Picture of the Week - 5/30/2019

Tonight we were a family of four.  Zane is still at camp and Beck is hanging with my parents.  The rest of us enjoyed a nice dinner at a Korean BBQ place.  It was lovely.  It was disconcerting to ask for a table of four.

I'm heading back to Scotland tomorrow.  There's a lot of travel in my summer...  which sucks for summer, but should pay dividends with far fewer trips this fall.  Fingers crossed!

I'm more than a little bummed that I won't get to talk to Zane (in person) after he comes home from camp tomorrow.  I can't wait to hear about his week.  If it's anything like Beckett's, the rest of the summer will be dull in comparison - no matter what we do.

Summer camps are a funny thing...  there's a different camp (and schedule) pretty much every week for us this year.  A variety of sports and sorta-educational and general summer fun stuff.  They all require lunches and of course they all have different requirements for bringing a water bottle or a beach towel or an art shirt or 2-3 snacks.  Whoever said summer was full of lazy days clearly wasn't trying to manage the summer camp rodeo.  

Spencer and Quinn are into summer sports season in earnest starting on Monday.  Spence has football 4 days/week and they are both doing wrestling 3 days/week.  The first wrestling tournament of the summer is scheduled for the Saturday after I get back from this trip.  I can't wait to see them back on the mats this summer!

Speaking of wrestling - if anyone would like to sponsor our wrestling team with a donation - or golf in our tournament this summer - we sure would appreciate it!  www.westforsythwrestling.com for all the details.

Here's a quick picture of our "party of four" from dinner tonight.  These days may not be lazy, but they are fun!

Picture of the Week - 5/23/2019

We dropped Beckett off today - solo - for camp.  I guarantee it feels weirder for us here without him than it does for him there without all of us!  Upon drop-off, his counselor (who we instantly loved) had the kids fill out a little info sheet.  It was questions like "what are your hobbies, what are you looking forward to, what subject do you like best, etc.  One of the questions was "are you nervous about coming to camp"?  If so, what are you nervous about.  He was like "nope.  I pressed a bit and asked "Is there anything you are uncomfortable about?"  He looked at me like I was crazy and was like "nope".  Then, "when are you leaving?"  

Safe to say he's going to have a blast!  We pick him back up on Saturday.

The other boys are all finishing up school tomorrow.  Spencer and Quinn have had a super weird schedule this week.  The basically only had to be at school when they had actual exams.  Quinn exempted out of almost all of his, so he's mostly just been lounging at home all week.  

Safe to say I don't understand how high school works!!!  In any case, they both have a final tomorrow and then they are finished for the year and we will officially have a Sophomore and a Junior.  Weird.

Zane gets to have a special night tomorrow flying solo at my mom's house after finishing up his last day of 3rd grade.  He had a really great year.  Zane goes up to camp on Monday and spends next week up there.  I imagine he will be slightly more reserved than Beck was.  Fingers crossed that he bonds with his counselor as fast as Beck did!

Tomorrow is our 22nd wedding anniversary.  I'm so excited to get to celebrate with Bob.  He's got date plans all worked out and it will be a really great way to end a really tough week.  Nothing earth shattering or wrong - just too busy and too much going on - same story everyone has in May.

Next week - we start the craziness of a different schedule every week.  Spencer is right into summer football and both he and Quinn kick off the summer wrestling season.  No rest for the weary.  I leave next Friday for another week in Scotland.  At least the weather doesn't look too bad for this one...

Have a safe and happy Memorial Day weekend everyone!

Picture of the Week - 5/16/2019

I spent the week in a meeting at a hotel in Atlanta.  As much as I travel, it will always feel weird to not be home, but to be watching our normal morning news show...  

As always, it's good to be back and tonight was absolutely perfect weather.  The boys have been begging to go to the pool since it opened last weekend and we took them up there tonight.  They had a blast.  We had a blast watching them.  It was SUCH a nice, relaxing evening.  

We are quickly winding down this school year (6 days left, but really the learning stopped 3 weeks ago...) and gearing up for summer.  Spencer has a job at a pizza place and will be busy with football and wrestling.  Quinn's doing the summer wrestling season too - and I'm sure will be looking for excuses to hang out with his new friend, who happens to be a girl.  ;)  Zane and Beck have a wide variety of summer camps.  Beckett starts the summer next Thursday at Woodlands and from there it will be a non-stop, crazy (and hopefully fun), whirlwind summer.  Stay tuned for stories of their antics and hopefully lots of summer fun photos.

Here's a picture from the pool to kick things off.  Side note - it became obvious as soon as they were in the water how much both of them have grown!!!  Like CRAZY weeds...  

Have a great weekend everyone!

Picture of the Week - 5/9/2019

I think Mother's Day may have come early for me this year!  I got a picture of my big guys WITH me in it and everyone is smiling!  Woot!  (Also, when did I get so short???)

This week has been a bit of a blur.  Jet lag is real and for at least a day and a half my brain felt completely out of it.  I think I'm mostly back to normal now - although I did wake up at 4:20 this morning...  so...

I've spent some time reflecting on the last couple of weeks and I don't think it's a huge stretch to say that there were some life-changing moments that happened.  These weren't getting to see the tallest building in the world or touching the Persian Gulf water or hanging out in a building that dates back to 1080.  The stuff that truly impacted me was far more subtle.

One of our tour guides has 5 kids.  We spent some time talking to him about his family.  He is raiding his 3 nieces and has a girl and boy of his own.  We weren't prying to learn more, but it came out in conversation that his sister and brother-in-law were killed in a tsunami back in India.  The story is even more chilling than *just* that because it turns out that he happened to be in town visiting when the tsunami happened.  The morning of the event he decided he wanted to go fishing and gathered up his parents to drive over to another village.  He asked his sister and brother-in-law to go too, but they had a restaurant and couldn't leave it.  They did, however, send their kids.  That decision, to go on that day-trip, and to take his parents and nieces, changed the course of his life - and of theirs.  They never saw their mom and dad/sister/daughter again.  

What a strong reminder that the decisions you make every single day have the potential to change everything.  

We went shopping at the Dubai Mall one day.  That place was insane.  We walked all day and probably only saw about a third of the place.  There were tons of people there.  Obviously there were other tourists, but there were also lots of locals - or people whom I assumed were local.  We were in a store called Zara (remember that name because I predict it will become very popular here in the next 5 years...) and we were just browsing.  One of my friends wanted to try on some clothes, so I was just hanging out waiting.  I saw this young family of 3.  The mom was shopping for clothes (just like everyone else) and she was engrossed in her task.  The dad was carrying around the baby, a boy of about 9 or 10 months.  He was cooing and laughing and playing and comforting the child.  It was a scene that could have been played out anywhere.  Except the mom was in a full Muslim robe with her head and face covered.  The dad was also in full traditional dress with a head covering as well.  This was a significantly different image of Muslim people than we are accustomed to seeing on the US news.

What a blatant example that people are people all over the world.  What they believe in doesn't change the fact that they love their kids, each other, and a good sale on trendy shirts.

One day my American colleagues and I had lunch with a man who was originally Scottish, but had spent the last 20 years or so living abroad in a wide variety of locations.  He was pretty fascinating.  He told us his favorite places to live and described the work he and his wife were doing.  The more interesting part of the conversation, however, was how interested he was in US.  Apparently his perceptions and stereotypes of Americans didn't fit nicely with the way we talked, behaving, or shared.  We talked about politics and entertainment and religion and school and all sorts of things.  In almost every topic we surprised him with our answers.  His impressions of who we were and what we believed because we lived in the United States was really skewed.  It was so eye-opening for both him and us!

What a clear way to see that if you really want to know something about someone, you have to actually talk to them.  Where they live, what they wear, what they drive, and who they are with really don't tell the story.  To know someone, you have to put forth effort and set-aside your beliefs and stereotypes.  

You have to have an open-mind if you want to have an open-heart.

So yes, I am so glad I got to feel the powder-like sand in the Arabian desert.  I very much enjoyed eating hummus and fresh bread at pretty much every meal.  And I'll always remember the chaos of the old traditional souks selling everything from tea to leather.  Not to mention the fact that the Games of Strategy class was pretty interesting...

But the real learning of this trip happened in the quiet moments - and those are the ones that have changed and enhanced me.  I really am blessed to have had these experiences...  and even more blessed to get to come home to this crazy, messy, chaotic, American house in the suburbs full of people I love and who love me back.  

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there!  I get to celebrate with MY mom tomorrow night and I can't wait to have a good chat with her over a good bottle of wine!

Cheers!

Picture of the Week - 5/2/2019

It's nearly Friday where I am - continuing on the whirlwind world tour!

First thing's first - I'm homesick and I miss my people - A LOT!

But I have to admit that I've done some pretty fabulous things in the last week...

On Friday last week we wrapped up the Craneware 20th anniversary celebration with a private party in the London Science museum.  It was pretty special!  They closed down the "Wonder Lab" for us - picture a bunch of Scots in kilts and women in gowns sliding down the friction slides and playing with the thermal cameras.  Then we had dinner in the airplane/space part of the museum, which was super cool.  

Saturday I took a tour with a few friends to Bath, Avebury (which is like Stonehedge, but older and less popular) - both pictures included here - and Lacock Village, which had ACTUAL thatched roof cottages - super cute.  

Sunday we transitioned to Dubai.  It was a long day, but we had a blast celebrating at the London airport at a cute little champagne bar.  I'm traveling with my 2 MBA buddies, which has been really fun.  

Monday we went on a tour of the desert - complete with camel ride and a traditional meal served in an open-air camp.  Tuesday we got up super early to go ride the dunes and visit the Hatta Mountains.  We wore ourselves out and spent the rest of the day at the beach.

Wednesday we walked and walked and walked and walked all over the Dubai Mall - that place had everything from Harry WInston to KFC.  Crazy!!!  We also got to see the Burj Khalifa and Dubai fountains.  

Today we started class and then afterward we wondered around the Souks (think flea market...) in Old Dubai.  We have 2 more days of classes - and who knows what we will get into in the evenings - before heading back home in the wee hours of Sunday morning.  I think we will start our journey home around 3 PM Saturday (Atlanta time) and should arrive back in my sweet little house around 8 PM on Sunday.  I'm not looking forward to the jet lag or trying to get readjusted to the right timezone, but I definitely AM looking forward to hugging by boys and snuggling my dogs and getting back to my routine.  I have soooo many thoughts and feelings and things I've learned through this trip.  It's been amazing.  I am blessed.

(The pictures with the water in front of the buildings are of Old Dubai.  The dessert pictures are from Sharjah.  The Burj Khalifa is the tallest artificial structure in the world.  The national animal of the UAE is the falcon - and falconry is BIG over here.  The camel needs no explanation - and yes, I'm sore after riding him through the desert...  The picture with the stone guy in the foreground is from the ancient Roman baths in Bath - so super cool.  And the green pasture with the big stones and lonely tree is Avebury.)