Colorado- where it's COLD outside

After we flew to Colorado in the early morning,  we hit the ground running.  Our first stop... Starbucks so we could enjoy our favorite specialty coffee drink (and to help keep us awake throughout the day).  We then headed to the movie theater to fill our morning up with a movie for Gavin to enjoy.  We saw Puss & Boots, which Gavin quickly became attached to the cat who wears a hat, boots, & has a sword.  The moment we arrived at Pawpaw & Gammy's house, Gavin found some boots and a sword and didn't take them off the entire time we were there.  Miles slept throughout the entire movie-- perfect timing for his nap- he didn't make a peep.

It took us the entire visit (5 days) to recuperate from jetlag.  This jetlag experience wasn't nearly as bad as the round this summer, but mainly because Brooks was here with us and a HUGE help-- not to mention we each could take turns with one kid at a time during the night.  The boys would normally wake up around 2am or 3am and we would let them play quietly in our bed for a while and wait until a more appropriate time to whisk them out of the house (to keep them from waking anyone else up during the night) and we would head to Walmart, drive around town, pick up Starbucks, and then we always ended at McDonald's when it opened to let the kids play on the playground & eat breakfast until we could head back to Brooks' dads house around 8am.  The boys truly did GREAT handling jetlag throughout our trip and really never let it affect them regarding their behaviors.  They went with the flow, were very adaptable, and would just fall asleep wherever we were, whatever we were doing.  The hardest part would be waking everyone up after their afternoon naps- that was tough, but we always managed to get out and about in the evening to help keep everyone awake!  

We didn't let jetlag affect any of our time in Colorado and spent the entire visit having fun.  We took Gavin lots of different places to get new experiences and to get to be a kid!  Our second stop of the trip was the Colorado Train & Railroad Museum.  You all know Gavin LOVES trains and he thought he was in heaven.  There were trains EVERYWHERE.  He got to ride on a real train and go around on train tracks, he climbed into every type of train there is and pressed all kinds of buttons, pulled on levers, found the trains whistles, opened windows, etc.  If it was on the train... he found it, touched it, opened it, looked at it, used it.  Everything!  It was awesome!  You never would have known it was cold outside because of how much he was running around having fun.  We're so glad we took him to gain this experience.  He talked about the trains for days!!!  

 

  

 We also spent some time visiting Brooks' grandparents, who are both now in nursing homes.  This was a huge blessing for us and we were so grateful they both got to meet Miles for the first time.  We've skyped with them since he was born,  but they actually got to hold him and love on him, and on Gavin.

 

Gavin got to open a few early Christmas presents.  The rest will greet him in Saudi once we get back. He loves his new batman watch and the Cars 2 movie!  Thanks Pawpaw and Gammy.

Before our trip ended, we headed to the Denver Children's Museum to let Gavin explore, run around, play, and be a kid!  He loved it.  There was so much to do and each one of us adults took a turn in an area with him and it was perfect!  These are the types of things that living overseas, you really take for granted that you have this stuff available back home.  We miss these opportunities and are so thankful we can take advantage of them when we're home.  Gavin got to be a fireman, a painter, a scientist (he made bubbles- it was awesome), was a mouse in a forest, a veterinarian, a builder, shopped in a grocery store, played with trains, shot rockets, and more.  Miles even had some fun playing in the forest, watching a puppet show, and even wanted to be an animal at the vet hospital.  He literally climbed into one of the cages.  It was hilarious.  While Gavin was making and building his own helicopter out of recycled products, Juli and I took Miles down to the infant area and let him crawl around and play on things that were more his size.  He had a blast and took off the moment I put him down.  It was a perfect area for him and he had a ball.

 
 
 

We loved our time in Colorado and were so glad we could spend some time with Brooks' dad and Juli.  Brooks got to eat out at some of his favorite restaurants, we went to a few more movies... Breaking Dawn for me and some super hero movie for Brooks.  Movie Theaters-- something else we miss having in Saudi.  Juli and I spent an afternoon shopping here and there and just enjoyed visiting.  We went to a wedding shower for one of Juli's daughters, church- where we shared a little of our life in Saudi and what God's been doing, and had a family get together at an Indian Restaurant Brooks misses and always talks about.  It was great fun!

We also got to visit with some close friends as well who we only get to see once a year or once every two years.  We visited with Brooks' college friend, Brad, his wife Jolene and their 3 boys (including a newborn Nicholas who was only a few weeks old!  Precious).  Brad was in our wedding and was a big part of Brooks life during college and we just love getting to spend time with them.  They are a sweet, sweet family!   I'm so upset I forgot to take a picture with all of us at the local pizzeria eating.  The older boys got to go outside and play on a big statue/rock yard outside the restaurant and enjoyed playing together.  It was a perfect afternoon!

We also got to visit with Brooks' high school basketball coach who was a HUGE influence in Brooks' life and someone Brooks has always kept in touch with over the years.  They have two boys and a girl and we had a blast visiting and catching up with them at a local mall.  I want to be like his wife when I grow up-- she's so calm and relaxed with her kids.  It's amazing.  The kids got to ride a carousel and took a train ride around the mall (literally) while us adults caught up on what's going on in our lives!  It was great visiting and hearing all about their new adventures.  We miss seeing them, but are grateful for the time we had.  Once again, forgot to take a picture.

Colorado was great and we had a wonderful time spending time with family and friends!

Our next adventure... Lake Charles for Thanksgiving then off to Baton Rouge for the LSU Game.

We made it to the USA

To say the last few days have been a whirlwind would be an understatement.  I'm so grateful that in living the life as an expat, I've adapted to the idea that our lives have to consist of flexibility, willingness to go with the flow, accepting things may be tough, but ultimately in this season in our lives.... you just have to do what you have to do.  So, that's what we've bee doing.

Wednesday, November 16th 10:30pm:  Brooks and I zip up the last of 7 suitcases, 2 carryons, a diaper bag, and Gavin's backpack and set it all at our front door.

Thursday, November 17th 1:35am: wake up, NOT TO AN ALARM, realize we were suppose to leave for the airport 35 minutes ago and frantically jump out of bed, load the boys, their car seats, and all our luggage in the car waiting outside our house and take off to the airport (around 1:42am).

We arrived at the Damman airport around 3:15am, get checked in, go to the restrooms, and wait in the customs line for what seemed FOREVER.  Made it through customs after I jumped into a line I wasn't suppose to and hoped and prayed the man would have mercy on us traveling with little kids.  He did, even though he didn't want to.  We made it to the business lounge (just a small perk of flying internationally so many times) took a break, got situated, then boarded our plane to Doha around 5:25am.

We landed in Doha, Qatar at 6:30am.  Both the boys did great on that one hour flight and were easy to entertain.  We weren't really worried about that flight- considering we had a 16 hour flight a head of us.  We found a stroller in the Doha airport, loaded Miles and some of our bags and took off for the Silver Lounge to grab some breakfast, use clean restrooms, regroup, then off we went to the playground to let the boys run around and play!  We love the playground at Doha.  It's perfect for the boys and just what they need.  Plus, it gave Brooks and I the chance to not entertain the boys for a little while.  We were going to have plenty of that on board our next flight!

About 8:20am we headed to board our flight from Doha to Houston.  Since Miles is under one years old and considered an infant, we get bulk head seats which allow for more leg room and an area to attach a baby bassinet to the wall so he can sleep, not in our arms.  We boarded our flight and were on our way to the USA at 9:00am.  Keep in mind at this point, we had all been awake the entire night-- so sleeping is allowed for anyone until we board the long flight.  It's just a rule we have hoping it will help everyone sleep longer and better on the flight.

Our 16 hour flight went GREAT.  The boys did amazing.  We let them move around in the emergency exit area when flight attendants weren't around.  Gavin watched movies and took a nap on the floor below mine and Brooks' feet.  Miles napped, ate, played, crawled around and was entertained.  There were only 2 rounds of restlessness where both boys were awake and Brooks and I were doing everything we could to keep them calm, entertained, and just happy.  Since I'm pregnant and have a little more freedom to walk around and be up more often that helped a ton with the boys.  It gave us more reasons and excuses to be up and about.  I loved getting to travel with Brooks.  He just makes things easier and keeps me calm-- not that my friend Steph who I've been traveling with the last few trips doesn't make things easier, but the boys just love having their daddy around and he always knows just what to do!!

Thursday, November 17th 3:35pm we landed in Houston!  WOO HOO!!  We made it through customs and got all of our baggage by 4:30pm. We were welcomed by my mom who was patiently awaiting our arrival and was greeted by two very excited little boys ready to see her.  My brother Bryan, sister in law Anna, and their two kids David and Audrey also came to see us!  It was a sweet moment and we were so thankful to have made it home.

6:00pm (after being awake nearly 24 hours) we made it to Lupe Tortiallas and had a delcious mexican meal filled with queso, chips and salsa, and fajitas.  YUMMY.  You just have no idea how much you can miss Mexican food.

9:15pm we arrived at the Holiday Inn Hotel near Hobby airport where we repacked some of our luggage, got the boys ready for bed and took a short 5 hour "nap" before leaving the hotel at 4:30am to head to Hobby Airport.

Friday, November 18th, 4:45am- arrive at Hobby Airport, check in to our flight and head to Denver, Colorado.

8:15am- arrive in Denver, Colorado to spend 5 days with Brooks' dad Geary and his wife Juli.

Whew.  Long trip, but totally worth it!  See you all soon!

Dress Up at School

Gavin's been learning about animals for the past month at school.  His class had a farm animal theme and jungle animals theme.  Every Wednesday they have show and tell and he was able to bring in his favorite farm animal- a horse and his favorite jungle animal- a monkey.  Last Wednesday was dress up like an animal day for Show and Tell.  We did not have any kind of animal outfit and I didn't have time to order one and ship it to us in time.  So, I decided I would dress him up in his only tshirt that had the picture of an animal on it and I fought terrible that he wasn't going to fully participate in dressing up like I would have wanted him to.  His friend, Devin's mom didn't have an outfit for Devin either so we just accepted that it wasn't going to work out this go around for our boys.

As we were walking out the door to load up in the car, I remembered that we had some animal towels upstairs in the boys bathrooms.  I ran upstairs and grabbed two- one lion and one monkey.  I quickly gave them to the boys (Gavin and Devin) and told them this was their show and tell dress up.  They loved it and Letty and I felt some kind of relief that our boys would be dressed up as something.  The boys were ecstatic the entire ride to school and were so proud of their "outfits".  They were pretty cute.  Letty and I actually figured there would hardly be many kids dressed up due to the limited availability of dress up clothes around Saudi.  Well... we were wrong on that one.  Had I not found those animal towels, our boys would have been 2 of 6 kids out of 37 not dressed up.  EVERYONE had a costume and a real costume.. not fake or made up.. we're talking two & three piece outfits.  Some kids even had make up on their faces for whiskers and all. Oh well, thankfully Gavin was dressed up in something and loved it.  

 

Boy (n): A Noise With Dirt On It

                                    

 

Dirt is a major thing around here that never goes unnoticed or gets neglected.  These boys can play in dirt anytime, anywhere, and can never get enough of it.  

Miles is 10 months Old

I'm doing my best to stay caught up with Miles' monthly updates.  Our little guy turned 10 months old two weeks ago and has been exploring lots of new things.  He can now stand up on his own, without wanting to sit down immediately.  He drinks from a sippy cup and has been trying to take a few steps here and there.    It has been so much fun watching him grow up and try new things. You can tell he gets excited when he's able to stand up for a long time period without holding onto anything.  It's cute.  

To say that Miles is getting into things would be a major understatement.  He's still into climbing objects and tries to get as high as he can on something.  Miles loves being outside and in the dirt.  Being outside in the dirt is probably the one place where he doesn't need/want Brooks or I to be around.  He's content and willing to entertain himself without us around.  

Miles has also started showing major signs of independence... when it comes to eating-- he'd prefer to hold food himself or put the spoon in his mouth himself.  He'd much rather table food then baby food, but is still willing to eat the baby food- thank goodness. Miles has decided he'd rather climb the stairs then be held when going up.  The only problem is we're not ready for that!!  We're planning on keeping the gate on the stairs up, but have learned we have to make sure it stays closed.  Miles is fast and always looks to see whether it's open or not.  He's pretty proud of himself if he makes it through the gate before we can close it.  

**Pause my music to hear Miles squeal with excitement at his accomplishment!  

 
 Trying a sippy cup for the first time and standing up on his own.

 
 Practicing walking with daddy.

Helping himself to some crackers in the pantry-- told you he's independent. 

Fun Weekend

Brooks got Thursday AND Friday off of work last week so we took advantage of having him around the entire weekend and loved every minute of it.  We went bowling at our rec center one morning and had a blast!  Gavin loved getting to throw the bowling ball and he was so proud of himself that he could lift it all by himself and carry it to the lane.  Brooks tried teaching him how to bowl the right way, but Gavin didn't care.  I even took a shot at bowling, but after throwing the ball just once, my belly hurt so I turned in my bowling shoes and cheered the others on.

 

 

 

Friday afternoon we spent some time on the beach.  The weather has been amazing lately, it's actually enjoyable to be outside.  Brooks and Gavin played out in the water; Brooks took out his snorkel gear and attempted to look for fish.  Miles ate sand.  Okay, so maybe he played in it too, but he mostly ate it.