Remember how I said I would be posting intermittently? Make that once a month! Oops! But here is the capsule summary so far:
Flight: great for the first leg; then kind of a disaster after we landed at JFK. We did discover that our boys can stay up for 24 and 22 hours straight respectively (with the help of iPads) before completely crashing and burning into catatonic heaps, so...yay for that? I guess! We will be revisiting our flight plans again and again before next summer to see if we can figure out a better way to fly!
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| Here we are at Doha International Airport before our flight. |
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| And here they are totally zoned out on the airplane! |
Transitioning: only horrible for two days of getting up at 4am with the boys but after some judicious use of melatonin and creative bedtimes and hard work to keep the boys awake as much as possible, things were great after that and now they are back to waking up at 6:45am, which is fabulous!
Reunion: So. Much. Fun!! The boys bonded with their older cousins, who were gracious and nice about letting the boys play with them or talk at them or generally monopolize their time for the whole week! We went jet skiing twice on Bear Lake and found we have two little speed demons--or make that three, if you count the husband! We rode out on a very bad road in our rental sedan to find an ice cave where ice stays all year long and found out that we have two little fearless mountain climbers as well. Who knew? We ate two big family meals every day, went to church together, talked extensively about family history, and played enough games did enough art projects to satisfy even insatiable J. We had our own one bedroom condo with a Murphy bed the boys shared, a first for them, but they slept across the bed width-wise and didn't disturb each other at all. Generally, we can't wait to do it all over again in two years!
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| E with smiling cousins. |
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| The very cold ice cave (see large mound of ice behind us). |
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| J with smiling cousins. |
Health: The husband got a minor out-patient procedure done, taking care of something that's been bothering him for years, so we are all happy about that. We took the boys to see a pediatric dentist and J handled it like a champ while E devolved into tears over the x-rays and only got a cleaning done after much drama. I went to the dentist for a cleaning and found out that I have a cavity even though my last dental visit told me I had nothing going on, when I clearly did, even then, darn it! And so far, we haven't had to visit the ER, a first for us when visiting Utah. Fingers crossed!
Shopping: Umm, yeah, there's been a lot of that. One day, the husband asked J if he wanted to go with us on an errand to a store, and J said "I thought this was a va-cation, not a shop-cation!" Touche, small fry, touche! The shopping is almost finished, and a lot of what we have gotten will be going home with the husband next week, but it has to be done! We need quite a few things that simply aren't available in Doha, like clothes and shoes in my size, for crying out loud, and enough shoes to get the boys through next year's school without breaking the bank.
Food: We have been eating our way across the state, reliving all our past gustatory faves we can't get in Doha. We are so pedestrian: Chick Fil-a, Bahio's, L&L barbeque (authentic Hawaiian food), Rita's Water Ice, Cinnamon Toast Crunch (J's favorite), and lots of pork. E recently asked for bacon for breakfast. And what else? we asked. And sausage, he replied. Oh, of course! He later ate bacon for dinner and used it to scoop up salsa and sour cream. Umm, ooookaaaay then! Whatever makes you happy! Still on our list is a visit to the Blue Plate Diner, another of our faves in Salt Lake City. And, of course, as much Mexican food as we can stomach, because it's so good here.
Fun: Besides Bear Lake, we have gone to a parade, several museums (train, art, natural history, ammunition, children's), an outdoor farmer's market/farm festival, a water park, and a dinosaur park. The husband went on a 15 plus mile round trip hike to Ben Lomond peak with our brother-in-law. We also celebrated my father's 67th birthday and my newest niece's baby blessing yesterday with a big barbeque. Tomorrow, we are going to Kangaroo Zoo, a collection extraordinaire of bounce castles and slides, with other cousins, these the same ages as the boys. Next weekend, after the husband goes back to Doha, we are headed to another festival and extended family reunion. We've also got tentative plans over the next month to visit a candy factory, two dinosaur museums, a new museum about play (or something), several splash pads, a train ride, and maybe even a funicular ride (of course!). The boys have talked the grandparents' ears off, and they have all been very patient with our little chatterboxes!
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| Great water feature in Ogden at the farmer's market. |
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| At the Treehouse children's museum. |
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| Reading stories with Grandeur. |
So far, it's been a fun and relaxing visit. I have many more pictures, which I will add sooner rather than later, but this has been a small sampling. We are so grateful to our parents for putting us up and putting up with us for so long and we have enjoyed everything. Here's to continuing cousins and cooler climes!
