Dear Daddy,

 

A few nights ago, Connor came upstairs with a "note" that he said he wrote for his daddy.  I asked him what he wrote and he said oh wait I need to write the words.  He headed back downstairs and a few minutes later returned with his completed letter.  I videoed him as he read it to me.  It was the cutest, most heartfelt thing!  He was so proud of it and insisted that we bring it to the post office and that he get to read it to the mail man.

Harry has been gone almost 3 weeks and Connor hasn't seemed to notice that it's been that long.  It has been much easier on him than on Mom and Dad!

Pirate Cracks

Last Friday night, Connor spent the night downstairs with his Mimi and Pop.  When he woke up the next morning, he would scream and hold his head right behind his ear every time he moved.  It was obvious that something was wrong so I called the doctor and we were out the door to find out what was going on.  Turns out he had a crick in the neck of all things!  It never occurred to me that that's what was wrong because he was just saying that his head hurt.  I wanted to make him feel better so I told him that we would go get the Jake the Pirate treasure chest that he has been wanting and that made things a little more tolerable.  He winced and whined every time it pinched him, but he stuck it out long enough to find it and pay for it. 

After a little Ibuprofen, the heating pad, and a nap he was feeling a lot better!  We had supper at my mom's house and of course he had to bring all his pirate gear.  When we left he said that my car was our ship and we were going to sail the seven seas!  That boy is a trip!

I guess the medicine was starting to wear off later that night because he started to wince in pain again.  He said, "This crack is killing my head!"  I couldn't stop laughing!  After a warm bath and more Ibuprofen my pirate was off to dream land with the heating pad :)

4th of July

We decided to spend the long 4th of July weekend in Tennessee so my mom and I loaded up Connor and Karaline and off we went!  Hayden had kidney surgery the week before, but you'd never know it.  He was as rough and tough as ever!


I think this is only the second time in his entire 3 and 1/2 years of life that Connor has just fallen asleep like this.  He normally has to be in his pj's and settled down for the night.  He had a long but fun filled day!

Hayden had a little accident while riding 4-wheelers and his clothes got all wet.  My brother Brett (his 4 year old uncle) brought him into the house to get cleaned up and this is how he came out!  Can you say redneck?!? Haha!  He was so proud of himself though.  He asked his mom if she was happy with him lol.

I got sparklers and those little popper things you throw on the ground for the kids to have fun with after the sun went down.  They had a great time!  I wished I had bought more so they could've played a little longer.

The next day we spent a few hours at a nearby waterpark.  The kids had a blast playing and eating ice cream.  Katie and I had a little run in with a kid that obviously had no home training, but it turned out to be a good day lol!

We had a party at my Aunt Sherrie's house on our last day there.  She made all the fixings for tacos and rented a waterslide for the kids to play on.  They literally played on that thing for 7 hours and had the best time!

 
Our crew :)

Whistle While You Work

June 30th was Harry's departure date for Saudi. He didn't have to be at the airport until 2:30 that afternoon so we had lots of time to spend together before sending him off. He spent most of the morning making sure he had everything packed and all his documents together. Getting ready to leave the country is very time consuming!

We ate lunch at one of our favorite restaurants, Zea's and still had lots of time to spare before he needed to be at the airport so we decided to head to the mall next door to have beignets at Cafe du Monde. Coming down the escalator we noticed a spider jump and Connor said he wanted to do it. He was very hesitant about going too high at first, but the guy played with him and he was going really high before long. He loved it! 

After spider jumping and beignets it was time to head to the airport.  Connor had a good time playing on the funky couches while Harry sorted out his ticket and luggage at the desk.  After everything was situated we sat around and waited for the other two guys from his plant that were flying out with him.  Finally it was time to say our goodbyes.  Everyone was a little teary eyed, but we managed to hold it together.  Connor was fine because he really didn't understand how far away his daddy was going and that it would be months before he'd see him again.  I think him being okay with saying bye made it easier for all of us to do it.

This is Harry's coworker Erick.  He and his wife Lina are moving to Saudi with us and they'll live across the street!

Saying our goodbyes :(

The trip took a total of about 24 hours with two layovers.  He flew to Chicago first and then to Istanbul, Turkey and then finally to Dammam, Saudi Arabia.  I used the Flight Aware app to track his flights so I showed Connor the map of his flight and he thought it was the coolest thing.  Once the plane takes off an airplane icon shows exactly where they are on the route.  Throughout the night he kept asking to check the map so he could see where his daddy was. 

Everyone was relieved when he made it to his hotel room and we were able to Skype. 

He has been there for a week now and is finally over jet lag.  I'm definitely not excited about experiencing it!  Connor hasn't had any issues with Harry being gone...yet.  He keeps saying that he's ready to go to Saudi Arabia and asks Harry if he got our papers yet all the time, but he hasn't gotten upset or really showed any signs that he realizes how long he's been gone.  The time difference has probably been the most difficult thing to deal with so far.  He is 8 hours ahead of us so we always have to be aware of what time it is at different ends of the world.  The weekends there are different from our weekends here in the states.  Their holy day is Friday so they celebrate the weekend on Friday and Saturday (which was just changed from Thursday and Friday the weekend before he left).  For example, today he asked if the documents that we are waiting on came in yesterday and I had to remind him that the mail doesn't pass on Sundays lol.  His first day of the work week is now Sunday so to him yesterday felt like a Monday.

His official first day of work was last Thursday, which was Wednesday night for us.  It was a big day for him and for Connor as well.  Harry finally got to start on the project and Connor finally accomplished something he had been trying to do for months...whistle!  He was so proud of himself and wanted to show everyone that he could do it.  He walked around whistling constantly afterwards.  The first thing he did when he woke up the next morning was whistle.  It was so funny and he's actually getting really good at it!

Our life is very crazy right now and full of unknowns.  We don't know when the movers are coming to pack our stuff, when our paperwork will be processed, or when we will get to make our trip to Saudi.  This can be very overwhelming and frustrating at times, but we are taking it one day at a time! 






 

 

Oh Baby!

Sell house, sell vehicles, quit job, move across the world, have a baby? Why not! This is exactly what I'm doing. Once we found out that we were going to be moving to Saudi we decided that it was also the perfect time to have baby #2. Sounds crazy, but moving came with the opportunity to be a stay at home mom so we felt like the timing was perfect! The night before we moved in with Harry's parents we went out to eat Chinese. I craved Chinese all the time when I was pregnant for Connor so I was hoping it was a good sign. The food was just okay, but the coke I drank tasted unbelievably good. I had at least 3 glasses. I told Harry how good it tasted and he said its because you're pregnant and I laughed. I told him it was too soon to find out, but we'd stop at the drug store on the way home. When we got home I went take the test and Harry went bathe Connor. I was shocked when I saw the result.

I went to the other bathroom and told Connor that he was going to be a big brother! We were all excited.

When I was about 10 weeks along we decided to let our family in on our little secret.  We invited them to our favorite hibachi restaurant under the pretense that we were celebrating my 30th birthday.  Before everyone arrived I gave the manager fortune cookies to hand out at the end of our meal that had a special "fortune" inside.  Everyone's fortune read "Connor is going to be a big brother - November 2013!"  Everyone was shocked and excited!

We really didn't want to find out the sex of the baby, but with us moving to Saudi, we really needed to know if packing all of Connor's old toys and clothes was necessary.  Peek-A-Boo Ultrasound will do gender determination as early as 15 weeks so I scheduled an appointment there.  Harry, Connor, and Karaline all came with me to the appointment.  We all thought it was a girl.  Karaline was definitely hoping and praying for a girl!  The sonographer started off taking measurements to determine weight and age and I saw it right away...definitely a boy!  She finally announced that it was a boy and Connor said, "Sorry Dub!" (Dub is our nickname for Karaline.)  He knew how bad she wanted a girl haha!  I bought each of them a teddy bear that plays the baby's heartbeat as a keepsake.  When we walked out Karaline said that it was okay, she still loved him even though it was a boy.

We knew that if we were having a boy, he would be named after my side of the family.  My grandpa, dad, and brother all have the same name, James Roland Kenneth Cothran.  A lot of the men on my dad's side of the family have two middle names which I think is unique so we were pretty set on giving him his own first name and his middle name would be James-Kenneth.  But then I came across the name Jameson and I really liked it!  Although we aren't 100% sure yet, we have decided his name will be Jameson Kenneth Hitt.  He won't have two middle names, but I like the sound of it.

If everything goes as planned, I will be having the baby in Saudi Arabia.  It could take up to three months once Harry gets to Saudi to get our paperwork processed.  At the three month mark I'll be somewhere around 30 weeks so we'll be pushing it to get there while I can still safely make the long flight, but I'm staying positive that everything will work out.  Most people are very surprised and intrigued when they find out I'll be delivering in Saudi.  They say ummm so how's that going to work? Haha!  I did a lot of research and talked to someone who actually had 2 babies in Saudi before making my decision.  I would not be doing this if I didn't feel comfortable.  The baby will not be a Saudi Arabian citizen.  He will be a citizen of the USA!  I will be delivering at the same hospital that the royal family uses, so it is state of the art.  The doctors there are just as capable as the doctors here in the states.  As with everything else that comes with moving abroad, I'm sure this will be just as scary and exciting and I can't wait! 
   

 

 

Steamboat, Colorado

Not long after we got word that we were indeed moving to Saudi Arabia, I decided that we needed to go skiing before we left.  We skied on our honeymoon in Gatlinburg, TN and loved it, but I wanted to experience a "real" ski resort.  After lots of research we decided that Steamboat was the best place to go with a three year old.  Neither of us are big fans of anything Mardi Gras so I scheduled our trip for that week (February 8 - 12, 2013).  Harry and Connor picked me up from work and we headed to the airport.  Connor, as usual, was thrilled to fly...me, not so much!  I hate, hate, hate to fly.  I have no idea how I'm going to make it to Saudi without having a breakdown.  He is not phased at all.  In fact, when we landed back in New Orleans on our flight home he asked if we were in the air yet! 

 

We had planned to drive from Denver to Steamboat when we landed, but since it would be a 3-4 hour drive in the dark and we didn't know what the road conditions would be like we decided to spend the night in Denver.  After a little trouble with the car rental we were on our way!  The copilot didn't last long after we got in the car!

After a good night's sleep, we got up and started making our way to Steamboat.  The scenery on our way was breathtaking!  The longer we drove, the more beautiful it got.  Pictures do not do it justice!  We also became very thankful that we decided to stay the night in Denver as we drove.  The weather and road conditions became pretty scary the closer we got to Steamboat.  I kept telling Harry that I felt like we shouldn't be where we were and wondered if we were even on the right road.  Being from south Louisiana, we had never seen anything like it, much less drive in it.  We drove at least half the way without seeing a gas station and only a ranch or house every so often.  You definitely couldn't see the lines on the road.  It was snowing pretty hard and the wind was blowing and I felt like I was in a blizzard.  I know we weren't, but that's what it felt like to us Cajuns!

Connor was absolutely thrilled when he saw snow for the first time.  He had been asking to see snow since Christmas.  It's all he talked about once we started seeing it on our way in!  When we got to our condo he couldn't wait to play in it.  Harry and I were getting our bags out of the car and when we turned around we found him having a blast in a snow bank!

After getting settled into the condo it was time to start our adventure.  We had a short walk to the transit station where a bus was picking us up to go snow tubing at Saddleback Ranch.  Of course, we had to stop and play in the snow on our way!

We had a great time snow tubing.  Connor was too little to ride on a tube alone so we took turns going down the hill with him in our tube.  The scenery was beautiful!  There was a pretty large group there with us and we all got together to make a big tube down the hill before we had to leave.  We held onto each other's tube straps and the workers helped us get started down the hill with a little push.  We tried twice, but the group ended up breaking apart before we got very far.  It was fun though!  We tubed for about an hour and a half and the bus brought us back to the transit station right down the street from our condo.  It was the perfect activity to do that afternoon!

 

We got up early on our second day to eat a good breakfast since we were spending the day on the slopes.  After breakfast we dropped Connor off at "snow school" for the day while we skied.  We decided to do a full day of lessons because it had been five years since we last skied and even then it wasn't anything compared to Steamboat.  We were split up into different groups based on our ability level, but that was okay because I ended up with only two other ladies in my group.  Even though we didn't see each other all day we had a great time!  We were prepared enough to tackle the slopes on our own by the end of our lesson, but it was time to go pick Connor up and I was exhausted.  Skiing is a serious workout!

After skiing we went back to the room to relax and play in the snow before dinner.  Our condo was on the ground floor and it had a little patio so it was perfect for playing outside and having a snowball fight.  Harry and Connor even managed to build somewhat of a snowman!  They had the best time!

 

 

 

Our third and final day was just as fun as the first two.  We went dog sledding through the Rockies!  It was awesome!  The man that owns the place actually participated in the Iditarod in 2011 so it was really neat to hear his stories and have him train us on how to drive the sled.  Those dogs are real athletes.  We all got to ride on the same sled which was really fun.  Harry drove first and Connor and I rode inside of it then we switched and I got to drive about half way through.  There was only one other couple on the tour with us so we were basically out there alone with two guides on snowmobiles.  The guides stayed pretty far away so that we could get the full experience.

 

 

 

 

After dog sledding we decided to pack up and head back to Denver.  We were flying out the next day and had planned on just driving into Denver the next morning, but based on our experience with our trip into Steamboat we thought it best to head out in the daylight rather than risk it in the early morning hours.  Our Steamboat trip definitely ranks up there with Disney World on my list of favorite vacations.  It was an absolute blast!  Our little family had a great time!

 

 

Disney World 2012

Our first trip to Disney World was October 5 - 11, 2012.  We brought Harry's parents and my godchild Karaline with us.  It was everyone's first time and both Connor and Karaline would celebrate their birthday while there so it was an extra special vacation!  We didn't tell the kids we were going until a few days before we left and they were very excited.  I made up a scavenger hunt for them to go on and each clue had something to do with Disney.  At the end they got a Mickey and Minnie and had to figure out where we were going.

It was also Connor and Karaline's first time flying so I was a little nervous, but they did awesome!  Connor absolutely loved it.  When we took off from New Orleans, he put his arm in the air and started yelling, "We're blasting off!"

We didn't get to Orlando until really late, so we basically got to the resort and went to sleep.  We stayed at the new Art of Animation resort in a Finding Nemo family suite.  It is a great place to stay!  On our first day, the kids woke up to autograph books that "Mickey" left for them and then we were off to Magic Kingdom for breakfast at Crystal Palace.  The kids had a great time for their first encounter with the characters.  We got to see Piglet, Winnie the Pooh, Eeyore, and Tigger.  It was Connor's third birthday so we picked up his birthday pin and of course he got his birthday cupcake for breakfast.

After breakfast, the kids picked out their souvenirs for the day and we headed to Animal Kingdom.  We had a great time for our first day at Disney.  Our favorite attractions in Animal Kingdom were the Kilimanjaro Safari, Festival of the Lion King, and Flights of Wonder.  The grown ups really enjoyed It's Tough to be a Bug, the kids...not so much.  They weren't really digging it from the beginning and when the spiders came down from the ceiling, they both lost control of themselves lol.  If you were to ask them what their favorite ride was that day, they would probably say TriceraTop Spin, which is something you can find at any rinky dink fair haha.  During the Lion King show, the cast members would get people from the audience to participate.  They tried to get Karaline to go, but if you know her, you know she was not having it!  And who could go to Disney World without getting a Mickey ears ice cream so we had to stop for one during the day.  We ended our day with dinner in Epcot at Coral Reef and another birthday cupcake.  It is a really fun place to eat with an aquarium in the dining room.  After dinner, the kids had fun dancing and jumping around the lights on the ground near the front of the park.  They didn't want to leave, but the adults were about to fall asleep standing up haha!

Mickey dropped off new shirts for the kids to wear for our second day.  They were so excited to wear them!  We ate breakfast at Chef Mickey in the Contemporary resort.  We got to see Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, and Pluto.  We let Connor celebrate his birthday again so we sat in the celebration section of the restaurant.  He got a yellow napkin and the rest of us had blue ones.  At one point, they played a celebration song and all the characters walked around waving napkins and everyone waved theirs too.  It was so cute to see all the yellow napkins knowing they were celebrating something special!

After breakfast, we were off to spend the day at Epcot.  This was probably the least favorite park for the kids, but Harry and I had a great time!  Our favorite attraction there was Soarin, hands down!  It started to rain a little so we stopped at the Coca-Cola place to try soda from around the world.  Harry and I had already done this while in Las Vegas so we knew to stay clear of Beverly, but it was fun to watch everyone try it!  After just a few hours, we had seen all there really is to see that the kids would be interested in so Harry's mom and dad took them back to the resort to nap and enjoy what it had to offer.  Harry and I stayed to check out the World Showcase.  The International Food and Wine Festival was going on so there were kiosks at each country with featured food and drinks.  It was so much fun!  We also did a beer tour at Rose and Crown pub and a wine tour in Germany.  We met up with the rest of our group at LeCellier for dinner.  They were running behind with reservations so we had a pretty long wait to be seated and we ended up missing the firework show at the end of the night.  It was okay though.  Connor couldn't stay awake long enough to get his meal, but our food was delicious!

Our third day meant breakfast at Ohana in the Polynesian resort where we got to see Lilo, Stitch, Mickey, and Pluto.  The breakfast there is family style and the guava orange juice is delicious!  It was Karaline's turn to celebrate her birthday so we had another breakfast cupcake.  When the celebration song came on, all the kids got maracas and danced in a Congo line with the characters around the restaurant.  It was a lot of fun!  The monorail wasn't running when it was time to leave so we took the boat to the Magic Kingdom for the day.

We started our day in Magic Kingdom with a train ride around most of the park.  We got off in Fantasyland and toured half of the park.  We loved everything about the day!  The kids loved the Dumbo ride which is exactly like the Triceratops Spin in Animal Kingdom.  I don't know why they like it so much haha!  The Buzz Lightyear ride was so much fun.  It was probably our favorite of the day.  After we left the Buzz ride, we realized that someone had taken our stroller.  A security officer hooked us up with a park stroller while they tried to find ours.  While waiting for them to figure that out me and Harry decided to check out Stitch's Great Escape.  Connor wasn't tall enough to go, but we brought Karaline because the officer said it wasn't too bad and it didn't move...BIG MISTAKE!  It was loud and dark and a harness came down over you so that you couldn't move.  The monster things spit water on you and Karaline had a nervous breakdown.  All I could do was try to hold her hand and talk to her to calm her down but she wanted out!  The go carts were also a big hit.  Karaline was a terrible driver!  She was cracking up laughing at me laughing at her.  Just as we were leaving, they announced that the Dream Come True parade was about to start.  We lucked out big time!  The kids LOVED it!  When Cinderella passed she noticed Karaline's button and told her Happy Birthday.  She was in awe!  It was so cute!  After a fun day at the park we went to our resort to freshen up and then it was time for dinner at Whispering Canyon Café in Wilderness Lodge.  Of course Karaline's favorite part was the bathroom because there was a little kid sink area for her to wash her hands.  A lot of bathrooms around Disney have this.  Very convenient!  Two of the funniest moments happened when we got back to our room.  We were all so exhausted that Connor got in the tub with his shirt on and Harry didn't even notice at first.  Every one got a kick out of that.  Then they got their birthday presents from Mimi and Pop.  Karaline got a Cinderella costume and Connor got a Woody one.  Their reactions were priceless!  Karaline felt like a real princess and Connor immediately turned into a cowboy.  It was a great ending to an amazing day!

Day four started with breakfast at Cinderella's Royal Table in Magic Kingdom.  Our walk to the castle was very memorable.  Our breakfast reservation was early so we got to go into the park a few minutes before it opened.  There were a lot of cast members out on the street waiting for the crowd.  The kids dressed in the costumes they got the night before and the cast members talked to them as if they really were Cinderella and Woody!  They greeted them with "Good morning princess, Good morning sheriff, Good morning Woody" as we walked down the street.  It was so cute!  We got to meet Cinderella, Snow White, Belle, Jasmine, and Ariel at breakfast.  It really was magical to be in the castle and Karaline loved every minute.  Connor wasn't thrilled with all the princesses, but it was Karaline's special breakfast.  They gave all the kids a star to make a wish on.  All the girls also got wands and the boys got swords.  And of course...it ended with Karaline's birthday cupcake! 

When we finished breakfast, we toured the other half of Magic Kingdom.  It was another great day!  I loved how the characters stayed in character, even when talking to the grown ups.  It makes it very special.  All the princesses loved our little Woody as you can tell by the lipstick on his cheek!  We got to try to famous Dole Whip and it is as good as everyone says it is!  Tinkerbelle was really the only character that we had to wait for a good amount of time to see.  Karaline even fell asleep in the stroller while we were in line.  I'm kind of glad she did because Tink made sure she still got her picture and it is so sweet!  We headed to Ohana for supper after a long day at the park.  The supper is also family style and it was a lot of food!  Our bellies were definitely full.  After dinner we went back to Magic Kingdom to catch the electric parade and firework show.  The parade was awesome and the kids danced and had a great time!  Our 15 hour days were starting to catch up with us though.  We were exhausted, but we didn't care! 

Our last day was at Hollywood Studios and it started with breakfast at Hollywood and Vine.  We met Agent Oso, Jake, June, and Handy Manny.  They got the kids up to dance every now and then and they had a blast!  After breakfast we set out to explore the park.

After breakfast Harry went straight to Toy Story Mania to get out fast passes.  We were so excited for that ride!  The kids got their faces painted and they were so cute.  Hollywood Studios was fun and had really cute shows, but Toy Story was hands down our favorite.  When we were about to get off, Connor said no we need to go that way, pointing to the cars going into the ride!  Even us grown ups felt like little kids.  Visiting Mike and Sully was our last stop in the park before dinner.  They ended it on such a fun note by playing with the kids and rocking their Mickey and Minnie.  Dinner was at Hollywood Brown Derby and we had a feast!  We had several extra dinners left on our dining plan so we pretty much ordered the entire menu.  It was delicious!  We had an early flight and Fantasmic didn't start until 8:00 so we decided to skip it and go back to the resort.  There's always next time!

I think our first trip to Disney will probably always be one of my all time favorite vacations.  We had such a good time and the kids were so well behaved.  I couldn't have asked for a better experience.  I totally understand why people go so many times.  I can't wait to go back!  We made every moment fun...even while waiting for the bus to pick us up at 3:30 am to bring us to the airport!