Parents in Saudi

So it took a little while to get theme here between applying for Visa and all the hoops we/they had to jump through but they got here!   24 hours of travel ,2 hours in customs and a long drive here but they did it!...   We had so much fun showing them our world and the outside world we are trying to survive in ..... there was a lot of "learning " they got to indure . Every time my mom would say a comment about logical thinking we had to stop and say nope thats not how they do that here , between taking 4 days to get them an id for camp to who  you talk to and what you can do and cannot while here in sand land .   There was a lot of first for them i'm sure and even some for me....
We started with unpacking the 2 full size boxes of goodies that they had brought for us.... to list  some things , Quading gear for skylar , clothes , head phone , fit bits , Candy , chocolate , popcorn spices  , beef jerky , and easter things as yup you guess it .....No easter  here so thank goodness my mom and the big guy with big ears are close so she could deliver the needed things for the kids!  How ever with the difference of the weekend here and sunday being a work day the easter bunny had to take a longer route to get here and didn't appear until sunday afternoon ,  but he did still arrive . My kids were pretty sure that he had forgotten they were here :)  We had a lovely special dinner that took about 3 months to collect all of the items we needed , such as our turkey that we got in Bahrain in jan  , our cheesecake which the ingredients were collected over the span of 3 weeks , our veggies which were purchased from the guy on the side of the  road while we were out one day.  As i have said before we have a normal life  here just takes a lot more planning .
 We did lots and kept them busy! even put them to work  , dennis found many nights working at the wood shop on camp working of project that we needed , we dug from some dessert roses , went to the beach  on another camp , even took them to the Sukes for a some silver shopping and some cultural time!Wandered through the mall ( don't think this was their favourite) went to fitness classes every morning  , wandered around camp , went to the pool and even played tennis .    The kids were on spring break so days needed to be filled and with Brandt still working not able to take any holiday weekdays we kept on camp  , and weekends consisted of us driving all over this flat land of sand and tires , Brandt was the best  driver ever he gave his tour guide voice and everything !
So to end the epic adventure with my family we went to Dubia to have a good send off for them  So we traveled to the nearest airport where they have a direct flight which is a whoping 1 hour trip.  Not bad but as you drive to the airport you pass by the airplane grave yard , which is always encouraging  right before you are about to get on the plane! i thought my mom would jump from the car and run in the other direction but i had given her a heads up before hand or it could have been bad.

This is the safety video they show....it was so Funny! everyone was in Traditional dress and all the faces were covered , not going to lie i think it was the first safety video i watched completely in both languages!  Kids thought it was so FUNNY

never to many of these shots don't see a lot of blue sky and clouds in sand land 

Saudi from the sky , lots of brown.......dessert everywhere

 Then we landed in Dubia , now this is one of those bucket list things for me...Ever since I saw this place on the amazing race I wanted to go! so Atlantis here we were!   This place was epic!!! its at the tip of the palm island , which is the largest man made island .  Your travel through an underpass which goes under the ocean ......nothing else to say beside cool!

 

This is the view from our room , the hotel has a water park  , aquarium , countless restraunts , mall , dolphins and sea lions , along with sharks  you name it you got it! 

The water park was our main place the 3 days we were there! This top picture in on one of the water slide that goes through the shark tank!!! So cool

This is Kayden going straight down then the slide goes through the tank again and finishes on the other side , Kayden said he did;t see anything he was going to Fast:)  

Water play ground ! also EPIC , the little people had so much fun , we also rode the largest lazy river full with rapids and a tube elevator.  Kayden and Brandt also did a shark safaria which involved them putting on the oxygen helmets and taking a stroll through the shark tank! so cool

Lazy river and my little Side Kick 

Shark safaria 

Atlantis by night .....   Long and the short it was a wonderfull vacation and visit from my parents , I hope they brave the flight and adventure again.   

Now its time for us to get back to our world and count down to the next vacation which is  going to take us to orlando , Grand Caymen Island  , and Canada.  We sure are getting good with airplanes!  We keep moving forward and its gotten pretty normal for us.  #SaudiAdventure Continues!