I sit here patiently (by Harry)

The first month has passed and now that Jolie’ and Connor have their tickets booked I can somewhat relax and wait for them to get here. It has been a whirlwind of a month...everything from slugging through Saudi government holidays to getting their documents moving, to adjusting to the slow paced and boring life of Saudi Arabia.

During the first few days I quickly came to realize that Saudi Arabia was everything that I thought it would be; but months of planning, preparing, asking questions, answering questions, and discussing every detail could not compete with hours of travel and jet lag. More times than you can imagine I doubted my decisions that lead me here, but I was surrounded by plenty of guys that were thinking the same thing, and more importantly I had Jolie’ and my family keeping me grounded, supporting me 100%.

Being that our permanent housing isn’t ready yet I have moved a few times. My first two weeks were spent living the wonderful hotel life. I know some people don’t enjoy staying in hotels but it’s great to me...two meals cooked daily, room service a button away, free laundry service, and gym/beach facilities. I guess once Dow/Sadara saw the bill they decided it was time to move us all into the bachelors’ compound (Al Farooq), or as we affectionately call it Cell Block 10. At this point there are no amenities here except that they bus us to the gym.

Basically my day consists of waking up an hour early to Skype Jolie’ and Connor, going to work for 8 hours, going to the gym, coming home, taking a shower and going to bed. If that doesn’t sound exciting enough we have our weekly trip to the grocery store to look forward to. I joke, somewhat. I have been to some of the huge malls, there are tons of parks and beaches, and some very nice restaurants, but its either too hot right now or the Ramadan hours aren’t conducive to my sleep schedule.

During Ramadan, Muslims fast during the hours of daylight so a lot of businesses switch to late night hours of 9pm-3am. Fridays are considered the Muslim religion’s Sabbath so very few businesses are open. On Fridays the major activity for most of the guys here is laundry. I'm sure we will develop more activities when our wives and families get here, but for now we lead a very dull and mundane life.

Every day is a new adventure. It may not be exciting by back home standards, but when you calculate all the disconnects and new barriers it’s comical just to even try and figure out what time to go to the store.

I have a very strong family that supports my choice, but the true strength is in Jolie’. She and I made these decisions together, but she by far is invested the most. She resigned from a career where she had elevated herself beyond her limited time in the system. She chose willingly to bring the second of our most precious gifts into the world in a Middle Eastern country. I have asked her repeatedly if she would prefer to have the baby back home, but she insists she wants me there. I am humbled at her ability to keep me grounded and focused until she and Connor get here.

Please feel free to Facebook any questions you may have (it will give me something to do).

I miss everyone terribly, but I know Jolie’ and Connor will be here soon.

Operation Countdown to Saudi

We got the okay to book plane tickets yesterday!  Connor and I will be leaving August 27!  We won't actually be in KSA until September 2 because we are meeting Harry in Dubai for a vacation, but who cares!  Connor really has no concept of how long Harry has been gone or how much longer we have to wait before we get to move so once we got a leave date I decided to make a paper chain to help him make sense of it.  I printed strips of paper with the days we have left on them and then cut them out.

Next, they decorated each day!

After they were finished decorating, I told them what number to look for and when they found it I added it to the chain.  After we had it all assembled, we counted each link to figure out how many days were left!  I used today's date to show him how we are going to take off a link each day until there is only one left and that would be our leaving day.  I'm hoping it gives him a little perspective!  And yes, it's 4:00 in the afternoon and he's still in his pj's...don't judge :)

Mickey Camp

I've tried to find fun stuff to do with the kids all summer...preferably inside activities!  Recently I noticed posts on Facebook about Party Palooza, a new indoor playground/party place in Thibodaux.  They host birthday parties for young kids, but they also have open play times during the week.  We've never been, but when they announced a Mickey Camp I decided that it was a good time to give the place a try!  Connor and Karaline were beyond excited about going (even though they really had no idea what it was all about...honestly, I really had no idea what it was all about lol). 

The kids were allowed to kind of roam around and play with everything when we first arrived.  The things available were perfect for kids their age and kept them occupied for quite a while.  What is there to play with...dress up clothes, slides, rock wall, blocks, kitchen set, chalk board, 2 bounce houses, a wii, and a stage with a karaoke machine.  I'm sure there are a few other things that I can't remember.  Just being in a new environment with new things to play with was very exciting for them.  They let loose...running around, laughing and just having a great time!  There were only three other kids there which made it that much better.  One had no home training, but I've come to realize that there's always one in every bunch!

After a while of open play, they sat down to do a Mickey craft.  It was a few pieces that they had to color and put together to make a Mickey.  Karaline's was rainbow colored, and of course Connor colored his entire Mickey green.  That kid loves the color green!

After craft time, they had a few more minutes to play and explore before Mickey's plane got there from Disney World :)

Finally Mickey arrived and the kids went nuts!  It really was so much fun to watch them.  He gave each one special attention and walked around dancing and playing with them! 

The camp wasn't until 1:00 so I spent the morning getting the checkbook in order and paying bills.  While I was glued to the computer, Connor and Karaline were playing and watching tv.  Karaline asked if they could color and I told her to go ahead.  They took it upon themselves to make cards for Mickey in anticipation of their fun day with him.  After they played at the camp for a while, Karaline remembered the cards and asked if I would go get them out of the car.  It was the cutest thing ever!  They were both proud as peacocks and Mickey appreciated their thoughtfulness.

After all the excitement, Mickey had to take a little nap so the kids set off to play on their own again.  Connor is getting really good at writing his name, so he decided to practice on the chalkboard.  Pretty impressive for a 3 year old...I think ;)

Snacks while waiting for Mickey to wake up from his nap!

The day ended with face painting!  Connor requested Batman and Mickey, and Karaline got a butterfly and a flower.  They both had a wonderful time.  On the way home they asked several times if we could go back one day.  Karaline kept telling us about how she knew that Mickey was real and that it was not a costume...as if I would tell her otherwise lol!

We had a great day!  My coconut tried really hard to stay awake while I looked into flights for our move to Saudi, but all that excitement wore him out!

Dear Daddy,

 

A few nights ago, Connor came upstairs with a "note" that he said he wrote for his daddy.  I asked him what he wrote and he said oh wait I need to write the words.  He headed back downstairs and a few minutes later returned with his completed letter.  I videoed him as he read it to me.  It was the cutest, most heartfelt thing!  He was so proud of it and insisted that we bring it to the post office and that he get to read it to the mail man.

Harry has been gone almost 3 weeks and Connor hasn't seemed to notice that it's been that long.  It has been much easier on him than on Mom and Dad!

Pirate Cracks

Last Friday night, Connor spent the night downstairs with his Mimi and Pop.  When he woke up the next morning, he would scream and hold his head right behind his ear every time he moved.  It was obvious that something was wrong so I called the doctor and we were out the door to find out what was going on.  Turns out he had a crick in the neck of all things!  It never occurred to me that that's what was wrong because he was just saying that his head hurt.  I wanted to make him feel better so I told him that we would go get the Jake the Pirate treasure chest that he has been wanting and that made things a little more tolerable.  He winced and whined every time it pinched him, but he stuck it out long enough to find it and pay for it. 

After a little Ibuprofen, the heating pad, and a nap he was feeling a lot better!  We had supper at my mom's house and of course he had to bring all his pirate gear.  When we left he said that my car was our ship and we were going to sail the seven seas!  That boy is a trip!

I guess the medicine was starting to wear off later that night because he started to wince in pain again.  He said, "This crack is killing my head!"  I couldn't stop laughing!  After a warm bath and more Ibuprofen my pirate was off to dream land with the heating pad :)

4th of July

We decided to spend the long 4th of July weekend in Tennessee so my mom and I loaded up Connor and Karaline and off we went!  Hayden had kidney surgery the week before, but you'd never know it.  He was as rough and tough as ever!


I think this is only the second time in his entire 3 and 1/2 years of life that Connor has just fallen asleep like this.  He normally has to be in his pj's and settled down for the night.  He had a long but fun filled day!

Hayden had a little accident while riding 4-wheelers and his clothes got all wet.  My brother Brett (his 4 year old uncle) brought him into the house to get cleaned up and this is how he came out!  Can you say redneck?!? Haha!  He was so proud of himself though.  He asked his mom if she was happy with him lol.

I got sparklers and those little popper things you throw on the ground for the kids to have fun with after the sun went down.  They had a great time!  I wished I had bought more so they could've played a little longer.

The next day we spent a few hours at a nearby waterpark.  The kids had a blast playing and eating ice cream.  Katie and I had a little run in with a kid that obviously had no home training, but it turned out to be a good day lol!

We had a party at my Aunt Sherrie's house on our last day there.  She made all the fixings for tacos and rented a waterslide for the kids to play on.  They literally played on that thing for 7 hours and had the best time!

 
Our crew :)

Whistle While You Work

June 30th was Harry's departure date for Saudi. He didn't have to be at the airport until 2:30 that afternoon so we had lots of time to spend together before sending him off. He spent most of the morning making sure he had everything packed and all his documents together. Getting ready to leave the country is very time consuming!

We ate lunch at one of our favorite restaurants, Zea's and still had lots of time to spare before he needed to be at the airport so we decided to head to the mall next door to have beignets at Cafe du Monde. Coming down the escalator we noticed a spider jump and Connor said he wanted to do it. He was very hesitant about going too high at first, but the guy played with him and he was going really high before long. He loved it! 

After spider jumping and beignets it was time to head to the airport.  Connor had a good time playing on the funky couches while Harry sorted out his ticket and luggage at the desk.  After everything was situated we sat around and waited for the other two guys from his plant that were flying out with him.  Finally it was time to say our goodbyes.  Everyone was a little teary eyed, but we managed to hold it together.  Connor was fine because he really didn't understand how far away his daddy was going and that it would be months before he'd see him again.  I think him being okay with saying bye made it easier for all of us to do it.

This is Harry's coworker Erick.  He and his wife Lina are moving to Saudi with us and they'll live across the street!

Saying our goodbyes :(

The trip took a total of about 24 hours with two layovers.  He flew to Chicago first and then to Istanbul, Turkey and then finally to Dammam, Saudi Arabia.  I used the Flight Aware app to track his flights so I showed Connor the map of his flight and he thought it was the coolest thing.  Once the plane takes off an airplane icon shows exactly where they are on the route.  Throughout the night he kept asking to check the map so he could see where his daddy was. 

Everyone was relieved when he made it to his hotel room and we were able to Skype. 

He has been there for a week now and is finally over jet lag.  I'm definitely not excited about experiencing it!  Connor hasn't had any issues with Harry being gone...yet.  He keeps saying that he's ready to go to Saudi Arabia and asks Harry if he got our papers yet all the time, but he hasn't gotten upset or really showed any signs that he realizes how long he's been gone.  The time difference has probably been the most difficult thing to deal with so far.  He is 8 hours ahead of us so we always have to be aware of what time it is at different ends of the world.  The weekends there are different from our weekends here in the states.  Their holy day is Friday so they celebrate the weekend on Friday and Saturday (which was just changed from Thursday and Friday the weekend before he left).  For example, today he asked if the documents that we are waiting on came in yesterday and I had to remind him that the mail doesn't pass on Sundays lol.  His first day of the work week is now Sunday so to him yesterday felt like a Monday.

His official first day of work was last Thursday, which was Wednesday night for us.  It was a big day for him and for Connor as well.  Harry finally got to start on the project and Connor finally accomplished something he had been trying to do for months...whistle!  He was so proud of himself and wanted to show everyone that he could do it.  He walked around whistling constantly afterwards.  The first thing he did when he woke up the next morning was whistle.  It was so funny and he's actually getting really good at it!

Our life is very crazy right now and full of unknowns.  We don't know when the movers are coming to pack our stuff, when our paperwork will be processed, or when we will get to make our trip to Saudi.  This can be very overwhelming and frustrating at times, but we are taking it one day at a time!