2 months!

Hi Everyone!  Donna here, and yes it has been 2 months since we got to Saudi Arabia.  There is so much to tell so I will start at the beginning.  After finally getting everything packed and shipped which I believe was my last post, we had the plane ride.  Now this was something I had been fearing would be so disastrous and horrible for the simple fact that it was at least 14 hours in the air with a 6 year old and a 2 year old.  I readied myself like I was going into battle.  I packed blankets and neck pillows for us all....coloring books, crayons,  books, snacks, extra clothes, pull-ups, wipes, and of course, all the valuables were with us as well.  I had the laptop, camera for the tv to skype with, my jewelry, our passports and other important documents all packed into our carry-ons.  My carry-on weighed about 42 lbs and I will NEVER do that to myself again! After dealing with the evil stewardess at baggage claim who freaked me out by saying my bags had to be under 50 lbs for this international flight, I had another sweet one who checked me in and yes, we were well under the 70 lb. limit which is for business class.  Since I had 6 huge suitcases to check in that would have been very costly!  The first short flight to DC was great.  It was the first time in the air for both girls and they were excited to say the least.  Both had window seats and it was fun.  We get to DC and I look for Qatar Airways and check in with them and the guy tells me we can go down to this lounge and eat for free since we are business class.  Let me just stop right here and say "Qatar Airways ROCKS".  From that moment on we were like Rockstars!  Now for some of you,  business class may be the norm, but for us , we fly in the cheap seats!  When we got back from eating, there was a huge line and I was not happy but we only stood in it for about 2 minutes before this man came and ushered me to the short line for bus.cl.  We get on and it was like a scene out of Pan Am.  The stewardesses in their cute little outfits and hats waiting on us hand and foot.....hot towel, cold towel, newspaper, slippers....even little Piera had to have her "cold towel".  Needless to say, I didn't use anything I had packed.  We were given blankets, pillows,  even pajamas if we wanted, and the seats turned into flat long beds.  Since we took off at 11pm,  Piera went to sleep about 30 minutes into the air.  YAY!  Mahala joined her an hour or 2 later, I did as well.  I slept maybe 6 hours which was pretty good I thought.  Piera slept til almost 7 so I thought went great.  The rest of our journey was great too.  In Qatar when we landed, they took us to a terminal with this gorgeous lounge complete with a spa.  I was truly wanting to ditch the kids for an hour and get a massage but no one would take them ;)  It is when you get to Dammam that you know you are not in Kansas anymore!