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!! 

Life in the bubble...post summer Report

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 

But we are keeping busy and finding project to do around the house.  Me and Brandt are training for our disney half marathon in Jan  , kids are doing soccer , golf , and swimming .  It’s still smoking hot so hoping it cools soon so we can take the quads and toys out in the dessert soon .    We are making everything we can out of pallets , I will have pictures and post to follow about that one! My husband is the greatest .Until next   time ,

Things people never tell you and being an Expat

Well  here we are again  , pulling out our suitcases and Canada Clothes and headed back to the “real world” for the summer.  We have not left the kingdom for a real Vacation since Jan  , and let me say on Behalf of the Tracey family …..we are ready to get outta here.   

We are in the middle of the holy month of Ramadan which in simple terms , is the month where locals do not eat during day light hours , no water no food as long as the sun is up .Most of the stores and shops are closed and work some of the strangest hours you could imagine. For example you want to go to the mall for something no problem if you go 6pm to 2 am . That right you read it correct most stores and restraunts are open till all hours of the morning .  Being on camp you do not notice it as much besides not being able to eat or drink in Public places. So you just need to be prepared.  Brandt has what they call a “sin room” where he can go and eat or drink be he can not do it at his desk. His colleges work reduced hours , and the kids have reduced school hours .  So the days are getting a little long , combine that with the fact that i seriously think that summer months in saudi the sun is litterly closer .  The heat is getting unbearable , you have to stay inside between the hours of 10-5 because its just to darn hot.

 As it is fun to prepare mental and start thinking about your summer adventures ahead  i am finding it rather strange and sad at the same time.  The past 2 summers we have been preparing to move and go to something new and different.  This year we are settled and looking to the next year as anyone else does , school supplies and schedules not moving boxes and packing.  But the same can not be said for all the people around us . As the school year ends people that have done there time here are getting ready to go back to where they came from.  Here is where my personal struggle begins….So i start to think about what being an Expat really means…..

As i have stated before expat to me  mean homeless but employed.  Yes we have a house which we have made a home but it’s not ours , the company owned it and does all maitance and things that need to be done they have the say with everyhitng down to the paint color.  Good but little hard sometimes when all i see back home is “pretty “ homes with family TLC the make it there own and pride of ownership. Here all the houses are littllery the same. Some have brought their furniture some have not  , Some have painted the inside or planted some flowers because that what you do right? so some times you are just going through the motions. Which has tought my family a lot when it comes things that you may have found very important before like have the most current and recent home decor .  Things come and go and it does not and will not effect us as a family. 

Next point The people around us are so wonderful and we all have to band together as a family because we are all each other have while we live here .And it takes a village to raise children , they are my village:)  Which is so normal and wonderful for a small community . But we are only here for about 9 months a year so for the other 3 months we are all separated as people are from all over the world. Even my closet friends live in the states  which is not that far when we are home  but when we are not in sand land we have different lives , different family , different village. This is so hard!You would think that with technology and all that social media out there you would stay in touch no matter where you are but its not that case  once you are gone you have kinda changed you mind set to someone different. you wouldn't think it but once you pull out that suit case you  start changing to that other person.  Being and expat is like having an alternate personality and its totally Normal. 

Totally normal to have two different wallets  , one for you home country and one for Saudi. Two different phone and numbers ,  Even two different wardrobes . My Canada one and saudi one are very different   , because of the obvious temperature different and life style.  Saudi is casual and hot , Canada is Colder and more social.  I don’t need to dress up here i see the same people everywhere. Who am i kidding ! they will see me in my pjs at noon or work out clothes at the store , no point trying to hide it .  Canada I can’t get a way with that when i go out for lunch with friends:) or go to the mall it’s like dressing the alternate personality.  As longs as i still have the same name in both places then i’m good:)

Next point no one told me about being an expat , Food is a type of currency or show of love/kindness.  Let me just say this nothing says “I care” better than food someone has brought in their suit cases from thousands of miles away. If you would have asked me if i would have brought  Frozen meat in my suit case wrapped in my clothes i would have thought you were CRAZY….now totally normal . I would think you were crazy if you did not now!  Do you know how long meat can stay frozen for in your luggage for ??a Long time! Do you know have many bags of nibs you can cram in your shoes. Well I do …totally normal . And when the day comes when you get to Crack out your smuggled food and share it with your family  you are seriously giving the greatest gift in the world.  Words can not describe how touched you are to give and to receive !

So the day has come and the packing has started , the list of christmas present and halloween costumes , shopping list and wishes is far underway.  We leave in 10 days and i hope it goes by quickly because this expat is ready to have my 2 months out in the world to drive a car , flash my elbows to the world , eat my body weight in bacon , Drink slurrpee’s till i have a brain freeze permanently  , go to a shopping mall , speak with out using hand signals and get a hair cut . #advenurecontunes   

Check out the new wheels

The day has Finally come.....we have been waiting a long time for this one! BIG NEWS......Check out my new wheels .  I have not been this  excited for new wheels since I got my first car 14 years ago....Now yes women can not drive in sand land but on compound we can . And on my lovely "little " compound the max speed is 30km per hour so driving is a bit of an over statement and we do have a massive 8 seater suv which is wonderfull for touring around off camp and I would never ride in anything smaller off camp cause the drivers are crazy but as for everyday life it is just not the right tool for the job, as Brandt would say.

My standard commute is to and from the school for the kids which is about a 7 min walk  but when the heat is 40-50c as it is getting to now its to far to walk  , and I do that about 5 times a day plus getting Colby to his school and going to the gym .So I stop and start the car about 15 times pre day yet only drive for about 20mins through out the entire day. So time for a  vehicle better fitting to our needs.....Brought all the way from Texas in a shipping container , is my Golf cart!!

Check out my custom mickey /Maple leaf decal. I made it !There was 10 other carts that came at the same time and they are all identical right now so i had to do something so i didn't take the wrong one .

I was going to wait to post until i had it all finished and painted , but i'm to excited and had to share it with the world.  Now I know you are all thinking what is so exciting about a slow little golf cart .  Well this is not your average cart , it has a lift kit , and 12 inch rims , seats 4 with the back seats folding over to make a flat bed for moving things like groceries  what ever you need  , top speed is around 35km (As we call it Mach chicken speed) .  We have plans to paint it add some lights underneath and make it our own.A lot of people on camp have their cart "pimped" out so i have to keep up 

Now not everyone is able to drive carts on camp they take this very seriously this is a vehicle after all....We had to take a written exam to get our licence  , which was no joke it had questions like .....You should talk on your cell phone while charging the battery true of false? , When turning a corner you a)use singnal lights b) wave franticly and hope someone sees you.....ohks so not that bad but it was a bit of a joke

Don't fret we both passed:)  It also had to have a vigorous inspection from the garage to ensure it was safe and in working order  , it went as so...Brandt: we need an inspection  , Garage: yes sir  , pay your  fees and i'll sign the paper  , Brandt: Do you need to look at anything ?  , Garage: No sir here is your inspection approval 

Done!  So we are living the dream now , wind in our hair sun at our backs . I don't know what it is but you know that feeling when you are on holiday and you decide to be a big spender and you go for the convertible car rental .  The driving is really no different  , but there is just this feeling of being free.  The same going driving the cart around camp , Its just fun.

Here are someother firsts    , Time to cut the grass . Now we have a gardener who is pretty much useless he waters the grass  , washes the driveway , washes the car.  That's it! he does not cut the grass and being the type of grass it has only been cut once since we have been here 8 months. Now i know you are thinking we are "those"people on the street with the trashy looking yard ....it's not that bad . The grass grows a lot slower so it may be 4 inches long  . And me being as cheap as  I am we bought a 1950 style manual mower ....which doest work .  and to get out grass cut we have to find the "mower" gardeners and get them to do it.....not going to happen or we buy a lawn mower to be used 3 time a year...also not in my cards , so I decided I was going to make this happen one weekend Brandt was at the  rig.....i did the best i could with what we had but we resorted to this

yup this is what it looks like ....kayden cutting the grass with scissors.  Then i took over  , and finished the job.  This is yet again another momement where at the time seemed totally normal you do what you have to  to get the job done . Then looking at the picture and yup nope! can't say i did this one in canada. 

but when in rome right ......Never thought i would do this one either. So you know back home they have fancy chocolate stores in the malls .  Here they have Fancy Date stores. Now before moving here i thought the only thing you did with dates with put them on the inside of fig newton cookies and the only people that would eat or know what a date was were Old people. It's not True! they are yummy , and can be filled with anything and dipped in choclate and you could almost go as far to call them healthy because they were grown from the earth and basically a fruit right??  So this is our new guilty pleasure .  In the past 2 months we have spent hundrends of dollars on purchasing and consuming these fancy yummy dates and I decided ..I can make those.   

Here they are My Carmel pecan filled dates. i used my Grandma's carmel recipe altered slightly to fill the date. I'm sure when she taught me how to  make this she never thought we would use it for this.  I feel like i'm combining my Canada world with my Saudi world , And it taste Good.

Going with our theme on combing the old ways with the new , we have a pet! Her name is Lola ....the Lizzard and she lives in the garage under the water cooler , sometime under the fridge and every morning the kids go out and say good morning to lola , sometimes we see her sometimes we don't. It's truly funny and i just pray i never meet lola inside of the house!

Here is one of her "Sisters" she lives by the front door , under the dryer vent ,  she is a little bigger than my cell phone.  What a gem, everytime you go to move something they scurry away....yuck!  

And On that note! #Adventure Continues  , And Embracing Life and all it's differences . 

Brandt's vacation update...

Has it been almost 4 months since we updated this thing?!?!?  Time sure does fly I suppose.  Well let’s rewind back to early December and go from there.  So shortly after the last post we celebrated our Tracey family Christmas here in UDH on Dec. 11 because Michelle and the kids would be travelling back to the land of the free to spend it with family.  We all stayed in kingdom last year and it was a bit of a downer so we decided to at least get Michelle and the kids back so they could feel of the Christmas spirit.  I’m not sure if it’s because Christmas doesn’t exist over here or if it’s because there is no snow but it’s just not the same.  Regardless, our early Christmas celebration was awesome and the kids had a blast.  It almost felt like Christmas but not quite.  Two weeks later Michelle and the kids left and I enjoyed some bachelor time.  As much as I love my family it was nice to have a little time to myself to do whatever I wanted.  I had some very high hopes of hanging out with some buddies who work a 35/35 schedule for service companies.  We had it all planned out: zip over to Bahrain, see the new Star Wars movie, BBQ every night, dig for more desert roses, go hunting for fossilized shark teeth, spend some time in the batting cage, etc, etc.  It didn’t happen.  Not even the batting cage.  Their phones never stopped ringing and I had two problematic rigs to deal with.  

Michelle’s flight was at 1am so we left camp around 8:30pm to make sure we gave ourselves enough time.  As soon as I started the SUV I remembered that there was hardly any fuel in it.  No problem though, we have a gas station here on camp.  Turns out they close sometime before 8:30pm.  Right on.  We’ve got less than a quarter tank and it’s easily 45 minutes to the next gas station along the highway.  I start doing the math and figure it’s going to be tight.  So rather than drive 140 km/hr I go at a moderate 110 km/hr to conserve fuel.  Here’s how the conversation went:

Kayden: how much gas do we have?

Me: a little less than a quarter tank.

Kayden: what percentage? *(he thinks of everything in terms of iPad battery life)

Me: hard to say, 15-20 percent

Kayden: WE’RE NOT GOING TO MAKE IT!

Me: It’s ok, I’ll drive slower, we’ll make it

Kayden: No Dad, you need to go much faster than usual
Me: That burns more fuel, we’ll run out for sure

Kayden: You sure we’ll make it?

Every 5 minutes or so Kayden would ask for an update on our progress.  As much fun as it is to mess with him he’s very anxious to begin with so I decided that today was not the day.  We ended up stopping at a highway gas station which raised Michelle’s blood pressure a bit.  Just imagine going to the worst part of town and getting gas there while everyone stares at you because you obviously don’t belong.  Difference is that you’re probably at more risk of getting into trouble where you are rather than where we are.  We carried on our way but now since we had to drive slower and stop 10 minutes for gas we were now behind schedule a bit so we needed to take a shortcut to get to the airport.  Again, no problem because this was the same way my taxi driver took me last time.  As Michelle can attest I have a very good sense of direction and can usually find my way without too many issues.  That’s fine but when you have a 3 year old that likes to get car sick and you take a short cut that has a few too many bumps and a few too many turns you’re asking for trouble.  Luckily, we had some gravol in the car and Michelle gave Colby a dose when he started turning a pale shade of green.  We thought we caught it in time but we didn’t.  Colby decided to puke all over Michelle and himself while we were getting them checked in.  Stomach flu or car sickness?  Stomach flu or car sickness?  The stomach flu had been going around camp so the next 24 hours were going to be filled with anxiety for Michelle.

Anyways, rather than driving 2 hours in the dark across camel infested territory I chose to stay in Dhahran’s luxury accommodation called “Steineke Hall”.  It’s named after Max Steineke who was the head geologist who found oil here in Sand Land.  If it wasn’t for him we wouldn’t be living here.  However, if it wasn’t for him the price of oil would likely be a lot higher but we’re not going to go down that road.  Anyways, at 200sr/night (~$52USD/night) it wasn’t too bad.  I’ve stayed in much worse rooms for a lot more money (Devon’s Pike Camp @ $220/night).  

It wasn’t 15 minutes after I left the airport Michelle called me in a panic. They wouldn’t let her through customs.  They’d taken Colby’s passport and disappeared into an office.  We were at the airport with plenty of time but instead of Michelle going through customs/security right away we decided to let the kids burn some energy on the indoor playground.  It wasn’t overly busy so Michelle got into line about 30 minutes before the plane began boarding.  Apparently, the last time we came back from Bahrain the customs agent didn’t stamp Colby out and they needed to get everything sorted between Bahraini customs and Saudi customs before they’d let Michelle through.  Michelle was convinced that they weren’t going to let her through so I stopped on the highway, pulled a hook and started driving the wrong way on the highway.  No problem though.  Just put on your hazards and flash your lights at every car that comes by.  They get it.  I was about halfway up an overpass off-ramp (still going the wrong direction) when Michelle called and said that they sorted everything out.  Sweet deal.  I flipped a hook and headed back towards Dhahran.  The family got to the plane just as it was boarding, hopped on, got situated and had an uneventful flight to Calgary via Amsterdam.

I woke up the morning after dropping the family off, gave my boss a quick operational update (both rigs running smooth), handled a couple of things/appointments in the city and then slipped across the causeway to the island of additional freedom and the “other” white meat…BAHRAIN!  I don’t know what it is but as soon as I get onto the causeway I begin to relax.  It seriously feels like a weight gets lifted and I calm down a bit.  Now the important part about this trip was that Star Wars: Episode 7 had JUST been released that day.  I went straight to the mall, bought my tickets and waited in anticipation.  While waiting I went to Carrefour (equivalent to Wal-Mart Super Center / Super Target) and picked up some discount Christmas items.  Surprisingly, there were a lot of Muslims purchasing these items too which seemed a bit strange.  Anywho, the day had been perfect so far, no issues, no phone calls, not many emails, PERFECT.  The way that a Thursday should be.  Well that all went to hell in a hand basket about 1 hour into Episode 7.  My phone started going crazy.  Turns out one of the rigs decided to entirely change the completions plan.  Ugh.  This pretty much set the tone for my 2+ weeks of bachelor life.  Made the time pass pretty quickly though which was nice.

I’m sure y’all are pretty bored by now (yes, I say “y’all” now – special thanks to Todd, Courtney, Randy and Ashley) so I’ll speed it up some.  The next weekend was Christmas and it kind of sucked to be alone but I had Christmas lunch with a few of the other “orphans” here on camp and it was alright.  Caught up on some TV shows/movies, got some serious gym sessions in and started preparing for vacation.  Everything was going great, rigs were running smooth, paperwork up to date, handovers ready to go, no problems, feeling great, ready to rock.  Then I got hit with the stomach flu 36 hours before flying out.  At first I was calm thinking it would pass by the next morning.  Wrong.  Dead wrong.  It was worse.  Way worse.  I won’t go into the gory details but let’s put it this way – it lasted for 11 days and I lost 8 lbs.  Not the way I wanted to start vacation.  I also had the privilege to spend New Year’s Eve in the Dammam airport.  Everyone I told about this felt really bad for me but I just said “hey listen, it could be a lot worse.  I could be stuck here in the middle of Sand Land all alone with nothing to do.”  I flew from Dammam to Frankfurt then Frankfurt to Orlando with my stomach going through an entire gymnastics routine.  I got in a day before Michelle, the kids and her folks so I spent some quality time behind the lens and tried to let the creative juices flow.  I don’t think I could spend more than a couple days in Disney World alone but it wasn’t too bad.  Had some great conversations with Disney cast members.  The best by far was trying to describe Trailer Park Boys to a couple of the German cast members working the caramel shop in the Germany pavilion.  There was a Canadian cast member there and between the two of us I’m sure these German fellows now think all Canadians are a bunch of knobs.  If only I had the skills of my cousin Dallas or uncle Dan to do a Bubbles impression.  Then they may have understood.

Later that evening Michelle and the rest of the family arrived and I met them at Disney’s Art of Animation Resort.  All seven of us crammed into a 300 sq. ft room for a couple of nights before we checked in to Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge.  It was really nice to spend some time with family again and it makes a person realize how important face-to-face time is when you live so far apart.  During our week together we were fortunate enough to catch the final showing of the Osbourne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.  I have never seen Christmas lights like this before in my life and they all danced and flashed to the Christmas music. At first it was a bit much to take in but after a couple minutes it was really nice.  The best part was the nativity that Disney had set up.  It was great to see that this corporation was still keeping Christ in Christmas.  That’s one of the things we love about Disney – they stick to their roots and don’t change just because that’s what society demands.  As you can see, the nativity didn’t affect crowds too much.  

The rest of the week was fairly standard for us, up at the break of dawn (love jetlag for this effect), straight to a park, ride as much as we can without waiting in lines, grab lunch, find something else to do in the afternoon, back to the park in the evening.  The weather was cooler than we had hoped but after last year’s trip we planned for this.  No big deal though…could’ve been worse…could’ve been snowing.  Later that week the kids participated in their first RunDisney events.  Colby ran the 100m with Michelle, Skylar did the 200m with Grandma Karen and Kayden did the 400m on his own.  It was really cool and somehow got Michelle thinking that she needs to do the ½ marathon next year.  I think she’s crazy but I decided to jump on the bandwagon as well.   Then off to the boat we went…..

Disney Cruise is our new home away  from disney that place is awesome , kids club all day and all the disney trivia you could imagine ! Everyone had a blast full with starwars days at sea which was as cool as you think it could be . We saw the foruce awakens 3 times on the boat met many characters  , along with going to mexico and the grandcaymen , swimming with  dolphin and turtles .  

Once we got off the boat we still had another full week to enjoy disney which was Wonderfull and can’t wait to press repeat and do it all again.  We are so Greatfull that we are able to do and enjoy these Wonderfull family times together ..  For lack of better terms ,  building so many memories and even though this does not seem like it its is part of our #Adventure .  Because with out living in sand land there is no way would could do annoys these things or appreciate them.  

Pretty Proud of these little people ! they did  Awesome! can't wait to do the run next year and get our own medals

Yup it's official Star wars is getting cooler in our family that's for sure! 

Don't want to crush you with to many disney pictures cause you all know we have about 3000 of them form this trip alone:)