The last weekend in February we headed out towards the Zekreet area with another family to spend the afternoon together. We ventured a bit further back to an area we hadn't been and occupied ourselves with climbing, fossil hunting, games, and even a scorpion sighting (our first in all the trips we've taken to the desert!)
Afterwards we stopped at the Eye Rock to enjoy the full moon. We snapped some pictures and let the girls climb around before making our way back to Doha. I love how these pictures turned out and re-visiting a favorite spot in Qatar.
At the beginning of the girls' school break we headed out for another camping adventure before it starts getting too warm to camp (which is quickly approaching unfortunately!). Since the ATVs are along the way we made a stop with some more friends and another ride. Afterwards we headed out and secured our favorite Inland Sea camping spot. We spent our time playing, flying kites, watching flamingoes, and even got to try a new activity with our friends - sand sledding! We had planned to stay two nights, but the wind picked up (and we had a tent pole snap in two places ðŸ¤) so we cut the trip short and headed home the next day.
Later in the month I got a chance to spend the day with a friend and explore a different area of Qatar. We had planned to head to Arsan Cafe (the furthest north cafe in Qatar), but when we realized we would be arriving long before it opened we decided on a whim to take a detour over to Al Zubarah Fort. While we waited for the fort to open we explored along the coast further down where some of the old ruins exist. Afterwards we walked around the fort and then continued our journey north up towards the cafe. Again we just decided to pull off at another spot that look interesting and turned out to be an abandoned farming village.
The clouds were gorgeous and we sent time just walking along the beach and exploring some mini mangroves in the area. We walked through the ruins and will definitely be taking another trip back with the kids because I'd love to do family photos there!
We finally made it to Arsan Cafe and had a relaxing coffee together before heading back south to Doha.
I will be the first to admit that my Valentine's decorations were up and around the house right before the month of February. I even got around to finally making a burlap wreath (I have only been carrying the supplies for about five years and three countries 😆).
The girls decided they wanted to throw a Valentine's party for their guy friends. We setup to decorate planters and then plant some heart-shaped seeds we had (hopefully they grow - they are from a couple summers ago, haha). The kids decorated heart-shaped cookies, and had brunch (including the grown ups!). It was so much fun!
The girls also helped design their Valentine's Day shirts with me! They loved wearing them to school along with their heart-pattern masks. (Oh, Covid 🙄).
The girls had a school break in February and since travel outside of Qatar still isn't an option we decided to do a small staycation. We'd seen an ad for a night hotel in Souq Waqif and then day access and transport to Banana Island (a hotel resort just off the coast of Qatar near the airport - and yes it is shaped like a banana 😂).
We ordered takeout and spent the evening in our hotel room playing games (Spot It and Monopoly are the favorites currently) and also did some face masks. It was a super fun pajama party with lots of laughter.
The Monopoly mogul
The next morning we had breakfast in the hotel and then headed out to catch the ferry boat over to Banana Island. We spent the day rotating between the water park, beach swings, pool and hot tub across the resort. We played games over lunch and had an amazing time!
Such a fun way to finish their week off school and do something different together. ❤️
