I might be getting used to this ......yikes

So it's official! I'm really bad at updating the blog....Sorry! life with my kids is busy like it would be in any world I Don't know if its busier here or if it's just the ages and trail everyone goes through which I'm sure it is......it's been long enough that this is the kids and mine "Normal" NEVER thought i would say that about living in Saudi!!! So to do a catch up i'm posting way to many fab pictures of our live  the past couple months since we have been back from DISNEY and yes we are counting down to the next time in the summer:

Since we have been back  we have gone back to Doha ………

I Feel like we are deffinaitly getting the hang of traveling ! I can have us packed and ready for a weekends away in minutes!   Swim suit sun screen and iPad we can go anywhere and do anything!!! 

Is it bad that we are definitely getting used to this life , long weekends involve beaches and fancy hotels instead of our old life that involved nothing but house chores and maybe ice cream out 

We spendt just 2 days  at the same hotel we stayed in last time  and we had a blast!  Many hours at the pool  , mixed with some abaya free shopping! which we found a Dollar store! I can not tell you the pure joy we had going through the dollar store! we have not seen one since we have been here so this was a really big deal!   We also managed to get to timhortons’ 3 times in those two day and bought home 80 more timbits to our “stalk” in the freezer.  I can not tell you how wonderfull it is to sit down at the end of a crappy day and have something that is so simple  , Food is one thing you think you can adapt to where you are living , but when it comes down to it.  It makes a big difference cause you can eat local food all you want but at the end of it you need what you are used to. The worst part is when we are shopping it all looks the same , ohka oreos ,how different can they be …well they must make them some place else because they are not the same! m&ms that is another one! you know when you get m&m’s and they are all the same size color look like this pretty handfull of happiness……not here  , i swear they take all the reject from the bags that good to western world and package them to send here!so not the same     

How ever somethings are better here once you have found them…..there is a strange language with expats and people on camp ….everyone knows where to get something so if you talk to enough people you can find the good spots around…but you don’t want to tell to many people or the next time you go there wont be what you needed..so you kinda hold you cards close and only tell people that you really like…

But we were told about the fish market in the nearby town  and had a doc appt in  the town which was super exciting for me as  I do not get out of camp very often so this was a big date for me !!! older kids we in school and i got to go with only one kid and my husband big date for me!……well  from the outisde  of the market you may not stop and if you did stop you would turn around because the smell……wow   . But a reliable person told us we were good to shop here…and we did!   check out these! 

Full Shrimp  it was the kids first shimp boil maybe mine as well  , it was tons of fun! we had brought the spices we needed for this back from the states that last time we were there and it was awsome! they dove right in and had a blast! 

more picture of life on camp , Colby went on a field trip to the hobby farm and rode this sweet little pony

now i know this looks red neck ...but thats only cause it is...School had water fun day which consisted of plastic on a hill and a fire hose.....so much fun the kids loved it!

Just another day at the driving range , kids are loving golf and getting slightly better. 

Spring break pool party! living the dream days of nothing but swimming and playing

 Now on to the next!.......My parents came to Saudi! #adventure 

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!  

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!!!