Friendly Faces

For our first full day back in Texas, I was thrilled to be able to arrange some time for the kids to hang out with their friends. I was worried how they would adjust to the significant time difference but they were so happy to hang out that it didn't phase them at all.

Jeff reached out to Connor's former select baseball team, the Katy Falcons, because he was hoping we could go see the boys play again. Not only did we get to see the team, but Connor was invited to play for a game and ended up being their catcher for the entire game. It  warmed my heart so much to see such friendly faces that we had dearly missed and to see Connor back with his buddies again. It felt like we were right back at home, as if no time had passed.

Texas, Here We Come!

After months (and months) of waiting and planning, the time had finally arrived for our family's visit back to Texas. Oh boy, you could just feel the excitement! It had been a rough spring for us, and we were ready to hug our family and friends back home. I spent a few days strategically planning and packing for our trip, and we were all smiles as we loaded up for the airport. Texas, here we come!

As nice as we find the Emirates flights between Houston and Dubai, they are just miserably long. There is just no getting around it. The 16-hour flight back to Houston is especially tough since it spans the entire day and is daylight the entire time. The kids and I just don't sleep on airplanes. We loaded up on movies, games, and snacks, but it still feels like the flight will never end. At one point, Kaitlynn was in tears telling me she was so ready to get off of the plane. And we still had 6 hours left to go! Miserable, I tell ya!

When our feet touched American soil, oh boy, were we happy! Exhausted, but so happy to be home. Our amazing friends, Julie and Harry, had loaned us the use of their home while they were away on vacation. We headed straight to their house in Katy and were greeted by their beloved golden retriever, Duke. It was the start of a love affair for all of us with Duke, the best dog in the world!! And we didn't know it at the time, but their house ended up becoming our home-away-from-home for the entire summer.

As excited as we all were to be back in Texas and see our loved ones, it became a joke that we were even more excited to be able to enjoy some of our favorite food and treats that we had missed. At the top of Connor's list was Chick-fil-A, Lupe Tortilla, Shipley's Donuts, and Bucee's. He had our first few days of meals in Texas all planned out, and they did not disappoint!

We immediately felt right at home back in Texas and couldn't wait for the days and weeks of fun ahead!

Last Day of 3rd and 6th Grades

Before we knew it, the end of the school year was upon us. It was Connor's last day of 6th and Kaitlynn's last day of 3rd grade. Our last day was actually a week before the official end of the school year, but we had planned to leave early in order to visit with our family back in Texas. But it just so happened that Connor had an end-of-school party in his Arabic class, and Kaitlynn had her 3rd grade classroom party on their last day at the campus. A perfect send-off!

On our way to school that morning, the kids and I were chatting about what an odd school year it had been. Starting school in mid-August in Katy, missing over 2 weeks of school in the first month due to Hurricane Harvey, missing the entire month of December due to our international move, several weeks of school off in the spring due to holidays and spring break, an entire month of shortened class days due to the Ramadan schedule, and now leaving the school a week before the official dismissal. Wow - that's a lot of missed school!

Kaitlynn's 3rd grade classroom party was held the week before school was dismissed. She was so happy to be there to say goodbye to her classmates and her beloved teacher, Ms. Jennifer. The awesome homeroom moms planned a great party for the kids with crafts and snacks, and I was glad to stop by for a bit to soak it in.

While we have had some challenges with school so far here in Dubai, we ended the school year on a high note. The kids were lovingly welcomed at their school this past year and made so many new friends. We made the difficult decision to switch schools for the upcoming school year beginning this fall. Overall we believe it will be a better fit academically and for our family. We are feeling so blessed that the kids will already know friends at the new school (through baseball and church) and that they are excited to see how the upcoming year will go. We recently took a tour of the new school and one cool thing is that they have a Subway in the middle/high school cafeteria. Yet another new beginning for us in 2018, but we will be ready!

Father's Day Weekend

For our first Father's Day weekend in Dubai, we managed to pack in loads of fun. I was surprised that none of the local radio stations or news outlets mentioned Father's Day at all. Maybe they celebrate at another time during the year. Either way, we wanted to make sure we planned some fun activities for the weekend.

First up, we decided to use our Entertainer (buy one get one free) vouchers for a local beach club I'd heard about. We set out early for the resort at the Le Méridien Mina Seyahi hotel, which is also connected to the Westin Dubai Mina Seyahi hotel. We paid for the day passes to enjoy the beach access, pools, restaurants, and facilities at both resort hotels. As the June temperatures in Dubai were already scorching, the hotel pools - temperature controlled and actually quite chilly - were so beautiful and refreshing. We spent the entire day swimming, lounging, enjoying lunch, and people watching. It was so much fun and the view was quite stunning!

By the end of the day, we were all wiped out. But it turned out to be one of my favorite local activities in Dubai so far. We just love enjoying the sun and beaches!

For Jeff's Father's Day celebration, the kids and I couldn't wait to surprise him. We planned an entire day of fun based on our all-time family favorite game, "You Win!" With each round of "You Win!" Jeff was presented with two choices and had to decide his favorite. We let Jeff go ahead and enjoy all of the rounds of the game in one sitting so that we could better plan our day together.

For the first round, we let Jeff decide where he wanted to enjoy Father's Day lunch -- either a "tried and true" or "something new" place to eat. Much to Connor's delight, he chose Texas Roadhouse at Dubai Mall. I didn't manage to get any photos but we all enjoyed it!

Next, Jeff had to choose between a Photo Gift or a Clothing Gift. He quickly figured out that this must have been the token trick round of the game, because he would obviously be receiving BOTH gifts! :-)

For the 3rd round of the game, Jeff was given a choice between Pool or Beach. He chose Pool, so we decided to head to our fitness center to enjoy the beautiful pool there. Finally, for his last round, Jeff was given the best choice of the day - ice cream cake or ice cream scoops! (For the record, he chose scoops!)

We had the best day celebrating Jeff on his much deserved Father's Day weekend. It was so nice seeing him be able to kick back and relax. We loved being able to spoil him the way he so often spoils us!

Kaitlynn's 9th Birthday

Kaitlynn was lucky enough that her actual birthday fell on a holiday in the UAE. Eid al-Fitr is the national holiday marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan, so most people had 2 days off from school and work. Kaitlynn was able to sleep in and then jump right into the opening of her birthday gifts!

One of her gifts was a special necklace with her name spelled in Arabic. She was surprised and loved the necklace! Of course, we found out later that the spelling of the Arabic name wasn't certain. I learned that there is not a long-A sound in Arabic, so her name is actually pronounced "Keet-lin" and there are a couple of different spellings that are accurate. I found it funny that I had asked for Connor's help (since I know nothing about the letters or language) and we still managed to mess it up, ha!

For over a year, maybe even two years, Kaitlynn has been asking for a mermaid tail. One of my sweet friends in Dubai was able to help me order it from Amazon and bring it in luggage all the way from the US for her. It was by far Kaitlynn's favorite gift and has managed to provide HOURS of entertainment since. She loves it!

We decided to meet Jeff for a birthday lunch for Kaitlynn but unfortunately our first choices weren't an option due to the limited hours of the last day of Ramadan. We managed to find a restaurant that was open - Pizza Express - and Kaitlynn enjoyed a special birthday treat.

As if that weren't enough birthday fun, we had one more fun activity in store. Jeff and I were able to join Kaitlynn in her classroom on the week after her birthday for a little celebration with her classmates. Kaitlynn requested for me to make brownies to share with the class, and they were a big hit. After singing and eating, the class seemed quite enamored with Jeff and all stood around telling jokes. It was so cute to watch.

After all the fun, Kaitlynn's 9th birthday was finally a wrap!