Cote Kids: last wk in KSA, Houston trip (12.11.10-12.17.10)

Sorry I've been neglecting the blog, but since we came back to Saudi, we've been so busy recouping from our Houston trip, getting the kids back to their schedule, transitioning them out of their cribs and they've also started preschool (more like MDO). Since I'm so behind, I've contempleted about not blogging the missed dates, but I can't do that, it's part of their memory book...so bear with me as I try to catch up!

Sat, 12/11- Since we were leaving Houston Wed., Semira babies sat at night for us so we could do some shopping. She's gonna have lots of free time while we're gone and still get paid. We went to the Panda, Saco, and my first time at Desert Design. Desert Design is a home furnishing store that has some really cool furniture pieces and decorations from different nearby countries. I did see a BUNCH of furniture I liked but we just don't have room for anything else, we would have to get rid of something and I like all of my furniture. Maybe one day when the kids destroy something and we need a replacement. :-)

Sun, 12/12- Saadia's playdate at a park on our street. Only a few moms showed up, I think a lot of moms are getting ready to leave for the holidaze too. After naptime, we took the kids to visit Santa Claus. This was such a hush hush thing on camp. Basically I was given a phone number to call. The woman called me back and scheduled a date for the kids to visit Santa Claus. I had to also bring a wrapped present for each kid max 50 SR/about $14 US a few days before. And emailed her a few things the kids are into so that Santa could know and maybe mentioned it to them.

Anyways, got kids dressed and feed before our appointment. We drove up to this big house w/one of those Snowman blowup thing on the front lawn. There were even elves to welcome us and directed us inside. This house was gorgeous, the backyard was so spacious and the house felt spacious too, I guess these folks have been here a long time. I wasn't sure how the kids would react, well, just scroll down for the pictures....

Meeting Santa Claus took about 5 minutes or less, maybe next year will be better.

They got to open the presents Santa gave them when we came home.

Mon, 12/13- The weather was really wonderful so we took full advantage of Mr. Sunshine and played in the backyard all morning, we even had lunch there.

Tues, 12/14- I had a coffee morning at Rowena's house, one of the moms through Saadia's group. Since Rowena doesn't have little ones anymore...it was kinda tough entertaining the kids until she put on a Disney movie and showed it off her projector. The kids really enjoyed watching the characters on the wall and playing w/some lego pieces she scrounged up. Mommy of course had a wonderful time chatting w/other moms.

While the kids napped, I had a dr appt. Before I left, Dan called and INFORMED me he made a huge mistake by misreading our itinerary. We thought we were leaving for Houston 4 pm next day (Wed.), but we were leaving at 4 am that morning. By this time it was too late to cancel my dr appt. even though we still have tons to pack. Anna back in Houston would of had a major breakdown, but Saudi Anna was so calm, I couldn't believe her. That evening we bathe the kids and put them in their clothes for the airport at bedtime. Then we got to packing! We pretty much worked all the way up through time we left. The taxi came about midnight and Dan installed all of the carseats and our luggage in it before we woke the kids up. Semira came w/us to wake the kids up and we each took a kid and dressed him/her in a jacket, socks and shoes. They cried a little bit in the begininng, but quickly quiet down. They didn't even cry as Dan put them in the carseats. Made it to the airport and the people at Damman airport was actually very friendly towards us. We were moved up to the front for everything and still the kids were not crying. Good thing I brought a lot of snacks b/c they had some before we boarded the plane. Odd that their tummies would be hungry at that hour.

We flew economy Emirates this time and boy was it worth it! They were so helpful with everything, carrying the kids, luggage, EVERYTHING! They totally rock compared to KLM!!! And the flight attendents were very friendly and understanding too! They gave them backpacks w/little goodies in it, crayons, books, stuffed animals. The kiddos loved the headphones, remote control, and Emirates' selection of kid movies were fantastic, it kept them pretty much happy. I even brought out the toys that I packed, but they could care less. They made this trip very easy for us and not once did we feel stressed out even though we were tired as heck from not having slept. We had the 3 seats on the window side and two in the middle row. Dan sat mostly w/Tobin and Skyler and I with Hudson. The only bad part was there was an aisle between us so the kids kept walking back and forth to get to us and they got in people's way A LOT, but everyone was really nice about it. Kids even slept twice, the first time on their own, second time w/a little help from our melatonin friend. Mommy even got to catch up on her movies and watched 4 of them.

Kamal, Dan's co-worker, was kind enough to take care of dropping the furries off the next morning at the kennel for us.

We made it to Houston on Wed early evening, 20 hours later w/the layover in Dubai. My mom, brother Matthew, niece Julie, Dan's parents and his sis Rebecca met us at the airport. We all headed to my sis, Marie's house. We stayed with her through the 22nd and left for Dan's parents house the next morning.

Thurs, 12/16- That morning, Marie's kids still had school so we went to have pho at a restaurant near her house. It was so yummy, they actually let us eat or maybe we're used to scarfing our food down. Then we headed to Target, OMGosh, I did miss Target! We even tried our new double umbrella stroller and had the other kid in the cart. It worked out pretty well. So well, we went to Big Lots, have never spent so much money at Big Lots before, but we did (OK I did :-)) Came home and kiddos got to hang out w/their cousins, Anne and Andrew. I can't remember if we even try to put them down for nap or not, but I don't think they did. For dinner, we went to Kim Son, a VN restaurant. Our first night out eating dinner and the kids fell asleep on the way there so we carried them in and they remained asleep. It was very difficult to eat, I think I was holding one and Dan holding two. I think I ate first and then he handed me another kid or maybe one of my family helped and held the third kid. Who knows, all I remember is it was really tough and I didn't get to enjoy my food like I wanted. Good thing is the kids were still sleeping so we just slipped them right into their pack n plays.

Fri, 12/17- Kids basically just enjoyed family time, my mom and Matthew visited us every chance they could during our visit. Dan went to his sis, Julie's graduation. I think they actually napped that day and Dan snuck out, when they woke up, we used the "daddy's at work" thing. Later for dinner we, just the five of us, went to a local diner in Pearland, the Busy Bees, kids did really well eating out. It was cold out that night too! Marie's family and my mom/Matthew had something else going on that night so they couldn't join us.

Hudson w/Santa