safe return.

although I knew the odds were in our favor for returning safely and being a complete family again, if you read my previous post, you may have noticed my apprehension. It's that whole "just in case" scenario that had me in tears the night before getting on our planes.

1. We needed to leave a power of attorney for my in-laws just in case Asher hurt himself while we were away and needed medical care AND


2. we had to write a will just in case we didn't return. You try sitting down and writing something to the effect of: "In the event of our death we would like [our son] to be raised by......". I hated writing it and I cried as I did it. I had to start over multiple times and it's not because we are at a loss for good options (our siblings are more than qualified and I think more than willing- who doesn't love Asher?). Anyway, thankfully, the envelope we left sealed didn't need to be opened and we have the continued blessing of raising our little Smash. He missed us but had a great time with his grandparents.

On a happier note, the trip:

first of all it was extremely short. We spent just as much time traveling as we did in our destination. Ivy was a champ and so easy! Part of it was thanks to these awesome bassinet rows that we sat in on our flights. If you're traveling across the oceans with a baby- request this row, we LOVED it and so did Ivy. We arrived at night in Dubai and it was still HOT. Growing up in Phoenix, I'm used to the heat and things not cooling off at night, but this was hotter (either that or my memory is fading). People kept quoting the temperature in Celcius not ferenheit and I couldn't quickly compute so we'll just leave it at HOT. Our hotel was super posh. Really over the top, hoity toity, whatever you want to call it. I wished we could have enjoyed it longer, but it was nice for 2.5 nights. The best part was the super comfortable bed (who knows how many thread count those sheets were), and the huge buffet breakfast. I ate enough to cover breakfast and lunch both days. John had a busy day of interviews and meetings the first day. I went to the Mall of the Emirates (the one with the indoor ski resort- kinda ridiculous) and I hung out in the pool and hotel room with Ivy. The next day they set us up with a relocation company tour. It was a lady who had been living the "ex-pat" life in various countries for about 15 years. She was originally from France. She had a driver take us to a couple different housing possibilities and other sites in the city to help us out in case we make the move. Nothing we were that excited about and the housing was very expensive. John and I went and walked around one of the souks and grabbed dinner that night and that was about it- we left for the airport in the middle of the night. All in all it was a short trip, eye opening and very Western and safe feeling (I get wierd looks when I say that, but it's true- if we do end up moving there I'll write another post about why it's safe).
No decisions have been made on either side yet as to whether or not we'll be moving to the opposite side of the globe.

sadly I didn't take many photos. Ivy slept a lot since their days were her nights and I didn't care to try and switch her time zones, and it was just really short. I took a few photos of the view from our hotel room, but they didn't turn out (it was almost like my lens was all steamy it was so hot). Plus I just kept thinking we would probably be back- who knows, but those are my excuses for my lack of photos.