Life as we know it...now

Well in case you were all wondering  , yes we are still alive ! We just find now that we are living on a compound our life is a little more….well “Boring”. Now I keep wondering if we are getting boring or if our normal standards of living have just been lowered so far that we don’t even notice those things we did before.   Ya so the commisary on camp only has milk sometimes  , they have been out of chocolate chips for what seems like months now  , I have to use a garden hose to fill my washing machine  , the water here actually is making my hair change color  , the bugs in my house are latterly taking over and the size of small pets , the drive to civilization is about 2 hours anywhere we go and yes my kids get car sick  , and I have not been to a restraunt  in 3 months no Big deal . We are learning to buy things we wouldn't normally buy and that there is a substitute for everything. Now there have been moments Don’t get me wrong , But we are defiantly settling in to our new life….. 

So this happened.....This is on top of a cliff!! we had to use the car to pull it back over lets just say there was a lot of prayers and crossed fingers to get this one back .....Kayden was in it with Brandt when it happened and he was cool as a cucumber and just kept saying all that matters is that everyone was ohka:)  they are really growing up 

                                   

This is one of the kids new after school activity , forget organized sports we don't need them .....Nor does our tiny little camp really have them .  So we are embracing the dessert around us we now own 2 quads and the maverick ...which is Brandt's 4 seater Dessert dune buggy.  Even Colby and Skylar are now riding the quad , I Have to say it is the single scariest and cutest thing you have ever seen. And the driving is a little sketchy  , You have to monomer around spar tires random building parts and pieces of metal on the ground that you just have to wonder " how did it get there" but lower those standards because you can litterly walk to this spot for the kids to let lose and be Old school kids.

This is Our House...Living room , dinning room  , pretty simple.  Notice the 1970's style carpet which is New....and our super trendy wall color. Which shopping for paint her not quite the same as home , Home you stress and bring him swatches trying to pick just the right tone for u and your family ...here you go to the store say " I need paint"  they say " all done" you say "when you have:  they say "inshalla next week , this goes on for about a month then they finally have paint , you say" I need grey paint" they say "ohka" Next day you paint and pray it's grey and didn't just get hot pink or something ......and say Ishalla it looks good:)

Jealouse! this is my kitchen ! notice the lush counter tops and wide open spaces ! how about the "retro" Dual oven . I truly think this thing is older than I am  , but I actual love it i don't know what they ever did away with this style is' fantastic! I do have to wonder where they get all these appliances from . The middle East runs on 220V  3 Pronge plugs and appliances , But these houses have 110Volt american  plug appliances so for the first time being over here we can actually use our appliances from home, with out a converter and adapter. Now only about half of the plugs in the house works and anything that we buy here uses the 220v prong so things are a little creative to say the least but that's what extension cords are for:) 

Check this out! this is our den/playroom/hair salon:) Never though i would say that one!  notice our flag we made it from and old pallet!Love Pinterest!

Now Winter in Saudi is a little different than it is in Canada , instead of snow men and shovels we have Flowers! And living in a small camp in the middle of no where makes plating said flowers a little tricky so we were able to order the plants and have them delivered to our door with no issue but where do you find planters with out driving 2 hours to get some pots.That is Crazy talk but there is a lot! i mean like a strange amount of tires in the dessert all around us!Every time I see these things int the dessert I have to wonder"How ? Why?" 

Speaking of why?? this is what you think  , A phone both in the middle of the dessert......Need to make a call

Next adventure! Dessert rose digging! now if you have live in sand land of anytype you have to do this! it was so fun and really cool for all you rock people out there.  Here is what we did for our adventure.We asked around as to where you go find said roses , packed the car with 3 shovels , 2  five gallon bottles of water , camping chairs , Food for the day , Sunscreen  , hats , 3 kids , 3 iPad and Gps corodinates and let the Fun begin! Now we arrived at the location and you could smell where we were heading ! It was very Clearly the Dump! Now just use your imagination as to what a Saudi dumb might be like and times it by 20 it was nasty and here we are in the car thinking we have to dig for these things , this close to the Dump! I truly thought that the people that told us this was the place to go where playing a joke on us....but we kept driving past it. Then when the road ended we had a dot on a map and an entire dessert around us and off we went.  When we arrived at the Spot on the map we knew we had found the place , there was a flat area with small holes and rocks all over it. Now we had been told we were going to have to dig unto 5 feet down to find these gems and with in about 2 mins of being there we found tons ,the ground was littered with them .They are Rose like Crystal structures that are formed under the surface by water evaporation. 

Can't forget this gem , at the "Dig " Location there was this man who let you sit on his camel ....Me and the kids were not so incline to do this , but Brandt was all over this one! ick they are kinds dirty animals I am so a city girl!

These are the ones we brought home  , the Geek in me thinks these are Super cool! and very Pretty  , 

:There is Beauty all around you just have to look and appreciate it

Beautiful! 

So Normal , it's weird!Bike ride with the kids in Dec , no big deal:)  Long and the short we are finding the Beauty in everything we can and forgetting about the small stuff that we have learned does not matter:) #SaudiAdventure 

Qatar.... First trip to Doha

Well things are continuing to settle in to "normal "routine and going strong! Last week was a holiday here called  EID so kids had 10 days off from school and Brandt had some time off so we need to find something to do .Even as life here is good if you stayed here while there is not school or work you would actually go bonkers as there is nothing to do and no one around!! it's like a ghost town most of the time so imagine walking dead in the middle of the dessert......so off we went.......Just a quick 4 hour Drive to Qatar.
Now driving  to Doha is not like driving around the tower  , or going to Bahrain like we would have done last year , with all the traffic and crazy people everywhere. Driving to Doha is driving through no man's land , no traffic  , barley any other cars , lots of camels and random abandon cars but it's almost enjoyable.
Then we drive past this.....

So what does your mind think.....mine says...humm remind me to never fly saudi Air!! Not sure entirely what this place is but our guess is someplace where they practice and do rescue drills of some sort. Add to my mental list of weird things I see in the dessert , which is definitely growing. It is the the top of the list right now  for sure!! just in the middle of nothing ness 3/4 crashed and trashed airplanes.

Oh well keep on driving  go through the boarder to Qatar which was very easy again  , keep driving to our hotel and this is the view from our room 

Yeah it was amazing , we had club level and access pool with it's own private beach and it was so pretty! and normal yes there were still ninja's to been seen but there was a lot of European's and Euro style swim suits to be seen as well. So for 2 days we sat by the pool for about 7 hours a day and lived on room services and tim bits......that's right there was a Tim Horton's at the mall! It was a very happy day for sure , we promptly bought a 40 pack of Timbits and for the most part they tasted the same , except for the honey crullers they just look sad and confused...but the kids managed to polish of the entire box in about 4 mins flat  , and with our new Saudi hoarding mentality as who know the next time we go there they may not have tidbits nor know what the heck we are talking about .....so we bought 80 more to take home with us.  One more example of how the little things make you feel happy and normal. Then Back to the pool

We have only been back in saudi for just over a month but it was time to get out and have a good time. And that is was  , On the way home it was still the Eid holiday and when we crossed the border in to Saudi they were giving gift and lucky skylar got a rose! She was so excited she just kept on says "my first rose from a Saudi".......lol  Brandt's thought" Let not make this a trend"

Of course on the way home we had to stop at the market and get some watermelon......

Don't judge ! if you tasted these melons you would stop to!!!









Well that's all I have for now , we are still finding adventure everywhere we turned. I was concerned the blog would take a dive for the boring and normal with living on a compound but nope! there is never a dull moment just today we realized that our car insurgence was over due and so Brandt had to go to the nearest town to handle it and last I herd from him was the insurance guy said "Mafie english" translation NO ENGLISH ...so brandt found a mechanic around to be his translator ...fingers crossed:) just goes to show there is neve a full moment over here ever thing that should take one step at home takes a line dance up hill and back wards to get done but in the end it always works out :)  kids are busy and holidays need to be planned....flight booked and we have 75 days and counting :)   Working on the house to make our own I promise I will having pictures soon but i'm trying to channel my Pintrest part of my brain to make it fab ...keep moving forward and almost feel like we are living the Dream # blessed
Now wish me luck as I have 10 days to find everything I need for a thanksgiving dinner including a turkey!! eeeeekkkkk

Welcome ....to the twilight zone

Well A LOT has happened since I posted last , So back to out big announcement from May.....Tracey's are moving !! I know i know now you are checking the date on the post to see if your reading an old post cause we just moved in aug 2014!!! Nope you are on the right one , as i'm sure you could tell living in the tower was not ideal for our little family.  Now I say all these things carefully as I still have so many Wonderfull friends back in the tower who i miss and will continue to miss so much .  But We had to do what was best for our family to survive saudi a little longer. If this new opportunity did not come up we were ready to come on back home , but being as we already took the leap and oil/jobs at home are not what they used to be we needed to figure out a new plan.
So long story short in April Brandt put in for a transfer to  have us moved to a small company compound 2 hours south from where we were currently , transfer on paper granted Couple weeks after .Then housing wrote us and email saying we were slated for a house on the compound ! But the house was just with maintenance then it will be ours..Will in the western world your thinking awsome ! couple days for new paint  , couple more for new floors! we are in  , well here in sand land not so true. Rumours float around that it takes about 1 year to do all the work to the house to get to move in status. Well I didn't have a year and needed to move ASAP! the tower was sucking my soul! Also brand's work had been transferred from off shore oil to on shore gas and he now had nothing to do!! but still needed to look/keep busy so we could keep his job.  But commenting to his new office 2 hours aways was not realistic! So Brandt started sending out email and  going to the new house with baked goods to give the workers and keep them happy...and let's just say there was a lot of praying to get here.  ( See brand't future post for more detail's)
So June arrives and it's time for me and the kids to go back to Calgary for the summer , most women and children leave as there is nothing to do and it's to freaking hot for anything  , Also the fact that ramadan began on june 17 this year was even more reason for us to get out. So me and the kids took our 26 hour journey home with no issues  , leaving Brandt with a half packed apartment in hopes that he would get the ohka to move before we all returned back for the school year.   Repat/summer vacation was Wonderfull  , saw lots of friends /family  , ate lots's of pork products and did so much shopping !!!
1 week before Brandt was slated to come back to Calgary for 5 week holiday he got the move date!!! hurray prayers answered! So as I lay at the beach in Calgary Brandt moved all of our belonging down 36 floors  , and trucked them 2 hours into the dessert in Udilaida....Our new HOME!  #BLESSINGS

Well here it is......just joking , this is the view on the drive to our new home , there is not much to see besides desert Garbage and lots of spare tires?? I never will understand that! they are everywhere you look out and all you see is sand , tire , and some camels!

Seriously this is it , so as you drive to the middle of what looks like no man's land you come to this piece or paradise in the dessert. I'm talking palm tree's and grass , that's right green grass!! and it is so refreshing ! You go though the gates and it feels like you have stepped back in time to the 50's kids are on their bikes  , all the women are driving around on golf carts , even the houses look like they have been stuck in time.  You feel as though a weight has been lifted once you are in.

Now when ever I told someone in Canada that i lived in Saudi they all reply "I knew someone who lived there and they loved it" and I used to think "well they sure didn't live where I live".  But now I get it!!   Our new home is like small town arizona , the kids play at night with all the neighbours  , they ride their bike to school .  Everybody is so friendly it's truly a peaceful place!! So the house is nothing special but there is a back yard and stairs  and just feels so normal....

On the left:Riding their scooters to school , see how normal it looks! and GREEEN. 

On the right: Kids school Court yard , so pretty! 

Life is finally feeling ohka , and it has been a long time since i have said that one! my biggest stress in life are the normal things like what time do i have to get the kids from school or are we out of milk?? it's so nice but don't get me wrong this is still Saudi and it is strange....leading to the
Twlight zone..it's like stepferd a little to peaceful and perfect!! day 2 in our new place the water heater exploded  , stressful you think , nope!!! 1 call to maintenance next day new water heater appeared ....1 hours later Done! please sign here ....new water heater free of charge and done! dishwasher brakes , same thing done!! Also the gardners they are like little working elves! 7 am i hear the sprinklers on look out the window and see the gardner he is watering the lawn and racking the leaves and washing the drive way! everyday! it's so weird!!!

Speaking of strange, but this is the driving range on camp........looks a little different right , well its a "packed sand" course.  So basically dirt , when you do the course they give you a small square of astro turf that you take around with you to hit you ball off of:) meh first world problem in my mind.

This is just out side of camp  , and camels in saudi not all that strange but the strange thing is we have lived here for a year now and the first time we saw a camel was last week! me and the kids at least , city life in the tower did not see any camels.  The kids LOVE them !!! they are like cows here  but the fad has not worn off yet and they are cool!

Weird again , this is a oil pile line overpass , going over the road......it looks really cool 

 With our new home  , we have some new hobbies...the kids have a small quad and brandt has his Canam maverick( which was in a picture on the last post , it's like a door buggy)we can go right on camp and rip around in the dust and sand! The kids are loving it and so far no broken bones but its still early.  

 Now I Know i'm painting this great picture but there are negatives ,    And that's the bugs ! and holy snap they are large. In the tower there were bugs like ants and small things ,nothing you couldn't handle but here we are talking house pets!! The night we arrived i notice dead beetle looking things around the house as no one had been here for a month  , no biggy but then it happened!

I was bring in some things from the Garage and put this board down  , turned to put something away and then turned back and noticed this puppy!!! I know the picture is blurry but that is because i could not calm my self enough to get a still picture!!! this cockroach was the size of a small apple!!!! Notice the hair bow as a reference! so gross!! let's just say Brandt had to put his cowboy boots on to handle this one. The next day we called trusty mantence and they sprayed for bugs!!! yuck! I have herd that there are also lizards have not seen any of those yet but i'm sure my day will come....can't wait:(

So to sum All is well , shocking right! .  Time to paint the house and make it feel like ours. Gotta find us a Golf cart so we can fit in:) DOn't stress i'm sure i will still have lot's of "FUN" things to write about just today we were off camping and went though a check stop where 7 men with large guns were performing a not so routine check stop looking for something ...luckly not us.. but just goes to show you never know what you will encounter next !.

Until next time.....#saudiadventure Continues!!!

PS.....it's hot here!

             Well I have been back in the kingdom since the beginning of april and it feels like it was yesterday. It was a blurr , flights home with the kids we all fine and dandy , 2 hours in customs line when we got here was a bit fun…there were tears from all ! Picture customs surrounded by 200 other people….all of which are MEN and there i am with my 3 always chearfull kids who have been flying for 24 hours …mom who has not slept in that amount of time and the kids where fighting and screaming and everything else….lets just say the next time I Fly in the Saudi i will have Brandt with me and it will be a walk in the  park!

The kids were SUPer lucky , they got to meet the captions' after the Calgary-Germany leg of the fight.  It was a really big highlight for them !!

              So Once we all returned to the tower we call home (for now..) everyone fell back in to the swing of things until it happened , sickness .Now as fun as it would be to elaborate on this one let’s just say that for the next month i had someone home from school sick at all times  , so that month is blocked from my mind which makes the summer trip home even closer.   

                And now here we are a couple weeks away from our repat trip out of this country  and Ican’t believe it!  Repat is the term we use for Re-patriet trip , the short version is that we have to leave this country for a certain peroide of time for our visa’s . It one of those “you don’t have to go home but you can’t stay here” things. Company pays you to leave ,most wife and children leave as soon as school is over if not a little before , as we can leave for the entire summer . Then the men get about a month off , so in our case me and the kids are leaving the middle of June and Brandt will join us the middle of July.  I’m looking forward to it! 

Now being a Canadian Girl i NEVER thought the heat would get to me….and I can’t say that i’m complaining by any stretcht , but it is getting really hot! average in the morning is about 35…..and afternoon is about 45.  I’m starting to understand why all the locals come out at night because it’s really enjoyable at night . So needless to say there has been a lot of pool/beach time!  We Drove out to RT which is another Armco compound on the ocean about an hour away it's a little slice of paradise here .  This past time while driving out there were a few new additions on sides off the road a little ways. Now they may have been there before and I had never noticed them . Anyone watching the news these days knows things on this side of the globe are tense , more so than they have been for a while so there are deffinatly a few more things you notice that You didn't before. This trip was the tanks/Armoured vehicles on the sides. Now if I had seen these about 10 months ago there would have been pure fear in my world , this time I though ummm that's handy!  The kids thought was Wow that's cool!! looks like another transformer! We see Star scream all the time multiple times a day! and it's still cool!! And now the kids are always debating if that guards machine gun is bigger than the last one they saw. Simple things , small minds right.  But made for a fun drive to the beach   then once we were there its was all normal again .  

Speaking of normal we have been spending a lot of time at the Golf course , it's so pretty! green grass everywhere , the driving range is cheap!! like $2 bucket of balls and like everywhere else on camp there is never anyone around so the kids hit some we hit some then off the the restraint they have there. This cute little mexican place that serves about taco bell quality food  , but it's so pretty and wonderfull   , we are there about once a week   , order the same thing evertime and it's fab!

Next big EVENT ...the tower got a food store!!!

It's a market that is based in Bahrian and has the best little selection of normal food ! and it's only an elevator ride away!   It's is the new highlight of my world! I go everyday , take a child with me they have little shopping carts and so many brands that i used to see at home! Love the market 

Some of the things I found there .  I'm stalk piling jelly tots for my sister when I go home. Growing up these were our favourite candy then one day we could not find them in Canada.  We searched for years and now the store in the building has them (for now)  So I buy  a bag every time i'm there  , the other day Brandt said should't you leave some for someone else? And the hoarded in my said Forget it I never know when I will see this again! Let's just say i'm up to 11 bags and the store has only been open for 10 days:) 

Another thing we have been doing a lot of is buying silver , there is this store in the Suke's called the silver museum.  Its a jelwelry store that specializes in Silver and I love me some silver! When we were there once we herd a lot of women coming in and asking for custom item's and I thought up!! i could do that. So we dissigned our first piece of silver jewelry . 

Here it is!!!   My hidden disney Bling , reminds my of my kids who's favourite movies was always Toy story . We got skylar all sparkled up with bracelets and necklaces and ordered/designed a new mickey/priate pendant for kayden . What kid doesn't need some bling:) We are getting much better at going to the Suke's we went this past weekend and Got brandt and Kayden hand made leather sandals for whopping total of 26$ You can not me a male and live in this country with out a pair of lather sandles! 

So we all remember how the story of the Tower and the tracey's came to be , phone call From Huston " you are moving to the Tower....TEMPORARLY until you are housed on camp"  Now at the begingn we were like great so in 2 years we can move from the tower to main camp . Armco said they are building new houses for all of the people that are not living there now....Great!How long can it take right?....Well we drove past the place where they are building these houses it's been since august last year that they started...

Well here they are!    can't you see all the new houses for all us people who live off compound! Umm NOPE not happening in my Saudi time. This is just one of the things that makes life here frustrating! You think these things are simple...they are not!  You think the company would not lie to us ...would they??meh i'm past it , 

  So we are in the midst of a new and exciting adventure ...a little bit more waiting and ill be ready for the big news!Story of my Life hurry up and wait....

Let's just say   , this is one of the new Tracey toys waiting for us!!

#SaudiAdventureContinues

Until next time , only a couple more weeks of  beach/pool and friends , then back to my home an native land. I'm going all out this year Stampeed breakfast  , Canada Day fireworks  , Bike camp , dance classes  , and A trip to Disney of course!

Keep Moving Forward

Your aunt...Eh??

Brandt here again and I’d like to share a brief experience I had with a co-worker this past week.  I’m sure you were all hoping for a driving related post but Michelle thought that this would also suffice.

So I was in a company provided course this past week (excellent training by the way) and on the final day one of my coworkers from my previous department started talking “family” stuff with me.  It all started with my family here, then my family back home, then my in-laws, etc.  How everyone felt about me living here, how I felt about being away, ya-da, ya-da.

This fellow was, like most locals I work with, quite opinionated and didn’t hold back on anything.  Like most locals I work with he automatically assumed that we lived in the main camp which has now been re-named to the “Senior Camp”.   I told him that we lived off-camp in a local compound and that for this reason I was considering switching over to an operations role so that I could work 28/28.  He said that I should do it because the money is better.  I countered back saying that I felt that keeping my family together was more important at this point.  He continued to argue about money and how it would be better, blah, blah, blah.  I then started to explain to him the 5 Languages of Love (disclaimer: I’ve never read the book but Wikipedia explains it well haha).  I told him that my wife’s “Love Language” is quality time and that it’s important to her that we keep our family together.  This is how the rest of the conversation went:

Me: Ya my love language is “gifts”.  I like receiving nice things.

Him: Yes, my friend, my mother-in-law loves to get money.  All Saudi women love money.

Me: Man, you’ve got it made in the shade if you know how to keep your mother-in-law happy.

Him: Yes, my friend, my aunt really likes it when I give her money

Me: *confused* I thought we were talking about your mother-in-law?

Him: Yes, Brand-it, my aunt, my mother-in-law (aside: trying to explain the silent “D” in my name is painful)

Me: Oh right, they both like money, women LOVE money, hahaha

Him: What you mean both?  Same-same.

Me: Same-same?

Him: Yes, my friend, my mother-in-law and my aunt are the same.

Me: Oh they’re twins, that’s cool

Him: No, my friend, same person

Me: *raise eyebrow, slight jaw drop, confused look*

Him: I married my cousin

Me: *horrible poker face* oh ya, that’s interesting

Him: In Canada you do not marry your cousins?

Me: Uh, no.  In Canada we DO NOT marry our cousins?

Him: Why not? Makes things easy for wedding.

Me: Uh, well, it’s kind of frowned upon *cough-illegal-cough*

Him: Hmmm, that’s very strange.  Here we like it this way; it keeps the family strong.

Me: Ya well, my cousins are all really nice but that’s just not how we do it in Canada. (In my head: stay calm, change the subject, keep eye contact, don’t show weakness)

Him: well you live here now, you should have one come for a visit and then take her as a second.

Me: a second what?

Him: a second wife

Me: *stunned, completely and utterly stunned* huh, I never thought of that, anyways, it sounds like we’re going to be done early for the day; are you going straight to Bahrain or do you have to pick up your wife/cousin first?

This guy was dead serious that I should “take my cousin for a second”.  While I know that some of my female cousins are going to read this let me just say this: you’re all really wonderful people and it’s really super that we’re part of the same family.  Our family is strong enough.  Period. Khalas (done/finished).

Culture shock going home?!?

Well me and the kids made it back to Canada , it only took 2 flights , 5 meals , 2 charges on the iPad , 5 movies , 2 bags of m&ms’s  , 2 gameboys , 4 suitcase , 3 kids and 1 tired momma . But we did it smooth sailing for the most part  but us and our stuff all made it to Calgary where it was a balmy 5 degrees!!! I walked out of the airport after being that person who unpacked half her suitcase dressing my children and myself in jackets and pants!  and i thought i was going to freeze to death! Shocking right i’m Canadian through and through i have been in more cold weather than a lot of people out there but i swear it was truly cold!!  But jokes aside it was wonderful ! i got out the door and there was my family !! even my sweet little niece who is almost 2 seemed actually excited to see us! what a good feeling . So we loaded up  my world in to 2 cars and off we went to the free world , and it was so weird it was like i had never left ! everything looked the same , felt the same ….like it was frozen in time ! My sister drove me to get the first thing i needed , A slurpee now i know this may be shocking  I live in a place where it is above 20 most days of the year and they do not have slurries’ its crazy right!! but i walk in to the store , elbows and knees showing for the world to see get my item , from the clean counter smile and talk to the man at the till and go back like it was totally normal  , and all i can think is  , this is so weird!!!   now i am defiantly no cultural or travel pro by any means but i just felt so lost! and it stayed like that for days after arriving back “home”  every time i would go out i just felt so strange like all the people around me were so undeserving of the  lifestyle they were living , listening to the radio and people talking about the small stuff in life , that i have not though about in months , celebrity gossip and the style of shoes , these things that i didn’t even realize had left my vocabulary! I officially had culture Shock , yet again another myth that i thought people used as an excuse . but nope it’s really and it’s really hard! 

Over the next couple days we enjoyed the small stuff with my family ,shopping and going to the movie , and even just me driving the car , or my kids playing out side in the back yard.All these things that we have not done like this in a very long time. Although Driving was like riding a bike  , except i swear my break from behind the wheel ..I feel i have gotten better with time :) But it all seems so surreal  , and the whole time change and holy day difference is throwing me for a major loop while trying to talk to Brandt on the phone . It doesn't’ help either that saudi is not seeming to be the best place right now , bad things are happening all around there and it makes it hard to think about going back …but #adventure..right?   on a positive note  i was talking to  friend and she was wondering what kind of things i’ll be taking back with me so i thought this might be a fun one for all you to see….So it has been about 2 weeks and i have done A LOT of shopping  , And bear in mind overtime i go into a store there is the hoarding side of me that comes out and i think ..” i do not know when/if i will find this again “ “ better stalk up”   

3 bags wine gums , 3 bags super nibs , popcorn seasoning , 500 bottle Ibuprofen  , Tampons, Clothing for my kids   , clothing and more clothing for me  , Hair color   ,  hair product , nail polish  ,Coconut extract , hand sanitizer,Simulated bacon bits ,shampoo  ,6 container  of  Crystal light ,  giant bag of mini eggs ,2 bags norwex laundry soap , veggie green powder , vitamins  , caffeine  , ephedrine , girl guid cookies , oatmeal , hidden valley ranch powder  , face lotion , Tupperware , place matts , new shoes for the kids , hot glue sticks , needle for my sewing machine  , white thread , curtains , floss , electric toothbrush   , Chocolate covered coffee beans , 4 gameboy games ,2 playstation games , yarn for crocheting , velcro , hinges , curtains , books   , duple , lego , sticker books  

So as you can tell there are a few things that most people rush to the store to grab that i am stalk piling and taking with me across the world. You can understand my hoarding mentality now i’m sure .

And here is the list of things i am really enjoying that i  took for granted before moving…Internet! cable tv , local news that’s not all about war , water i can drink from the tap , A washing machine that holds more than 2 pairs or jeans , having all the stores at our finger tips , Clean public washrooms ( don’t even ask ! somethings are to much for writing about) wearing what i want  , talking to people in public , clean streets ,  sleeping with out melatonin  assistance   , and not that i took this for granted but Friends , I always had my job and clients to keep me social and sane but now i truly enjoy and appreciate have friends to hang out with and just chat about the small stuff and not talking about security and depressing things . This brings me to another myth i need to squash , a bunch of people here have asked me if there are many friendly people in our tower ? And i feel bad i don’t say more about them!! They are my rock in this life , there are so many amazing people at the tower with us all living the same life as us and sometimes i’m down they bring me back and sometimes they are down and we strive to do the same . It’s a very tight little community as i think any small town is , and that is exactly what we all are..  however  as we are all from very different places ..translation is needed A LOT!!  Me and my Aussie  and Welsh friend can be chatting and we have to stop every couple mins for translation ….make sure we are saying the same things  , i can’t tell the difference between an insult, complement  or food item! it’s really comedic i swear i need to start writing some of them down  cause they are rich!  In light of the list of things to be greatfull i should say the things that i am greatfull for in Saudi ...MY HUSBAND it has been almost 3 weeks and i really miss my partner in Crime:(  , The weather and sunshine  , pool only and elevator ride away , kids going to school:) it is spring break after all and kids in school no matter what country is a good thing , and did i mention the weather:) 

Everything aside , its has been  great to be home , when i first got here it was HARD and  I was down and struggling with a balance , but i feel like after having a break from Reality i’m ready to go back and conquer our #saudiadventure . things can only get better from here  , as i say every time but it’s true  we re on the up and up!!!hopefuly next blog post will be a big one.....??  now if i can pack all of my new  items in the the suitcases and get them and me and the kids back to the country we currently reside in , through customs ,and from the airport ,  it will be a successful trip …then 10/11 more weeks until we are back in the land of the free and Cold ….To enjoy some good old down time  , and an adult only trip to you guessed it Disney world!! Until next time ......#blessings are trying to make a come back :)

This is like the only one worth posting the rest are of the kids...it's a mom thing right:) But they did enjoy the tidbits! they truly recognized all the "Canadian " things they didn't before . When we went to bulk barn on the first day back kayden was having quite the moment noticing all the maple leafs all over the store.  I was proud that he recognized it as  a symbol of canada ..proud moment.  

Life beyond the Sand....Disney

Well ….we are back!   It was our first trip away from this place since we arrived in Aug . Everyone here says you have to leave every 3 months to stay sane and you know what??  they are right!!   

So we packed up our  Disney gear and we were off.  Now at home we would pack our suit cases and get a ride or park our own car at the airport for our flight . But not here.  All of the flights seem to leave in the middle of the night , so having friends drive u is a little cruel.  Also the airport charges by the hour for parking no matter how long you are gone for, so leaving your car there for a couple weeks can prove to be a little more difficult.  SO we do things different, you book a driver (aka call try and speak broken english then text  just in case all they knew to say was “yes sir”, and text again the day off just in case, then at the last minute just do the Saudi way and cross your fingers and try and have faith that it will work out).  It is strange and everytime it amazes me ...but it works out . So we load up a small suv with 4 suit cases, stroller, 5 carry ons plus the back seat has a car seat with a child in it but not strapped down , then me in the middle with a child on my lap with the seat belt strapped around both of us , with another child beside me , and Brandt and the driver in the front.  Totally normal! Off to the airport we go, which is about an 45 min drive and as i have said before it’s the middle of the night , like about 10/12pm and so the road are of course Crazy busy! becauae everyone comes out at night?!

Get to the airport, and there is a porter there to pack our suitcases around for us , thank goodness . After we have checked in (which by the way took about 1 1/2 hours as something just take longer here) go to security for the first time leaving this way  , into my women only closed off section i go with 2 of the kids.  All im going to say is ..that was different.  And before you get on the plane you go through a women’t only area security again . Random!   

But off we went 3 kids 8 hour flight to Germany in the middle of the night …what could go wrong! but it was all good most of the little people slept then we got to germany and were so excited as we had a 7 hour lay-over ( which is also our new normal for coming back to our side of the world) and we are new members of the maple leaf lounge in Frankfurt airport! living the high live now!!!   As we serched  , and searched for the lounge we decided that as people are not all that friendly here they are a heck of a lot more helpfull than the people we encountered in the germany airport! 2 hours of taking the train and dragging the kids through the airport , being scanned and checked 3 times through 3 different security points we finally found the lounge! So happy  we were hungry tiered and dirty! Now as all of you have probably been in a airport lounge at some point in your life time think back long and hard  , how many children have you seen in there? yup probably not many  and the old me would have been very self concise to roll in there with my 3 little quite angels  , but the new me…meh why should they not get to enjoy that life to! So the lounge was packed! must have been good breakfast that day . But it emptied out and we were able to get 4 chairs together and it was a nice little morning , breakfast and skylar had a nap  . We even enjoyed a shower , another thing i never thought i would say. Who takes a shower at an airport , well the tracey’s do now , it was so wonderfull! Off we went for the last flight before orlando , a small 10 1/2 hour jaunght across the ocean  , well all can be said is ….that’s A LONG FLIGHT! but made it and after many random questions at customs  , like where are you from ,? why do you live there “ do you like it? we were at the hotel in the land of the Free! And after being in the land not so free you can really notice the things that you are missing out on ……The air was crisp and Clean and the people were talkative and kind and no one batted and eye at our screaming and playing children , it was Wonderfull!!

We did 7 Days in Disney world and we went hard! we left the hotel every morning before 7:30am to get to the parks for rope drop and did not return until the parks were closed around 8/10pm  it was good . The theme of the first week how ever was Cold and tired! I have never been so cold in Florida in my life!!! Now being Canadian you would think we would have a bit of a tougher skin for a cool brisk morning in the 40’s but man! it was so COLD! i had to purchase a real jacket while we were there for us to survive! and being as my kids refuse to where pants they do not have any so their little knees were COLd.  During the week we partook in  a lot of FUN! . we did a lot of shopping ! The kids had so much fun ! then we were off to the Cruise boat! This was our first time on a cruise and being as it was a Disney cruise we were pretty sure it was going to be good but we had no idea how amazing it was going to be! 

The Boat was amazing  , the kids club was wonderfull every day The older 2 would spend on average about 4/5 hours there! and even The youngest partook in some kids club action! it was a wonderfull week of enjoying and relaxing! Not once did i wake in the middle of the night because i though my world was ending , nor did i worry about what i was wering or who i was going to offend or bother  , i didn’t have to use a converter and adptter to get my curling iron to work  .  No laundry  , no food prep  no stress! our biggest concern was what should we wear to dinner:)  So wonderfull , but with all the joy it was hard to know that we were going to have to come back  , I over herd other people that were sad that they were going to have to go back to work and in my mind i was sad because i was truly going to leave freedom  . Something i have learned i Definitely have taken for granted in my life , but  reality is what it is. We got on the plane and returned to the Country we reside in,  The kids were so confused they don’t know what/where to call home and they act like gypsy kids living out of suitcases ad cars most of the time . Skylar asked many times if we were going to come back to the tower and if we were going to have the same car and where did all of her toys go.  Poor girl she will have a home some day….#adventure 

To add to the cofustion We decided that me and the kids are going to be going back to Calgary for spring break! HURRAY!  originally i was going to have my mom and dad come and check our Saudi but after desideding there is not much here to do or see …..i would fly home with the kids …alone! Crazy right i think  this is the perfect example of what you can do when you really want it! Fingers crossed it goes well:)what’s the worst that can happen right??:)

here are the pictures:) 

So all you who wonder who flys across the world to go back to some place they have been countless times??  Travel see the world right...wronge GO TO DISNEYwe are like  2 big kids! Living the dream in Disney! 2015 

I have to say we did appreciate it a lot  more this time than we did before , we appreciated the people speaking the same language all the time , food with english writing on it  , Driving a normal speed on the roads , Fresh clean air , Clean streets and sidewalks  , And greek yogurt and PORK products!!

First day  , this is the day I learned Jet lag is real! kids up @4:30am  , at ihop by 6 , parks by 7:30......wowzers~I used to think this whole jet lag was like the elusive retails therapy , proven wronge again!

So our goal every day was to have a pork product , AKA bacon! the kids took this challenge to heart! even colby got in on the action.... you don't realize how much you miss these things until someone says you can not have it , it's like a child being told no....food for thought

So this is slightly ironic  , i have not driven a car since Aug which is roughly6-7 months and you would think "great i can drive i'm going to drive everywhere" I actually drove NO WHERE!! not even did I get to drive the race cars at Magic Kingdom . I ironic is that one. i can't wait to go to Calgary and drive my mom's car , i'm sure she's going to love that one ....sure here are my keys daughter of mine  , i know you have not driven in 6 months and are probably going to drive like a wild women  ... have fun!      (Right mom)

Yup  , this is what you think I pork Shank.....I hate to admit it but my family were like cave men at times...."pork ...give...me ....must ..have...more"

This was epic!  all i can say

So here in Saudi everything delivers , probably because women can not drive to pick these things up , but we finally got mc donalds delivered , very high tech to . online ordering and it comes straight to your door!   

Just another day shopping at the Souks , trying to blend . Or playing dress up one of the two , either way it was great !!! Can't wait to show the Family all the Awesomeness we brought home for them. just picture Banff Gift store meets middle east Bazaar(like in Indiana Jones)   oh the treasure we found~  just to name a few , bobble head Saudi man , pen's with local dresser characters....oh and did I mention gold and silver are fairly inexpensive here!  so we have acquired a few cool pieces of jewelry

some of our finds , the kids check our genie lamp everyday...no such luck yet , 

This is "michelle" written in aribic made from 18krt gold  with two dimonds on the bottom, Custom made for me:) happy wife...happy life

So ....can you spot the problem here  , we are sitting at the light waiting to go straight.  Apparently he needed to turn so he just picked the lane closets to where he needed to go , makes perfect sense right??   This is after we got all packed up we had a big day today going to the Food store(aka Safeway) I had seen on one of my Facebook groups  they had some good imports this week and wanted to check out. So go all "dressed up"  , checked the prayer times to make sure we didn't get locked in the store  , got there only to find they are closed! because friday has a long morning prayer ......now you think no big deal but lets remember i leave the tower about once a week so when i go out it's a big deal!!! so i was so frustrated all i want to do was shop:( one more Saudi opsticale , so off to camp we went to do our shopping  ,  where apparently there is a major shortage of chocolate chips , frozen strawberries and pop corn........yet again totaly normal......

On a positive , someone started pre school!!! I know your all doing the math yes he is only 2 and a half , but living in the tower , there is not a  lot for a kid this age to do and he is bored out of his mind .Not anymore!! he is living the dream!  and so am I . And you can not beat the commute....down the elevator. And his cute little uniform shirt!

Well that sums up the last couple months , things are going good , the countdown is on until me and the kids come home for spring break then it's only 11 week after that till we are back in Canada for the summer !!!We are true embracing the Expat  life , which i have decide means traveling as much as you are home , and home is a lose term. home is the place that you have most of your belongings which is  located in the Country you currently reside in. So basically Expat means homeless but employed...lol  

    The adventure continues!