Good Dad

At 5:30 in the morning on the kids' first day of school I was headed off to the driving school to take my road test.

Robert had to cover the first day of school mom duties including the oh-so-important first day pictures.  Not bad, dad...

They're off to a great start and loving their new school.  Jack will be starting soon.  Woohoo!

A Letter...

Dear Grammy,

We know you start thinking about Christmas gifts about this time of year and we wanted to help you out and make a few, well, four, suggestions. We did our research because we're responsible grandkids.  These cars are REAL!  They are made of steel with rubber tires and run on gasoline.  We're pretty sure they have seat belts which is good because we will definitely be safe drivers.  They are a good price at only 90,000QR ($24,000USD).  That is WAY less than a full size version.

You have a few months to consider this. Just being helpful :)

Sincerely,
Your lovely Ricker grandchildren

7 Person VW Jetta Taxi

Let the record show that we WERE NOT the most unsafely loaded vehicle on the road. Big 'ol SUVs here tote a dozen kids bouncing about like popcorn.  This is particularly horrifying as the roads are about as safe as a piranha bath.

Our First Qatar Expedition

We've been here now 6ish weeks.  It's about time we start exploring!

About an hour north of us is the little town of Al Thakhira.  Our quest? Find the mangroves.
The best I could do were directions from a couple of different random blogs.  They contained things like "go right on the second round about past the Indian saloon and then go until you see a curb and then take the second left onto the semi paved road which leads you to the mound in the sand where you go straight through the gap in the wire fence".  Now, we've been in Doha long enough to have this make some amount of sense as nothing is adequately identifiable without a good amount of adjective support.  Needless to say, we went, ran out of road, turned on the 4 wheel drive, and prayed we wouldn't get stuck.

Well, good thing we didn't get stuck, lost, buried in quick sand because there was no one around for miles!

So, the mangroves.  The mangrove ecological function is considered the 2nd most productive ecosystem in the world.  It's job? Absorbing CO2.  It is protected and endangered with 70% of the coastal mangrove forests here in Qatar depleted.

Mangrove trees produce these...

 ...Which then fall into the soft mud below and start to sprout...

 ...into these little trees that begin popping out of the clear cool water.

 On our way back into town (i.e. paved roads and such) we stopped here at what I can only find called Bandit Cliffs.  Fun to play Wild Wild West, or, eh, Wild Wild East?

 Sandy, salty, and sweaty, we headed home.

Because I Can...

...So I totally did!

Working on updating the blog layout and cover picture and needed our WHOLE family represented :)

For reference, here's the original:

Makes me smile :)