Exploring Kathmandu

Our first day in Kathmandu was a full day! When I was planning for the trip I would only have one or two things planned for a day and then would remember that I wasn't traveling with kids and that I could be gone all day if we wanted and didn't have to plan for naps or breaks or anything! So we made the most of the one day we had in Kathmandu and saw a ton!

This is a picture in the courtyard of our hotel. I loved seeing all the prayer flags all over the city.  

Our first stop was a five minute walk from our hotel and was the Boudhanath Stupa which is one of the holiest Buddhist sites in Nepal. The Stupa is one of the largest in the world. There are prayer wheels surrounding the perimeter that people spin as they walk by.

Once inside there were more prayer wheels. When walking around the stupa or any Buddhist temple you are to walk clockwise. 

The whole area around the Stupa was fascinating with adorable buildings that all were different colors and designs. Boudhanath is a large Tibetan refuge community and it was wonderful to walk around an soak it all in. We wandered around the shops some and visited a Thanka painting school where they take cloth, rub river rock and clay on it to harden the cloth and then hand paint Buddhist symbols and teachings. They were so nice in explaining all the symbols and each piece to us and then my sister and I purchases a pice each. I am looking forward to when I can go and get mine framed and hung up!

Following Boudhanath we took a taxi to Patan and its Durbur Sqaure. It has many temples, a former royal palace and was built in the 1600's. There are both Buddhist and Hindu influences which was interesting. We wandered around, read about the temples and then had lunch at a cafe overlooking the square. 

The wood work and carvings all around Nepal were fascinating! They were so intricate and amazing! I wished I could have brought back a piece of furniture or something! What surprised me was how prevalent the intricate pieces were beyond temples and palaces and on regular buildings. 

Following lunch we walked around the city and found a man selling Tibetan Healing and Meditation Bowls and he explained them to us, demonstrated them and we ended up each picking out one to take home. The bowl was the one thing I wanted to bring home from Nepal and I loved looking through them and learning more about their uses beyond meditation. I have had some problems since leaving the store though recreating some of the techniques so I apparently need some more lessons!

 

We then took a taxi to the Monkey Temple where you are supposed to have amazing view over the valley and the mountains. Unfortunately the week we were there had clouds and rain which was unusual for this time of the year. But the views were still great and it allowed us to see the business of Kathmandu below us. 

When we walked to the top of the temple we didn't see any monkeys and wondered why it was called that. We decided to walk down a different way and found all of them. They were much calmer than the ones in Bali which was nice and they just minded their own business.

We then headed to the central of Kathmandu and its Durbur Square which was crazy! It was so busy, and overwhelmg. We were not there long and instead decided to take a walk to Thamel to get some dinner and a traditional Nepali food restaurant. Our favorite food from Nepal was momos which are like dumplings but not really. They were so good!

 

After dinner we took a taxi and asked several time to make sure he knew were our hotel was. Well he apparently had no idea where our hotel was and it was a pretty frustrating two hours finding our way home when it should have taken around 30 minutes. He asked time after time for directions and it was so frustrating. The only thing I hated about our trip to Nepal was the taxis. They would constantly try to rip us off, tell us they knew where they were going and then get lost and ask for more money. It was such a battle BUT I was so thankful to have my sister with me....she is tough! She takes no nonsense and she puts them in their place. It was good since I hate confrontation! We FINALLY made it back to our hotel and were exhausted from the day and bouncing around in taxis all day. We had a somewhat hot shower and got to bed so we could go to the airport the next day for our flight into the mountain town of Pokhara.

Off to Nepal

To celebrate my 30th birthday I wanted to do something special. I was originally thinking a girls night in Bahrain but my wonderful husband had a better idea....why don't I take a trip somewhere by myself. I have always wanted to go to Nepal and trek and would have gone to do that by myself since I found a all female trekking company and felt safe doing that but John's holiday in October didn't give me enough time. So back to square one since I didn't feel comfortable just traveling around myself. Then I realized that my sister probably had the same holiday time off and called and asked if she was interested in a trip to Nepal. She said yes and so we planned a trip and off we went!

I left Saudi early in the morning (4 AM) to catch a flight to Abu Dhabi to meet up with my sister and then fly together to Kathmandu. It didn't hit me that I was traveling sans kiddos until I sat in my seat on the plane and realized I could sleep, watch a movie and had no one to entertain. It was weird! I got to Abu Dhabi, got some breakfast and waited for my sister. Turns out she got bumped up to business class...lucky.....but to me, traveling alone was just as nice as business! We boarded our four hour flight to Kathmandu and off we went. 

We then started making our approach to Kathmandu and that is when things got a little interesting. We went in for landing and were almost to the ground and all of the sudden the pilot pulled up and we were back in the air. We circled, circled, circled and then tried again for a landing and same thing, pulled up and in the air. We were then informed that the conditions on the ground didn't meet the minimum safety requirements for Etihad to land their plans. It was really foggy and rainy and so we couldn't land. I have read that the runway is short, has cracks in the runway and so I appreciated that they were taking a cautious approach so we could have good visibility to land!

So, they were looking for a nearby airport to land, refuel and wait it out. After a couple of minutes they announced that we would be landing in Lucknow, India and refueling there. We landed, safely and the airport was really interesting looking to say the least. They parked the plane and we were not allowed off since there was no ground crew to support them so we waited on the plane while they refueled and got word that Kathmandu was better for landing. About two hours later we took off and headed back towards Nepal. Thankfully, although still foggy but not as bad, we landed to incredible cheers and clapping by everyone on board! 

It was so exciting for me to land in Nepal! It has been a dream to travel there and it was so surreal to walk through the airport seeing signs saying, "Welcome to Nepal," and know I was there, with my sister and no kids and experiencing this! We made it through the visa line, picked up my sisters bag, realized our hotel car gave up on us and wasn't there to pick us up but figured out the prepaid taxi system and got a ride to our hotel. 

We found our hotel which was so cute and had a beautiful courtyard in the middle of it, checked in and dropped off our bags and went down for dinner. It was a long day but easy-peasy without kids! We then got a good night sleep since the next day we would be busy exploring Kathmandu!

Happy Anniversary....Seven Years!

This year we celebrate seven years of marriage (and ten years together)! It is crazy to me to think that it has already been seven years, these past few years has just flown by! 

Seven years and so many changes and experiences that have grown and challenged us! This past year the biggest change was the purchase of our house in Washington and taking on a longterm renovation project. But it is also the start of achieving a dream and longterm goal together of living in a historic home in Washington!

We are excited to see what year 8 brings and already starting to see some of the blessings and exciting adventures God is preparing for us this year!

We didn't get to celebrate our anniversary this year as I was leaving the next day for a trip with my sister but we have plans to go to Bahrain our next free weekend (end of November), getting a sitter and having an evening out celebrating!

Happy Anniversary John and looking forward to many more!

Turning 30!

This year was the big 3-0 birthday! It turned out to a be a wonderful day celebrating with my family and friends here.

The morning started with John making everyone pancakes. I would have been happy with just him making the kids breakfast! With this whole gluten free thing I get tired of coming up with different breakfast options and it was nice to have the break. The kids kept singing "Happy Birthday" and Graham kept getting upset that it wasn't his birthday. He wanted it to be his birthday so badly! He would tell me how he wanted a Thomas the Train birthday and he would go on and on about how it was not my birthday....finally he agreed to share.

I spent the morning having coffee with friends and visiting and then was able to have a nice long nap in the afternoon since Graham decided to nap and Peyton was invited to a friends house. The best birthday present ever.

That night we had dinner with all our close friends and enjoyed fellowship and a yummy meal. I let Graham blow out the candles on the gluten free cake I made and that seemed to do the trick although he was kind of jealous of the additional candles on my cake.

It was a great day celebrating turning 30!

Peyton's School Birthday Celebration

Peyton's birthday was three days after the start of school so we waited until the next week to have her school birthday celebration. Graham was off from school that day and was so excited to go to the big school and see his sister. The teacher asked Graham if he wanted to go outside with Peyton during recess so off they went and I loved watching her show him around, help him and just be so proud of her baby brother. It was a sweet moment!

When they came inside she insisted on Graham sitting right next to her which made his day! The whole class sang her happy birthday and we listened to birthday music including happy birthday in arabic and ate their cupcakes.

Then it was time for a dance party on the carpet which Graham got to do as well and then just before we left Peyton was asked to introduce and talk about her brother. I wish I had a video of it but my phone ran out of storage space and I couldn't take one. It was precious. She introduced him, told them all about what he likes to play with and do and answered questions about him. He loved being up there with her and she loved showing him off. It was a sweet moment. 

Then it was time for us to leave, which Graham was not happy about! It was so much fun to celebrate Peyton's birthday with her class!

Peyton's first week in K4

The K4 program had a soft start for the kids where they only went part of the week and for part of their normal day to help ease them into school. I am sure some kids needed that but Peyton was so ready to do this on her own and couldn't undertstand why I was there and actually regressed during the week and made me worried about her doing it on her own. Thankfully she was fine the next week when she did have to go on her own and having mommy not with her was all she needed to resume her confident, idependent self!

It was nice however to get to know her teacher more, help Peyton navigate how snack time would work being gluten free and feel more comfortable and handling her allergy at school and how to take responsibility for getting her snack out of her bag, the school provides daily snack for all the other kids and we felt it was easier and more consistent for her to have the rule that she only eats her snack.  It was such an incredible answered prayer when I called the nurse before the start of school and she said she also is gluten free and would help educate her teacher, check on Peyton and has been an amazing support for us. She even calls on certain days like when they are having popcorn to check if it is alright. It was such a huge answered prayer to have someone in the school so educated on this and a resource and support for us. 

Her classroom and her teacher are amazing and it was nice to be able to see the passion her teacher has for teaching in just that short week. Made mommy feel much more comfortable about her going to big kid school!

It's a Paw-ty

Peyton's birthday party this year was puppy dog themed so it was time to Paw-ty for her fifth birthday! She LOVES dogs! She loves all dogs, she loves to pretend to be a dog, she likes to play veterinarian with her stuffed animals...she just loves dogs, so this was a perfect way to celebrate her birthday!

One of my rules that started at Peyton's fourth birthday is that they can invite whoever can fit at our table which is 8 people (including the birthday person and their sibling). So far it has been working as last year and this year Peyton's parties have been so much more manageable and we can do fun activities with smaller groups.

Our activity this time was a pet adoption center where they would be able to adopt a puppy, get the puppy a house, go to another station and pick out a blanket for the puppy and then make it a collar and finally get an adoption certificate for their new dog. It was a great activity for the kids!

We also had pin the puppy back inside the dog house. John made a dog house for the game and I printed puppies with their names written on them for the game.

Each place setting had a name tag, dog bone sippy cup, a dog bowl to eat out of, a party hat and a party blower thing.

Peyton's dog food cake! It was super easy to make and was entirely gluten free! The cake was gluten free and we went through a gluten free peanut butter and chocolate ball cereal and picked out the chocolate ball ones to make the cake with melted gluten free marshmallows to help mold the cereal! So much fun!

Here we are explaining the pet adoption to the kids and how I have so many puppies that needed homes and asking if they could adopt some puppies today.

A lady on our camp makes pinatas and made a great dog bone pinata for the party! It was perfect and the kids loved it!

Then it was time to eat and the kids LOVED eating like puppy dogs! It was so much fun to watch them! 

Then it was birthday cake time! I had found some dog bone candles as well to go with the cake.

It was a wonderful birthday party and a great way to celebrate our sweet girl turning five!

Turning Five!

It was hard for us to believe but Peyton turned five this year! I am in disbelief that it was five years ago that she was born. It has flown by and five to me sounds really old! 

We started the day with taking her picture. She is so grown up and it is such a huge praise that she is healthy and thriving. I am so incredibly thankful for the doctors and friends that helped us get through her stomach issues and so thankful that she is doing so amazing now. Huge praises!

She is still a spitting image of her daddy both in looks, personality and everything! 

We spent the day celebrating Peyton and at lunch time John came home for cupcakes and presents. She was so excited to have gifts from us, Graham, G and Papa and her Grandma Martha.

 

That night we celebrated with our our Saudi family which is our core group of five other families. They all have younger kids who weren't coming to her birthday party over the weekend and we wanted to be able to celebrate her birthday with them as well. We had pizza and ice cream sundaes. It was a great day celebrating our five year old!

First Day of School

This year we had two kiddos celebrating their first day of school. Peyton was off to the big kid elementary school for K4 (Pre-K) and Graham was off to his first day of preschool. It was an exciting day and a little emotional watching them head off to school and realizing that my kids are growing up. 

Peyton's school had a soft start for the K4 kids where they had their parents there the first week to help introduce them to the buses, the routine and then the ended up going full time, ride the buses and everything the next week. It was nice to attend with her and see what her classroom was like but she was ready to fly solo!

Graham is attending the same preschool that Peyton did when we first moved to Saudi. He was so excited and ready. It affirmed my decision to not send him last year when other people were and cherish the time I had together with him. He was very ready to go by himself and just ran off and was fine. It was comforting and I was so proud of him.

                   

Graham had to wear running shoes because he wanted to be "super fast" at school! They both loved their new backpacks and were ready for the new adventures of school!

 

I saw a friend do signs for the first day of school so I decided to copy and do the same. Peyton's sign said that she wants to be dentist and a doctor when she grows up. 

Graham's sign said that he would like to be a firefighter with mommy when he grows up. I asked him more about it and he said that I would come help him fight fires and help him with his helmet. He loves his mommy so much and I thought it was adorable! And even several days after the sign was made I would ask him what he wanted to be when he was older and he said, "a firefighter with mommy."

Everyone had a wonderful first day of school and we are so blessed with two wonderful teachers who have a passion for teaching, kids and it shows in their teaching and classrooms. I am so thankful and our prayers were answered with their teachers. A new phase of life for sure with two kids gone half day at school, an exciting time but hard for mommy to be without her kids! I love my Thursdays when Graham is home (he only goes four days a week) and love my weekends with both of them!

Flying Back to Saudi

We had an absolutely amazing time this summer in Washington. It was everything we needed to rejuvenate and come back to Saudi. It was also so good that it was hard to tear ourselves away and agree to fly home. We love our life in Saudi for many reasons but we love Washington so much and it is hard to be torn between two places. But we had to head back and so we got all packed up and off we went.

I surprisingly only had five suitcases and the two carseats (I could have had three more suitcases) but even with all that it was a feat to get through the whole airport process and thankfully my mom and sister were there to help. We got all checked in and then had to say our goodbyes which was so hard. Both kids are at an age now that they know and realize what was happening and Graham was so sad. It  breaks your heart every time and makes you question why are you doing this every time. I finally tore them away and made it to security and they cried the entire wait, it was heartbreaking. Thankfully after security we had a train ride to our terminal which helped Graham and then I went and bought them each a toy to help distract them. We were at the airport way too early and so it was hard to entertain them and they went through their "dinner" I packed before we even got on the flight which worried me but they did great entertaining each other and waiting.

We finally boarded and got all settled and the kids started on some activities while we waited for boarding to finish up.

And then we were off on our about 14.5 hour flight home, a 7 hour layover and then a 90 minute flight to Bahrain and then a two hour drive home! I was hoping that this flight would go smoothly with us taking off around 6:00 PM. My goal was movies, dinner, change into PJ's, another movie and then bedtime and it worked perfectly! The kids had a hard time getting settled and finding enough space to fall asleep but when they did they were out and slept the entire flight! I woke them up around breakfast time so they could eat and they were in pleasant moods and it went so well. I had ordered gluten free meals for the kids but was nervous it would be stuff they would eat but all the meals they had were delicious and they ate everything :) After breakfast we changed into our clothes, played for a little bit and then landed.

Since we had a 7 hour layover I got a hotel room in the Dubai airport and we had someone meet us from the hotel at the gate and help get us there. We got to our room, ordered some food, showered, the kids played, and then they watched movies in bed so I could nap. We packed it all up and went to our next flight and were all doing great.

The second flight was a little rough but nothing bad. For one, it was delayed taking off so the kids fell asleep which wasn't ideal since I knew it was only a quick flight. They refused to sleep at the hotel and now they crashed. I was fine with them sleeping but it was knowing that waking up would be rough and that they had to wake up when we landed because I couldn't manage our three bags and carrying two sleepy kids through the airport. I got them awake....they were mad....and whiny but I got them walking through the airport, through passports and to baggage claim...somehow. We got all our bags super quick, the porter was actually helpful this time and we headed out to find daddy which was the best part. Both kids dropped their bags and ran to him which was awesome. 

We then packed up the car and headed home to deal with a long night of jet lag! Thankfully John was able to take a half day the next day so he helped stay up late with them so I could sleep and then helped me in the morning unpack and get a little settled. Then he headed to work at noon and we went for a nap only to wake up at 5:30 PM. Oh jet lag....it was super rough this time for everyone. It took almost two weeks. It was no fun! But our trip home this summer was and the flights were great and I will take rough jet lag over rough flights any day!