2013 was full of changes and adventure for us, and lots of seasons. Here's a brief review:
Mourning and Recovery
The beginning of 2013 was overshadowed by the loss of my cousin Jenny in December. She had fought a courageous 15 month battle against an aggressive stage 4 lung cancer and not a day goes by that I don't think about her.
Picture of Jenny
We had a nice distraction at the start of the year with a fun trip to Phoenix to watch the Cats play in the Fiesta bowl. We had a really great time with my dad's cousin Ron and his wife Maggie! I loved hearing some old family stories and learning more about their time running the Bristol Bay Lodge in Alaska. Their hospitality more than made up for an ugly loss by the Cats.
picture of J and L golfing
In February we had more sad news--my sweet 85 year old Grandmother had died. We made the trek to Kansas again and while we loved seeing extended family for the second time in three months,
When we returned to Texas after my Grandma's funeral, we had some very surprising and unexpected news--we were pregnant again!
Preparation
The week after my Grandma died and we learned that we had another baby on the way, Travis got news that there was a very good chance he would be placed in a job in the middle east. This was all very exciting but also overwhelming. I began mentally categorizing everything in our home into take/sell/store/trash and also take advantage of every opportunity we had to spend time with friends in Houston. In the meantime I was trying not to throw up on anybody and figure out what additional baby stuff I needed to buy to take with us. Travis flew to Saudi to start his residency permit process and at the end of May we hosted our second (and final) annual crawfish boil.
Chaos
I think this screenshot of my calendar from last June speaks for itself:
screenshot
The countdown had begun and now it was crunch time for getting our stuff organized before the movers showed up. I was absolutely dreading leaving our dear friends in Houston, but there was no turning back. We put our house on the market and scheduled the movers. I will NEVER put my house on the market while preparing for a move like this again! My advice to future expaters--wait until you move out, especially if you have a toddler!
I also took Lucy to the arboretum and children's museum a lot and signed her up for swimming and tumbling lessons, all in the middle of keeping the house clean for showings and trying to spend as much time as possible with our friends. That was my coping mechanism for "I'm leaving the United States for an indefinite period of time" crisis, and I think it helped, but boy was I exhausted! Then we thought it would be a good idea to drive 700 miles and take two flights to see as much family as possible before leaving the country. I was seriously tired by the time we got on our plane for Saudi, but no rest for the weary yet. Lucy slept about two hours on the entire 14 hour flight. So much for that plush business class lay-flat seat.
The Calm
Once we finally arrived in Saudi it was so refreshing to put our feet up and just sit for a few days. We had no stuff and only a few friends. Here's a screenshot of August:
screenshot of August
We slowly explored the grocery store, restaurants and learned our way around Jubail and Khobar (specifically the Saad Hospital Complex).
Our New Normal
Lucy started going to the playschool here on site at the beginning of September. While they spend more time watching Elmo and Mickey videos than I would like, I know she enjoys it a lot. Drop offs were pretty rough the first month but now she asks to go to school and gets really excited about it.
On September 22nd we welcomed Ellie Kate to our family. For the final few months of the year we've been adjusting to life as a family of four. We had a great time with my parents who came to help out a couple weeks after the birth and we really appreciated their assistance! In October I started doing yoga and have really been enjoying that. Travis tries to go to the gym before work. In November I started a smocking class, so between that, yoga, and the grocery store, I only have one free morning a week!
We took a fabulous vacation to Germany in early December and really enjoyed our time out of Saudi. It was cold, the Christmas markets were beautiful, and we ate a lot more pork in 10 days than we thought was humanly possible.
Germany picture
A week after we returned Travis' parents came to visit and they have had a great time getting to know Ellie and playing with Lucy (and giving me a break!). We had a fun Christmas and took them to Bahrain for the weekend. Then they helped us rearrange our house. Hopefully it will be a lot more functional--our toy collection seemed to double over Christmas and it was getting out of control!
Picture from Bahrain
Despite the sadness of the first part of the year and the chaos of the middle, overall we had a great time in 2013 with family and friends new and old.
Tuesday, April 11, 2017
The Things I Carried (Written Summer 2014)
(***This post was also from the summer of 2014. All the italics are the pics I had planned to put in, and this is what held me up from posting this in the first place. Maybe someday I'll find those pics too.***)
This is actually the title of a book I read (technically it was "The Things They Carried", by Tim O'Brien) in my AP Senior English class about things that American soldiers carried with them during the Vietnam war. It was a fascinating read and really put my perfect little small-town high school life into perspective. Please don't think I'm in any way comparing my troubles of toting two kids across the world to this brave soldier who had to fight in the battlefields of Vietnam! However everytime I looked at the gigantic pile ofcrap stuff in my friend's guest room this phrase comes back to me, hence the blog title.
Since I don't anticipate returning to the states until next summer, it was vital that we get all of those things that you can only find in the USA while we were there.
steak seasoning
In hindsight, maybe six jars of steak seasoning is excessive. We'll see how much we have left next May! I like having options, people.
clothes
One of the things I miss most is being able to browse the sale racks at Carters or Target. While we have a Carters in the mall in Khobar, it is 3-4x more expensive than buying online. I find it hard to buy clothes online, because I like to feel the fabric and double check the quality. Not to mention buying clothes for myself! I was pregnant when we moved to Saudi and downsized my pre-pregnancy closet a lot in the pre-move 'stuff purge', so I really needed some new duds! I took as many opportunities as I could to browse the sale racks in KS and Houston.
arms
I brought back two pairs of these 'arms' as Lucy likes to call them. They are invaluable for our beach resort lifestyle! I was planning to leave one pair in KS, but decided that my parents could much more easily buy another pair than I could.
ant traps
3 sets of ant traps. I had skillfully placed one package inside one of Lucy's toys to conserve space. It took me about 3 weeks to find it after we got home :)
They are helping but the ants are RIDICULOUS around here. Every morning I wage war on them with bleach spray and my vacuum. Now that the highs are less than 110 they seem to have subsided a little.
Curly hair products
These are non-existent in Saudi as far as I can tell. Had to bring them with us.
Ballet Shoes
One of my friends on the compound is teaching a beginning ballet class for little kids. How adorable is that? I made sure to get ballet and tap shoes in both Lucy's current size and the next size up. I skillfully packed them in a plastic box that had some wall decals from Target in it, on top of some baby bottles (stuffed with socks) to help the box keep it's shape. Obviously I missed my calling as an industrial engineer.
Speaking of shoes, I think at final count I brought back 21 pairs of shoes. That may sound crazy.... but that's for 3 people for the next year! And two of those people change sizes like every other month, so it's really hard to keep up with this when there isn't a stride rite down the street! [edit--we discovered a Stride Rite in Khobar last week! Shhh! Don't tell too many people, we don't want them to start thinking they can double the prices like they do in Bahrain!]
Oh yes, we can't forget this rack. Despite all the shoes I brought home the shoe rack is not for shoes. The previous residents of our home had one of these in a corner cabinet in the kitchen. It made that cabinet about 10x more usable! I looked for it all last year and never found a rack of similar dimensions in Saudi. Imagine my excitement when I found the same rack in bed bath and beyond, and it was literally across the aisle from a 29" suitcase! All I had to do was plop that suitcase on the floor, open it up, and see if that rack would fit inside. Hot dog it did! I now have an organized pantry-cabinet!
ride-safer travel vest
I bought this for future travel excursions where we may need to use a car but don't want to bring the carseat. It also worked great for our final trip to IAH so I could put Lucy's carseat in it's travel bag before driving to the airport and not fuss with it either on the sidewalk in 100 degree weather or at the check in counter while corraling two kids and my 11 other bags. I was still a little petrified to drive my baby in rush-hour houston traffic to the airport in it, but we survived, and I think it will work well for less-scary traffic situations.
.jpg)
Ok so I really just wanted to post this adorable picture of Ellie, but the box for the new convertible carseat I bought her is in the background. Conveniently Ellie was outgrowing her infant seat while we were in the states and my cousin had just had a baby, so I was able to leave the infant seat with her and bring back a new one for Ellie. (While I make it sound like it just occurred to me one day this summer I had actually been planning out this exchange in my head for months.)
And somehow, thanks to my dear friends in Houston and their engineering skills, we fit 4 29" suitcases, 2 carry on suitcases, a pack-n-play, Lucy's Minnie Mouse suitcase, a double stroller, 2 carseats, 2 kids, and a backpack into a Nissan Murano. I honestly did not think it would be possible. In fact I had called a friend earlier in the day to see if she could help drive my stuff to the airport, but then somehow it all fit. Troy and Kristin must have played a lot of tetris back in the day.
A few more things we brought back with us--can you spot them in the pictures?
coffee maker
stroller organizer
doc mcstuffins pull ups
alarm clock
boogie wipes
vanilla and almond flavorings [on second thought, don't look for this. they were wrapped in underwear to discourage airport security from seeing them]
Annie's mac and cheese and snacks
cute umbrella x2
good coffee
saline solution
random sippy cups
baby monitor
toy storage bins
storage bin labels
Looking at all these pictures made me go through a range of emotions again--first the overwhelming fear of being able to pack it all in my 6 suitcases, then the anxiety of putting it in the car and then getting to the airplane by myself, and finally a lot of pride at the happy ending of surviving the journey with expertly packed, not overweight! suitcases. And two living children. Don't these bags just look relieved to be home?
This is actually the title of a book I read (technically it was "The Things They Carried", by Tim O'Brien) in my AP Senior English class about things that American soldiers carried with them during the Vietnam war. It was a fascinating read and really put my perfect little small-town high school life into perspective. Please don't think I'm in any way comparing my troubles of toting two kids across the world to this brave soldier who had to fight in the battlefields of Vietnam! However everytime I looked at the gigantic pile of
 |
| pile of crap |
 |
| Just seeing these pictures raises my blood pressure all over again! |
Since I don't anticipate returning to the states until next summer, it was vital that we get all of those things that you can only find in the USA while we were there.
steak seasoning
In hindsight, maybe six jars of steak seasoning is excessive. We'll see how much we have left next May! I like having options, people.
clothes
One of the things I miss most is being able to browse the sale racks at Carters or Target. While we have a Carters in the mall in Khobar, it is 3-4x more expensive than buying online. I find it hard to buy clothes online, because I like to feel the fabric and double check the quality. Not to mention buying clothes for myself! I was pregnant when we moved to Saudi and downsized my pre-pregnancy closet a lot in the pre-move 'stuff purge', so I really needed some new duds! I took as many opportunities as I could to browse the sale racks in KS and Houston.
arms
I brought back two pairs of these 'arms' as Lucy likes to call them. They are invaluable for our beach resort lifestyle! I was planning to leave one pair in KS, but decided that my parents could much more easily buy another pair than I could.
ant traps
3 sets of ant traps. I had skillfully placed one package inside one of Lucy's toys to conserve space. It took me about 3 weeks to find it after we got home :)
They are helping but the ants are RIDICULOUS around here. Every morning I wage war on them with bleach spray and my vacuum. Now that the highs are less than 110 they seem to have subsided a little.
Curly hair products
These are non-existent in Saudi as far as I can tell. Had to bring them with us.
Ballet Shoes
One of my friends on the compound is teaching a beginning ballet class for little kids. How adorable is that? I made sure to get ballet and tap shoes in both Lucy's current size and the next size up. I skillfully packed them in a plastic box that had some wall decals from Target in it, on top of some baby bottles (stuffed with socks) to help the box keep it's shape. Obviously I missed my calling as an industrial engineer.
 |
| Box with decals, baby bottles, toddler ballet shoes etc |
Speaking of shoes, I think at final count I brought back 21 pairs of shoes. That may sound crazy.... but that's for 3 people for the next year! And two of those people change sizes like every other month, so it's really hard to keep up with this when there isn't a stride rite down the street! [edit--we discovered a Stride Rite in Khobar last week! Shhh! Don't tell too many people, we don't want them to start thinking they can double the prices like they do in Bahrain!]
 |
| stackable wood shoe rack, er, pantry organizer! |
 |
| I realize it still looks like a jumbled mess, but I promise it's a lot better than it was before! |
ride-safer travel vest
I bought this for future travel excursions where we may need to use a car but don't want to bring the carseat. It also worked great for our final trip to IAH so I could put Lucy's carseat in it's travel bag before driving to the airport and not fuss with it either on the sidewalk in 100 degree weather or at the check in counter while corraling two kids and my 11 other bags. I was still a little petrified to drive my baby in rush-hour houston traffic to the airport in it, but we survived, and I think it will work well for less-scary traffic situations.
Ok so I really just wanted to post this adorable picture of Ellie, but the box for the new convertible carseat I bought her is in the background. Conveniently Ellie was outgrowing her infant seat while we were in the states and my cousin had just had a baby, so I was able to leave the infant seat with her and bring back a new one for Ellie. (While I make it sound like it just occurred to me one day this summer I had actually been planning out this exchange in my head for months.)
 |
| They're in the car! There's no turning back now! One good thing about not being potty trained yet is I was not concerned for a second that I'd have to get anything out until we got to the airport :) |
 |
| Lucy's carseat in the travel bag strapped into the front seat, with backpack in footwell. Backpack had to be put in before carseat was installed behind, then carseat was strapped in, then seat moved all the way forward, so I could put the stroller in behind it. Whew. |
A few more things we brought back with us--can you spot them in the pictures?
coffee maker
stroller organizer
doc mcstuffins pull ups
alarm clock
boogie wipes
vanilla and almond flavorings [on second thought, don't look for this. they were wrapped in underwear to discourage airport security from seeing them]
Annie's mac and cheese and snacks
cute umbrella x2
good coffee
saline solution
random sippy cups
baby monitor
toy storage bins
storage bin labels
 |
| Oops looks like some of that steak seasoning escaped |
 |
| Yes I still had a St. Patricks rug out... you caught me. |
Looking at all these pictures made me go through a range of emotions again--first the overwhelming fear of being able to pack it all in my 6 suitcases, then the anxiety of putting it in the car and then getting to the airplane by myself, and finally a lot of pride at the happy ending of surviving the journey with expertly packed, not overweight! suitcases. And two living children. Don't these bags just look relieved to be home?
Our first trip home! (Written summer 2014)
***I'm finally getting around to posting all these things I've written over the years. This post is from summer 2014! Someday I'll boot up the computer that has the pictures referenced and upload those too.***
We spent 10 weeks in the states this summer, arriving on May 14th. Something about being stuck in a desert wasteland for 10 months makes every blade of grass shine a little brighter than I remembered. I was awestruck by the beauty of my hometown the first several weeks we were home. It really felt like they had rolled out the red carpet for us--the sun was bright, the grass was dewey, the flowers were wide open and so colorful. It was a sensory overload! So what was the first thing I did in the USA? Go to Target, of course! The variety, selection, and beauty of the cleaning products aisle nearly brought me to tears. We won't even talk about the beauty department. Then there was the baby department--I think I purchased enough Ella's and Plum Baby products to keep them in business for the next several years!
The big reason for our trip was that Travis' sister was getting married! It was a BEAUTIFUL ceremony and we are just thrilled for Jessica and Nate and their exciting new life together.
picture of ellie being a ham and distracting the photogapher
picture of Jessica and Nate
A week before the wedding, Jessica graduated from the KU School of Medicine and Nate graduated from KU School of Law. We are SO proud of these two and all of their hard work!
picture from graduation
Two days after the wedding, we (Travis, Jessica, Nate and I) threw Travis and Jessica's parents a surprise 35th anniversary party. It was really hard to keep quiet about it those weeks leading up to it but no one spilled the beans! I think they were really surprised! Thank you for being such a great example of marriage (both what to do and not to do :-) ) to us young'uns.
picture from party
My cousin's daughter's 5th birthday was the following week and we were so excited to be able to attend. We have lived in Texas since college and this is the first time we have been in KS to help celebrate her birthday. It was a fantastic party complete with bouncy house. Everyone had a great time and I loved that Lucy had an opportunity to play with her cousins!
picture of Lucy and Tris
My brother had driven up from Georgia with his daughter to visit while we were here. Lucy and Tristyn hit it off like they were best friends! I LOVED watching them play together and wish we could get them together more often. Maybe someday we'll all live closer again.
picture of Tris and Lucy--in the rocketship?
After an action packed whirlwind 16 days in Kansas we headed out for Houston. I was actually kind of excited to have to sit in the car for 12 hours and not do anything else! We had a years worth of doctors appointments lined up and a long list of friends to visit with. One of the highlights of our trip to Houston was a fun weekend at Surfside beach with some of our dearest friends.
picture from beach weekend
I really enjoyed getting to celebrate my birthday in Houston. Travis somehow managed to get a reservation for us at The Pass side of The Pass & Provisions--there just aren't enough adjectives to describe how amazing this meal was! We had 5 creative courses with wine pairings. It was a prix-fix menu and one of those where nothing looked like what I pictured it would from the description. I've never experienced anything like it before, I imagine it's similar to being the guest judge on Iron Chef. (Iron Chef, if you ever need a guest judge, I'm your girl!)
A few days later we celebrated my birthday with our Houston friends at Corner Table. Travis was flying back to Saudi the next day so it also served as a farewell meal for him.
Being on my own with the girls for the next couple weeks in Houston meant we didn't get out quite as much as I wanted to, but we did get in all of our doctors visits and several playdates. My mom flew down to help me drive back to KS at the end of June.
We spent a few more weeks in KS, and the highlight was taking the girls to the Konza Prairie and our friends farm.
pictures
Then on July 23rd, exactly one year after first embarking on our Saudi adventure, I boarded a plane to go back! But this time I was alone with two kids.
(*this is where the post ended the first time. I would love to know what my thoughts were immediately following that flight, but I'm guessing I was so exhausted I was too tired to remember it! Looking back the only memories I have of this are walking about two miles through the Doha airport hauling kids and stuff. And that was the LAST time I hauled a carseat through the airport!)
We spent 10 weeks in the states this summer, arriving on May 14th. Something about being stuck in a desert wasteland for 10 months makes every blade of grass shine a little brighter than I remembered. I was awestruck by the beauty of my hometown the first several weeks we were home. It really felt like they had rolled out the red carpet for us--the sun was bright, the grass was dewey, the flowers were wide open and so colorful. It was a sensory overload! So what was the first thing I did in the USA? Go to Target, of course! The variety, selection, and beauty of the cleaning products aisle nearly brought me to tears. We won't even talk about the beauty department. Then there was the baby department--I think I purchased enough Ella's and Plum Baby products to keep them in business for the next several years!
The big reason for our trip was that Travis' sister was getting married! It was a BEAUTIFUL ceremony and we are just thrilled for Jessica and Nate and their exciting new life together.
picture of ellie being a ham and distracting the photogapher
picture of Jessica and Nate
A week before the wedding, Jessica graduated from the KU School of Medicine and Nate graduated from KU School of Law. We are SO proud of these two and all of their hard work!
picture from graduation
Two days after the wedding, we (Travis, Jessica, Nate and I) threw Travis and Jessica's parents a surprise 35th anniversary party. It was really hard to keep quiet about it those weeks leading up to it but no one spilled the beans! I think they were really surprised! Thank you for being such a great example of marriage (both what to do and not to do :-) ) to us young'uns.
picture from party
My cousin's daughter's 5th birthday was the following week and we were so excited to be able to attend. We have lived in Texas since college and this is the first time we have been in KS to help celebrate her birthday. It was a fantastic party complete with bouncy house. Everyone had a great time and I loved that Lucy had an opportunity to play with her cousins!
picture of Lucy and Tris
My brother had driven up from Georgia with his daughter to visit while we were here. Lucy and Tristyn hit it off like they were best friends! I LOVED watching them play together and wish we could get them together more often. Maybe someday we'll all live closer again.
picture of Tris and Lucy--in the rocketship?
After an action packed whirlwind 16 days in Kansas we headed out for Houston. I was actually kind of excited to have to sit in the car for 12 hours and not do anything else! We had a years worth of doctors appointments lined up and a long list of friends to visit with. One of the highlights of our trip to Houston was a fun weekend at Surfside beach with some of our dearest friends.
picture from beach weekend
I really enjoyed getting to celebrate my birthday in Houston. Travis somehow managed to get a reservation for us at The Pass side of The Pass & Provisions--there just aren't enough adjectives to describe how amazing this meal was! We had 5 creative courses with wine pairings. It was a prix-fix menu and one of those where nothing looked like what I pictured it would from the description. I've never experienced anything like it before, I imagine it's similar to being the guest judge on Iron Chef. (Iron Chef, if you ever need a guest judge, I'm your girl!)
A few days later we celebrated my birthday with our Houston friends at Corner Table. Travis was flying back to Saudi the next day so it also served as a farewell meal for him.
Being on my own with the girls for the next couple weeks in Houston meant we didn't get out quite as much as I wanted to, but we did get in all of our doctors visits and several playdates. My mom flew down to help me drive back to KS at the end of June.
We spent a few more weeks in KS, and the highlight was taking the girls to the Konza Prairie and our friends farm.
pictures
Then on July 23rd, exactly one year after first embarking on our Saudi adventure, I boarded a plane to go back! But this time I was alone with two kids.
(*this is where the post ended the first time. I would love to know what my thoughts were immediately following that flight, but I'm guessing I was so exhausted I was too tired to remember it! Looking back the only memories I have of this are walking about two miles through the Doha airport hauling kids and stuff. And that was the LAST time I hauled a carseat through the airport!)
Max's First Trip to Old Jubail
About a month ago I went with some friends to Old Jubail. It was a beautiful day outside and we wanted to hunt for a long table cloth that would cover our enormous dining tables in the villas. Our friend Linda had found a nice one in one of the shops so we were hoping they'd have more.
The linen shop was very nice and they had a lot of nice towels, sheets, and robes but they were all on the expensive side. We opted to not pay 290 SAR ($77!!) for a children's robe with a bunny on it but it sure would have been cute in the Easter basket. I did however find these cute bath towels for Max:
Unfortunately they only had one tablecloth and we needed another 4, so at first he told us to come back in one month. We said we needed them sooner than that, and then he said he could get them in one week. He made us promise to come back, and then told us four days. Before leaving he took Lauren's phone number and said he would call when they arrived. So will we go back in 4 days? One week? One month? Who knows!
(Update--The tablecloths were in the following week! Maybe someday I'll put it on my table :) )
Our next stop was Big World!
Thankfully we did not see any rats today. Big World is like a giant dirty dollar store. They have almost anything and everything. Today my friends were looking for Trolls colored things for their girls birthday party. Finding birthday party decorations is quite the adventure here because you can't just go to Target or Party City and pick up coordinating items in your theme of choice. But Big World usually comes through for us.
We also found these lovely items in the toy section.
And I'm not sure what happened to this pillow of a candy bar:
After our fun filled morning in Old Jubail we decided to go to a restaurant with a patio for lunch. This was a restaurant we used to frequent for breakfasts but had not been in a long time. We walk in and announce we want to sit on the patio.
"M'am you cannot take the child on the patio."
"Why sir?"
"M'am the child is not allowed on the patio for safety."
"The child is two months old in a car seat. We will not get him out of the car seat"
"Sorry m'am you are not allowed. Would you like to speak to the manager?"
"Yes we would like to speak to the manager"
A man walks out from the back, circles around in front of us as we say "Sir? Are you the manager?" then waves his hand and walks back to the kitchen. I was so mad!!! We told them we were leaving and we weren't coming back.
So we went to the new Outback Steakhouse for lunch and had a very enjoyable meal. And that was the end of Max's first Old Jubail adventure.
The linen shop was very nice and they had a lot of nice towels, sheets, and robes but they were all on the expensive side. We opted to not pay 290 SAR ($77!!) for a children's robe with a bunny on it but it sure would have been cute in the Easter basket. I did however find these cute bath towels for Max:
 |
| If it has a vintage airplane on it I can't pass it up! |
Unfortunately they only had one tablecloth and we needed another 4, so at first he told us to come back in one month. We said we needed them sooner than that, and then he said he could get them in one week. He made us promise to come back, and then told us four days. Before leaving he took Lauren's phone number and said he would call when they arrived. So will we go back in 4 days? One week? One month? Who knows!
(Update--The tablecloths were in the following week! Maybe someday I'll put it on my table :) )
Our next stop was Big World!
Thankfully we did not see any rats today. Big World is like a giant dirty dollar store. They have almost anything and everything. Today my friends were looking for Trolls colored things for their girls birthday party. Finding birthday party decorations is quite the adventure here because you can't just go to Target or Party City and pick up coordinating items in your theme of choice. But Big World usually comes through for us.
 |
| Headbands of every shape and size! 2 SR for a pack of 3! What a deal! But look closely because sometimes people take a headband out and then you only get a pack of 2. |
We also found these lovely items in the toy section.
 |
| Clearly someone in the translation department was having fun with his job. |
And I'm not sure what happened to this pillow of a candy bar:
After our fun filled morning in Old Jubail we decided to go to a restaurant with a patio for lunch. This was a restaurant we used to frequent for breakfasts but had not been in a long time. We walk in and announce we want to sit on the patio.
"M'am you cannot take the child on the patio."
"Why sir?"
"M'am the child is not allowed on the patio for safety."
"The child is two months old in a car seat. We will not get him out of the car seat"
"Sorry m'am you are not allowed. Would you like to speak to the manager?"
"Yes we would like to speak to the manager"
A man walks out from the back, circles around in front of us as we say "Sir? Are you the manager?" then waves his hand and walks back to the kitchen. I was so mad!!! We told them we were leaving and we weren't coming back.
So we went to the new Outback Steakhouse for lunch and had a very enjoyable meal. And that was the end of Max's first Old Jubail adventure.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)