Halloween 2010 Doha Style

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Halloween Fun with Friends!

She had a great time and enjoyed sharing Halloween with our South African friends and with her British teacher and her kids as it was their first time Trick or Treating. Everyone had a great time and it was a little bit of home for all of the American kids and also for the people in the flats that decided to participate and hand out candy. So much fun!

In the pics are the ladies at the reception desk in our tower that just adore Ella and vice versa! They were so looking forward to seeing her dressed up as she had told them about it all week! Also in the pics are Hayley (her beloved teacher) and her kids Will (Ella's future husband) and Amelia (ADORABLE!) and another is the group (what was left of it by the last towers). We started off with about 30 and this was the last tower. Lastly are some of our friends from Texas that we speak so fondly of. We have all become family especially Ella with some of the older Texans who have left grandkids behind in the states. Ella has become the designated granddaughter to a several! She is glad to help! Of course they have helped her out because she misses her family so much too!

Turned out to be a great Halloween after all!! :)

A Night as a Mermaid!!

On to actual Halloween and Trick or Treating! Ella was Merliah and much to our surprise, her dress-up dress shrunk...actually our daughter has grown by leaps & bounds! She had some growing pains recently and I can see why! She has outgrown a lot of her clothes and now her Merliah dress was a tiny little dress...so...Mommy still let her wear it b/c I promised. But - she wore little shorts under it!

A Night as Hannah Montana!

So, my search paid off. Not only did I find the Pumpkin Carving, but we were also invited to a Halloween party thrown by fellow Americans and also worked out trick or treating with another American with some of the local towers. So we went from worried about having no plans to having lots!!

Next step...what could she be??? Costumes are hard to find here and when you do, they are expensive (compared to home) so the dress-up queen was told that I would buy a wig but not a costume. So she had said that she wanted to be Merliah the Barbie surfer turned Mermaid (from her favorite movie Barbie and a Mermaid Tale) and she has long blond hair. I had heard about a party store (yes, one in the whole city) and found it. The only one I found was a Hannah Montana one. She was excited to have the wig and then I could see the wheels turning...maybe she wanted to be Hannah instead. Well, she decided that she had 2 events to go to and she could dress up as 2 different people. So as hard as it might be to believe - the only thing I bought was the wig! This outfit and accessories are all from her closet. She had a blast being Hannah and the only time she took off the wig was while eating because it was getting in her food!! So we called her Miley during dinner...then she put it right back on! :) We made lots of new friends and had a great time!

And Other Fun Stuff While at The Ritz...

So...we didn't just carve pumpkins while there. Ella also decorated cupcakes & cookies. While there she also made some friends with kids from all over the world that have all relocated to Doha. We even wandered around the property and we amazed at how beautiful it was. With all of the grass,trees and ocean views, it was easy to forget that we were in the desert!

Learning the Art of Pumpkin Carving!

I had the challenge of finding a way to celebrate Halloween so that Ella wasn't missing out on anything from home. That is always my thought. She is missing her family & friends back home and I don't want her to miss out on anything else! So luckily I joined the Doha Mums group who all want to help each other and are actually able to accomplish things with over 800 expat mommies working together. So they had this event and I signed us up!

I took Ella to the Pumpkin Carving at the Ritz Carlton in Doha. The kids got a pumpkin to carve, lessons on to how to do that from the chef and his assistants, lunch and treat decorating stations. We had a great time and Ella got a bit of home. Sure, we are missing out on football (not soccer) games, bonfires, pumpkin patches and such but we found a way to get some fall over here....even if it was about 100 degrees that day!!

Ella's Cool Bracelet from the Soque

From the time that Matt arrived in Doha and took his first trip to the traditional outdoor market, he knew that there was a stand that Ella would love. He was right! There is a jewelry-maker who will make your bracelet right in front of you. He is most definitely an artist and watching him do his work is mesmerizing! Ella picked her colors (black base with pink, gold and sparkles) and then watched in amazement. She wears her bracelet every chance she gets!