Autoshow Doha Qatar 2016

Kids and I had a fun field trip to the Doha Autoshow 2016 and we really enjoyed. I am not a car crazy person, and nor do I  know much about them. So I handed the group leadership to AR, who gave us an awesome tour of the Autoshow and was a phenomenally patient guide.

It was a fun day Alhumdulillah and we really enjoyed and learned a lot. Really, we did! AR didn't just help us increase our knowledge about cars but I was amazed at how patiently he was explaining all the details to me and his sister. He taught me the real meaning of patience when teaching, MashaAllah. Oh and he literally interviewed every representer of each company/brand.

I feel children have much to offer and teach us if they are given the chance too and if we observe mindfully. Sadly though very so often we fail to do that.

Let's try to be more mindful parents!

Alhumdullilah had a wonderful time.

Interviewing the representer!

Horse Championship

The Racing & Equestrian club of Doha, held a Horse Racing Championship. Alhumdullilah we got to go watch. Kids really enjoyed the experience and learned a lot about a new sport. Our youngest S loves horses but was scared to ride one and mashaAllah (by the will of Allah) his Baba helped and guided him through his fear...and he got over it Alhumdulillah. So by the end of it, he didn't want to get off of the horse.

Empowering and inspiring moment for H when she saw a female participant, who came 6th

Best part, boys got to pray Isha salah behind the 2nd place winner from Qatar.

We're back!

Bismillah,

Assalamualikum wa rahmatullahe wa barakatuhu

It's been a looooong time! The last few months have been very busy and full of Summer fun. We were on summer vacation in Toronto, Canada, and now back home and settled and in a rhythm Alhumdulillah. As most of our time was spent outdoors, running errands and meeting friends and families, I had no time to blog. As much as I missed it at times but everything kept me so busy. I am happy to be back and blogging.

Alhudmulilalh, after all the unpacking, we a back in our daily rhythm. The beauty of having a rhythm in life is, it can travel with you where ever you go (at least some parts). This was one thing that really helped me in on our vacation too. Although it was not always easy, but if we did some of our main activities, like the morning circle, our bedtime ritual even if they were a  condensed version. the kids were much more collected, calm and content on those days. The days we would miss them it would be totally apparent in there behavior.

Lakeshore! Miss it!

A small herb garden in Royal Botanical Gardens

Another wonder of Allah SWT's nature, Webster falls. no matter how many times you go there, it still  refreshing

Our road trip to Orlando in Pictures.

The Swan family we met while canoeing in a river in Ann Arbor,  Michigan

Peach Honey sticks we bought at a farmers market in Atlanta Georgia for a healthy sweet treat!

Ruby Falls in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The falls were a sign of Allah SWT Qudrah. SubhanaAllah  they are a beautiful. You have to walk in a cave for a mile and then the Fall comes. It was beautiful!

Gem and stone search at the Falls.

Children's Museum in Tampa, Florida

Animal Kingdom, this was the kids favorite place.

Animal Kingdom, we didn't want to take the kids to Disney, so we found other places.   Although Animal Kingdom is part of Disney, its still has a touch of nature.

This tree is 2000 years old 

Sea World

Fascinated by Dolphins as usual!

On the way back we drove through Washington and we stopped to see the Native Indian museum which had a really nice children's area where they had there own personal passports, they really enjoyed stamping there passports. We also went to the Natural History Museum and the Space Museum.

Natural History Museum

So this was a little picture summary of our summer trip. Of course there a lot of other things we did and places we went and people we met, it hard to remember and go through every thing. These were some main highlight of this Summer.

Ramadan prep, decor and family Eid gift exchange night is a huge part of our annual rhythm.

Until next post please remember us in your duas

I'm still here :)

Where have we been??

Well Alhumdulillah for the blessing of living in the KSA. (MashaAllah TabarakaAllah). We had our semester end break afew weeks back, so we decided to get on the road again to go to Makkah to do Umrah, we also spend time with my parents and did lots of field trips.

We did our usual route Tabuk -> Yanbu -> Makkah and on the way back Makkah-> Madinah -> Tabuk. For the drive we kept mostly the same things I posted about in Muslim Travelers Guide. The few different/added things we had this time were a thermos of Saudi Qahwa (coffee) for Baba and for me I had my same old sweet water thermos and a ziplock of my favorite herbal teas. Since it was a bit chilly the kids even enjoyed a cup of warm tea.

This time (just to make it a fun learning experience and implement the sunnah) I wrapped two of the kids not so favorite fruit and veges aside from a surprise toy. MashaAllah TabarakaAllah they truly enjoyed it and eat it! We also got to revise the Hadeeth and even H repeated the hadeeth after me. Kids learn so much from these little practical examples. It really doesn't require too much extra work, its all about our intention, meaning we want to teach them the importance of exchanging gifts. AR wrapped an orange for me and gave it to him as a gift the next day, the wrapper was his drawing too.

One more thing that we did different  this time was, focusing on the nature and what they can see outside the window. I tried to keep them engaged my saying things like.. "SubhanaAllah look at the amazing colors on that mountain... see how the sand changes colors... Look at the SHEEPS and the white Camels..." We kept saying Allah made all this. Eventually they started showing us things masahaAllah TabarakaAllah. It kept them busy for hours and I didn't even have to pull out the activity kit for a long time! We would look for the mosques and chant hurray for who so it. For H we told her to look for the moon on the minar of the mosque and before we knew it she was pointing at every "moon" and "maadeed" she could see, infact shes still doing that. MashaAllah TabarakAllah.

Around Makkah we got to visit some Islamic historical sites.  InshaAllah I'll be sharing the pictures of some of the places we went too. I was initially not going to share these but I thought it would be nice for those mommies who want to teach their little ones about the Islamic History and how they use to travel. (and learn themselves too) inshaAllah. Also, it would be a nice resource for those who live in Saudi to know where they can take their families.

I apologize before hand for not being able to gimp the photos since I have not been able to fix my laptop.

We took the kids to the different Hajj ground. This is the Mina Valley.

Masjid Nimra in Aaraf,

The mountain of Mercy 'Jabal-e-Rahmah'. We climbed it with AR because he really wanted to go up  and see it from the top.

I took the kids to Haram in the morning times as many times as  I could before the Umrah season opened. They just enjoyed running around freely without fearing that they would get lost. It was the best time MashaAllah TabarakAllah. 

Some pictures of the Jeddah Science Oasis at the Andalus Mall, it was really worth the trip. It was kinda sad to see how empty it was, although it was good for us. It was small but a good size for kids to enjoy and yet not get too tired. Most of the stuff was hands on.

This robot was nice... kids were a bit scared at first but then thay really enjoyed it.

Outside of one of the muesums in Jeddah. you can see masjed Aqsa, and the Haramain.

On the way to Taif from the top of the mountain.

The kids fed the monkeys bananas and tangerines. It was amazing to see how they peel the them so quickly

On top of Shifa mountain. It's the place where the Prophet saw went  when he was sick and when he saw came back he felt better. So the Arabs have named this place Shifa.

The mountain where they the Prophet SAW was stoned when he SAW when to the people of Taif to call them to Islam. There is also an masjed there which they say the place where he prayed, Allah knows best. I remember seeing it when we use to live in Taif.

Inside of the masjed

The fenced area you see here is said to be the farm where the he SAW had taken refuge and the slave man became muslim. 

A fort some say was built by Ali (r.a) and some say by the Turks. Sadly there are no description boards telling what the place but my dad knew these from the older Arabs living in Taif who have had these tales passed down to them by there ancestors.

The top of the tower. You can see the holes in the ball on the top, which makes it seem that it was used in wars as a  fort.

Souq Okaz. This is that market that the Propeht SAW talk about in a  Hadeeth. It's a market that's been there since 2000 years (they say). It located in a rollng dessert plain north of Taif. Now it opens once a year. Till this day people travel to visit this market from all over the kingdom. It was the most popular trade stop for the trade caravans. They carry all sorts of things, Scents (itars and incenses) , handmade and homemade gooddess of all sort, food, and traditional and non traditional clothes, dates, honey, different oils.

InshaAllah I will post the hadeeth as soon as I can find it. 

Courtyard of another museum we went to which was closed. 3 out of 3 museums we went to were closed. It was sad. One of them said if you have a group of 10 then you can go in. 

Baab Makkah (Makkah gate) area in Jeddah. Its just a historical site. There are homes building here that are made out of coral.

Coral buildings.

LOL This board was hilarious. I think its funny in English and Arabic

This was a quick 'break in pictures' for you all.

Summer in pictures

I am hoping to  get back in  routine inshaAllah. Its been super busy since we got back from our Vacation. InshaAllah I will be posting about all the different things we have been up to lately, and also reply to all your questions...if Allah SWT permits me too. Now, let me start off with telling you all a little bit about our trip. I think its always best to plan things before hand, this way you have a map of things to be done in your mind/paper/iphone/laptops, whatever it is that suits your way of life.

So, here we go...

Our Vacation started by visiting my brothers and their families in Riyad for a week. The kids had a great time, I got a chance to catch up with my sister in-laws after the kids were asleep. From there we headed off to London, England where we had planned to meet my in-laws, I think it was a great, fun reunion.

We had carefully planned our 4 days stay in London. We organized it such that we got to see all the that were special about London. Also, things that would interest kids and give then something to do. One thing I liked most about London was they had these healthy vegetarian sandwiches readily available everywhere (almost). And one thing that was very disappointing was the lack of wheelchair accessibility. From London we headed to our final destination...

Toronto! Alhumdulillah it was a busy and fun filled summer. We visited lots of places, did lots of things, ate lots of healthy and yummy foods and attended some playgroups with my friend from her Homeschooling group. Got to catch up with some good old friends (Alhumdulilah) and was not able to meet some due to the busy routine. We had a busy Ramadan, with fasting, Quran, taraweeh and iftaar invitations. By the end of the vacation we all just wanted a vacation from the vacation. Our flight back to KSA was on the third day of Eid, which was sad and super tiring. However, we were also happy that we would get to see my family too before Eid ends. Finally, home sweet home.

Here are some snapshots of another memorable summer vacation.

London, England

Science Museum
Kids at the science water center (left bottom corner)

Everytime we took the subway from this stop we would grab some fresh local fruits for  the day to snack on.

AR was excited to go on the London Eye. We all really enjoyed the ride.

SubhanaAllah Amazing Sea life at the London Aquarium. 

Jellyfish! AR would not move from this spot, he stood there for about 10 mins, we had to physically remove him from there due to the lineup behind us! He loves Sharks and Jellyfish.

Big Ben from London Eye.

Another beautiful view from London Eye.

Both the kids really enjoyed the bridges, especially when we would go under them on the tour boat.

We saw this bag of chips in london and found it very interesting,t he flavor was called "Norfolk bloody Mary"  

 ToRoNtO

One of the first things we did in Toronto was attended the Journey Of Faith conference, despite the fact that we were all summer tired we all really enjoyed ourselves. We ran into some of our friends and family.
MashaAllah all these bothers and sisters took Shahdah.

Kids @ Splash Park with their cousin "taaki"by my in-laws's apartment.

Niagara falls... been there many times but still its beautiful, as long as you don't turn around (to the busy market and restaurant street).

We went to Niagara and Birdkingdom with my younger brother. He was dressed in a thobe, so a man approached him and said "what do I have to do to wear this?" MashaAllah that brother was ready to take shahdah, but he wanted to do in a masjid. ALLAHU AKBAR! 

My father-inlaws BBQ,! He is a fun loving man, he was super excited to BBQ this year and was anxiously waiting for us come in summer.

Alhumdulillah I got a chance to attend this one day class, it was a beneficial reminder. I really wanted to gather some family and go over some important points but, time was too tight. Jazakallahu Khairan to my hubby and mother in-law who watched the kids, because of them I was able to go take the class.

Last 2 years all the men from my in-laws get together and go camping for a night. AR went with his Baba and Dada both years and really enjoyed himself.

We went to Muslim Fest for a few hours to check it out and eat!

We did a family Eid gift exchange on the 29th of Ramadan, it gets to rushy rushy on Eid day. We had lots of lovely, fun and educational gifts.