glimpses of our middle east trip

Since February is, without a doubt, my least favorite month, and since my Cakepops (aka nieces across the ocean) are growing up quicker than my heart can handle, we are spending the month in middle east with Jordan and her family.

And, I will be honest, I think my February blues could be solved with a little jaunt to the Arabian Peninsula every year. Keadryn, Sayla and Evie have been the best introduction to life on the coast that the kids and I could ask for!

In fact, Jordan was just teasing me that our time so far could be summed up by the word “beach.” We’ve been playing on the beach, collecting shells on the beach, splashing in the waves, camping on the beach, relaxing on the beach… Burke and Piper are smitten, which delights this beach- mama’s heart to no end.

We even went down the coast of Oman to a special beach reserve see the sea turtles, which turned out to be one of my favorite nights ever. Not only did we get to see a mama turtle laying eggs, we also got to see a whole nest of babies hatching and making their way to the sea. Amazing!

Like I said, I am already trying to figure out how to make this mid-winter holiday an annual event.

In the meantime, I’ve been trying to soak in as much warm, non-polar-vortex weather as possible (if there were a way to bottle the Spring and unleash it at home, I’d be all over that, friends).

And even more, I’ve been trying to sneak extra snuggles at every turn, and trying to spend as many minutes watching ‘ballerina recitals’ and dance partying and shell collecting with the girls as I can, all the while wondering how my teeny tiny Cakepops are already little girls?

Does that ever happen to you? You’re just cruising along, caught up in the mundane every day and you look up and your baby niece is almost seven? And does anyone have a way to slow that down a bit?