On our final full night in Bahrain we headed to the Arad Fort with our friend Candice to capture some family pictures before we left the land of sand. Her talent is just incredible and I'm so glad we got the chance to capture the final part of our chapter in the land of sand.
We got there and the fort was closed... whomp, whomp, whomp. Bahrain'd again!
We decided to sort of do a little not trespassing but definitely not kosher sort of move and go behind the fort and close to the water to try and get some shots since the light was fading.
I have no idea what this child is doing but I love this picture...
We walked and played, skipped rocks into the gulf, and then made our way back towards the car when we saw people walking in! We hurried over to the ticket booth, bought tickets, and rushed to take advantage of the last little bit of the light.
None of us had ever been to the Arad Fort before so I was expecting a little more than what was there- a Shaikh Isa house sort of vibe and photo opportunities, but it was more crumbling ruin than well preserved historical site.
Candice is a magician with her camera though and got some amazing shots of us.
No clue what she's so excited about but I am so glad Candice caught this face!
She planned this pose out...
She was snapping some shots of Stella and Christopher and I wandered out to watch my last bright orange, Bahraini sunset. It was one of our favorite things when we first arrived in the Middle East... and that orange sun and pink sky never got old.
This man...
We had one last dinner at Lumee with our friends Candice and Will, and Megan, Levi, and Gideon. I feel like we ordered one of everything and were in this place of soaking up as much middle eastern food and all our favorites as we possibly could.
The next day was a whirlwind of stress, panic attacks (literally), last minute packing, a pizza picnic on the floor with wine in plastic kids cups with one final (for now) meal with some more of our people (and their pups), Wednesday Addams, and catching a very late flight.
Wednesday Addams is just her mood right now...I'm fairly sure 8 is the new 13.
Wednesday Addams is just her mood right now...I'm fairly sure 8 is the new 13.
Saying goodbye to Pallavi was not easy for either one of these girls...
Stella couldn’t quite hang til we boarded...
There’s no way around it, saying goodbye to Christopher sucked. Being apart is never fun, but being apart when it wasn’t originally in the plans just sucks so hard. Even with it only being eighteen days, knowing that he was going to be going to the U.K. without us and looking for and finding our future home, it was a hard goodbye.
We boarded and Stella and I got settled in and managed to sleep most of the way to our first stop- Sigonella, Italy. We stopped again in Rota Spain and then continued our journey to Norfolk on the rotator.
All in all, twenty four hours of travel wasn’t as terrible as it could have been, though we were grateful to see the excited faces of our friends Charlotte and Claire once we finally got our bags and made it through to the other side!
If theres one thing this girl is good at, its sleeping on an airplane...
All in all, twenty four hours of travel wasn’t as terrible as it could have been, though we were grateful to see the excited faces of our friends Charlotte and Claire once we finally got our bags and made it through to the other side!
We saw some of our favorite people (though I didn't get pictures with everyone).
And we realized that Ellory will soon surpass Stella in height...
Met a new friend
Played at the Renaissance festival
Had sleepovers aplenty
Did a little Christmas shopping
And froze our butts off as the weather transitioned from second summer to winter, as North Carolina tends to do. Though Stella happily spent the majority of her time outside.
As per her usual, our little winter fairy (or maybe witch...) wished for snow and her wish was granted...
We celebrated Thanksgiving early (and she's going to kill me for this picture but we were taking silly pictures to send to Jared...haha!)
After mama made a quick change to her aesthetic
(and then again when the first change was a wee bit too much)
We boarded a plane and headed for London and a very excited husband/daddy!
And thus, our Bahraini adventure was officially capped off and The Koenig’s Do Europe: The Sequel kicked off, this time with an extra Koenig in the mix!
