One month already!

We've had a fun first month back in Saudi! Not much has changed, except some neighbors have moved on and a few new ones have moved in. And Lucy is now in KG-1, which is a pre-K program at the International School here in Jubail. Otherwise, we're living literally in the same house, with (mostly) the same neighbors, and life is pretty much just like we remembered it. (That's good, by the way.) :-)

Our flight here was uneventful, with the exception of about 10 minutes of extreme turbulence where I wasn't sure we were going to make it! The girls were asleep and thank goodness we all had seatbelts on. We heard things crashing in the galleys and people were screaming. But once it passed, we were good.

This is what your luggage looks like when moving abroad. And we didn't even max out our carry-on allowance!

Didn't take long to get comfortable in business class!

This is how you sleep on a plane!

Free Haribo in the Lufthansa business lounge! And daddy took them on a special trip to find Kinder Eggs. The 4 hour layover passed by in no time with good treats.

Our sweet Saudi friends left us a surprise upon arrival!

And some snacks!

The girls didn't waste any time and were playing on the beach our first morning.

And of course, we went to the place we all affectionately call "The Restaurant" for lunch, and as promised for several months, Lucy actually ate the sauce with her spaghetti. She had been insisting that the only sauce she eats is in Saudi, and lucky for all of us she got her chance to try it again.

That evening there was a Santa display set up in the rec center for residents. Lucy was so excited she wrote a list for him! The photographer actually captured some great pics with the girls but since I didn't know to bring a flash drive we didn't get to keep the images :(

Lucy's Christmas List: 1. Orbeez 2. Phone toy 3. Rapunzel Lego kit

The next day happened to be our annual bazaar (which is why Santa was here in the first place). Unfortunately Travis had to work so we didn't get to spend as much time shopping and playing as we would have liked. But I was able to purchase the remaining two camels to complete a set of three, a Christmas camel, and the girls got bubbles. The bubbles provided hours of entertainment in our empty house!

Ellie started playschool the next day (Sunday) and Lucy and I quickly finished unpacking our suitcases, because our shipment was due to arrive Monday! I couldn't have timed that better if I had tried! If I had been up to writing blog posts in the spring I would have told you about how it took over THREE MONTHS to receive our sea shipment going to America. It was such a pleasant surprise to get it in 8 weeks! And both our sea and air shipments arrived at the same time! But despite feeling like we had a really good handle on what to bring and what to leave at home, unpacking was still a lot of work:

A ridiculous amount of packing paper!

The kitchen is always the first priority when unpacking. Momma (and baby)'s gotta eat!

Unless the bed looks like this... maybe sleeping is more important. Why did we think we needed all this stuff anyway?

I've had fun shopping at Tamimi again. It sounds strange but for me it's actually quite a bit easier than my typical grocery shopping trip back home. I like the adventure of never knowing exactly what will be available, but there is a consistent enough stock I can usually get pretty close to what I'm looking for (and since I know what I can regularly find). Just today I was excited to find Frozen Cinnabon bites (Never would have bought those in the states!) and Charmin toilet paper. This is a big deal--I had been here a whole month without seeing it.

The first time I have ever received an ad on my front door was the week before Thanksgiving--clearly they know who their consumers are!

Here's a few random things I've seen over the last few weeks in the store that made me chuckle.

Does Cinderella use this cheese? I think I'll stick with my stash of Sargento in my freezer.

The elusive Abaya barbie! And her abaya even looks like mine! I couldn't not buy this.

If I had been invited to a white elephant party this year, this is what I would have brought.

Lucy's started school our second week in Saudi. I knew she was nervous but thankfully a friend was in her class and they got along great!

Lucy's school teachers from The Woodlands might recognize her very favorite "6T Dress". It was her Easter dress but it's very special to her... because it's a size 6. She wears it every occasion she gets!

I'm so proud of my big girl for getting past her fears of going somewhere new and having a great first day!

She really seems to be loving school and I think the curriculum is good. She brings home a poetry journal once a week where I read her a poem and she has to draw a picture about it, and she also brings home a library book once a week. That's definitely more frequently than I remembered to take her to the library in Houston!

We put a lot of effort the first two weeks we were in Saudi in getting our multi-entry visas and resident permits (Iqamas) processed. Our first time abroad we didn't realize our visas were not multi-entry to begin with (there is nothing in english written on the visa, and no good way for the average person to know how to look up their visa status) and if you follow the blog you may remember our unfortunate incident where we got stuck in Bahrain for a weekend. Well we didn't waste ANY time in pushing to get those visas, and we had them in less than two weeks! This time we weren't competing with the Ramadan holiday so that really helped expedite the process. We received our visas the day before Thanksgiving which meant we could take an impromptu trip to Bahrain! This also served as an opportunity to activate our visas. You have 90 days to leave the country to "activate" the multi-entry part, and with baby arriving in a couple months we weren't sure if we'd have too many more opportunities to do that. Our friends knew of a good brunch at a hotel with a kids club. Couldn't think of a better way to spend Thanksgiving so that's what we did!

Travis' plate. Sushi for Thanksgiving? Sure why not! The roll with the flower on it had turkey and cranberries in it. Very festive :)

My plate was a little more traditional with Turkey, mashed potatoes, brussel sprouts, roasted veggies, cranberry sauce, and prime rib. Yuuuuum! (I did have the veggie sushi rolls and the turkey roll too!)

The next few weeks were filled with holiday parties, doctor appointments (more on that drama later) and getting settled into our house and school routine. The following pictures are a semi-random compilation of what we've been up to:

Gymnastics class in Saudi!

Lucy requested that daddy take her for "Swimming Training"

Don't get many of these gorgeous sunsets here - there usually aren't enough clouds! This evening was particularly stunning!

Oh how I love it when the neighbors make and sell breakfast tacos!

Quality fruit snacks are hard to find, so we made our own! Ingredients were juice, gelatin, and honey. So simple, yet not something I would take the time to do at home when I can buy a box of Annie's for $2.50...

The crib is assembled! (Travis also painted baby's and the girls' rooms.)  I have 3 weeks to figure out what to put on the walls... that's plenty of time for the third kid, right?

CPChem hosted a fun Winter Festival with activities for the kids, photo props, a catered dinner, and a hot chocolate bar! We don't get many opportunities to dress up around here so it's a big deal when a party happens!

Aren't we hilarious!

We've also had fun decorating for Christmas at home and enjoying the season as much as possible.

Is it ironic that our Saudi baby is such a ham?

One of the final things of note is that we are now the proud owner of a second-hand Nespresso machine. It's our first pod-coffee system and I think it will help me get through those first few months of newborn sleeplessness!

Nespresso latte in my favorite cow mug.

So... that's what we've been up to! It's a crazy life, but it's ours and we love it. We are blessed with incredible friends and life experiences. We look forward to continuing to share them with you through this blog as the Arabian Adventure continues, and the Rogers clan grows by one more!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!