CNN recently featured a walk through of the main terminal building at the New Doha International Airport and an interview with Akbar Al Baker, the CEO of Qatar Airways.

My job as Quality Manager is to make sure the quality of the work at the airport meets the requirements of Akbar: watch the video before you think that's not that big of a deal.

http://edition.cnn.com/video/?/video/business/2012/01/30/future-cities-richard-quest-doha-airport.cnn

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We had a great weekend in Qatar: we spent most of it at the beach!!!

On Friday, we went up to Al Khor, a town 30 minutes north of us, for the Al Khor Fly-In, an air show at a local airstrip.  We looked around at the small planes and made our own rockets (paper wrapped around a straw - blow into the straw to fire the rocket).  Afterward, we did a little off roading through the desert and found the coastline.  It turned out to be muddy, but had lots of shells.

On Saturday, we found the Sealine Beach Resort, about 45-60 minutes south of us.  They have a nicely developed and maintained beach and an attached hotel.  It was great to be on a BEACH!!  After doing the normal beach stuff, like getting our feet wet and playing in the sand, Joel noticed the floating trampolines in the middle of the water and pulled us out there for some jumping fun.  Then, we all went on camel rides.  Camels are tall!

I'm having trouble putting photos on the blog.  So, here's a link to our photo album on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1438392617390.42081.1760251521&type=1&l=6167c022be

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The note indicates where Ruth is as far as writing and sounding out words.  The words themselves indicate where Joel is as far as another important activity in life.


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I've been really behind in posting to the family blog about our adventures here in Qatar.
We've been having a good time.  It is really hard to believe that we've been here for 5 months already.  Soon we won't be able to use the excuse that we're new!


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Here in Qatar, we celebrated Thanksgiving by going to the Thanksgiving program put on by American 4 Children, a program of the US Embassy.  The kids learned about the first Thanksgiving, pretended to be pilgrims, and made a Thanksgiving bouquet craft.  Then, we all enjoyed a catered dinner of turkey, cranberries, etc.  We made an apple pie especially for the occasion that featured maps of the US and turkeys on the top.  The kids picked out their American flag outfits for the occasion.

Today, we had plans to take a picnic lunch to the zoo.  We were greeted by RAIN when we were leaving the house, so we changed our plans to a picnic in the living room.  After lunch, Joel played in the rain (daddy was sleeping and mommy and Ruth didn't want to get wet).  There's nothing like a good jump in the rain!


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I had the most wonderful experience the other day: I read a book WITH Ruth!  It was We Like Kites with the Bernstain Bears. 

She read some words and I read some words.  It was so exciting to see her get to this stage! 
The last few nights we've been reading a few of the stories from our new Bernstain Bears early reader book.  Her favorite is Big Bear, Small Bear.  We laugh the whole way through as she reads the repeated words and I provide support for the other words.

Ruth has Arabic class every morning at school.  She has been teaching us numbers, colors, etc. in Arabic.  Yesterday, she sang Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star in Arabic for us.  Check it out:




We had Ruth's friend Dulce over this afternoon.  After spending time coloring, watering the plants, and playing in Ruth's room, we decided to make an apple pie.  They chose the heart shaped pan for their pie - big surprise!.  First, we mixed the pie crust, then we made the filling.  By that time, Joel was up from his nap and helped cut out shapes for the top, including a car, a football, hearts, and diamonds. 
Our heart-shaped apple pie was an accomplishment never before seen at the Grano house!

Ruth says, "The pie is yummy!"


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Ruth and Joel were discovered clowning around in the backyard this evening.

We captured the action on Ruth's pink camera she got for her birthday from Aunt Jodi.

We also took photos of some of the pretty flowers we planted this weekend.  Ruth picked out all sorts of flowers at the plant market, making sure each one was in her book of plants that grow well in Qatar (as long as the colors matched, the flower was good).


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Last weekend we ventured out to see the first water park in Qatar.  It was small, but fun for the kids.  They've been asking to go every evening and today went as far and putting on their "water park shoes."  If it was free, we'd be there all the time! 
Safety and Morality are their priorities -- not something you'd see a water park at home say. 

Ruth went to a Doha Mums activity where they made pizza with her friends Fleur and Dulce.  Check out the chefs!


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