This is actually the title of a book I read (technically it was "The Things They Carried", by Tim O'Brien) in my AP Senior English class about things that American soldiers carried with them during the Vietnam war. It was a fascinating read and really put my perfect little small-town high school life into perspective. Please don't think I'm in any way comparing my troubles of toting two kids across the world to this brave soldier who had to fight in the battlefields of Vietnam! However everytime I looked at the gigantic pile of
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| pile of crap |
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| Just seeing these pictures raises my blood pressure all over again! |
Since I don't anticipate returning to the states until next summer, it was vital that we get all of those things that you can only find in the USA while we were there.
steak seasoning
In hindsight, maybe six jars of steak seasoning is excessive. We'll see how much we have left next May! I like having options, people.
clothes
One of the things I miss most is being able to browse the sale racks at Carters or Target. While we have a Carters in the mall in Khobar, it is 3-4x more expensive than buying online. I find it hard to buy clothes online, because I like to feel the fabric and double check the quality. Not to mention buying clothes for myself! I was pregnant when we moved to Saudi and downsized my pre-pregnancy closet a lot in the pre-move 'stuff purge', so I really needed some new duds! I took as many opportunities as I could to browse the sale racks in KS and Houston.
arms
I brought back two pairs of these 'arms' as Lucy likes to call them. They are invaluable for our beach resort lifestyle! I was planning to leave one pair in KS, but decided that my parents could much more easily buy another pair than I could.
ant traps
3 sets of ant traps. I had skillfully placed one package inside one of Lucy's toys to conserve space. It took me about 3 weeks to find it after we got home :)
They are helping but the ants are RIDICULOUS around here. Every morning I wage war on them with bleach spray and my vacuum. Now that the highs are less than 110 they seem to have subsided a little.
Curly hair products
These are non-existent in Saudi as far as I can tell. Had to bring them with us.
Ballet Shoes
One of my friends on the compound is teaching a beginning ballet class for little kids. How adorable is that? I made sure to get ballet and tap shoes in both Lucy's current size and the next size up. I skillfully packed them in a plastic box that had some wall decals from Target in it, on top of some baby bottles (stuffed with socks) to help the box keep it's shape. Obviously I missed my calling as an industrial engineer.
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| Box with decals, baby bottles, toddler ballet shoes etc |
Speaking of shoes, I think at final count I brought back 21 pairs of shoes. That may sound crazy.... but that's for 3 people for the next year! And two of those people change sizes like every other month, so it's really hard to keep up with this when there isn't a stride rite down the street! [edit--we discovered a Stride Rite in Khobar last week! Shhh! Don't tell too many people, we don't want them to start thinking they can double the prices like they do in Bahrain!]
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| stackable wood shoe rack, er, pantry organizer! |
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| I realize it still looks like a jumbled mess, but I promise it's a lot better than it was before! |
ride-safer travel vest
I bought this for future travel excursions where we may need to use a car but don't want to bring the carseat. It also worked great for our final trip to IAH so I could put Lucy's carseat in it's travel bag before driving to the airport and not fuss with it either on the sidewalk in 100 degree weather or at the check in counter while corraling two kids and my 11 other bags. I was still a little petrified to drive my baby in rush-hour houston traffic to the airport in it, but we survived, and I think it will work well for less-scary traffic situations.
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Ok so I really just wanted to post this adorable picture of Ellie, but the box for the new convertible carseat I bought her is in the background. Conveniently Ellie was outgrowing her infant seat while we were in the states and my cousin had just had a baby, so I was able to leave the infant seat with her and bring back a new one for Ellie. (While I make it sound like it just occurred to me one day this summer I had actually been planning out this exchange in my head for months.)
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| They're in the car! There's no turning back now! One good thing about not being potty trained yet is I was not concerned for a second that I'd have to get anything out until we got to the airport :) |
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| Lucy's carseat in the travel bag strapped into the front seat, with backpack in footwell. Backpack had to be put in before carseat was installed behind, then carseat was strapped in, then seat moved all the way forward, so I could put the stroller in behind it. Whew. |
A few more things we brought back with us--can you spot them in the pictures?
coffee maker
stroller organizer
doc mcstuffins pull ups
alarm clock
boogie wipes
vanilla and almond flavorings [on second thought, don't look for this. they were wrapped in underwear to discourage airport security from seeing them]
Annie's mac and cheese and snacks
cute umbrella x2
good coffee
saline solution
random sippy cups
baby monitor
toy storage bins
storage bin labels
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| Oops looks like some of that steak seasoning escaped |
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| Yes I still had a St. Patricks rug out... you caught me. |
Looking at all these pictures made me go through a range of emotions again--first the overwhelming fear of being able to pack it all in my 6 suitcases, then the anxiety of putting it in the car and then getting to the airplane by myself, and finally a lot of pride at the happy ending of surviving the journey with expertly packed, not overweight! suitcases. And two living children. Don't these bags just look relieved to be home?
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