Harris life in Doha: August 2013

Its nearly mid-August and the end of Ramadan and Eid and so things are starting to return to normal here. During the holy month of Ramadan (people fast during daylight hours) there are limited things open and its so hot outside that's it a challenge to find things to do. Having said that though its funny how I think we have acclimatised and now think nothing of going to the swimming pool when its 40 degrees outside. We went to the beach yesterday but had to get there at 7am and leave at 9. Summer has been really great here because a lot of people leave to go home to their home countries and so its been quiet on the roads and the pace of life seems to slow down. Andi has been able to finish work slightly earlier over Ramadan and so we've spent some lovely family time together. Emily has been going to a summer camp in the morning as her nursery closes for a few months over the summer and she has done lots of painting, sticking, singing and dancing and seems to have great fun. Since I last posted we've had a visit from Nanny which Emily and Dylan loved, had a few beach days at the hotels and enjoyed the swimming pools and yummy food, been to our first Brunch (which basically consists of spending hours at one of the hotels eating and drinking), been to Disney on ice, seen the Barney show and tonight Emily is at the circus with daddy! We live on a lovely friendly compound and all the neighbours regularly get together for BBQ's and nights out and we're meeting some really lovely people. Dylan started crawling at 6 1/2 months and so keeps me very much on my toes! He spends lots of time chasing after Emily who isn't so convinced having a brother is so great now he can take her things off her! Having said that she is still really lovely with him. She loves going to wake him up in a morning and quite often you hear her say to him 'good morning lovely little boy.' He's enjoying trying lots of new food and I think his highlight so far has been his ikea hotdog at the weekend ; ). Emily seems to be 2 going on 12 and loves painting her nails, singing and dancing and generally being the centre of attention. She starts dancing lessons in September and so will have lots of new moves! She's enjoying swimming and Andi is doing a really good job teaching her. She has almost swim a couple of metres now. Her summer has really been spent at the indoor soft plays, summer camp and going out for tea and cake (her favourite thing to eat) - not a bad life really. I'll try and attach lots of photos.