks have been particularly flamboyant this month (hellooo spring) and we've gotten some good shows! Madi also lost her third tooth, but first top tooth and she looks adorable. She also had a blast at a classmate's birthday party and we snapped this picture afterwards of us unintentionally matching. ❤️

We got to do quite a few activities around Doha while my mom was visiting, including her being the Mystery Reader during book week at school! The twins were thrilled and it was a lovely thing to do the day before she left to fly back to America today. 😢

Saying goodbye is always the worst, but we are so thankful she comes to visit us and spend quality time with the girls so often and can't wait until we are able to see her again!

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Around Doha in February

I think it's easy to take for granted that Doha does have a lot of great events around town. January was full of them and February also didn't have a shortage of things going on around town.

My mom arrived mid-month and the next day we headed to Katara for their Garden Festival. The sections were decorated beautifully, we got free henna, held a falcon, and had mom's first Turkish ice cream experience (I'd post the video, but I am pretty sure she would fly back to Doha to smack me, hehe. Ann, I will send you a copy.)

The next week Marli and I took our moms on the metro to the new downtown Msherieb and had breakfast before walking over to the Souq for a bit. Also, if you aren't injecting syrup into your pancakes, then you are doing life wrong. 🤣

A couple days after we headed to the big jewelry show in the convention center. This is the same venue as the book fair from last month, but wow. They add tile to the floor, indoor fountains, and gorgeous decor. Then there were the gems and jewelry. Beautiful. We also caught a glimpse of a member of the royal family - so cool!

The next weekend our school gave us free tickets for the Al Shaqab Longines Global Champions Tour. We headed over midday and ended up staying into the evening. The girls loved watching the horses "dance" and jump and they had an amazing kids area with free activities. They had face painting, arts and crafts, play areas, and shows/entertainment going on throughout the day. The weather was perfect for being outdoors and it was a great way to spend our Saturday!

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Family Photos in Austria

One of our last days in Austria we had a late sleep in and decided to do a mini photo shoot. We asked someone from the hotel to take our family pictures and then Jason took some of the girls and me and I took a few individual of them. So excited with how these turned out, but we had gotten ones with Jason and the girls (it was cold outside so by the time we'd taken these they were done).

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