We were able to travel home to the US for 3 weeks during December and January. It was really busy but also really fun. We feel like the first couple years of living overseas will be full of learning experiences to figure out how to travel internationally with 4 kids. We learned a lot on this trip alone! We left the KSA on December 23 at 1:00 a.m. and flew to London and then onto Dallas. We had a pretty short layover in Dallas but Steve (Allen's brother) and his family came to the airport to visit with us for about 30 minutes. It was a short time but we loved seeing them and it gave us a little energy boost to make the last leg of our journey to Portland.
Makenna and Lauren were thick as thieves the moment they were together. It was so cute to watch them chatting and giggling like no time had passed. Cousins are the best.
Allen, Steve and baby Ben who was leery of us but much loved!
I could tell as we were boarding the flight from Dallas to Portland that the people around us were not happy to see us board with 4 kids. I know people don't love to fly around kids normally but all 6 of us slept for the entire flight. Like didn't even stir. We were exhausted and were going on 40 hours of traveling.
My sis picked up in Portland and the kids were so excited to see their cousins. Emery crashed out as soon as we got her in the carseat. We knew that she was a little bit sick at that point and that she just needed sleep.
Christmas Eve morning started with a fun breakfast made by my nieces Brooklyn and Morgan. They made snowman and Santa pancakes for all the kids. You can see my sister's AMAZING new house in some of these pictures. It is a true dream home and every detail is so well thought out and beautiful.
After breakfast Allen took our older kids and the cousins ice skating. I stayed home with Emery who was very sick and grumpy and jet lagged. After ice skating Allen took her to the insta-care clinic and we found out she had strep. Poor thing was so so sick.
On Christmas Eve we acted out the Nativity with all the cousins. Again, my cute nieces did all the work of putting the costumes together for everyone.
I expected the kids to be up early on Christmas morning but they all slept in after a late night. (There was lots of giggling and talking late into the night on this trip and we just decided not to fight it.)
Christmas morning on the stairs. Emery was still feeling sick and wasn't very happy for most of the morning. It was a bummer because this was the first year she really understood Santa and Christmas. See how unhappy she is in this picture?
Our family before opening stockings. Santa left soooo many yummy treats that we can't get in Saudi that we had treats for the entire time we were in the US.
A rare happy moment from Miss E.
After LOTS of present opening this was the aftermath. It took us a few days to get everything cleaned up and put away.
Later that day the kids had a gingerbread house decorating contest and had a lot of fun eating the candy!
Emery spent most of Christmas day and the following days sick and asleep. The jetlag for the little girls was pretty brutal. It wasn't as bad as when we arrived in Saudi but they were up at all hours of the night for the first few nights. I can safely say I hate jet lag!
Addie succumbs to sleep at the dinner table!
Emery and Addie really love my niece Brooklyn and she spent so much time playing with them. She dressed them up in old dance costumes and taught them songs that they performed for us. I wish she could come live with me to be my little helper. She is awesome!
One fun treat is that our dear friends from Seattle came to visit us on the way home from Utah. We got to spend the entire day playing together and we all had the best time. We lived in the same neighborhood in Seattle and had kids the same ages and genders and the fact that we adore the parents, it was a match made in heaven. They are some of the best and most supportive friends we have ever had!
The kids were so happy to play with their cousins all day so Allen and I were able to run errands together. We did so much shopping while we were in the US. What most people don't understand about living here is that other than food shopping we really don't buy anything. Prices aren't that good and it's super inconvenient to get places and deal with prayer times. That means is that anything we wanted and needed for the previous 6 months was put on a list to buy in the US and we also had to try to anticipate anything we will need for the next 6 months. It was honestly totally overwhelming and took a lot of time. We did get to stop at a few of our favorite places and grab food between errands. Of course 5 guys was on that list.
This is the food we bought at Costco to bring back with us. We actually went back to Costco another time and bought 60 pounds of meat that we froze and brought back and more snack foods. It's really hard to find healthy snacks here so we brought lots back with us. I think we also brought back about 15 pairs of new shoes. It was crazy!
Up Next: New year's Eve and time at the Washington Coast with Allen's mom
4 comments:
HOW did you manage to freeze meat and get it back to Saudi??
It looks like such a fun trip! You know how to make the most out of traveling. I don't know how you travel so well, especially with children. You have mastered it. Your sister's house looks beautiful. Do you know what color of blue that is in her kitchen/dining room? Your children look so cute, and what fun cousins!
How sweet that you were able to spend Christmas with family, even living so far away (I swear CT felt like it was as far as Saudi Arabia sometimes, but I know I can't even compare the two!)!
I love your Costco stuff! I guess Saudi Arabia is out for us, cause David and I both have promised each other that where ever we live MUST have a Costco (so Taiwan is still on our short list!)!
Can't wait to hear about your new, new move!
Yayayayayayayayyyyyyy. I was wondering how your trip went, and I can't wait to hear the story of the move. Love you and hope you're all settling back in.
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