Sakhalin Bonfire

The 2nd Annual Sakhalin Bonfire was lit on November 7.  The guys in charge of it worked for several weeks to get all of the wood cut and the bonfire built.  The bonfire was a mini-replica of the Texas A&M Aggie Bonfire, but since Olympia is such a diverse community, it was set up to include everyone.  A few of the ladies painted the outhouse, which goes on the top of the stack.  It had all of the college and university logos from our community painted on it.  Here are some pictures:

The bonfire stack

Adam and the fire

All lit up

Amanda and Adam

Family pic....don't you just love Adam's face?

All the Aggies with an Exxon Neftegas sign

Another picture of it lit up

Aggie Bonfire - Sakhalin style

Tonight we went to the Aggie Bonfire...in Sakhalin!  Yes, I know this is a bit early for it...it is supposed to take place before the Texas game.  However, many people are going to be away for either vacations or business trips during that time, so they decided to have it early.  There are several Aggies here in our compound, and the men all got together and built this miniature version of the real thing...complete with an outhouse on top!   I thought they might cancel it since it rained so hard today, but apparently that didn't have any effect on it...it burned just fine!  It was pretty cold out tonight, so gathering around a fire sounded good to me.  And Adam was excited for another chance to get out in the snow.  Shane had to work late, but made it before the fire died down.  

The completed bonfire earlier today

A few of us in a group picture before the big event

Lighting it up...

Adam all decked out in his snowsuit

All ablaze

Mommy and Adam in front of the fire

Hanging out and watching the action

Amanda and Dee 

(my welcomer and source of info before we moved here)

Adam goofing around with David

Shane showed up at the end, and it started snowing again

Wow, 10 years!!!

Our 10th wedding anniversary is tomorrow!  I can hardly believe that we have been married that long!  In 10 years, we have lived in 7 residences, 3 cities, and 2 countries.  I recently took a trip down memory lane and went through all of our pictures from the last 10 years.  I put our scanner to work and now have all of these photos on our Picasa site.  I also scanned in photos from our wedding album.  To view the wedding album, click here.  For the other album, click here. 

Thai Festival

For a Mother's Day outing, I went to the Thai Festival at the Intercontinental Hotel with a friend of mine.  Since it was a "school night", Shane stayed home with Adam.  There were Thai chefs, music and dancers.  Thai food is my new favorite food, so it was good to try all the different dishes.   I still think the Thai Snack House is the best Thai food in Doha, but it was a great time and good to have a night out!

Spring Fling!

Our table - Whitney, Russell, Shane, Amanda, Cheryl, Derrick, Susan and Gerry (in the back)

We went to the Pegasus Club's Spring Fling last night. It was held at the Diplomatic Club, which we have always heard was nice, but just never been. It was right on the water, and held mostly outside, so fortunately the weather was pleasant. It has been reaching to about 38C (100 F!) here lately, so we really didn't know what to expect. The evening was fun, but the only problem was the food. Everyone was under the impression that dinner was going to be served, but all they served was appetizers. There was a lot of moaning and groaning about that, but once they turned on the music, everyone hit the dance floor and forgot about it. We had a great time, got to meet a lot of new people, and had a grown-up night out without the little man!

Texas A&M Boot Scoot

Shane and I at our table

Our table (Steve, Stephanie, Mike, Amanda, Shane, Carrie and Ross)

Stephanie and Mike

Stephanie, Carrie, and Amanda


Mariah and Shane

Mariah and Steve with their "door" prize

Amanda and Shane showing off their T-shirt

We went to the annual Texas A&M Boot Scoot last night at the Intercontinental Hotel. Most of our friends were there....unfortunately there were some that weren't able to get tickets. :( The food was pretty good, for tex-mex in Doha anyway. The margaritas were very good - probably too good if you know what I mean! Shane and I got to dust off our dancing shoes and do a little two-stepping...but no line dancing, thank you! Our friends won the door prize, which was in fact a door! I think they are still in shock over it! There was a silent auction, so I bid on a few of the t-shirts, hoping that I would be victorious - and I was! I think I now have a grand total of 2 Aggie t-shirts. I know, I'm a 2-percenter! Overall it was a great night and I am glad that we went through all that hassle with the "Aggie Mafia" to get tickets!

More pictures from St. Andrew's

These pictures were taken by one of the other couples at our table. I thought the one of Shane and I was pretty good. He also got a some good pictures of the band and Samantha and Rob (by the way, she still has not had the baby).

St. Andrew's Ball

We were invited to the St. Andrew's ball on Thursday night by our friends Rob and Samantha. It was very interesting - and fun! We were able to do some of the dances, although not very well! The best part was getting to dress up in our formal attire!

Pink Party

I was invited to a Pink Party at the Ramada hotel benefiting the Qatar Cancer Society. October is Breast Cancer Awareness month, hence all the pink. Well, you know me, I don't wear pink. So my friend Gill got us these little feather boas. It was a great night and I met a lot of great people. After the Pink Party was over, we found the Oktoberfest celebration and joined in the fun there!