Wrapping Up TN

Ali & Hunter's Wedding:

Back in May, Coco and I made a quick trip to Oklahoma to see Ali Mitchell (my flower girl) get married! We had some fun special girl time together along with some fun with Grammy, Grampy and Aunt Amanda! 

 

GCA Baseball Camp: 

The boys had a final chance not spend some time with their school friends at baseball camp. This started the Monday after we returned from Dubai. I was impressed with their energy! ;) 

Cora's Good-Bye Bash: 

My sweet friend Robin (Claire's mom) hosted a fun goodbye party for Cora at our house! The kids enjoyed swimming, a waterslide, popsicles and they made a sweet picture frame for Cora and wrote her notes as well. She was able to invited all the girls from school, her dance company and a few select boys. We are so so so sad to leave this sweet group of friends. 

Coco and the boys had to try out the slide before everyone else arrived. Grammy and Grampy were in town so they took the boys out for some special time together. 

Cora and her very best sister friend. Claire is one of the top hardest people to leave- for all of us!

Coco and her boys

The sweetest friends ever. 

 Dance Recital:

Cora's dance studio is in my top things I'm sad to leave as well. Her teachers have loved her so well these past four years of dance. They've encouraged her, given her confidence and a love for dance and appreciated her for who she is. 

 

The Diamoniques got to perform a dance with the high school seniors. Cora was in every company show which made for a long day! 

Sweet Miss Hailee was the demonstrator for the Diamoniques both years that Cora was in it. She made Cora feel so loved. 

Each of the Diamoniques was paired with a senior. Cora got to dance with one of the boys. At first she was really freaked out by this but by the time the recital came around, she was smiling at Gabe so sweetly. ;)

I only included the videos for dances I hadn't posted before. The girls didn't compete their tap dance so recital was the first time we'd seen it! Tap is Cora's favorite. 

Ballet

Rowan and Tye (Claire's brother) were super supportive of their sisters... but it was like 90 degrees and humid under the tent so I can understand these faces. Cruz lucked out with a baseball tournament and had to miss out. 

It was SO special of Grammy and Grampy to make the trip out to see Coco. It was an extra act of love considering how hot it was for an outdoor recital! 

Cruz's Last Tournament:

Grammy and Grampy also got to be in town for Cruz's last baseball tournament! I missed photos for Rowan's last tournament as we didn't know it would be his last (long story). Anyway, Cruz's team played well and he had the best cheerleaders ever! We are also really going to miss his sweet team. The boys encourage each other really well, make each other laugh and have been so much fun to play ball with. 

VBS: 

Coco went to VBS and had a great time!

 

 

Cruz's Good Bye Bash: 

Cruz chose to invite four of his really good friends to jump at a trampoline park and go out and get ice cream afterwards. We are really going to miss this group of sweet, supportive boys. They've been such a blessing to Cruz.

 

Rowan's Good Bye Bash: 

Rowan and his good friends did and escape room together and then went out for ice cream. I love the size difference between these boys! Ha. 

Goodbye Coop: 

We said goodbye to our faithful boy on June 18th. 

He was our loyal boy for over 14 years. He was there through two miscarriages, three babies, five house moves, three states, two cat siblings and over five thousand ordinary days. He saved our kids from scorpions in AZ, he was my protector and buddy through Roger's travel days, he adored Cora, he fetched balls for the boys and was always up for a cat snuggle. Cooper loved food more than anything and ate right up until the end. I haven't lived without this boy since I was a 23 year old newlywed. Coop and I grew up together and I am so thankful for all the time we had.

It's been a weird few days. I will randomly think I see Cooper laying in a spot he would normally lay, or hear his nails on the tile or open my eyes and expect to see him laying next to my bed. He's been a fixture in our lives for so long that's its going to be an adjustment to life without him. We stayed with him until the end, just Rog and I, the way it was when he first became a part of our family. 

Happy Father's Day! 

Claire's Birthday Party: 

Cora had the very special privilege to go to Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, TN with Claire, their friend Sarah and Robin (Claire's mom) to celebrate Claire's 8th birthday. They spent two nights in a hotel, two days at Dollywood riding all the rides and time swimming and playing games. This was such a special way to end our time here in TN although we have BIG plans to get these girls together as often as we can! 

 

Cora Flips: 

Cora has been working hard on teaching herself back walkovers, and back kick overs. They probably need some cleaning up but she's really proud of herself! 

Goodbye with Friends (Me):

My friends planned a sweet dinner out for some southern food, cake and good conversation. I'm thankful for the way these girls have encouraged me, laughed with me, supported me and pointed me to Jesus. They are irreplaceable and I'm so sad to say goodbye. 

Summer Vacation: Dubai

We had rescheduled our summer 2020 Greece trip for THIS summer but Greece's reopening was slow and although we were technically allowed in, many restaurants and attractions were still closed. In April, we decided to go another direction and we settled on Dubai. Dubai has been open to tourists since last summer so their protocols were firmly in place and all was open and functioning. We also really liked the idea of a direct flight (O'Hare to Dubai). I was nervous about getting stuck in a connecting country where American tourists weren't allowed to leave the airport, especially with time sensitive Covid tests. Dubai required a negative Covid test 72 hours before departure for all travelers 12 and older. We had Cruz and Cora tested too, just to be safe. We took a Southwest flight from Nashville to O'Hare and then had about nine hours to kill in Chicago which gave us the perfect opportunity for lunch/park/bowling with Grammy, Grampy and the O'Connors! 

5/29: Travel Day

 

We are SO exciting to be able to travel internationally again. We renewed the kids' passports during the travel pause and we were so excited to finally be able to use them! 

We flew over some neat places on our way. Some were fairly cloud covered (like Russia) but others provided great views! This is over Greenland. 

 

Baghdad, Iraq 

Iran

 

We arrived at 7:30 pm on 5/30 thanks for a thirteen hour flight and a nine hour time change! We checked into our Aparthotel. We had a beautiful two bedroom apartment with a huge wrap around balcony with views of the famous Burj Khalifa! 

 

Balcony view the next morning! 

May 31: Dubai Mall & Burj Khalifa 

 

We loved this view so much! Coco said the buildings looked like they were made of sand. 

We took a very hot walk to the nearby Dubai Mall which is over TWELVE million square feet! Just to compare, Mall of America is only FIVE-ish million square feet. This place was huge, air-conditioned and full of neat things to do and see. 

We love a good aquarium and this one did not disappoint! We walked through a tunnel with fish swimming all around us. We saw sparkly fish, angel fish, alligator gar and penguins. We took a glass bottom boat tour and got a great view of Sienna the resident saw fish. At the end of our time we even had the opportunity to help feed some of the fish. 

 

This huge waterfall and pearl diver sculpture is a fun thing to see at the mall. Before oil, pearl diving was one of the local sources of income in the Middle East. This sculpture is a nod bad to the region's past. 

 

We really enjoyed seeing and hearing the Arabic language all around us. We had very little exposure to many things middle eastern and we learned so much while we were there. Being in a Muslim country came with a few differences. Women dressed very conservatively, most wore an abaya or burka and definitely had their heads covered. Non Muslim women kept their shoulders and knees covered. There were no public displays of affection, even among married couples. A lot of men wore long white loose fitting robes and head covers. Five times a day, a chant rang over the loudspeakers in the mall and the city calling Muslims to pray. There were prayer rooms in hotels, malls, restaurants- separate ones for males and females. Each time we heard the call to prayer, the kids, Cora especially, would tell me that she was going to pray to the true God for the salvation of those who didn't know him. 

We took a super speedy elevator up 125 stories to the viewing deck of the Burj Khalifa. The Burj Khalifa is 2,722 feet tall! The next tallest building that we've ever been to is the Willis Tower at only 1,450 feet. 

I like how you can see the reflection of the view in the glass behind the kids.

Dubai is basically a beautiful, futuristic city built in the middle of a desert. 

There is a nightly fountain show at the Dubai Mall which is not to be missed. 

We watched while we ate dinner! 

Sweet brothers. 

June 1: Desert Safari 

Before we could head out on the much anticipated Desert Safari, we made a quick stop at the Dubai Mall for donuts and had Covid tests done in our hotel room. The U.S. requires the test three (or fewer) days before travel. We got our tests the farthest out so that we (I) could more easily enjoy the trip with those negative test results in hand! 

Our desert safari was a guided tour through the Sharjah Desert Park. Our first stop was to rent an ATV for Rowan and a dune buggy for the rest of us. The sun was HOT, our weather app said 108 degrees, but the breeze felt cool as we zoomed around. 

We hopped back into our very air conditioned tour vans and headed deeper into the desert for some fun photos and sandboarding. 

The sun was so bright the kids couldn't even look at the camera so we improvised. 

Roger did two sandboarding runs. He fell the first time, but made it to the bottom on his feet the second time. 

Cruz made three runs without falling at all! 

Cruz made it look easy but as you can see from the other guy in the video, it wasn't! ;) 

Dune bashing was the kids favorite part of the safari, followed closely by the camels.

Our guide took us to a desert camp where we got to ride camels! Roger and I rode one time and then the kids went a second time alone.

This was a funny moment towards the end of the time when Cora's camel wouldn't lay down to let her off. I love her face! 

After the camel rides, we headed to the dinner and entertainment portion of the evening. We sat at low tables on big comfy cushions. We enjoyed an authentic meal. The kids enjoyed the grilled meats and pita bread. Cora also enjoyed the meatballs.

There were several shows including dancers and even a guy who danced with fire. 

Cruz and Rowan got a change to hold a falcon

Henna tattoo were offered for the ladies and Coco was super excited about this. The lady painted this beautiful design on Cora's arm/hand with thick henna paste. She added glitter at the end. When the henna dried (about 3 hours later), Cora was able to wash the paste off to find that the henna had dyed her skin and left a tattoo! 

June 2: Atlantis, the Palm, Aquaventure Waterpark

On Wednesday, we took a cab from Downtown Dubai to the Atlantis hotel located on the edge of the Jumeirah Palm, a man made island on the coast of the Persian Gulf. We spent the day riding waterslides and swimming. I didn't bring my camera so I don't have any other pictures but it was a fun, relaxing day! 

When we got back, we showered and got ready and headed back to the Dubai Mall to try the food court there for dinner. The kids had McDonalds and Subway- we love trying these home restaurants in other countries. I've said this before, but I'm always amazed at the quality of food in other places- even in fast food restaurants. 

June 3: Old Dubai

 

The nine hour time difference is the largest time difference that we've dealt with so far. We had a little bit of trouble adjusting so we developed a routine of staying up late and sleeping in. This worked well because the cooler part of the day was in the evening anyways and allowed us to be outside then. Our morning activity was always an indoor/air conditioned activity. 

 

We spent our last full morning at a board game cafe. This place was such a cool concept. They had thousands of games/board games to choose from. You could play as many as you wanted and the employees would even teach you the game if it was new and unfamiliar. The kids took their time but finally chose a game called Telestrations, a combo of telephone and Pictionary. We only ended up playing this one game for our entire time there because we loved it so much. We can't wait to add it to our home game library! 

The cafe served food, drinks and dessert as well! 

Cora's henna tattoo on day 3. 

We took a cab to the Museum of Illusions in the older, original part of Dubai.

 

This place had tons of puzzles, optical illusions and fun photo opportunities. 

 

Afterwards, we made a Starbucks stop for a cold drink and then walked along the Dubai Creek. 

 

This man made creek was the reason that Dubai became a city at all. It allowed trade with other places along the Arabian Gulf. 

Along the creek are traditional markets or souks. Roger, Rowan and Cora bought these headscarves at the textile souk.

We took one of these old boats called an Abra, for a hop across the creek to the gold and spice souks. 

 

We made one last stop at a park near our hotel for a final nighttime view of the Burj Khalifa. The nighttime light shows were always different and so pretty! 

June 4: Travel Home

Our travel home day was long but the kids were seriously amazing. No one complained a single time during either of the 13/14 hour flights. Our Emirates flight left Dubai around 9:55 am and landed in Chicago at 2:30 pm. We took a Southwest flight back to Nashville and landed there around 8:00pm (5:00 am Dubai time). We were pretty exhausted but thankful to be back safely and filled up with wonderful, family time! 

I'm really so incredibly grateful to have been able to take this trip. I'm thankful that Covid is getting under control and that the world is opening again! There's nothing the five of us enjoy more than exploring God's big, beautiful world together.