Simple Doha Days

Our recent Doha days are mostly slow and simple. I remind myself to be thankful for them when we seem bored. We've had a lot of unusual rain but the last week has been beautiful. The rain must have done something to me. I feel like I've been in the trenches these last few weeks. The revolving door of our friends and the usual exhaustion of being a mommy has required more of me to be deliberate and mindful of my time, attitude and energy. I'm definitely thankful for a great Bible study I just started. Its so timely. We're reading the book Family Driven Faith by Voddie Baucham.
As expats we live in wonder of where we'll be next and when we'll be going, especially during times when it seems everyone is moving on. I've never felt like SO much was SO out of my control. In ways its freeing and it other ways it takes a constant reminder and discipline to surrender our future and more importantly my day. I love living in Doha and don't want to miss these moments we have in such a unique situation. Its not forever, thats for sure.

Really, there's not much to report but there are plenty of simple moments I'll want to remember 20 years from now. I'm trying to hang on to these times when babies just keep growing and teaching me how to be better for them in every way. Goodness gracious I love them so much and couldn't be more thankful! Although at this moment I'd like to put the eldest in a permanent dog-kennel-time-out for the rest of the week.

Playing - Brooks' new love = BOOTS!




Tolan's birthay at the zoo




Taxi

Georgia loves to get her paws in the fridge

Its official...she's a girl and there is a daily difference in our lives. The screeeeching is enough to drive us crazy but the sweetness makes up for it.

Two Peas


Baking PW's cinnamon rolls

Crazy Hair day at school turned this one literally crazy!

Pizza with friends

T ball
Barrett is a volunteer player which is why he's not photographed. He's missing a little focus for the game.

t

s

Paris Departure and Disney Days

This post is for The Very Bored. Its full of pictures no one cares about but grandmothers and aunts.

On Wednesday we woke up packed our bags and headed for DisneyParis. Our apartment had a lift/elevator which was a blessing and a must when making our reservation. It literally took us at least 10 trips to get our luggage down on the ground floor. You can see that the boys and one suitcase is all that would fit. Tiny!

One last time at my favorite stop...for this sandwich/bread baked and then toasted with cheese and ham and who knows how much butter.

Then we were off to EuroDisney!
The pictures are self explainatory and seriously boring to anyone but the Junods. They're already fun for us to look back at so I didn't leave many out.
Barrett jumping for joy in our hotel room. The boys were out of their minds...check out the decor.


Georgia

We stayed in one of the Disney hotels and took a quick bus ride to the parks.

Disneyland Paris consists of 2 parks...Walt Disney Studios and Disneyland Park


First Character we saw...the boys wanted nothing to do with Sully.

A lot more interest...


By this time we have waited in line to see Buzz and now we're waiting on Donald (both took breaks while we waited in line).
Cold, a little wet and bad attitudes!

Attitudes were so bad Daddy was the only one up for Donald after waiting in line.

Barrett smiling

We took a lunch break, adjusted our attitudes and went to see the Playhouse Disney show which changed things around entirely!

Slinky Dog ride for the boys



Georgia and me staying warm while the boys were riding a few rides.

Our afternoon ended with complete success. We went back to our hotel for a little dinner.
Brooks with delicious beneighs!

New Mickey Jommies for Disney!

Pluto...one of Bear's favorite.


Georgie waiting for her breakfast

After breakfast the rain started. We headed back to the room. For a few minutes we considered napping or watching TV BUT it wasn't long before we remembered how much we would be missing and what we paid to see the Mouse. We bought some over priced ponchos and hit the parks!

Waiting for the bus at our hotel. We picked the hotel because it was the cheapest of all Disney hotels. Everyone scored!

Rain or shine we decided to hash out the rain and stay til dark!


Believe it or not we weren't the only idiots getting soaked. We still waited in lines and missed out on a few things because of the crowds.

Really, Pocahontas? For some reason when we were there we felt like we couldn't miss any opportunity. The boys weren't interested AT ALL so I felt a little obligated to snap one with the poor Indian girl. Brooks still doesn't believe she was a real person.

Highlight of the trip!
Brooks is telling him, "I have you, I have you".

Bear was a little overwhelmed with Woody and Jessie's XL size.

No hesitation...hugs for Mickey!




Getting on the train.

Stinkers





Character Show in front of the castle



Parade #1


God bless the $12 pizza...straight from freezer to microwave.

We were there on the very last day of Christmas activities, decor and shows. Such a treat!


Parade #2



Santa and his sleigh to finish it off

Buzz Lightyear ride and game (Georgia and I got to ride and document the boys)
Daddy had just as much fun.


Rocket ride for the boys

Brooks and I rode the Dumbo ride

Parade #3



We finished off our day at Billy Bobs, which was such a hoot. It was supposed to be straight out of Ft Worth. Bless the food! I had a baked potato with chili on it and Nick had beef ribs. Great for Europe, pitiful for Texas grub!

We sat upstairs above the dance floor. I'm totally convinced some of these line dancers were posed as tourists who had just stripped their character costumes. The pretended to be hanging out there and then just popped on the dance floor and knew all the difficult dances.

They tried hard but, there's just nothing like the real true South.

The next day we went back to the park for breakfast in pouring rain. Thankfully it was time to pack and load our bags for the airport. We brought home so many incredible memories plus Bullseye and Pluto.
M.I.C. see ya real soon
K.E.Y. why because we love you
M.O.U.S.E!!!!



Disney was an awesome addition to our Paris trip. I highly recommend it and I'm glad we got a little taste of Disney before diving into a big Orlando trip. This was perfect for the boys and their ages and energy level. Although we had rain, apparently it made no difference to them, they're ready to go back.