Italian Air Show

So over the Veteran's Day weekend, the Italian Air Force Acrobatic Team and Qatari Display Team held an airshow.  What is Italy's Tricolori Aerobatic Display Team? Well let me show you.

Danger Plane Maneuvers with pretty Italian flag colored smoke!

The second day of the show was on Sunday, which while normally a work day Richard had it off due to the holiday (but kiddos were in school). It rained that afternoon, so the show was delayed. We opted to enjoy it from the comfort of our top floor balcony as oppose to dealing with crowds in the rain.

The planes were colored white/gray on one side and blue on the other side, but both sides had the Italian flag colors painted onto the planes.

Apparently, plane #2 called out sick that day...lol.

Ok, so maybe our porch viewing point removed some depth of field...but makes for a more unbelievable photo!

Zip and zooming every which way.

Wait for me guys!

It was a nice relaxing, crowd free air show (and the kids got home from school while we were up on the porch and caught the last few minutes of it).

Monday's Moment: Windy Day - Perfect Flower Bowl Conditions

Monday's Moment: I learned to Ice Skate in the Desert....

Monday's Meowment: Catmas Wreath

Monday's Moment: When all you want is a nice group selfie.....

Dinner Rolls

Growing up, every year at Thanksgiving (and possibly Christmas and Easter), my Aunt Shirley would make dinner rolls. So light, yummy, and easy to go back for seconds. Before Shirley passed away to ovarian cancer, she taught me how to make the rolls. The recipe was one of a few that my grandmother, Mae, had taught her. Sadly, I never met Mae as she too lost her battle with cancer when my mom was only 15.

Here is a photo of Mae and her 4 youngest kids (she had 11 kids). Shirley is the younger girl and my mom is the older girl. What's scary - I know there is a photo of me around my mom's age here where I'm making the exact same face!! Strong genes!

Now that you can put a face to the legends. Here's how to make their yummy Yeast Rolls!

Ingredients:

In large bowl:                                                                               In 2 cup measuring cup or small bowl:

2 cups boiling water                                                                     1/4 cup warm water

6 tablespoons butter                                                                     1/4 teaspoon sugar

1 tablespoon salt                                                                          2 packages Rapid Rise Yeast

1/3 cup of sugar                                                                    

Save for later:

                                                                      2 eggs, beaten                                                                      

                                                                     ~5 cups All-Purpose Flour

Directions:

Mix the items in the respective bowls per ingredient list. When water is cool and yeast is to top of cup (or tripled in size - see photo). 

To the large bowl, add 2 slightly beaten eggs, yeast mixture, and 5 cups all-purpose flour, gradually. You may need slightly more/slightly less flour. You want the dough to be sticky not gummy. Cover and set in fridge for at least 3 hours. Use as you as need, dough will be good for up to 1 week. (This was the dough after sitting in the fridge for two days).

Knead 1/2 dough at a time adding flour until you can roll out to about 1/2 inch thick. Cut out biscuit-size and place 1/2 inch apart in a greased pan. Let rise until twice their size on a warm surface (usually 1 to 1.5 hours).

Bake for about 15 minutes at 375°F. Can freeze for later use.

I only make these occasionally because it makes such a huge quantity, this year I sent three pans worth in with Clarissa for her class party. The rest were perfect for Thanksgiving dinner and leftovers.

Major Perk for Third Culture Kids

So I'm not sure if I've ever used the term Third Culture Kids (TCK).....you can head to Google for all the nuts and bolts, but basically it is a kid who is brought up living in a culture other than their parents/passport.

Exhibit A & B:

As result of our lives overseas, Mason & Clarissa are TCKs! Their childhoods are much different than mine/Richard's. While we celebrate American holidays...it's not quite the same. Along the way, they are also picking up traditions from our host countries. So they are ending up with traditions that are a mix of 'home' & host countries making a 'unique to them' culture...aka a third culture. 

Life as a TCK will have its ups and downs, but I think the biggest up is being able to explore the world. We try to do as much regional travel wherever we are calling home for the time being. Of course this travel has to work around school schedules....which brings me to schools. Our experience so far has shown, international schools have a knack at really fostering independence and exploration in TCKs. In Fiji, starting in third grade, the students would spend time away at camps in remote villages (year 6 and year 7) or entirely different islands (year 8). The students were split into groups and had to plan all their own meals for the 3-5 days they were gone. Seems daunting (they were not gourmet meals - canned spaghetti, fruit & toast) but it was a life skill that was great to learn. Here in Doha, only middle school students participate in 'Week without Walls'. So with the hemisphere switch and having to restart the grade, Mason had the opportunity to participate in the year 8 trip....which goes to Sri Lanka!! Right before Thanksgiving, he got packed up and I took him to the airport. 

I gave him a hug and sent him on his way with his travel leader, 9 other classmates, and his passports to another country. (They had 2 locations in Sri Lanka - so each drop off was about 75-80 students....organized chaos at it's finest!).

While they were gone, we got a nightly update of what the students had been up to. Mason was in the group that went to Borderlands up in the jungle of Sri Lanka. Everyday he woke up to views like this.

He went white water kayaking.

The group took lots of long hikes up steep hills (with leeches and all on the paths). 

These hikes allowed them to visit the ruins of an old temple built in a rock wall

and reenacted a movie scene in a waterfall.

They volunteered at a local school,

learned about the local culture and traditions,

did some 'outside of their comfort zone activities',

saw lots of creepy crawly critters,

as well as, some really cool animals!

A week later, I am back at the airport (arrival time was 12:45 am....after customs and baggage claim it was pushing 2:00 am) and he's back! He made some new friends on the trip.

Our household luggage inspector detected some odd odors.

And just like that our TCK has a passport stamp in his passport that the rest of us don't.

Also - big shout out to all the teacher photos that showed how amazing his trip was. I have more but tried to only select the ones without other students being real recognizable.