Tumblin' Tikes

April 14th, Lily celebrated her birthday with a party at Omega Gymnastics with 6 of her friends, followed by pizza & a Barbie Ballerina cake. Thanks for coming everyone!

Brisbane Blast

A tropical ending to our quick visit home, with a trip to Brisbane to see school-friend Michelle (http://www.annesley.sa.edu.au), and her beautiful kids: Thomas, Sarah & Oliver. (click to enlarge)

Wedding Wait

Hanging out in Warburton before & after the wedding. Including some pampering (Nana doing Lily's nails!), and a trip to Heallesville Sanctuary.

Warburton Wedding

A quick 2-week trip to Australia for Lily & I to attend David & Angela's wedding.
It was a beautiful ceremony, and a swingin' reception. So great to see family, including our new extended family! Lily was re-aquainted with cousins Ruby, Otis & Banjo....and met new cousin Caelin.

Kickin' Cones

Seymour Snow

Toboganning at Mt Seymour. Other than a challenging climb for a pre-schooler, and a bit of a bump on the nose after a tumble.....it was a ton of fun! (click to enlarge)

Once Apon a Time...

A Story by Lily Everett MacIntyre as dictated to her Grandmother:

I love you my little Princess. Will you come back after you get strawberries in your basket? Oh no Daddy, there's a fire, make a smoke alarm. Then the fire people came. We ran outside to the neighbours house to have a visit. Then she got her favourite cat because it was sick, and then she took it to the vet. She said to the vet, "my cat's sick". Then she named her cat 'Dance Everett MacIntyre Sing'. Then she danced and danced with her baby. She danced very quietly and she jumped from square to square on one foot, and then the other. She ran across the lake. She ran across the bridge before the Troll came. The Troll said, "who's that skipping over my bridge?". Then she said "help mother!" and she climbed up into the castle and got to her bedroom. The Troll followed her but didn't see her because of her mother's message. Then she popped up and threw the Troll under the bridge. "Move the ladder" she said to her mother, "before the Troll comes back"

Doorway Drama

A charming photo of Lily & I in our doorway, on a cold Saturday morning. This was taken during a photo shoot with Steve, who is putting together something for VTV's 10 year anniversary in September.

Christmas Chaos

Some pics of our Christmas. We had a big family Turkey dinner at Beth & Dave's on Christmas Eve, Win & Sharon (Jason's parents) over for brunch on Christmas Day...then their turn for some more Turkey that evening!

Downhill Debut

Cypress Mountain.....and Lily's very first day of skiing!!!!!!

Desert Doha

Last night...and an evening trip to the desert. Our driver (after stopping to let air out of the tyres) took us to a camp where we ran on the sand-dunes, rode a camel, ate shishkebabs & smoked sheesha. Daylight probably would have been better, but still a great way to spend the final night...before heading to the airport at 330am!
Also a photo of the Beach Volleyball (also a Canadian Crew), and the 'Wushu'.

Souq Shopping

If you need spices, or a falcon........

Birthday Bazaar

Thanks for all the birthday wishes!

I had a fabulous day. A short day of track cycling, followed by a trip to the Fabulous Old Souq (markets) in Doha, with Larry, Zac, Todd, Amy & Julie.
What a magnificent place. A large outdoor sandy path, then many narrow hallways containing vendor after vendor. Anything from Cloth, to hundreds of fragrant spices, and even falcons!

Afterwards we sat on a deck, eating kebabs....and smoking Strawberry Sheesha from a giant pipe, while we watched the locals, all of course in traditional robes & Burka's, do their shopping.
Very difficult to take photos, as it is offensive to take photos of the locals...especially the women.

There are men offering to cart your purchases around in wheelbarrows, and donkeys giving children rides. I can't wait to get back. Many of the crew have bought gold and spices etc.
All in all, it was a fabulous birthday.

Some of the sports here are also amazing, in particular Wuchu (a type of kung foo), Kabaddi (a type of tag)...and my favourite: Sepaktakraw (volleyball played only with the feet & head).
More later....

Damp Doha

It's raining here in Qatar more over the last 2 weeks than it has in 10 years...breaking all kinds of records! The roads have flooded, our windows are leaking in the media towers (not surprising) and the control room room for our Beach Volleyball crew sank 12 inches, until they could re-enforce it with some poles!
Just above the television compound at Aspire, there are huge cracks in the cement, that seem to be widening! (see photos!).

Took a taxi to the Corniche last night, and ate at a fabulous restaurant....seafood, indian and Lebanese food. On the walk back, we were entertained by some fireworks just off the Corniche.
Got a rather wild ride back to the media village with 2 local qatari men in a van that were passing by! (but that's another story....)

Included a photo of my english/arabic keyboard! (click to enlarge),
and our (tired) tech support guys!!

Aspire Action