TechnoParade 2009

About an hour after our marathon walk, we hear loud thumping from outside. We opened the windows and to our delight the Techno Parade was going right past our apartment. The girls thought it was fun for about the 1st hour but by the time it ended 2 1/2 hours later Maya was pretty sick of it. The girls were standing in the widow and Gemma was dancing her little heart out. It was amazing the number of people who noticed her and waved. She was even video taped a few times. Early estimates were 650,000 people marching, dancing and yelling past our window. What a treat.

Eiffel Tower

Ever since Dora went to the Eiffel Tower, Maya has has wanted to go as well. So on day two we decided to make her dreams come true. Wow quite spectacular if I do say so myself. The lines were horrid going up inside so we just walked around the grounds and took a boat cruise on the Seine.

We had taken the Metro to the Eiffel Tower but decided to walk home. Interesting choice since it took us 3 1/2 hours to get home. On the bright side, I figured that was 11 activity points on Weight Watchers! We also found this strange green stuff that the girls liked to run on. Really nice, sure wish we had this in Qatar.

Notre Dame

We arrived around noon on Friday. After taking a brief rest we decided to go out for a walk, stretch our legs and see Paris. We literally just stumbled on Notre Dame. What a beautiful building. Once again Brian has done wonders finding us an Apartment in the perfect location.

Improving Doha

Please forgive the quality of this video. I was not looking at it because I was driving. I know not the safest thing in the world, but I'm always by myself when I drive this route. I saw this about a month ago and was just amazed. I've edited this to cut it down to post but in the unedited version, I count 43 things. (I'm sure if I was a mother of boys I would know what to call them.) The original video was 1 minute long and I was driving 60 kph, so you can do the math at how many they had in such a small space. Maybe this will only be amusing/amazing to me and Brian but this is how we improve the infrastructure of the city Doha Style!

Gem Pro Bowler

I've mentioned before that Brian brought a Wii home from NC. We've been having tons of fun with it but the absolute funnest thing about it is watching Gemma bowl. She just cracks me up.

Ray's Reef/1st day of school

Last weekend we took the kids to play at Rays Reef. We all had a great time but Gemma seemed a bit scared at Maya's driving!

I accidently put both sets of pictures on this slideshow. Oops! Today was Maya's 1st day of pre-school. Poor thing has been so stressed out about it, she hasn't slept in weeks. Last night she slept with us. Took her 3 hours to go to sleep. But she woke up in a chipper mood ready for the challenge. In the car she told me that she would not be crying because sometimes you just have to be brave. She did wonderfully and when I picked her up she told me she wanted it to be a school day everyday.

Me you ask? It was the longest 5 hours of my life. I couldn't wait until I got to go pick her up and hold her in my arms. Boy it is hard letting your kids grow up.

Gem missed Maya very much. I needed to go to the vege market and I asked her if she wanted to go. She said yes, but then, we go get Maya OK Mommy? I guess I'm not as much fun to play with. On the way home, Maya told me she missed Gemma. I asked her if maybe going to school would help her to appreciate her little sister more and they would fight less. In true Olivia fashion she said, "Maybe!.

Actual Conversation

This is a typical conversation with Maya:

Mommy, "Who was slamming the doors upstairs?"
Maya, "it was me"
Mommy, "Honey we have talked and talked about this. Those doors are so heavy that if you catch someone's fingers, it will hurt them really bad, maybe even cut off their finger."
Maya, "I know"
Mommy, "Then what are we going to do to help you to listen to me?"
Maya, "Maybe we need to make my ears bigger. Or your mouth bigger and louder. One of the two.

Anyone out there think my mouth needs to be bigger or louder? No? Ok anyone know an ear surgeon?