Training for the Grand Canyon!!!

Our family is training to hike the Grand Canyon in March! We did our first official training hike as a family before the crazy Wisconsin Snow came. We hiked 4 miles wearing our new hiking boots. There was some complaining, but overall, was a win. We hiked to a bridge that was super creepy, the boots were super comfy, and everyone had snacks and drinks along the way. We rewarded the kids by going to lunch afterwards which made everyone happy.

The idea of going to the Grand Canyon all started a few months ago while Regan and I were talking about the fact that we only have 2 1/2 years left with Riley until he graduates from high school. We want to make more memories and have amazing experiences with our family before the kids start leaving our house, so what better way to create amazing memories than to drive an RV from Wisconsin to The Grand Canyon, hike the Grand Canyon and then go to Moab for Spring Break! 

We are having the kids each walk a mile on the treadmill every day at a 10 incline to train. Regan is wearing a 50 lb. weight vest to crossfit every day so he can be prepared to hold Winnie on his back in the Kelty backpack! This is going to be an epic adventure for our family!!!

Only 42 days away!!!

Living our BEST Life!

Regan and I have made DATE NIGHT a priority this past year so that we can actually talk to each other without kids listening, and so that we can have a chance to connect each weekend. I look forward to these date nights more than I ever thought I would because it gives me a chance to talk to Regan about how the week went, what is going on with the kids, planning things for the future and just a chance to enjoy being with my guy! 

A month ago on one of our Date nights, the whole topic of discussion was 'how can we live our BEST LIVES?' What are we doing or not doing to live our fullest, best lives? We talked about career ambitions, family goals, dreams for the future and things we can change in our lives that are not serving us in a positive light. 

One of the many things we talked about was social media. We both agreed that social media was wasting our time by just scrolling mindlessly on our down time, and trying to not compare ourselves when we saw someone go on a trip, or get an awesome new house, or not be invited to go somewhere with someone...etc...

Regan and I decided to go on a 6 month social media fast to be more productive with our free time and really live our mission of finding ways to live our best life. It's only been a week, but I have been SO productive with my time, and I love just focusing on the needs to my family and those around me. 

On that note, I have had a LOT of people say they will miss the comings and goings of what is going on with our family and particularly the kids, so I will be updating my blog occasionally with things about the family. 

Merry Christmas!!!

Day 1-Traveling

It took us 15 hours to fly from Chicago to Cairo and we were pleasantly surprised how awesome Turkish Airlines was! They gave us great meals, blankets, eye masks and had hundreds of movies to watch! We tried not to sleep so that we could get on Egypt time. By the time we got to our hotel, it was 9:00 at night and perfect timing to sleep since we were exhausted!!! 

The hardest part of our traveling was actually parking the car in long term parking at the Chicago Airport! It was impossible to find the parking signage. We got to the international terminal and had 30 minutes until boarding! 

Having an 11 day trip to Egypt {2 days traveling, 9 days in Egypt} with Regan was amazing! Seeing where he grew up for 10 years of his life and seeing everything in an ancient land was a dream come true. It was truly Regan's kind of trip. Going strong all day, seeing and doing EVERYTHING! It was the most adventurous trip I have EVER taken. Every day, Regan's arabic would get better and better and it was SO cool to hear him communicate another language. He was able to get us around so well and I was so impressed with how well he was able to adapt. 

We drank bottle water and brushed our teeth with bottled water. We had a probiotic pill every morning to help with food issues. I am so happy to report that we didn't have 1 food problem while in Egypt and I think it was because of the probiotic pill, drinking bottled water and being cautious of street food. 

We didn't have jet lag until we got home. Since we got on Egypt's schedule right away, we were able to have lots of energy throughout the trip. When we got home, we had major sleeping problems for a week. I would go to bed at 7:00 and Regan would wake us both up at 4 am!

I was so worried about the safety in Egypt. Like, I had a will made up if we were to die scared. I am so happy to say that I never felt in danger. There was so much security everywhere we went. There are a ton of people and the traffic is insane, but the safety and security was never an issue. I kind of laugh at myself thinking how nervous I was now that I am back home. 

If you go to Egypt, I would highly recommend having a tour guide for most of the trip to get you around and explain everything. I would also recommend using Uber instead of taxis. It was so easy for Regan to tell the Uber driver where to go through his phone and then the payment was electronic. 

Something I wish we would have done was to get more small bills in Egyptian pounds. Everyone gets tipped in Egypt, so having smaller bills would have been easier than always trying to get change. 

We tried very hard to do as the Egyptians while in Egypt. We ate as authentic as we could, we went to all of the places the Egyptians were at, and we came home with no regrets. We would come back to the hotel each night completely exhausted because we did so much every single day. No relaxing on this trip, and I would have had it no other way!

Happy 40th Birthday Regan! Thanks for taking me on a trip of a lifetime! I will never forget this!

Day 2-Memphis & Giza

We met our tour guide, Yasir and driver, Mustafa today. They drove us to the capitol city, Memphis. Yasir invited us to have Egyptian tea with him. It is loose tea at the bottom of the glass, and you add mint and sugar. 

 Within the first hour we were in Memphis, I spotted my friend Rachelle's parents who were also in Egypt! What are the chances of that?

 Seeing these beautiful Egyptian hieroglyphics was so cool! Memphis was one of the ancient Egyptian Capitols until around 2,200 BC which was a cult center for God Ptah, God of Creation and artwork. There were many temples and monuments dedicated to him.

 This huge statue of a pharaoh was found in a deep river.

 This was a pyramid in Saqqara. It was surrounded by an ancient city. This temple belonged to King Zoser and is called the step pyramid and is considered the first pyramid in Egypt and the first rock cut building in the history.

 This was the temple of the priests.

 We went down into the pyramid and saw these beautiful writings on the walls. Going down deep into the pyramid was so amazing. We had to duck once we were all the way in some of the time.

 Our tour guide, Yasir was so great about teaching us the history of each place we went to.

 We ate our lunch of pita bread, tahini, baba ganoush and yogurt with stuffed grape leaves and kebab.

 In Egypt, they ask if you want Chicken or Meat. They don't really distinguish the difference of meat...I always got the chicken.

 We then went to a papyrus maker and were taught how papyrus is made. Pretty amazing.

 We bought a papyrus with cartouches. We had the lady draw our names with hieroglyphics  of each family member.

 From there, we went to Giza where the most famous pyramids are. Of course our tour guide had us take popular touristy pictures.

 Giza has 3 pyramids that belonged to 3 Kings; King Cheops, King Chephren, and King Menkaure which are guarded by the rock cut statue of The Sphinx. The great Pyramid of King Cheops is the only wonder of the seven wonders of the ancient world that is still standing today, although it is 2,000 years older than any other wonder on the list.

 Here is a good view of the King's Pyramid with his wives smaller pyramids on the side.

 We took a camel ride right by the pyramids of Giza and I wanted to pinch myself since it didn't seem real. WOW, such an amazing memory. We even looked like Egyptians, haha!

 I could not stop laughing watching Regan's camel go up and down. SO amazing.

 We then went to see the Sphinx.

 We ended our first night in Cairo with a Nile Dinner Cruise. We ate delicious food, drank amazing Egyptian Lemonade and sailed on the Nile. We even got to watch a belly dancer and a guy who span around at least 1,000 times without falling.

What a magical first day in EGYPT!!!