Saudi Arabia

Tal wrote this book at the end of school this year.  I think he does a pretty good job summing up our story. (I'll translate it for you)

All About Moving to Saudi Arabia

Hey, my name is Talmage and my family is going to Saudi Arabia.  My Dad say's it's crazy.  I'm a little scared to go.

My family's names are Calvin, Naomi, Beti, and Mom and Dad.  Calvin is really funny.  Naomi gets tired a lot.  Beti is bright.  Mom and Dad are serious.

We need lots and lots of boxes.  We had a garage sale a few years (weeks) ago.  I earned 4 dollars.  My sister earned 1 dollar.  She whined that I got 3 more dollars.

Saudi Arabia is at the other side of the world so it's going to take like three days.  But before we get there we're going to visit our grandparents and go to Disneyland.

That pretty much sums it up.  Yep, we did something crazy and a little scary and moved to Saudi Arabia.  But, there are things (at least in a 7 year-old's mind) that are just as important...like earning more money than your sister in a garage sale and of course, Disneyland.  It turns out that even in Saudi Arabia the bulk of our life is a lot like it has always been.  We still fight a little, laugh a little and love a lot.  Our adventure has just begun but we are settling in and getting our feet under us and enjoying the ride along the way.

Utah

Our last week in the States was spent in Utah where we were able to do some of our favorite things and visit some of our favorite places (like Cafe Rio, The Pie, and Cafe Rio)

We didn't take our camera out much so these are the pictures from my phone...

Boating.  So. much. fun.  I need a boat.

Beti - she's kind of a big deal in the angler world.

Okay, so she's just kind of a big deal.

We celebrated Naomi's 6th birthday!  I can't believe how old she's getting!

Poor girl...she always gets the birthday party shaft because we're in Utah.  It was especially poignant this year after Calvin's Chuck E. Cheese bash.  But she was happy! Such a sweetheart!

National Parks: Finale

Yosemite!  What a great way to end our National Parks tour.  It was beautiful - we didn't have enough time to take it all in so we'll have to go back someday - but the kids loved it and it was a nice way to wind things down.

Calvin and Beti sharing a dum dum...these suckers have incredible powers.  They are a must-have on any road trip we endeavor.

It was pretty hot in Yosemite so we decided to go for a nice glacial dip in the Merced River.  The look on Naomi's face tells you a little about how "refreshing" it was.

On our last day we were able to make a side trip to visit Andy's grandma in Sacramento.  We had such a good time!  She lives in a beautiful place and the kids loved being with her.

The lake right next to her home.

At Leatherby's a family tradition. Check out those banana splits :)

All 4 kids bunked like this both nights we were there.  They were pretty tuckered out.

And, by the way, they traveled wonderfully all the way home.  It was a 10 hour stretch that gave me nightmares all week but they were pros.  I think all the car travel prepped them for the 32-hour long trip to Saudi Arabia.

National Parks: Part 4

Are you getting tired of our travel log yet?  No?  Good because you have two more posts to go.  It was a big trip and at about this point I was beginning to wonder if Andy and I were completely insane for thinking we could pack it all in.  I began to have nightmares about the drive home and how all the good behavior we had gotten from the kids was going to run out and we'd be left with 4 little devils...but it was too late to turn back at this point so we pushed on...

Channel Islands National Park.  I didn't really know what to expect here.  It was beautiful but probably better suited for slightly older kids.  We were the only family going to Islands on this day.  But we did get to see lots of amazing things - hundreds of dolphins, a seal that came right up to us on the beach, a silver fox and incredible views of the ocean.

The ferry ride took about an hour.  We left our hotel in Anaheim 3 hours early.  1 hour of California traffic later and I realized that I had looked at the time wrong and we were supposed to leave 45 minutes earlier than I had anticipated.  There is only one boat a day and if we missed it that would be it.  One stress filled hour later we made it - with 5 minutes to spare!

Channel Islands is isolated.  We set out on our own and made the kids do a hike.  Only 600 feet up.  Luckily, they found "walking sticks" along the way to make there journey easier.

Walking sticks doing double duty as swords.

It was steep.  The kids tried to be troopers but it was pretty rough :)

This is where the seal popped up.  He was probably looking to relax on the beach only to be confronted with 4 crazy kids!

Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Park.

We stayed in these awesome little cabins in Kings Canyon.  The first night we got there a raccoon popped up on our porch as we were unpacking.  Andy and I are not "raccoon" people...a little intimidated we did what any self-respecting parent would do and pulled out our light sabers.  Andy unpacked while I stood guard.  Unfortunately as we were unpacking the door shut and locked on us.  The kids were sleeping (we couldn't wake them up no matter how hard we knocked) and the keys to the suburban were in the cabin.  Luckily, we found a key to the suburban and Andy was able to go to the front desk and get a spare key while I stood guard...with my light saber.

In front of the General Grant tree.

Can you see the mommy black bear and her two cubs climbing this tree.  We were driving through Sequoia and they ran right in front of us.  It's the first time I've seen a bear in the wild and it was awesome!

It's impossible to capture the magnitude of these trees on camera.  But we could have built a cozy little cabin inside of this one.

The kids were sleeping for this National Park sign picture and I vetoed Andy waking them up so it's just the two of us :)