It’s hard to believe, but not-so-little-girl will be turning 12 on the 22nd! This year we’re opting out of a friend party since she’s still solidifying her new group (always tricky when your birthday falls just two months after arriving in a new place). However, we still wanted to celebrate everything we love about Nia–especially the resilience, courage, and adventurous spirit she’s shown this past year. In the last two months alone she’s adjusted to a new country, school, house, getting homework, switching classes, starting braces, and a new friend group. And she’s approached it all with an optimistic outlook and openness to change that is remarkable for a girl with just 11 years of life experience.
In mid-September, I began noodling over alternatives to a traditional birthday party. One afternoon a brilliant idea popped into my head–what if we brought one of her D.C. besties to her!? Remember Anastasia, one of the wonderful friends that Nia made last year in D.C.? Here’s a picture of she and Nia in case your memory is fading like mine… ;)
Well, it just so happens that Anastasia moved to Kazakhstan too, though she’s living up North in the capital (called Astana). As luck would have it, the girls have overlapping fall breaks, so Anastasia and her Mom will be coming to stay with us in Almaty for four days–including on Nia’s actual birthday! We can’t wait to welcome them and show them around our great city. Nia told me this was THE BEST BIRTHDAY PRESENT EVER. Mama for the win!
That’s not all though, because there was still another puzzle to solve regarding how to occupy Nia for the remaining week of break left after Anastasia and her Mom departed. I wasn’t too keen on Nia sitting home all week, so for fun I began browsing the internet for flight deals. At first things weren’t looking promising, but then I found a great deal to Paris ($550 a ticket!) and jumped on it! The flights are terrible and we won’t be over jetlag before we have to turn around again, but hey–we’ll be Paris–so who cares??
It’s probably for the best that Nick can’t join us (he’s busy with two high-level delegation visits), as he doesn’t like red-eye flights with multiple stops, nor does he like go-go-going from sun-up to sundown. And given that we only have 5 1/2 days to work with, Nia and I will definitely be packing our days full! We’re good travel buddies and it’s been awhile since we had a girls trip.
It’s hard to say who’s more excited for the trip. I haven’t been to Paris since 2000 when I spent Christmas there following my semester studying abroad in Greece & Italy. But for Nia, this has been in the top three on her bucket list (Rome, Paris, London) for a long time, largely because she’s fixated on climbing the Eiffel Tower and touring the catacombs (my girl likes weird stuff, but hey, it’s her trip, so to the catacombs we go!). I was too broke to do those things last time, so there will be lots of new experiences for me this time as well, along with reviving two-decade-old-memories of places I experienced during one of the best periods of my life. Fingers crossed that the weather cooperates, but I think we’re gonna have a blast. Blog posts and pictures to come for both birthday adventures!
