Dubai

A vacation for the record books! Grandpa gets the award for "bravest man alive" for taking 7 children (age 7 and under) into a snow park BY HIMSELF (not to mention bunking up all week with my rowdy kids!)...coming in a close second is Jerry for taking his family half way around the world to jet lag for 10 days in the desert! And cousin Joe, get's the "coolest cousin ever" award for spending so much time tour guiding our crazy crew in the middle of the middle east!

Seriously though, we made some amazing memories on this trip. It's one ALL of our kids will be talking about for a long time. Here are some highlights of our sweet time with family in one of the coolest cities on earth.

Hanging out with the Giblin's and playing with all of cousin Matt's cool toys!
Playing in the Snow Park, in the desert!! It was Jeremiah & Tirzah's first time to see snow!
Exploring the fishing boats in Jumeriah Creek
Playing at the beach
Atlantis Aquaventure Waterpark-- a little cold, but SO fun!
Iceskating (a first time for most of the kiddos) Video of Jackson's iceskating trick
Singing and dancing to "Thriller" at the Burj Kalifa's fountain show.
Dessert adventure with camel rides, dune climbing, and dressing up like real Emirates! Camel ride video here
Playing and swimming with cousins!

Thanks again for making the trip Grandpa and Young family!

 Fishing village, Dubai Creek

 Beach babes

 Grandpa and his snow park crew. He was a very brave grandpa!

 Not exactly sure what was going on here, but they look pretty legit.

 Grandpa pondering over how many camels his daughter's are worth.

 This is the best!

 Dismounting a camel is the hardest part. 

Sun setting on the Arabian peninsula

Oman

We just got back from a very quick visa-run trip to Muscat, Oman. We would have loved to stay longer, but money and vacation days are all being saved for adoption needs right now. But our first experience definitely left a desire to come back soon.

Oman is much more like the US than it is like India, so not only did we enjoy getting to experience a small taste of the culture and sights, but we were able to enjoy many missed western amenities. We stayed in a guest flat, which came with a car, so we had plenty of space and freedom to explore. (Gasoline costs about $1 a gallon there too!) Next time, we'll use the car even more to our advantage to explore the wadis (mountain natural pools), sand dunes, Beduin fishing villages, and some snorkeling at remote beaches.  

We could see the beautiful blue Gulf of Oman from our guest flat and took a short ride to a beautiful (and CLEAN!) beach. We went pretty early and only managed an hour, because it is hot and humid in Oman this time of year. From walking down the stairs from the flat to the car, we were already dripping with sweat. Really, that was the only downside and it wasn't a hinderance from doing outdoor activities, except during midday. We enjoyed the drive through the city on the huge, broad, expressway from which you can see old mountainside watchtowers, forts, the Sultan's Palace and his Grand Mosque, the Opera House, and other architecturally impressive buildings. All the buildings, even the houses are impressive there. From what we learned, most families have 6-8 children and they all live together in one massive house. So it appears that everyone in Oman lives in a mansion, but really they are multi family houses. 

And of course, we greatly enjoyed the amenities of the shopping malls, especially the free AC. We ate, played, and shopped as much as we could in two days. There was a lot of hamburger and donut consumption and playground stomping to burn off the affects of the latter. 

Check out more pictures from our trip here.

Bangkok-Our Eat-cation!

Last week we had a much needed break and headed to Thailand for both a visa trip/vacation. We spent 5 days in Bangkok and to sum up our week, we had a eating marathon! "Beef" and "donuts" were the primary goals for Kit and I had a few shopping goals of myself. We didn't get to eat everything we wanted to (not enough meals or room in our tummies) but we had a great time and had some good ol' comfort food in a familiar place, which was O-SO-Refreshing for us.

Some of our highlights were trying out multiple indoor playgrounds for the boys to exert themselves in (Thailand has awesome in-door playgrounds by asian standards!), eating a nearly all-meat meal for our rainy 4th of July at the Great American Rib Co. (one of our favorites in Thailand!), getting a foot massage (only Stacy got this as an anniversary gift), celebrating 7 years of marriage together (July 3rd), shopping at IKEA(woop woop!), riding the BTS (elevated train) and seeing lots of airplanes and airports (the boys loved this!), and getting our yellow fever shots. Shots?!? What? Yes, we were excited about this b/c it is very hard to get these in India and we need them to travel to the Congo in the near future :)

Leaving, I'll admit, was a little tough...I could have used a few more days. But, we had the joy of returning home to a group of friends/family from our hometown coming for a week, so that made it easier. This break was needed more than I realized. Besides just feeling exhausted and needing rest, it gave us some time to step out of our little world and reflect on how culture shock is effecting us. I feel refreshed and way less stressed then before we left. We're looking forward to going back, hopefully in January, and visiting our old home of Chiang Mai.

Having lived in Thailand for two years, we used to get visits from friends who lived in S. and E. Asia and were coming for their visa runs. It's funny that now I totally understand why they saw Thailand as a haven! I see it through a totally different perspective now! Some of the things that stood out to us most that we maybe took for granted before:

Cleanliness (we actually thought Thailand was a little run down and dirty...oh no my friend, were we wrong! It is way higher on my cleanliness scale now!)

Peaceful Quiet (I can't stress this one enough. We were sitting in the middle of traffic in Bangkok thinking, "wow! where is all the honking and the slamming on breaks, and the weaving in and out, and the yelling, and did I mention the honking?")

Green grass you can walk in! (The boys especially loved this as they had a backyard playground to play in everyday at our guest house.)

Just to name a few....

Don't get me wrong, there is a lot that is not so great about Thailand. And in fact, we probably won't be visiting certain parts when our boys are older. But for this season of life and from where we live, there were a lot of things to appreciate on this trip. We're grateful that we can get a little break every 6 months or so to bring us back refreshed and with a healthier perspective.

That's a happy kid!

Hudson pretty much went up and down this slide for 45 minutes strait

Another happy boy! His first aquarium experience in Asia!

A little bit in awe.

A tuk-tuk aquarium. Jackson kept calling them "tick tocks"

I love that expression!

Chillin with the penguins

Sitting on top of the Golden Gate bridge at an awesome new "theme mall" in Bangkok

How they napped most the week. (we are conveniently parked at a Dunkin Donuts too!)

Hudson isn't too sure about that eel in the tank.

Did I mention we love donuts!?!

In the same them mall on the San Francisco floor. Each level is a different city theme.

Summer Fun

I haven't blogged in a couple months and am feeling very behind, so here is a "summer fun" update on us. In June, Kit's mom and sister moved in with us temporarily. We have enjoyed having them around more and spending quality time with them before they both move off. We had the biggest garage sale in the history of Carlsbad (at least I think it must have been) and got rid of tons of stuff. What we didn't sell, we donated, so it felt very freeing to get rid of everything.
In July, we had a great time going to Denver and Mexico for Cindy and Jess's wedding. Jess and Cindy have an awesome condo in downtown Denver, so we look forward to going back to visiting them often. Denver is such a great city! We stayed at an amazing resort in Playa del Carmen and soaked up the sun and pool for a few days. Jackson loved the water, the sand, and the guacamole! The only downside to the trip was having to leave!

My brother and cousin Julie came to visit for a quick weekend. It was really fun hanging out with Julie and to see Chris meet Charise for the first time. Jackson and I also went with Nikki and Charise to visit our sister Trudi in Wisconsin. We had a great time at the zoo, shopping, eating cheese curds and brats, and relishing the cooler weather. We got to just hang out in the house with the windows open and no AC! That was priceless! We had a good time but were really to get back to daddy. While we were gone, Jackson cut his first tooth and we now have to trick him into eating baby food. He wants whatever mom and dad have instead. He is also crawling like crazy, pulling up with ease, and "cruising" around the house. I think it won't be long before he's walking and he's already getting into everything, so we are learning the in's and out's of "baby proofing" and what that really entails.

The day we got back from that trip, some good friends of ours came to visit from Oklahoma. We went to the caverns, ate some good mexican food, and played a lot of Wii frisbee golf. It was great to just hang out with good friends and be lazy all weekend. We have a couple weeks of calm before we go to Texas for a wedding and to visit family and then help see Kirstie off to college in Las Cruses. I am having fun with the trips, but it is much harder to travel with a baby and I look forward to some quiet days soon.

I have also been practising and improving on my photography skills. I took Cindy and Jess's wedding photos, did a friend's pictures of their kids, and soon will do some newborn pictures and another wedding in October. I have a lot to learn, but am enjoying the practice and seeing myself slowly improve. Here are some fun shots from our summer fun. I hope you enjoy! (most are just "snapshots" so don't judge the quality too hard. They aren't examples of my best work!)