Inland Sea Adventure

One of the things we still hadn't experienced yet was heading out to the desert for some dune bashing and a visit to the inland sea. We loaded up the car and met up with friends for the adventure last Saturday and had an amazing time.

We pulled off along the way for some pictures and flower hunting. These gorgeous (but parasitic) flower is called a desert hyacinth and is rare and endangered. The kids loved finding them and seeing how they were rotting (decaying?) from the bottom up.

We made it out to the inland sea, waved at the Saudi border, and set up our site to bbq, relax, and visit while the kids played in the water, sand, collected shells, and decided on their own to pickup trash from the beach.

It was a blast and Jason's counting down the days until he can head back out and dune bash some more!

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Cooking Classes at Eataly!

We had heard that Eataly hosted cooking classes, but attending their pizza making on National Day last December was our first time trying one. Needless to say, we were hooked! The class was free, incredibly well-organized, and lots of fun for our girls.

We joined the {free} Doha Festival City Kids Club that gives discounts for stores and access to special events hosted at the mall. When we received an email saying Eataly would be hosting two weeks of free classes we jumped on the registration list.

The first week of classes was pasta making. The organizer recognized the girls, welcomed them back, and again the class was organized and run very smoothly. They loved making their own noodles and the twins discovered they love "white sauce" [alfredo sauce] with pasta!

The following week was a cookie making class where they whipped up a batch of chocolate cookies that we shared with our neighbors and friends.

Thank you so much to everyone at the DFC Eataly for the fantastic memories and delicious food!

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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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