The Way to Surprise Me

Brett finally figured out how to keep a secret from me and that is to have it right out in the open. A few weeks ago he started a painting of our grandsons playing in the Colorado snow and told me that it was going to be for his office. As I watched him paint I fell in love with the sweet paint curves of Kimball's cheeks and the delicate strokes of Thomas' long eyelashes. I tried my best to talk him into keeping this one at home on our wall, but Brett was adamant about his need to have some of his own art hanging on his office wall.

I don't know why that wasn't a dead giveaway to his real designs, but I believed him with no questions in my mind. Then my birthday came, and even though I knew Brett had finished the painting the day before, I was still very surprised to see it on display when I came down for breakfast in the morning. Even then I just made a comment about how beautiful it was. Brett had to come right out and say, "Well, it's your birthday present. Happy Birthday!"

I was shocked and so surprised. He had finally done it - kept a secret from me. After the initial excitement with my new treasure I immediately thought of the few times I offerred my critiques of the painting when I had stepped into the creation zone during the whole process. I had suggested a little more definition in Kimball's chin or other very uneducated comments. And Brett had borne it without complaint. In fact, he always thanked me for my shamless suggestions! Oh, how could I have been so . . . so . . . pompous! It truly is a remarkable painting and I want to thank my talented husband again for giving of himself to me in this way. And I must say that Kimball's chin is perfect, don't you think?

Middle Eastern Fun Like No Other

Have you ever wondered what an amusement park looks like in the Middle East?  Well, here is one example.  This is the gloriously UNfamous Gondolania in Doha that is housed inside the Villagio Mall - yes, indoors is the only place you can find a roller coaster in this hot desert.  Villagio is a Venice, Italy themed mall complete with painted cloud ceilings and a canal where you can float in a gondola and have all the abaya-clad ladies stare at you while they shop at Dolce & Gabbana - but that is another blog post.

We went to Gondolania for the first time over the Eid break in September because desperate times call for desperate measures.  Two other families joined us and it almost felt like a real holiday outing, complete with KFC thanks to Axel.

 

The fun started at the climbing ball maze so the adults watched as the kids got lost in their own little chaos.  We only had the occassional interruption for bathroom breaks.  Then it was off to the races for the dads.  Brett, Axel, and Karl climbed into miniature race cars and played make believe for about thirty minutes. This is probably one of Brett's highlights of Doha so far with only the Islamic Museum of Art and Dunebashing ahead of that. 

 

 

Terah and Afton help cheer on the men.

 

Abbey and Heavah enjoyed this ride the most.



One of my favorite parts of the day was watching the abayas fly up and down and hear the screams of these usually very quiet women. Yes, there are some odd adventures in our life these days.