It was not an easy feat but my mom was finally able to come to Baku! For those of you that don't know, she has hypoxia and cannot travel without bringing her own oxygen or else she will pass out inflight. The last time I saw my mom was in August before we moved here so it has been over a year!
She arrived on a Monday evening, the first day of our fall break. Warren joined her for the first weekend and while Barry was at work we showed them around Old City, Fountain Square, and Gobustan. They couldn't get over the traffic, locals staring at us, and just about everything that is so very different from home. We were able to meet up with Barry a few times for dinner out and on the weekend Barry took mom to the art museum while the kids and I took a break and hung out at home.
My mom took a lot of pictures and we had lots of time for her to teach the kids some new painting techniques as well as time for her to paint. Warren had to head to work in Germany for the 2nd week of my mom's visit and we had only 2 of those days off of school, but that gave mom quiet time to paint a Picasso for Barry (he LOVES Picasso paintings) and an amazing painting of Ty, Grace, and I from a picture she took in Fountain Square. She left me with an amazing souvenir of our time together and a full heart having been able to get in lots of missed hugs.
I wish that all of my family and friends could come here to visit, as I am missing so many of you so very much but I know it is not an easy or cheap place to get to. So the kids and I do plan to come back to the states this summer for the month of July and we'll be making our rounds throughout Michigan, North Carolina, Virginia (MD), and Ohio.
More to come on specific dates as the time gets closer.
Anyway here are the pics from mom's trip here.
The picture my mom painted of the kids and I in fountain square.
The Picasso mom painted for Barry.
Ty and Grandpa playing with Ty's angry bird.
Grace on the bridge in Old City.
And the painting lessons begin. Grace LOVED painting with Grandma. They started with this paint by number of a panda bear.
Grace at Gobustan looking a mud hole. They have mud volcanoes here that are near Gobustan but we didn't have time to get there.
Grace posing with a statue while Gpa walks over.
We stopped at a cool playground that has a lot of fountains and Grace decided to get her hands wet in the fountain and then make handprints on the structure behind the benches.
The finished paint by number of a polar bear and her cub by Grace.
One of our hamsters died of old age while Gma was here and Grace was having a really hard time dealing with her grief. She made a book about him and all her favorite things to do with him and then Gma suggested she paint him. Gma drew the picture of Nibbles in Grace's hand and Grace painted him.
Grace drew and painted this one all on her own.
Grace painted this one but it was already printed like a coloring book picture. We actually found this at a store here.
Grace posing in the fort of a playground.
My little Grace monkey on the playground near fountain square.
Grace on her scooter in Fountain Square.
Grace going down the slide at a playground here.
Grace and Ty picking berries off a bush at a courtyard near the house.
Grace and Ty playing in the water of the fountains near the playground.
This was the Friday before mom arrived. The school had International Day. It was a fun filled day learning all about other countries and dressing up in your own country's colors as well as seeing a lot of different dances from other countries. We all had a lot of fun.
This is the picture that mom painted above. It was taken in Fountain Square.
Our remaining hamster Michael.
Mom and Warren at Gobustan taking in the view.
Ty having deep thoughts at the playground. He and Grace used these stair rails to slide down on their bottoms like Riley did in the movie Inside Out.
Grace telling Ty to look at something while he is again deep in thought. Probably thinking of the next story he will write. He begs me to staple together paper to make him books every day. He loves to adapt stories he has already heard and always uses his beloved angry birds as his main characters.
Grace and Ty at Gobustan.
Grace and Ty at Gobustan.
Twin love.
Ty's painting. Grandma made up a new silly game with Ty where she takes his large blue angry bird and crashes his nose/beak into the floor and says like he is talking with a stuff nose "oh no, my nose"....which comes out as "oh doh, my dose"....Tyler is easily amused and made gma do this over and over and over again so when it came time for him to paint she drew a picture of the angry bird getting his nose smooshed and ty painted it making sure to include the chandelier in the room as well as you all know he loves lights.
Grace and Ty running to the playground in Fountain Square.
Grace pointing at something at Gobustan and Ty looking this time.
Grace and the lady with her lipstick statue at Fountain Square.
Grace and Ty on the teeter totter at the playground.
My sweet girl in the water again.
Grace playing hockey in the attic. This is where gma and gpa slept. Just to the left is an area off of the playroom with a king size bed. Over to the right is a bathroom so they have their own space up there which kept the kids from waking them up too early and worked out quite well.
Me in front of the funicular which we tried to ride but it was closed. We had just had a yummy lunch with Barry who met us there form work. We went to Chinar which you can see in the next picture. It has great Asian food, my favorite being the duck spring rolls.
Same picture of me with the view of the funicular and the restaurant we ate at next to it plus the flame towers in the background.
Another shot of the same view.
Warren in Fountain Square.
The turtle we met when we first moved here a year ago. We saw him again in the courtyard by the house and showed him to Gma.
