Eid Holidays start in... 5-4-3-2-Now!!!

Today is the start of Eid Holidays for the kids... I wonder why they have started their holidays this early when they are actually delayed already since they opened the school year two weeks late... Eid holidays don't officially start until around the 30th of August, and surely they could still do a lot of catching up in those few days before eid. The teachers say it was the owner's decision, so I guess they don't have any say in the matter :(
But then who's complaining?! Surely the girls are not! hahahaha! Just this morning they were very eager to start the holidays.. what was surprising is that, on the days that they had to go to school, it is always so hard to get them off of bed, but today they actually woke up so early... hmm... they said they wanted to see me and their dad off.. how sweet!

Now, since it's going to be a long break... I have to make sure that it would not be a hard adjustment for them when they finally go back to school. So we started with the ground rules. We had a "pocket meeting" last night on how they would go about their days during the break. First and foremost their "computer schedules". We only have one laptop in the house which we share. We do allow them "supervised internet time" each and for the holidays, it's just a matter of laying the groundwork for their timings. I have allowed each of the 2 elder girls 1 hour of internet games time per day, which they could use in one sitting or split in two, 30mins each in the morning and afternoon. Then movie time, they are allowed to watch 3 movies per day, 1 in the morning (from 9am-1pm), 1 in the afternoon (from 2-6pm) and 1 at night (from 7.30-11pm). They are allowed to a later bedtime during the holidays but of course it will have to be adjusted when it's nearer the school resumption, their standard school day bedtime is 9pm. Then, in order to avoid any tug-of-wars, I have also made a schedule for the 3 of them on who gets the chance to choose the movie (the Expat Daddy had downloaded more than a dozen of GP movies for them, all separated  into their own folders according to their requests). The Big Ate gets to choose the movie in the morning, the Small Ate in the afternoon and it's Ice Age time in the evening (well, that's the only movie our baby Oyen loves to watch, so it's definitely Ice Age every night! hahaha!).
For our family bonding activity, we have agreed to do them alternately, 1 day some in-house activities and then the other days for out of the house activities. Now that's one big task for me. Since it is still summer here in Qatar, I don't think any outdoor activity would be advisable during the day... so I guess the most we could do is visit the mall and the arcade, we'll try to go to the beach though --- if the girls can take the heat that is! hehe! I have also promised them that we would be buying their bikes at the end of the month, hoping that the weather would ease up a little and we could visit the parks in late afternoons. But of course we will also be trying our best to wake up very early one of these days to visit the Al Bida Park. The zoo would also be nice, well, if the animals would just wake up! The lions and most of the other animals at the zoo are just too old already and are always sleeping! During our last visit, all photos we have of the animals are either sleeping or lying down shots! haaayys! At least our Big Ate had her very unique zoo experience when the lion peed straight to her face when she was 3! hahaha! She loved that story and will always be proud of that! Well, who else have had that same experience anyway! :)
For our in-door activities, both the girls would like to do some baking... so we'll try doing that, with the help of Betty Crocker hahaha! Still a struggling baker so both I and the girls will have to learn it together :). They also plan to open the rest of the boxes of toys they've left when they relocated to the Philippines so that would be a lot of indoor play. And of course our review time will not be neglected. I still plan for them to open their books at least every other day so that we would be ready for their first quarterly exams after the holidays...
I'm not sure if there are any other parents who have requested for their pre-school children's books to be taken home. As for me, I have spoken to Small Ate's and Baby Oyen's teachers to request to take home their books. I told them that it's the only way for me to know what they have already been doing in the past month since the start of classes. That's also one thing I wonder... I mean, if it was up to me, i'd give the children a few assignments to do while on holiday so at least they won't forget their lessons and they can make productive use of their time during the holidays.
Oh well, guess in that aspect I'll just have to do what I think would be best for my girls to balance work and play during the holidays. But one thing's for sure we're all gonna love our time together, this is going to be one long chika-chika time for the PascuaFam!