My Visit to Saudi Arabia

So I promised you 500 photos of camels, but I reigned myself in and ruthlessly pared down my 500 photos to 65. Not too bad, I say. I wouldn't want to be responsible for anyone OD-ing on camel-viewing.

Let's jump into this dromedary adventure, shall we?

(Like how I just threw that crazy "dromedary" word right atcha? That's a one-hump camel, for you non-zoologically-inclined individuals.)



Bam! How ya like them apples? That enough camel for ya? No?

Me neither.

So anywho, my trip to Saudi Arabia was awesome. Amazing. Enlightening. Eye-opening. Fascinating. It's my new favorite place. I would go back in a heartbeat. (Maybe I will...more on that later.)

It was unlike any place I've ever been. It's not at all the terrorist-filled sandbox that Fox News led me to believe. Yes, there is sand. And camels. And women in abayas (pronounced uh-BUY-uh). But there are also really cool architecture, beautiful dune-scapes, HUGE malls (these are massive), cuisine from everywhere, a surprising number of ex-patriots from the U.S. and other countries, and yes, camels.

I had a blast.

I started my visit in Bahrain, a little island country to the northeast of Saudi. It's like Saudi without the same laws.



Here is Vanna Kevin, pointing to where we were currently standing.



We toured a mosque and got a personal tour and lesson about being Muslim from a very nice Muslim guy.





Inside a mosque, people must remove their shoes and women must wear an abaya and cover their heads.



It was quite fascinating to learn what Muslims believe and how it relates to Christianity. Very eye-opening.

The Arabian Gulf (also known to Americans as the Persian Gulf) is beautiful. Water that looks like the Caribbean.



We went to the desert and saw all the oil lines piping oil to the refineries.



Then we went to a camel farm, a.k.a. Cameron's favorite part of the trip.





You guys, this place was giant. 600 camels. 50 baby camels. The King of Bahrain owned them all. Crazy.





Then we left Bahrain after my visa was ready and headed across a very long bridge to Saudi Arabia.

We went "camping" (I use that term loosely - basically it was hotel accommodations without actual hotel walls) at a Saudi guy's farm/land/property.







I was accosted by a very friendly camel who decided my hair would make an excellent snack.





We slept inside these HUGE carpet-covered tents. It was cold at night, but very cozy inside.



The next day we took a dune buggy out and tooled around the desert and happened upon some camels.







Then we came upon some more camels.



And some more.



(That's a Bedouin herder in charge of herding the camels.)

Then we went four-wheeling out on the dunes.



It was a bit scarier than I thought it would be. The dunes are deceptively big (and Kevin informed me that the ones we went to weren't even very big compared to other ones he's seen).



The sand plays tricks on your eyes and it's very difficult to gauge how big dips and cliffs are. I learned by accident that having a helmet is a must (thankfully my helmet was on when I learned this lesson).

The rest of my visit comprised of Kevin and me visiting with the friends he has made there and eating out and just driving around and looking at stuff.

Overall it was one of the best vacations I've ever had. I missed our girls terribly, but it was so nice to spend that much time with Kevin. Luckily he'll be home in 2 months and hopefully we will know some time soon where we will be moving to. Maybe it'll be Saudi Arabia...

It's coming...

...500 photos of camels.

Christmas 2013 - but you don't get to see it

Well, I'd like to share with you the extremely cute photos of my girls making ginger bread houses with Kevin, and Winnie shoving frosting in her mouth as fast as she can go, and Kevin and the girls with Santa while the girls are cringing and leaning as far away from him as possible, and them playing in their homemade teepee on Christmas morning and trying on the new hats they received and hanging out with the sister missionaries and enjoying Christmas morning together, and Christmas celebrations with grandparents, including my stepdad trying on a Saudi Arabian head scarf thingy, and our trip to the aquarium in Myrtle Beach.

But I can't.

Stupid flickr won't give me the HTML code to upload the photos to my blog despite my photos being public. ARRRRRRGGGGGGGGH!! (That's my Tyrannasaurus Rex roar of anger and frustration.)

I am officially deeming flickr as being the highest level of suck-age and have thrown my loyalty to Photobucket. Unfortunately flickr has 9.905 of my photos in their hard drives some place in Internet Land. Maybe one day flickr will decide to stop messing up their original program and go back to pre-beta style.

Apparently I'm not the only one to feel this way. There are MANY forums on flickr devoted to the dislike people have of flickr's new format. Doesn't make the world right, but at least I'm not alone.

So, alas, until I can figure out how to retrieve my photos from flickr and upload them to my blog, Christmas will be hidden from all those people whom I know have been waiting with bated breath to see the excitement our family brings to this holiday.

*tear drips down cheek*

OH WELL!

Onward and upward! That just means I will have to take some more photos of our life happenings and upload those to PHOTOBUCKET (*evil glare at flickr*) and share those with you instead.

Toodles!

Skipping Christmas and getting to the snow

Okay, the heck with the rest of the Christmas photos. I'll get to those some time in the future.

Now I want to show you SNOW photos! Oh yes, there was actually snow in Alabama (albeit a light dusting that my Michigan side indignantly protests is not real snow, but I digress...).

After showing Eden the white stuff on the ground, she promptly exclaimed, "We can ride the sled!" And fortunately for her and Winnie, we have one (as evidenced in our previous adventures of grass sledding a.k.a. redneck sledding).

So without further ado, here are our snow adventures.

Eden, in all her pre-snow glory:


Eden quickly assessing the fun potential of snow and realizing, that yes, this may make for a fun time:


Eden helping Winnie discover the glories of snow: (Is there anything better than little mitten hands?)


Winnie: "Can I eat this? Hmmmm..."


Winnie: "I'm already having fun and all we are doing is sitting here!"


Eden making snow dust-slash-ice-grass angels:


Happy Winnie


Cheese!


Winnie: "Yep. Could definitely get used to this." (There are about 20 photos I took showing pure joy on Winnie's face while getting pulled on the sled.)


Eden: "Wow! Look at the ice on the chain thingy!"


Now, look carefully at Winnie's AND Eden's face. Winnie is eating ice/snow and discovering it's cold. Eden is discovering that mittens get stuck to very cold ice. I love how you see the beginnings of mild panic on Eden's face.


Winnie: "Yes, I can definitely eat this stuff."


So can Eden. (I may or may not have suggested/modeled how to lick the snow.)


After our frolicking good time outside, we came in and took a breather (complete with kisses) on the kitchen floor while I made hot cocoa and marshmallows.


We wrapped up our snow festivities with a fairy movie on the couch. (Don't you love how enthralled Winnie is with the movie?)


This mom's conclusion: Best Day Ever.