Girls Trip!

On Monday, Lucy and I set off to our former, small-village like town to celebrate the wedding of one of my good friends. We left our boys at home and headed 3 hours out of town. 

We had a McDonalds stop. Lucy loves ice cream! 

 And after the two hours up the coast, we turned inland to go the last hour through the mountains and into the desert.

 It looked like rain as we drove in, but it turned out to be quite a big sandstorm!

 We arrived and it was HOT. I mean, like, "I'll never complain about being hot again because I've forgotten just how HOT 110 with ZERO humidity is" HOT. Like, when you open the oven door. You know that rush of heat that comes out and sometimes you feel like your face is melting off? Yep. That's how hot this town is. 

We got to our friends' house and, did I say it was hot? Our friends are in the US, so their ACs haven't been on for any period of time in about 2 months. The floor of their house was too hot to walk on barefoot! (That's hot, by the way...) Look at little Lucy's red cheeks!

 She still had a great time playing in her sweet friends' room. 

But, oh how we missed these two!

Monday night, we got all dressed up to go to my friend's party. (we'll call her Mary*) 

 In this culture, they have what they call a Henna Party the night before - well, some of the tribes/families do. It's not a party where everyone gets Henna done... like I thought it would be. It's really just a party. Women. Talking. Loud music. Food.  

 But... Let's also remember the heat. 

The party was outside. Yep. It was 9 pm. It was 100 degrees. We were sitting on the ground that had been baking in the 109 degree heat all day. It was almost like sitting on the surface of the sun. (I know that's not accurate...but that's what it felt like at the time...I might be a bit dramatic when it comes to heat.)

 I was given 2 plates of food. 

I didn't eat either one. Not because of anything besides the fact that

I WAS HOT.

And who can eat when they're hot? 

 We left the party after an hour. Several reasons. 1. Lucy was being ornery. She was being chased by this little boy and she didn't like it. Plus, she hadn't napped. 2. I was hot. :) 3. My friend, Mary, the bride, was busy with all the many guests she had to greet and talk to.

After we left the party, we headed to another friend's house. I visited with her for about an hour and then Lucy and I headed home. We were zonked! 

 I got this precious picture during the day!

 The next day we woke up and had a very relaxed day. 

We ended up visiting another dear friend, Felicia* and it was such a blessing to catch up with her! 

When we got back to the house, my pal Mrs. McQ arrived with her sweet daughter Morgan. They came from their city to go to the wedding with us. Morgan had an amazing party dress to wear and I was inspired! 

So, off to the store!

We picked out 3 dresses to try one....

Dress 1:

 Dress 2:

 Dress 3:

 She LOVED this dress! And seriously, have you seen a cuter 4 year old lately? 

We got her some pretty pick shoes, too.

 Lucy and her best pal, Morgan

 Morgan is 6.

 Mrs. McQ and I wore the traditional black Abayas that Arab women wear here. We covered our heads only to walk in and out of the hotel. While we were inside, we uncovered. (I don't mind wearing an abaya... I can wear shorts underneath! But that head covering... I just hate it. It's oppressive to me - the heat, the whole idea of it... blah.)

 We picked up Felicia and headed to the hotel.

Lucy and Morgan were so excited - at first - but then I really thought Lucy was going to crash. (Again, no nap) She sat in her chair like this, or with her head on my lap, for about 10 minutes.

 Guess all she needed was a "power rest" because after that, she didn't stop for about 2 hours!

Love this action shot of Lucy and Morgan dancing away!

 This is one of the perfume bottles that is passed around the room for all the guests to put on. You take out the long silver stick and rub it on your shoulders or your head covering. You can only imagine just how SMELLY it is! I happen to love the smell! All the women with all their loads of perfume and the incense that's burning... LOVE.

 And here's the traditional meal that's served. You can't really tell from the picture, but this is a huge (probably 2 1/2 feet in diameter) round tray with rice and goat meat. Yummy! 

 We stayed at the wedding for about 4 hours. That's the longest I've ever stayed! But this was also my first close friend to get married. I'm usually just a friend of the family or a friend of a friend of a friend... It was such a fun night! Felicia sat next to me and we laughed and laughed! Lucy and Morgan entertained with their dancing. We got home about 11:45. 

(FYI, Lucy had a meltdown at about 11 and so the last 45 minutes were pretty much me consoling her...but we stayed as long as possible to support Mary)

Then the next morning, Lucy and I very sluggishly woke up and headed out by 9:30. 

It took us 3 hours to get home and we were so happy to see our boys again!

 And just because this is TOO precious...

This is how little miss came in this morning! Dressed as what her Daddy called a "City Cowgirl" with her uggs (from Morgan!) and her fedora and dress from Bibi. 

Seriously.