And we are Back..... Tracey's had a wonderfull summer , starting with 4 day stop over in our "other" home ...Disney world . We did everything we could with out ever stepping foot in a park , and it was so wonderfull .The more we are out of Canada we seem to be using Florida as more of our base for a break . Who doesn't love vacation life all of the time right?
After that we Spent 12 days on Grand Caymen Island , which was amazing life on a beach with no cares in the world was the perfect way to relax for the summer. The next 2 weeks after that included packing and re-packing the suitcases every 4/5 days , we did camping , lake trips , family baptism , birthdays , Christmas shopping , dinners with friends and family . We were on 7airplanes by the end of july . We Lost 2 and found 2 suitcases , It was a wild ride but a good one At the end of July it was time for Brandt to come back to the sandpit and get back to work . Some one needs to pay for these vacations right :) It was sad I hate when we all have to be separated especially by such a large distance , I know people do it all the time and all the power to them but for us right now it not our first choice. But off he went he made in home with no problem except for pure lonely ness … But all was good. Me and the kids stayed in canada for 3 more weeks and had some more family time . And of chorce more Bacon and slurpies:)
When we returned we travelled a lot lighter than normal……Brandt had brought back 2 boxes with him…..minor right both 70 lbs . When I returned I did even do my max i was so proud I only had 2 boxes , 4 suitcases , 1 duffel , 3 car seats and 4 carrie ons , no joke probably the lightest i have traveled in 2 years back and forth. We are defiantly bringing less back but the list is still an interesting one…
50 pounds of meat , and they were still frozen when he got here , lego , Remote control toys , 6 nerf Guns , hollweeen decorations , crepe maker , fondue warmer , snorkel gear , Spices ,candy , mountains of clothes enough to last a year , shoes , back packs , fabric and thread for a years worth of crafting , video games , zip ties , Bike tubes , sand toys , water guns , sink attachments , shower head repair kits , 30 pounds of hair color and products , canada bubba cooler , drink mix , protein powder , extension cords , bike rack , helmets, tupperwear , year supply of Tylenol , gravel , benidrill , screws and bolts for house repair …i’m sure there is more but like i say less than normal :)
Now when me and the kids were coming back it was not all fine and dandy like i was hoping , we were doing awesome! Like stars in a line wonderful no one was sick , everyone was cheerful and we flew from Calgary to amsterdam..3 hour layoff( cake walk right!) bored the next plane that was going Amsterdam to doha stopping for an hour refuel then going to bahrain where brandt would be waiting for us. So we stop in Doha the refuel no issues then problemn with cargo hold , no prob they can fix it , cut ahead 3 hours, on the plane flight cancelled because this is the middle east nothing is that easy . I then have my kids all in tears because they just want to see their dad who they have not seen in 3 weeks and now our plane is cancelled we have been traveling for 23 hours by now with about 2 hours or sleep between the 4 of us .So as we waited for local police to come so we can deboard the plane i realize that my cell phone still had my Canada Sim card in it and i had no way to call Brandt who was already in bahrain( which is the next country over and about 3 hours from our house)
I was like Makiver trying everything i had to get my sim out of my phone , which after trying a bobby pin and pen i used the plastic part of a price tag that was left on one of the kids bags . Victory! Except when i put the sim in and realized I only have 4 sar of credit which is about 1.25$ and only enough to send one text msg , Awesome way to be prepared right so i sent the most to the point msg ever "send phone credits , flight canceled , kill me now”
So off the plane we go walk through doha airport which yes it is a big one , go to the transfer desk where the rest of our flight is waiting and they take everyones passport and put it in a large pile and they say we will rebook you. Well no sorry not good , that passport is my life line to everything here and handing it over to some stranger over here not cool , so i parked my kids in the corner and stood in line with everyone else and anyone who has every been in a transfer line or seen a tv show where this happens i have to say its all true , there were men yelling at the desk people women crying kids asleep all over the floor all while trying to find some sort of wifi so i could call my husband , crazy ness!!! Anyways I was not leaving that line with out a ticket so 2 hours later i had a ticket to a different airport but i didn’t care it was in Saudi. We had 1 hour before that flight boarded and we were off , kids still did not sleep and all we had eating in 6 hours was chocolate covered peanuts , and i had 4 seats all over the plane but didn't matter . Brandt sent me phone credits and he was going to drive from the first airport to the second and get us .
Take our 20 minute flight to saudi ,thats right i could have driven home faster from doha then fighting in the ariport with all the craziness , but made it through customs all was good then waiting for bags , waiting , waitng , kids now crying because all of their birthday presents and everything from the summer was in them ,still waiting. Yup not coming , Now like i say we lost 2 bags this summer no prob give them your baggage number they track it no prob tell you where it is and they will get it to you easy right , nope ! the number just for decoration here , they had no idea where any of my 7 bags where! whatever file a claim , aka write down my name and number incase they appear , and go home. Brandt was asleep in the car because he has now driven 8 hours to get us and its 5am , bless his soul he was there , when we walked out all i could do was cry it was the tracey’s really bad ,horrible ,very long day. But we were finally all together as a family again .
The Next 4/5 days consisted of brandt calling every airport we stopped at a long the way as well as every person who may have the slightest inkling as to where our bags were then he drove to the airport we landed in , which is 2 hours away followed by going back to the airport we were supposed to land in looking for bags he found 6 of them , the next day went back to airport 2 and found the last item! So we got everything that was missing and the only thing that was distroyed was a large piece of pink meat which strangely did not stay frozen the extra 5 days the bag was missing in some random airport ……I am happy to say i will not be on another airplane for another 100 days (but who is counting)
I never thought that i would say it but it’s good to be back , the kids are back in school. This is the first time my oldest is going to the same school 2 years in a row so this is good thing. All kids are gone in the morning and then i only have my youngest during the afternoon , i Drive my Golf cart to the fitness classes in the morning .Life in simple……..But its feleing a little like living in the bubble.
Outside the bubble , this path goes around camp its the running loop , I do it every week couple time a week , and you can see the difference is drastic:) the dividing line
We are watching this tv show call wayward pines , for anyone out there who has not seen in , general story is they have created this town in the middle of nowhere with large fences to keep out the bad creature that are outside a there walls , and everything has this normal front to it , going about daily life just like normal , but it’s not it’s all an act. This is life in our world ,large wall to keep bad things out , check . Fake fronts to give the idea or normal life , check . On the outside everything is perfect kids riding their bike and people going to work except for the fact that we are all living in the fake world that was created for us by the company , a little like the Wayward Pines , or the rumen show . No one is watching us but they made us this fake world so the men can keep working . Men get the oil and gas , run the company. Company hires teachers , doctors nurses ect. to support families of working men , Company builds houses , and hires people to take care of houses so men do not have to. Company hires swim teachers and fitness people , Golf instructors so that family’s have something to do with their time because other recreation outlets are restricted …..So weird because this is no ones home , it’s just a chapter in everyones life that is here , fake and strange. As long as you don’t think about it it’s all good:)
In spirit of trying to live a normal life we have fired our house boy and our garden and my kids are learning what life is really like , doing more chores and not having everything done for you. In this world you can hire someone to do everything for you so us not having a gardner is a big deal. The first week we didn’t our lawn was a little out of hand , i had 3 people come to the door offering to do it for me . I think they were trying to tell me i needed to step up my game . I now do my own grass , pause for shocks and awe , i have to do it in the late afternoon because the other gardeners can’t see me doing it i’m breaking to camp code! lol Cleaning the house though i am starting to miss the guy that clean my bathrooms , he has been replaced by a taller and much better looking model but he is a little harder to tackle down the time to get them done:) Simple things that make life seem more normal , chores.
Well people it's date season , i know we have talked about this before but our family love for dates it BiG! and all the trees around camp are being harvested!By harvested i mean there is one man removing the branches and another man removing each and every date by hand , thousands of them . Bless his fingers! I currently have 6 to 8 pounds on fresh dates in my fridge , they look like old people toes but are so yummy! And this is a date tree for all who did not know where they came from
I know you are all thinking what the heck is that , well this my cureuse friends is the mini golf course . Yup that right mini golf , back ground story this is the site where the old camp dinning hall and library stood about 2 years ago before there was a fire , a bad one which claimed the building. The fire ravaged building then stood there so long that they built a fence around it , the fence was up for so long that the school painted and decorated it. Then they took it down and build this , mini golf for the community , except this is sand land things are not what they seem. Astro turf in made for indoor use and is falling apart, it is also so hard its like golfing on ply wood . Hole are white pipe placed into the ground at all different depth , one hole skylar had to dig out as it was filled with sand. I know there is no wind mills or bridges or lights flashing but there are obstacles , there are garden hoses , random paving stones and sand everywhere so the adventure is real and the skill level must be high because i sure can't do it. Besides the fact you need to bring your own club and balls , it's not covered and it's about 47 degrees. I still have the mind set that if its here we are doing it! Golf till you drop kids :)jokes aside , if you ask my kids about this course they may not be giving it a Mickey rating but they still had tons of fun and didn't need all the stuff that other courses may have , there was a hole (at most of them) and they had a blast. #SaudiAdventure and Simple things
