Blake & Jennifer's Adventures: You're where?!?!

So some of you may be surprised that I'm writing this from Dubai. Mainly because I didn't tell many people, but not because it was a spur of the moment decision. Blake has a great job opportunity here that will have us here for yet another adventure for at most a year. We've actually been discussing this move for a long time but was waiting to make sure it actually played out before saying anything. Well, waiting until the tickets were booked 2 weeks out may have been overkill! We decided to sell our house while we are gone because showing a house with 2 small kids and 2 dogs....well as they say "ain't nobody got time for that"! So in 2 weeks I tried to pack our house and 12 ( yes 12!) suitcases for the trip. Not a very smart idea especially when you have 2 kids hanging onto your legs like Velcro. I tried to pack when the kids were napping or in bed for the night but soon realized you can't pack that much stuff in 2-3 hours a day for just 2 weeks. As time to leave came closer I realized I had bit off more than I could chew! Thankfully we have a lot of awesome friends that helped out the last few days before we left and even seconds before we left! As our friends were putting our suitcases in their cars I was still stuffing random things into any possible crevice of suitcases not yet taken! It was the most unorganized, half hazard attempt at packing I've ever done and I'm usually very organized and methodical! Needless to say, the last couple of weeks were extremely stressful. Also stressful was the prospect of a 13 hour flight with a 2 1/2 year old and a one year old. I was dreading this more than anything else! 13 hours was only Atlanta to Dubai, that didn't even include the time at the Orlando airport, the flight to Atlanta, or the layover in Atlanta. All in all we spent 16 hours either at an airport or in an airplane. It seemed like 24 hours because of the 8 hour time difference and felt like an eternity because...well you can imagine why?! Not fun for anyone but especially not with two young kids. I expected the kids to get cranky, I mean who wouldn't without the use of alcohol and/or drugs. Since giving either of those to kids is frowned upon I knew this wouldn't be easy. What I didn't expect was for Ethan to get sick and throw up on me just 2 hours into the flight. So for the other 10 hours I got to smell like vomit, always fun. You're always happy when the plane lands and you get off but it's a whole new level after a flight like that!! We left Wednesday night but because of the time difference arrived Thursday night. You can imagine our sleep schedules are crazy right now! Our home away from home wasn't ready yet so we are staying in a furnished apartment for the week. It's actually the tallest residential building in the world at 96 floors!
We miss our friends and family but are looking forward to the next year and the new adventures in a new country! Thanks for reading this and joining us on another adventure :) Keep checking back because now that I have something to talk about other than laundry, dirty dishes, poopy diapers, more laundry, cooking...did I mention poopy diapers... I will actually try to keep this updated for everyone! All 5 you, lol ;)