A Day to Remember

Go to the desert they say.  It’ll be fun they say.......

The following adventure has become known amongst our friends here in Udhailiyah as “A Day to Remember”.  It’s certainly not one that I will be forgetting nor will Michelle ever let me.

Let me set things up for you.  Thursday afternoon the office empties out and I’m getting the last few procedures and calculations done for yet another weekend cement job.  Michelle is getting the kids ready at home for a Thursday evening bonfire in the back quarter of our little camp.  Give the rig a quick call to see how their job timing is working out and they say that they won’t need me until Saturday morning at the earliest.  Sweet deal, Friday off!  Remember – weekends here are Friday/Saturday.  Kid #2 is also performing with her Zumba class at International Night on Friday evening as well as one of our friends, her kids and another one of our friends kids.  Points for dad for actually making it to an event for once.  It’s also one of the rare weekends when all three of the husbands from our group of friends are off at the same time so we need to make it a good one.  Weather is also a lot more bearable than it was a month ago.  High’s in the mid/upper 20’s, low’s in the mid/upper teens.  Like a perfect summer day in Canada…but it’s the middle of November in Sand Land.

So anyways, our kids have been bugging us to go sliding down the dunes nearby.  Schedules never seem to work out and it’s not exactly someplace that you want to go alone.  Safety in numbers.  So at the bonfire on Thursday evening we come up with this excellent plan to convoy out around lunch time on Friday.  Going to work out perfectly – Michelle and I needed to get 13 mile runs in, on friend was golfing and another was taking a kid to taekwondo.  Perfect plan for a perfect day.  Michelle and I get our runs done, get cleaned up, get a lunch packed, load up with water, emergency kit, shovels, crazy carpets, etc.  This is right around the time when Michelle says “alright honey, just don’t do anything stupid and get stuck ok?”.  I say “No problem, look at all this stuff I have to get me out of a bind.  Relax.”

We meet our friends at the commissary, get a couple last minute items and head out east of town.  We start driving and I begin to wonder where the crazy Scotsman is leading us.  I’ve been out here and it’s a bloody barren wasteland.  Ever heard of an outer rim planet named Tatooine?  Same same.  Drive for about 20 minutes and hang a quick left onto a skid road.  Still no dunes.  Pretty sure the Scotsman has lost his mind.  Then POOF out of nowhere – mountains of sand.  Soft and fluffy.  Just like powdered sugar but way more abrasive.  We drive to the base of a 30ft dune and start unloading kids.  Up the dune they go and start sliding down…or at least attempting to.  Sand has a little bit different friction factor than snow.  Should have maybe sprayed the crazy carpets with WD-40 or something.  So after about 10 minutes of doing this I decide why slide on the sand when you can drive on the sand.  I have Nissan’s Patrol.  This is Nissan’s flagship SUV with 4x4 and a little button that says “Sand”.  Just put it in 4x4, press the ‘sand’ button and slam down on the pedal on the right.  What could go wrong?  I hadn’t made it half way down the dune before Michelle started saying something.  I was too excited to actually listen.  I do remember our one friend saying something about being careful though.  I thought to myself “I’m Canadian.  I learned to drive on snow and ice.  I’ve been stuck before.  I know how to get out.  I have shovels.  I have ramps.  Let’s give’r!” 

I slam down on the gas and fly around the side of the dune and go roaring up to the top.  Michelle is standing there with her hands on her hips shaking her head.  I’ve got the windows down and a smile from ear to ear.  I feel like a god amongst men.  What a great day to be alive.  I’ve just shown my wife that driving on sand is no big deal.  Rational thinking has now left my mind (I’m a god amongst men, remember?) and I stop the vehicle.  Fatal mistake #1.  As soon as I stop I feel the Patrol sink a good 3-4 inches.  I’m already in 4x4 so I try going forward.  No dice.  Drop another 2 inches.  Throw it into reverse and try to reverse out.  Drop another 2 inches.  Not good.  Hop out and drop tire pressure to 20 psi.  This has worked before; it’s gotta work now.  Hop back in the Patrol.  Throw it in 4-LO, try to inch back.  Nothing.  Try to inch forward.  Nothing.  Try the ramps.  Nothing.  Hop out again and I’m already buried up to frame.  This has gone from bad to worse.  Out come the shovels.  I dig out what I can but it seems like whatever progress I make on one side of the vehicle gets lost on the other side of the vehicle.  I’m slowly digging a grave for the Patrol.  Next thing I know I can’t open the doors anymore because they’re below the level of the sand.  This is now getting serious.  Pull all of the heavy items out from the Patrol and start looking for wood or rocks that can be used for traction.  Absolutely nothing is working.  The Scotsman now takes off to look for a Bedouin to pull us out.  Oh but wait…it’s Friday (Holy Day) and he’s probably in town at the mosque.  Ya know that comedian, Bill Engvall, who says “here’s your sign”?  Well I look up to the heavens and realize that I’ve now received my sign.  Maybe this wasn’t the best Friday activity that we could have done.  I dunno.  Michelle disagrees and says that I’m just an idiot.

We’ve now exhausted all of our options and it’s 3pm.  The kids have to get back to town in order to get ready for International Night.  The Patrol is in pretty dire circumstances.  The Scotsman can see a wellsite move taking place across the wasteland and he can see a loader.  We load up all 7 kids and send them on their way home with our Portuguese friends.  Michelle and I hop in with the Scotsman and his lovey wife and head over to the wellsite move that’s in progress.  We track down the Filipino truck push and he’s willing to help.  We tell him that we’re going to rip back to UDH, drop the wives and come back.  By now I’m feeling like the biggest idiot on the face of the planet.  How did this go so wrong so fast?  What was I thinking?  Why did I even try to do that?  Why did I stop on the very top of the dune?  Why didn’t I just listen to my wife in the first place?  Why did I have to go and wreck a perfect day?  The 20 minute drive back to town felt like an eternity. 

Just as we’re coming into town we get a call from our friend who took all the kids with her.  She has called her friend whose husband basically lives in the desert.  It just so happens that he’s home this weekend as well and has the perfect truck for pulling me out.  I’ve never met the guy but apparently he’s already loaded up and waiting for us to meet him.  Drop the wives off and mine tells me to sleep in the Patrol if we can’t get it free.  She’s not joking.  I stare blindly at the ground, solemnly nod my head and answer “Yes dear”.  We head over to meet up with my Portuguese friend who’s waiting with the beast of a truck and get the convoy ready again.  The driver is sitting there with a huge grin on his face and I ask him “did you see the pictures?”.  He chuckles and responds “no problem”.  I’m thinking to myself “sure buddy, I was saying the same thing three hours ago”.  So off we go; almost sounds like the start of a bad joke “Four guys head into the desert – a Canadian, a Scotsman, a German and another from Portugal.”

We get back out to the Patrol’s grave site and without hesitation or warning.  This guy goes roaring up onto the dune with my Portuguese friend sitting shotgun, rips around a bit and then stops about 100m from my vehicle.  Now I’m thinking we’re really screwed.  “Shouldn’t have stopped buddy” I think to myself.  The Scotsman and I park on hard ground below the dune and walk up.  Our rescue driver is now surveying my situation so I ask him “you ever seen it this bad before?” and he says “yes, sometimes even me, no problem”.  There’s those two magical words again “no problem”.  Might as well be saying “mafi mushkilla, inshallah”.  Anyways, I swear the Patrol has sunk another 2-3 inches in the hour we’ve been gone.  Pretty sure this is quicksand of some description.  Regardless, I start digging (again) and get as much sand as possible away from the tires.  Meanwhile, our rescue driver has deflated his tires to 15 psi and has pulled out a 100ft tow strap.  We get everything hooked up and he gives me the instructions on what I need to do.  I’m still pretty sure that he’s going to get planted trying to pull me out.  He starts pulling, I start driving and the next thing I know the Patrol has been resurrected from its shallow grave.  Praise God, I’m not sleeping in the desert tonight!  He unhooks his side of the tow strap and I begin getting everything loaded back into the Patrol.  I then sheepishly drive back down to the bottom of the dune and park on the hard ground.  Hindsight being 20-20 – I should have gone for a really good rip now that there was someone there to pull me out.  After a couple minutes the Scotsman and I look around; our rescue driver is nowhere to be seen.  Neither is our friend from Portugal.  The out of nowhere the truck re-appears and flies over top the dune and straight down the slip face.  I’m sure that the rear tires were off the ground.  Meanwhile I can hear my Portuguese friend giggling in the front seat.  Guaranteed he’s having more fun than a kid at Disney World.  GUARANTEED!  After a few more minutes of joy riding we pulled out the air compressors and started pumping up our tires for the journey home.  Remember that “god amongst men” statement from earlier?  Ya that title is no longer mine.  It has been firmly affixed to my rescuer.  There are absolutely no words to describe the sense of relief I now felt.  No words whatsoever.

We left just as the sun was setting and made our way back to UDH.  I got home just in time to grab a quick shower, wash away sand from places that should never see sand, get dressed in my most Canadian looking clothing (red/black flannel shirt and jeans) and took kid #2 to International Night right on time, just as planned.  Michelle was still less than impressed but I got upgraded from sleeping in the car to sleeping on the couch.

It wasn’t until we’d been home for about half an hour when a newly created Facebook group titled “A Day to Remember” was created by our Portuguese friend.  That’s when the pictures and videos started coming in.  I’m pretty sure that everyone involved in my little fiasco (or SNAFU for a better term) will never forget about this.  Lots of life lessons were learned by the kids on this day.  I may have learned a couple as well.

I clearly remember saying during the first journey back to UDH “I have done a lot of stupid things in my life but this one has definitely got to be in the top 5”.

End of the day it all worked out alright but it could have been much worse.  I really didn’t want to sleep in the desert all alone.

And it will be remembered.....

Planes , Trains and automobiles

Here we go again, another school year has begun and we are still in Sand Land.  If you asked Brandt and I where we would be living 4 months ago this would not have been the answer.  However, we are true believers that everything happens for a reason so here we are.  It may not be our plan but we accept this and continue move forward with faith, hope and happiness.

All is good - kids are in school and life is as normal as can be here which we all know and have learned takes some doing that’s for sure.

Backing up a little - we spent the summer in Canada, well most of us did “some people” have to stay and work to pay for this life of planes, trains, and automobiles.   This summer the kids and I embarked on our 17th & 18th Transatlantic Flights in the last 3 years…never thought I would say that one.  Also in a matter of a month I was on 8 airplanes in 5 different airports from Germany to Vancouver, Calgary and San Francisco and Hawaii. And not to mention Brandt in the time span of two weeks did the same number of airports and in two days he went through a 15-hour time difference.  Talk about jet lag!  I am so grateful to be able to do these things.  It was really nice to spend an entire month in YYC so I could chill and stay in one-time zone for longer than a week. It was such a wonderful summer; I was able to connect with some friends from my “real life” that I miss so much!!!  

Life in Saudi has been lonely to say the least as we lost some of our close friends as they moved back home.  It really magnifies how temporary this life is.  We try so hard to make this place our home but It still feels like we are living in this alternate universe of “fake“ life just waiting for time to pass until we can go home.  So being in Calgary was much needed reality.  We spent a lot of time with family which I would love to pack in my 8 suitcases and bring with me.  Maybe next year we will live in the same time zone at least…lol.  

Speaking of luggage every year I swear I will bring back less and this year I definitely brought back different things but still A LOT!!!  People always ask what kind of things I bring back so here is a list some of them:

- 8kg Kraft Peanutt butter

- 4 Liters maple syrup

- 2 Containers Ranch Powder

- 50 pounds meat

- 2 liters of Fetta cheese

- 1kg Macadama nuts

- 6 bottles of spices

- peppercorns

- taco seasoning

- Cheezies

- Shampoo/conditioner

- 12 tubes of color

- 3 halloween costumes

- Prescriptions they don’t offer here

- 1 year supply of ibuprofen

- Bedding & pillows

- Cricut craft machine

- 2 large protein powder

- 5 bottles of vitamins

- water balloons

- school supplies

- pvc pipes for crafts

- 10lb weighted blanket (this was a fun one to carry through the airport)

- new clothes

- toys and Lego

So as you can see there was a little bit to bring back. The packing and weighting and plastic wrapping of 4 suitcases, 1 duffel bag and 2 boxes, plus 4 carry-on’s, 1 adult and 3 kids. Good times!  It’s so fun I was looking forward to getting on to the plane…NOT!  However, we were somewhat ready to come back as we had not seen Brandt in almost 6 weeks.

Expat life can be such a broad range of things from fancy and extravagant to using a garden hose for many things that it should not be …..Like washing your hair or doing your laundry.  But the other part that no one tells you about is the time apart as a family.  Being as the husband is in most cases the main worker and money maker in the family the mother and kids have more freedom to come and go as they please/need. In Brandt’s area of work days off are hard to come by and all the appropriate hoops have to be jumped through as with most oil & gas companies.  Brandt’s so-called vacation schedule got completely messed at the very last minute and we had to scramble in order to make the most of what he got.  It only left him with 2 weeks to come and vacation with us which sounds like a lot until you factor in the 4 days travel but that’s the life.  Basically, it meant that we were apart for 3 weeks then together with the kids for 4 days followed by adult vacation then back on plane for him so between June 8-aug10 he saw he kids for a grand total of 4 days.  Not my favorite part but that’s what we signed up for.  The temp in Saudi over the summer is between 40-50c so not really an option for the kids to be there and us to keep our sanity. 

Now to the positives of expat life! We have been back for a two weeks and I have not had to clean a bathroom or water the grass! Love that part and we are planning the next vacation(s)! Tracey’s are going Paris, and all are participating in their own runDisney race!  So it gives us all something to do to fill our time and goals to work towards even our oldest is doing the 5K race.  Super exciting! And it has been my daughters dream to see the Eifel Tower so as long as we don’t get lost on the train we will cross that one off the list!  Living here is definitely crossing some of those bucket list things off. 

So for the next year this is our goal - enjoy the simple life and cross some more boxes off.  So far we are planning Paris, more Disney, cruising and running a full marathon.  And so the adventure continues….

Picture Time:

Kawaii  , this is what a vacation looks like with out kids.  Peaceful and exhausting. We hiked a lot and enjoys the island . It was officially the most beautiful place we have ever been .  Blessing for sure to be able to do this one.

Street meat , or as we call it chicken  shawarma . Sliced and served in a pita with french fries and mayo.  Sounds weird but oh so good! I would post a picture of the outside but you would all judge me for feeding this to my family some things are just better not known.

Dessert tent  no need to say more...

Brandt spends some time on the rigs and this is his five star double ended trailer he gets to call home when ever he is there.  Fancy right! 

So when I

 said it was hot i meant really hot!!! that is 59 celsius , picture the surface of the sun and then add some wind ....so basically hell to put it blunt.

So here we go , adventure some more.....I promise to do better and post more exciting pictures of the wild world

The Winds of Change .....

The Winds of Change

As suspected, the length of time between blog updates continues to grow.  At the end of our last update Michelle and the kids had just returned from their summer vacation and everyone was settling back into routines as normal.  In terms of highlights from the fall…there isn’t much that sticks out to be honest.  We spent a fabulous long weekend in September in Bahrain with some of our good friends.  We made another quick trip there in December to make sure that our visas were activated properly before leaving at Christmas.  There are a lot of expat horror stories surrounding visas so we didn’t want to take a chance.

A major focus of our time this past fall was on training for the WDW ½ marathon.  Every Saturday both Michelle and I would do our “long runs” which would pretty much occupied the better part of our day.  Personally, I really don’t enjoy running.  I never have and I don’t think I ever will.  The last thing that I wanted to do on a Saturday morning was to go and run multiple laps around our little community.  I see these people who go out and effortlessly bound like they’re part gazelle.  I have a fair amount of disdain for these types of people.  While they may look like a graceful animal of the Serengeti I more resemble the African rhino.  I may not look graceful but I’m faster than I look and you sure as heck don’t want to be anywhere near me while plodding through the miles.  All of that being said...every single mile of training was worth it in the end.  Neither Michelle nor I can put our finger on it but there is just something special about running an actual race especially at Disney World.  One of the best parts was having Michelle’s folks fly down and meet us.  Always nice to be with family especially when we live as far apart as we do.

The WDW Marathon weekend is the first weekend in January every year and it’s more than just a weekend.  It runs from Wednesday to Sunday.  Wednesday is the first day of the “expo” and the day that everyone needs to go and pick up their race packets.  This was organized chaos at best.  It’s hard to describe but the main purpose is to go and pick up your bibs for each race.  Basically, the expo is spread out through Disney’s Wide World of Sports complex and pretty much everyone had to go through 2-3 buildings to pick up all of their stuff.  5k and 10k bibs were in one building; kids race bibs were in another building.  The worst by far was the building where vendors could come and sell all of their race gadgets.  Unfortunately for us this was the same building that we needed to get to in order to pick up our ½ marathon bibs.  I swear the training up to this event wasn’t meant for the race itself but for bib pickup.  I literally put in 7500 steps in this process alone.  Anyways, back to the vendors selling race gadgets…these running people are intense.  There is every tool, gel, bar, bean, shirt, fanny pack, shoe, tape, skirt, sock, tights, headphones, water bottles, etc, etc, etc under the planet at this place.  If it wasn’t bolted to the floor people were buying it.  I’ve even heard of fights breaking out over so-called “limited edition” jackets.  We all know that Disney people (ourselves included) are slightly crazy and borderline strange.  We get it and we embrace it.  However, when you combine this with a pile of people who are still coming off their “runners high” from a week ago and then utter the words “limited edition” hell hath no fury compared to the mayhem that follows.  If you’re ever wanting a great people watching experience just head to this expo.  You won’t be disappointed.  That being said both Michelle and I now have a pair of 2017 “limited edition” New Balance runDisney running shoes.

Thursday I ran my 5k at Epcot (Medal #1) and the kids ran their races at Wide World of Sports (Medals 2, 3, 4).  Friday Michelle ran her 10k at Epcot (Medal #5).  Saturday was the half marathon.  The event we had been training for.  The run that Michelle started training for 11 months out….

As you may know via our Facebook posts, the ½ marathon itself was cancelled due to the threat of extreme weather.  I get why they cancelled it and definitely err on the side of caution but it still sucked.  However, Michelle got up the morning that it was supposed to happen, put on her running gear (socks, tights, fanny pack, jelly beans, water bottles, head phones, etc, etc, etc) and ran her own half marathon at our resort.  She ran from Boardwalk to Epcot to Beach Club to Yacht Club to Boardwalk to Hollywood Studios and back to Boardwalk.  I don’t know how many times she did this circuit but it had to have been 5 or 6.  Regardless she is an absolute trooper and certainly earned her medal (#6). 

As soon as Michelle finished her race we jumped into the rental van, drove to Port Canaveral and hopped on the Disney Fantasy.  Feeling guilty the next morning I decided that I should probably do my ½ marathon as well.  33 laps around deck 4 on the Fantasy in 10ft seas was interesting.  That’s one way to get your sea legs I guess.  I even had my own personal port-side cheering squad which was pretty cool and made the final 10 laps a lot easier.  Cruise director Natalie also heard that there was some idiot running around on deck 4 and she greeted me with a Disney Cruise Line Medal (#7).  Not as nice as my half marathon medal (#8) but a great keepsake.  The cruise itself was amazing as always.  Disney really knows how to do it right.  Michelle also signed up for this thing called Fish Extender.  I don’t have a clue where the name came from but I do know that it took a lot of work and I heard about it NON-STOP for 3 months.  Basically, you hang a thingy on your stateroom door that has pockets for each member of your family/party.  There are 10 staterooms per group and we had to go and hand out gifts to each of the other 9 staterooms in our group.  We made a dedicated trip to the Khobar souk to pick up a bunch of Saudi tourist knick-knacks to give to these people.  Kids loved doing this and loved checking their pockets every time we came back to the room.  Just like the run – it may have been a painful process but it was worth it in the end.

During the cruise we stopped at Cozumel, Grand Cayman and Jamaica.  Cozumel was alright but a bit dirty/sleazy.  Did a bit of shopping and met a Mexican from Red Deer strangely enough.  We were walking past a store and buddy on the street was trying to get us to come in.  Being Canadian we politely said “no thank-you” and kept walking.  Buddy saw my Canada tattoo on my calf and said (use your inner Mexican accent) “hey vato, nice tattoo, where you from bro?”.  I turned around, shocked, and said “Alberta” and kept walking.  He says (again, Mexican accent) “no way bro, I’m from Red Deer, come try some tequila”.  Michelle and I started laughing, politely said no thanks and continued walking.  We got to the end of the street and decided to turn around and head back to the boat.  Rather than walk the store front gauntlet again we opted for the other side of the road near the beach.  Sure enough, my new buddy from Red Deer spotted me again and says “hey Alberta, it’s real good tequila, give you real good price bro”.  I gave him a smile and wave and continued walking.  Can’t knock a guy for trying I suppose. 

Next day was Grand Cayman which was fantastic.  We really love this island.  Nice people, beautiful beaches, nice shopping, good food, great rum cakes.  Perfect.  Bloody expensive though.  Initially we were going to grab a taxi to a little known swimming spot called Smith Cove but the seas were a bit rough so we ditched the kids in kids club on the boat and had an adults only outing.  Nice and relaxing.

The following day was Star Wars Day at Sea.  Long story short – Disney running people don’t even hold a candle to the Disney Star Wars people.  This is a whole new level of obsession.  Kids got to do Jedi Training and also met a bunch of characters.  Was a pretty awesome day.

Jamaica was the next day and we briefly got off the boat to do a bit of port shopping.  A couple of the life guards that I came to know well used to work for Beaches Ocho Rios (or something like that) and told me that in order to really see Jamaica we needed to get to the other side of the island.  This was about 45 minutes to an hour away but, no problem mon, they have good friends that could get us there safely.  We declined the offer and enjoyed the empty boat.

Our last day on the cruise was a stop at Castaway Cay; Disney’s private island.  On our last cruise the seas were too rough to get us in there which was a big disappointment.  This time we got in and had an amazing day on the beach.  Got medals (#9 & #10) too by running the Castaway Cay 5k.  A week’s worth of cruise food definitely didn’t help my finishing time.

The next day we got off the boat and spent another 3 fantastic days in Disney World with Michelle’s folks before boarding the plane back to Sand Land.  This time we chose to fly with Emirates direct from Dubai.  It was a great choice other than the check-in experience in Orlando.  We just about missed our flight because of a nimrod check-in agent.  It’s a long story that I’ll spare you from.  Heck, if you’ve even made it this far you deserve a medal (did I mention that we have a few?).  We got back to Dammam and lo and behold we were missing Michelle’s bag.  We have the worst luck when it comes to baggage lately.  Fortunately, it ended up arriving the next day.  I blame the aforementioned nimrod for this.  Unfortunately, Emirates no longer delivers to Udhailiyah so I had to drive back to the airport and pick it up.  They have a Tim Hortons there though so it wasn’t all bad.  Still shouldn’t have to drive 4 hours round trip to pick up a bag that should have been on the plane in the first place or delivered when they screwed up.

 

Ah now back to reality…everyone got back into the groove alright.  Kids all came down with a nasty cold bug soon after coming back but that’s what happens when you live in a petri dish.  Work has been busy as always but that’s alright.  I’m not going to lie…outside of the amazing vacations we are able to take by living here life is a grind.  Being away from family is increasingly difficult and our oldest is having some struggles with anxiety and depression.  Our best friends have just moved to main camp which is almost 2 hours away.  The Tracey Family has always been very self-sufficient and rarely imposes on anyone so we have only ever really needed each other.  That being said we are starting to feel very alone in our little oasis in the middle of nowhere.  The problem is that the saying “just another reason” has found its way into our vocabulary lately.

Here is an example – ran out of protein powder, went to put in an order, cannot ship to Sand Land any more.  Message my friend who works 28/28 here, he goes and buys what I need in Edmonton, flies into Sand Land, hands package off to another buddy who’s rig is somewhat close by.  5 hours round trip to pick up protein.  Next day Michelle has specialist doctor appointment.  Leave rig at 6am, drive 1 hour back to UDH then 1.75 hours to main camp, see doctor for 15 minutes, drive 1.75 hours back to UDH, drop off family (had to take kids out of school as we are proudly nanny-free), drive 1 hour back to rig, finish job, drive 1 hour home.  Now if Michelle was allowed to drive she could have easily taken herself, I could have handled the kids and it wouldn’t have been a big deal…”just another reason”.

 Here’s to hoping that the oil price stabilizes and that the Alberta provincial and Canadian federal government quit screwing around to do something to helping the Canadian oil & gas industry.  The number of “reasons” are starting to stack up here for the Tracey family. With saying that we are going to  keep moving forward as any family with little people does , going to soccer, swimming ,golf and planning more Vacations.    Just wait and see when the next adventure will begin. 

Now for some shameless Blogg photo's .

Castaway Kay , Aka Disney island 

This is hands down our favourite place in the world , no matter what is going on this day is always perfect and this trip did not disappoint.  

People always ask don't we get tired of doing Disney all of the time , and of course our answer is NO.  The time and memories we make here are always going to be with us and now a days we find our self watching/experiencing the attractions through the eye of the kids .Littlerly watching them enjoy it all.  And we all get to act like kids to.

The is one of our home away from home , Disney animals kingdom lodge. Coming from the land of sand during Dec and entering the lobby full of Christmas joy brought joy to everyones Hearts when we got there. You will never truly understand what that feeling is like until you have lived it. Words do not describe beside feeling like a fog has been lifted from your world.  

no words needed , there was a lot of Star Wars this trip......COOLness 

My husband is amazing! Half the joy of our travels are the picture we get to enjoy after

Kids races for race weekend were a big hit~! We were so proud of the kids the busted it!!