Doha Days at home...

Our last few days in Doha have been spent at home. Brooks has been mastering his potty training skills so we've been trying to stay busy with all kinds of activities at home. As you can see Brooks got into a little fun on his own.

Shhhh...we're not telling his Daddy! He got into my purse and was just practicing his cosmetology skills. And what's up with the great smile. Why can't I get that when I really want it?

One of our best friends, Miss Katie gave us these Window Markers with some new airplane toys. They're awesome and hey...we're living in a temporary house. Why not let Barrett try them out too?

Tonight I found this little package on my porch. A neighbor dropped these DP's by with a sweet note. She saw me wearing a Baylor shirt earlier this week, happened upon them and thought of us. Truly a taste of home! She and her husband are from Oklahoma but have lots of BU family. They also have a yellow lab so we instantly connected. As you can imagine the DP's are hard to find. I'm definitely missing some serious DP and the REAL thing is truly a treat...dessert in fact. Thank you Debbie!

Groceries in Doha

Yesterday was the start of our weekend. Friday and Saturday are the weekend and Friday is Holy Day. So we went to church and then made a trip to the most western grocery store in Doha, called Mega Mart. Its very small and very expensive. You never know what they'll have but they carry a lot of products that we buy in the US. So when you shop at Mega Mart you buy what you like because they may not have it next time. My cart was full but not over loaded. Here are a few of the details from my grocery bill...

Total: $375 YIKES!!

Cheetos - $7
Kraft Cheese - $8
Smart Start cereal - $10
Cool Whip - $4
Eggs -$12
Turkey Bacon - $8
Fruit Snacks - $10
Small Blue Bell (horrible freezer burn) - $4

Most everything is double what we would pay in Texas. This isn't our only option for groceries. This was a special trip. We just needed a little taste from home so we went to Mega Mart. As you can imagine we don't let the boys waste a bite :)

First Photos in Doha

Here are some of our first pictures after arriving.

Barrett suffering from jet-lag

Brooks at the grocery store...as usual wanting a treat

This is our temporary villa. Our front door is the door on the left. Its a fully furnished house. No closets but we have 6 bedrooms so our stuff is scattered. All marble floors. Great for playing and being really loud.
Soccer field and track we walked around one morning.

Brooks and Barrett working on our front gate with their tools. Yea for Brooks' new friend Macy. Just a few months ago they lived less than 10 miles from each other in Houston and now its even closer in Doha. We're so thankful for our new friends the Duncans. This is Macy and Brooks at McDonalds...which is similar but not the same as home.

Macy, Cooper (Macy's brother) and Brooks playing on our front porch.

Using the metric system is interesting but we guessed right and Brooks made some great cookies!

Departure and Arrival

We left Houston last Friday afternoon and arrived in Doha Saturday night. The first flight was about 9 hours long. We were served dinner and then the lights went out for us to sleep. Wish I had administered the "sleepy" drugs a little earlier. But over all the boys did really well. Loved watching movies with headphones and enjoyed the first class seats. During our layover in London Nick got the pukes. Fortunately the boys did ok and Nick was able to rest. The flight went by rather fast considering I was doing all I could to keep the Bees quiet and entertained. The last hour was a little louder but we all survived just fine. Our stroller was left in London so handling all our luggage at the Doha airport was interesting. Finally we made it home to our villa about midnight. The boys and the dogs were so excited to see each other as you'll see in a few pictures. Since we've arrived we've had a terrible case of jet-lag. No one sleeps at the same time. Every day is a little better. Nick is back to work and the boys and I are settling in. Here are a few pictures of departure from Houston and arrival to Doha.