Week 5 Jan 25-31

Week Summary:  Haley's trophy, Jordan's 1st days of school, Swim team, Firetrucks, 1st camel sighting,  Integrity & sand four wheelin'

This week Haley won a lego pencil holder as she tied for first in her music class singing contest.  She was thrilled to pretend she was singing for me:)

Jordan got to go to school on Wednesday Jan 28th....The King of Saudi Arabia passed away over the past weekend so schools were closed pushing his start to school back one day.

Eating Chunky Monkey pancakes for his first day---because chocolate, bananas, & peanut butter make getting up at 4:45 easier right?:)  
When he got home he was holding a stack of books and later he told me it reminded him of Harry Potter.  He went in and gave his class schedule to this lady who took him to this room of books and just starting getting all of his books together.  I thought that was funny.  He said in one of his classes every kid in the front row was from a different country.  He has enjoyed his first couple of days.
Last week Jordan tried out for the swim team for this area.  He doesn't have it at his school.  We got word he made the team this week and will start practicing in the evening starting Feb. 1st.

This is Jordan at his swim tryouts with Coach Elvis. 

Ryan went to the clinic because his ear hurt:( It was right next to the fire station so we got to see the fire truck!

 On a different day this week, Ryan and I went and surprised Addie taking her out of her "lunch" to have lunch with us and play at a nearby park.  The kids have lunch here from 11:30-12:40.  Most of the students come home that live on main camp.  However, we don't have that opportunity due to the ride time so it was fun to go spend some special time with her.  Megan gets to do lunch club every Thursday--gymnastics and is really loving that.  When I was walking Addie inside, I saw her practicing cartwheels and front walk-overs with her friends on the grass.

 There is something truly amazing about the integrity here in this country.  One month ago Jordan lost his wallet on one of the planes to our new home.  Not only did we get it back this week--a month later, but everything was still in it.  Everything.  This also happened to another lady that lives down our street.  Nothing was stolen out of her purse either--credit cards, money, identity etc.  You can see this everyday as kids ride their bikes and scooters to the bus stops and leave them there without any worry that their things will be stolen.  This week Jordan also realized that while he was helping the kids at the park he had put down his ipod.  A few hours later, it was still there.  I think that it is incredible.

This Saturday we finally got to go to Half Moon Bay beach.  This is where Dave has been trying to go since we got here.  We were told there were four wheeling here.  On our way we saw our first camel sighting!  :)  I usually don't read all the rules (ha--remember last weeks' post?) However I was reading these as we were being checked at the gate and had to take a picture because of the one rule!!

 Haley found a starfish and the kids had fun playing with some new beach toys.




Then the party started---Dave took the four kids four wheeling on the sand dunes.  Ryan and mom went back with some friends that had to leave early.  Unfortunately our little rental doesn't fit us all in so we had to split up but the kids had a great time and I'm sure we'll be back.  We have more video than pictures but I have to work on it still to make it work on the blog.

Addison --rooster tail!















The funny story with this picture is that they came across this boat--yes, in the sand so to be funny they were acting like they were going to tow it around  (which I'm pretty sure that is what people had been doing with it) but then this guy comes driving over telling them "no no, you can't do that" so ... they are just pretending-haha.

Week 4

Quick Summary--birds in Saudi, Arabic bread, epic kitchen fails, new explores, Jeremy update
While we are definitely having new and fun filled adventures, rest assured that we are having "real life" as well.  Just have a look--
EVERYDAY STUFF:

*what happens when you are the "little brother" after 3 girls:)
*overworked tooth fairy --Haley lost her first molar:) That is 3 visits in one week! Tooth Fairy is going broke!
*I totally spilled bleach on my new pjs this week:( Ugh...why do I always do that?  I have a hate/love relationship with that chemical.
*AND epic kitchen fails:

vitamix recipe puffed pancakes--just for my pride, I made these all the time at home with success but kitchens hate me everywhere --just look here:
 This also may be the case of too many things wanting my attention at the same time!
 
 This happened the day we decided to have a friend over and make cookies:).  I had, thankfully, made dinner already with some success and was proceeding to make some chicken for a potluck the next day.  This was the beginning--soon the whole kitchen/house was filled with stinky smoke that lasted for days:(ugh.  Graciously, our friend stayed to make homemade Oreos and with silent prayers answered (haha) they actually did turn out quite tasty!!  At least we won't die of starvation.
Needless to say we did not make it to the potluck with any food to share due to my less than awesome kitchen skills and poor little Ryan catching a sickie bug and a fever:(  ---aka real life!

The days before he got sick though we had some fun even if these cookies weren't quite successful either (however this may said not to be my doing....this particular time)

Ninja cookies & drummer boy

ADVENTURE DAY:

There is this yummy stuff called Arabic bread here that is so cheap.  Only 1SAR (.26) for a package. You can make pizza, cheese quesadillas, cinnamon/sugar yummies:)  At the commissary they make it for you and it is even more delicious.  They use that brick oven (behind Ryan) and it is delicious!

We got Ryan a much needed hair cut this week.  It is 10 SAR for a haircut = $2.66 Can I say AWESOME.  Not missing my clippers.:)

We went adventuring on main camp and found the library there and Ryan mastered the climbing wall at the park outside.

We looked at the movie theatre--it takes a long time for "new"movies to get here from what we've been told.  Here is the current list of showings.

 They use cabbage as a border for the flower gardens here.

Jordan and Dad went to find the workshop building.  They are looking forward to trying a project or two.  They also found the Mexican restaraunt.  Dave says "Well...definitely no Los Portales" but after a month without tortilla chips and salsa, I didn't even care that they were stale when I ate them:)

Hard to see the bird, I know, but did you know pink flamingos live in Saudi?  Yeah, I didn't.

And just in case you are wondering--Jeremy is doing well, much to most of the Spriggs kids delight:)

Week 3

Week 3 Jan12-19th
This week Ryan and I joined a group of ladies in taking the taxis on a shopping trip to a "new store" most (in Rakah anyway) had not been to yet.  Here are a couple pictures of what it looked like:

In the store on this random aisle I found this box of EASTER eggs--yes, they were EASTER --spiderman, with paint you could use to color in the Spiderman on the eggs and they had hooks you could hang...like on an EASTER tree.  Found that funny.
We also hit Toys R Us later in the week to get a booster chair for Ryan.  I'm 100% sure I've bought the most car seats / booster chairs than anyone else I know!:(  The Toys R Us looked a lot like the one back in the States but smaller and fewer selection.

I have to admit I really wasn't paying attention to the sign--obviously. I was just seeing a cute, happy boy that needed his picture taken, but by doing so was caught in our naughtiness. I have to admit I laughed when I really looked at the picture and not just the cute little boy:)

We also got to go to Jordan's school but there were so many signs "no photographs" so...no photos but we were able to work on his class schedule and the counselor was trying really hard to help us help Jordan be successful.  For the most part he will have the same classes he was working on.  They do longer class periods (80 minutes) and 8 subjects so he'll have 4 classes a day. The school itself is not new and fancy. It is on the same grounds as the British Elementary and Middle School.  It is more spread out among buildings like a college campus.  He does have to take a mandatory class in Muslim we've been told about.  Should be interesting.  I think it is going to be a good opportunity for growth:)

We had to buy Jordan some PE clothes for this semester--they totally took his Outdoor Pursuits course (this was where he went fishing and got his MO hunting license, boat safety, archery, etc) as a credit (ha) but he does have to do some "regular" PE.  Anyway, we were in the Acadamy store and Dave saw this and just couldn't resist.  I couldn't understand why it was even in the store to begin with, but then I remembered the younger students that are on the campus as well.
He told me the girls would LOVE it and yes, he was right.  They can't wait to do it's hair (if only that was true with doing their own:)) and so it has become our new friend,  Jeremy.  Can anyone guess where that might have come from (hint the mustache, glasses,).  Dave showed the kids the original chia pet commercial and said he had always wanted to get one---if only I had known...easy peasy Christmas gift right???:)

Saturday we headed to the Ras tanura beach and had a nice day of relaxing and exploring.
 Found this jellyfish

 Played some sand volleyball  Jordan vs Dad  :)

 Tried sand surfing

 Built a massive sand fort

Here are some pictures of what it looks like on our way back:

Dave's building is next to the big tall Midra tower.  He goes into the big building for yummy lunch:)

 And some exciting news--Addison pulled out her 3rd tooth!  She was so excited to find her Saudi money from the tooth fairy the next morning!!  So glad the tooth fairy works better over here:)  She seemed to have trouble finding our house in good timing somewhere else:)!

Update:  It was so exciting she came home from school the next day and did it again--now she's having a hard time saying "Spriggs":) !!!