Our 11th Anniversary

We arrived back in Doha after our trip to America (Part 1 and Part 2) a few days before our anniversary. We bought tickets a couple months ago to attend Blue Man Group with some friends and then headed to dinner afterwards to celebrate our anniversary.

The last time we saw Blue Man Group was in Las Vegas for Jason's 21st birthday back in 2005! We were surprised at how similar the show was after so many years and loved seeing it in Doha and introducing our girls to the experience.

We headed to a Peruvian restaurant for dinner after taking the girls home. The food was delicious and I was excited to celebrate 11 years with this guy.

Happy anniversary Jason! I love you life with you and exploring the world! Cheers to 11 years!

Here's our previous anniversary celebrations: 2018  2017  2016  2015  2014  2013  2012  2011

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America Trip Part 2

The first part of our trip to America was spent in Texas and Colorado before heading to Oklahoma for the remainder. The girls were fortunate to get to spend some time with both sets of grandparents while we were there as my Dad and Mary drove down from Illinois to see them.

The girls had lots of fun reading with Uncle Justin and Papa Jeff, visiting the zoo, having sleepovers with Grandma, playdates with friends, and spending almost everyday in the pool. I also got the amazing chance to see Hamilton with my friend Chelsea and it was amazing. If you have a chance to see it - don't hesitate. The show was superb and I am still listening to the soundtrack on repeat.

When my Dad and Mary came into town we visited the zoo again to see the second half we'd missed the first visit as well as outdoor and indoor playgrounds. We only had a couple days with them, but we made the most of it and the girls loved seeing them. 

We celebrated my Mom and Jeff's birthday while we were in town and visited the Children's Museum with a friend of mine from college and his lovely family. They girls has a spectacular time with them. I also made it to the casino {finally} a couple days before leaving and walked away ahead which is always a plus. 

There was so much delicious food while we were in America. I captured pictures of most of it during the time in Texas, Colorado, and Oklahoma. In summer - green chile sauce is the best, lobster cargot is a new favorite, and all my coffee should be served with rock candy for sweetening.

We picked up an extra large rental car to haul our massive amount of stuff {only 6 suitcases, 2 boxes, 4 carry on bags, and 4 undersea bags - nothing too major 🙄). We loaded everything and made the drive to Dallas where we were flying the direct flight back to Doha.

Once again the girls were amazing travelers. They were fascinated by bugles (the best finger hats) and the water fountains (it's the little things, haha) and we lucked out on the flight being very empty and the cabin attendant insisting on moving us to another section where each girls had her own row!! This was a huge blessing as it allowed me to be able to rest for a couple hours while they slept (I usually am awake the whole time when flying solo as I can't sleep.)

Jason met us at the airport when we arrived and we anxiously got home exhausted and ready to rest. It was a wonderful summer in America and we are so thankful for everyone who hosted our family, re arranged things to visit us, and made an effort to come see us while we were in town. We have an amazing community back home and it sure was hard to say goodbye. We hope to see you all again next summer!

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America Trip Part 1

We got up bright and early to head to their airport to catch our flight. We made a quick trip to the lounge for me to get a coffee and then headed to our gate. The flight to Houston is about 16 hours and the girls did brilliant again. We had a rotation of eat, play, sleep twice and they all got a couple decent naps.

When we landed my sweet friend Kelly picked us up from the airport with coffee in hand when we walked out of customs. Y'all! If you are or have been an expat you know how amazing it is to have a friend who is willing to do that for you. We are so thankful for Kelly and her family loving on us with that and so much more on this trip! Her girls were amazing with mine and I loved getting to catch up with her.

The girls did pretty great with jet lag and we jumped right into visiting with friends and the girls started VBS. We made sure to visit Candytopia while we were in town because, duh. Kelly and her sweet girls joined us for that adventure.

It was so amazing to catch up with so many people while we were in town. I was definitely exhausted by the end of the week, but wouldn't change a thing because seeing everyone is a huge part of why we come back each year.

After the week up in Houston attending VBS we headed down to League City to stay with Jason's sister and her family. The cousins jumped right back into playing as though no time had passed and they got to spend the entire week together playing at the playground, putting on shows for us, swimming, and have lots of laughter and fun.

We re-created this cousin picture to see how much they've grown. It's been a fun tradition to do the last few years!

Jason wasn't planning to come to America this trip, but then a last minute work trip came up and thankfully it was the same week we were still in Texas! He was able to come stay with us part of the time. We are very thankful for this family and the chance to spend time with them and get the cousins together.

After Texas I flew the girls to Oklahoma to meet up with my mom and then continued on to Colorado to attend one of my sorority sister's wedding in Carbondale. The scenery was perfection and it was fun catching up with everyone. I also got a chance to do a little hiking outdoors, see other friends in Colorado and attend a Rockies game with my sister in law.

After the long weekend I flew back to Oklahoma where we spent the rest of our time while we were in America.

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