Christmas, Dubai and some end of the year thoughts

It is the end of an amazing year. 2012 has been a time of new experiences and friendships, a time of shaking up everything that was comfortable and secure and also to remind us how important our roots in the mountains are. 

As usully happens to me at this time of year I tend to both reminisce and start planning out what resolutions to shoot for. Christmas was fantastic- it is hard to be away from snowy Ski Cooper and sledding, cocoa, Ty and Roxanne's nordic center, wood fired hot tub, tiki torches lining the road, solstice bonfire, etc etc etc. This year we stayed in Doha- no snow but a very nice time- and a trip to Dubai was under the tree! 

Snoop came over for some egg nog.

We went out to the singing sand dunes on winter solstice with some construction wood I found hoping to have a small bonfire. Little did we know there was a christmas bonfire already planned- huge pile of wood that Greg Dennis and Brian Counselman would be proud of and about 1000 people singing songs!

Wilder, Nikita, and Luca at the top.

Ahhhh

Luca catching the sun as it goes down

Usually the bonfire back home was at about 10 below zero- I had shorts on for this one!

Had a very nice Christmas Lunch at our friends the Jays. 

Then on the 26th it was off to Dubai for 3 days. Dubai is way over the top and Lisa and I had to catch ourselves as we would slip into saying things like "think about how many people they could have fed instead of (_____fill in the blank___).  So we just made ourselves enjoy the crazyness that is dubai.

Oh yeah- I remember this- skiing is awesome!

The Isoms- back on the hill.

Wilder went right to the terrain park to hit the jumps. (yes they even have a terrain park)

Hot chocolate tastes good no matter where you are in the world

The next day we went to Atlantis to catch the aquarium and play at their water park- I could have parked myself in front of the aquarium in a lawn chair and watched all day- but the water park was good fun- the lazy river had rapids.

One of the knights of Atlantis.

The other knight of Atlantis

You can sort of see the tube running behind Luca- it goes thru the shark tank at the end of your ride- very cool.

I told the kids not to take my picture when I was holding the swim bag- Lisa says I have bigger things to worry about than the swim bag.

One more day one more mall- the Dubai mall- next to the Burj Kalifa that Tom Cruise climbs in his spare time

They were in awe of this tree.

Wilder said "oh this reminds me of eating with aunt caryn"

One big aquarium

cool little statue

There was a kid park- where the kids could "work" different jobs and get paid- very cool idea and fun to watch Wilder and Luca go around sampling the different options.

I am not a bricklayer nor a bricklayers son.

Phone operator-may I help you?

Wilder as a DJ at the radio station- Steve Leigh would be so proud

Delivering money for the bank.

This one was my idea: "panhandling". I don't think they enjoyed it much but they always need something to fall back on

So a great end to an amazing year- resolutions? Well probably similar to most years- keep trying new things and sharing the positives with our kids- letting them see through our adventures that this planet is an amazing place and worth fighting for. We will be writing these posts from Venezuela next year which will be a whole new bucket full of newness in itself. We love you everyone- have a great 2013.

Philipino biker gangs

"Dad, I want to go join a Philipino biker gang." As a parent I would expect these words would make me nervous- but in fact I too would like to join a Philipino biker gang. Qatar actually has a healthy cycling community with different factions to boot. There is QCR (qatar chain reaction) which consists of the road purists- who make fun of the triathaletes, the triathaletes- who make fun of the mountain bikers, and the mountain bikers- who don't make fun of much on account of the lack of mountains. There is a Qatar National Team- seriously. There is the Doha runners club- who like to dabble on wheels at times. 

And then there is PADYUK the Philipino biker gang. Padyuk means to pedal on and is an amazing group of fun lovin cyclists. They have hosted two races that Lisa and I have been able to attend and it really reminded us of our home bike series- not the terrain- just a group of adults out playing and acting like kids. As we live among different groups of people from the world I try hard not to generalize because usually once you do you meet someone who breaks your stereotype- So far every person from the Philipines that I have met is friendly, laughing, and generally having a good time. Not a bad stereotype to have I guess.

The start of the race.

Pre-race talk: ride till that one pile of dirt, turn at that pile of rocks, go until you see a bush...

As I sized up the competition I felt I could take the guy in jeans at the start but the guy on the little bike might give me trouble. I was right.

lucky number 214- this race was put on to help out their countryman back home affected by the typhoon. 

With climbs like you see in the background- it going to be a big ring day.

These are from the duathalon- Lisa did a 5k run,20k bike, 5k run. I wisely did the 2.5/10/2.5 and for once I finished before her (barely) not only that but I won!

good friends and chance encounters

Good friends. You think about all the people here in Qatar who are not from Qatar- and what chance event set them on a course to meet here- there has got to be a deep philosophical meaning to it all that I am not savvy to- in any case I am glad it happened- I have to say the best part of being here is getting to know other expats from around the world. 

We just had a little christmas gathering in the rec room of our little compound- and as I looked around at the kids dancing and singing and being silly it made me think that this is what christmas is about for me- Being with good people. I'll keep this in mind as I sit here missing my family to the west.

shake that money maker

Al Nassaryia kids are pretty darn cool

Par par bogey par- My good friend Neil.

The feared foursome of golf: Innes, Chris, Gareth, and Andre...plus Hugh

Coach Hannah and her synchronised swim team

Ollie and Luca discussing the finer points of life.

Wilder and Mia at the beach

Wilder and Lucy enjoying a horse race and ice cream.

Wilder and Nikita- windy day at Al Khor.

Hellie, Sarah, and Lisa watching the kids with swords.

The kids with swords.

Chris and Innes, badminton coaches extraordinaire.

We are going to really miss Neil and Hannah- we have never been so cultured as when we hang together.

Chance Encounters. So there we were, Luca and I out in the desert spray painting rocks-(someone had to mark new bike trails) when we see these guys swinging a pigeon on a string- not nice for the pigeon but a tasty treat for the falcon. The motioned us over and let us hold the bird and watch- it was pretty cool- they spoke no english but were very kind with Luca- just another example for us to go into things with an open mind- you never know what might happen.

Is it just me or does it look like Luca has a tail? (little monkey boy)

The best falcons are from Iran