Annie and Chloe Blad will graduate later this month from Argyle High School and embark on their journeys into a new world.
But having lived in several foreign locations and traveled around the globe with their mother Lori as children, no journey will be too big for the twins.
“They’ve been exposed to so much diversity and understand the world better than most do at their age,” said their mother. “They see things from a lot of different angles.”
Lori, a local Realtor and mortgage loan specialist, is a Denton County native. After going to school in Northern Utah at Utah State, where she met her husband, Jeremy, she realized she wasn’t cut out for the cold climate. Shortly after her twins were born, she and her husband broached the topic of living internationally. Her condition was moving while the girls were still young.
The family found a home in Abu Dhabi in the United Emirates, where they spent four wonderful years.
“It was like living on another planet. We met so many different people and made the best of friends, all were ex-pats,” Lori said.
“We’d go to the beach. We’d go camp in the desert and the girls would slide down the sand dunes. Most of my girls’ earliest memories are from there.”
Annie and Chloe enrolled in schools, learning about different cultures from their diverse classmates.
“If someone was celebrating a holiday, they would teach them about it,” Lori explained.
They also picked up valuable lessons from being exposed to several different languages at a young age.
“Being around so many cultures, they pick up languages really easily. They took Arabic at a young age,” Lori said. “They have an ear for linguistics.”
During their time abroad, the family traveled throughout the Middle East and into Europe. Memorable excursions included trips to London, Paris and Dubai.
As the girls began to get older, the family decided to move back stateside to North Texas.
“We really had an amazing time, and it was an amazing experience our four years there,” Lori recalled.
Once back in North Texas, they have not stayed idle. They have traveled all over the country, including outdoor adventures in the Great American Southwest, with trips to the Grand Canyon, Moab and Bryce Canyon. They’ve also made time for some Texas-centric trips, including floating the Comal River in New Braunfels.
Lori is hoping to sneak in at least one more adventure before the twins leave for college and start blazing their own trails around the world.