Due to pregnancy and then having a newborn/infant, this has officially been my least adventuresome year in the UAE. I know, I know: seasons of life and all that, but I miss the pick-up-and-go we had for the first three years we lived here. I remember doing things like going camping in the sand dunes on a school night, or deciding to go to the beach on a Saturday morning and being in the car, ready to go, 10 minutes later. We could spend all day at a water park, or go on a long roadtrip to Oman, no problem.
What actually happened was that Sterling and Magdalena fell asleep in the car on the way there and were therefore grouchy when we finally arrived (late, because we got lost). We had already eaten dinner at home, but both girls announced their extreme hunger immediately upon arrival and commenced whining for food beyond the apple slices I had brought. Sterling was entertained by the fire and darkness and friends, until he decided he was actually terrified by said fire and darkness and friends. So he started crying.
Things are different now, not necessarily because we have another child (though I'm sure there is an element of that in all this), but because said child is still so young. I know things will be back to normal soon. We took Miriam to Jordan for the summer when she was just a little older than Sterling is now. We drove across the United States when Magdalena was not quite one year old. Our adventuresome days are not over. They're just on hold.
I had thought maybe things were resuming yesterday afternoon when we decided to join some friends at a bonfire in the desert. This is it, I thought. This is our return to normalcy, where we go out and have fun in the wilds of the UAE and stay out past our bedtime and come home late with our hair full of sand, having eaten too many roasted marshmallows.
What actually happened was that Sterling and Magdalena fell asleep in the car on the way there and were therefore grouchy when we finally arrived (late, because we got lost). We had already eaten dinner at home, but both girls announced their extreme hunger immediately upon arrival and commenced whining for food beyond the apple slices I had brought. Sterling was entertained by the fire and darkness and friends, until he decided he was actually terrified by said fire and darkness and friends. So he started crying.
We were the first to leave. When we got home, I felt like our big return to the adventure scene had been a huge failure. And it kind of was. But I just know the good old days are coming again. They're right around the corner, I'm sure of it. In fact, they're probably lurking somewhere around July, when we head out for the summer to Eastern/Western Europe. Sterling has about one month to prepare to properly join the family by demonstrating his skills in train-sleeping, baby backpack-sleeping, and eating weird ethnic odds and ends gleaned from mom and dad's plate at restaurants. I know he can do it, and I can't wait for him - and the rest of us - to succeed and get back into the swing of adventure.