Ian the Instagramer ~Part 33

I am Canadian! This is our flag, flying on our house here in KSA.

Guess who is having carrots fresh from garden tonight?

3 cute kids and a butternut squash (from our garden).

 Pretty little flower in our backyard. When Michael and Blair were here they helped to redo our back flower bed and these are the some of the results.

 The globe. This is a piece of public art in Jeddah it is in the middle of a round about. It is my favorite piece in Jeddah

Ian the Instagramer ~Part 32

Nice relaxing day at the beach. But as you can see we miss the snow.

I went to Paris for the MEMS2012 conference. It was a little chilly coming from KSA with only my hoody. Here I am at the Arc de Triomphe.

The Eiffel tower. From this perspective it reminds me of the "Destiny" from stargate universe. Yes I am a nerd.

Spooky tree picture. I took this near the Eiffle tower the trees were back lit by all the light pollution bouncing off the clouds. I thought it looked nifty

Friday Morning Family Bike Ride.

Ian the Instagramer ~Part 31

The Elephant's head from below.

Old al-Ula was kept intact at the request of the government. It is now being restored for tourism. It is a good example of old Islamic architecture having no city wall the outer houses have no windows and act a little like a wall. 

Looking down on new al-Ula. This is where the town was moved.

The valley by al-Ula is full of date orchards. You can't see but under the palms there are orange trees in their shade.

The oranges were delicious. 1 dollar a dozen. Picked fresh.

 

 

Granny & Grandpa's Spring Visit

So as many of you know Ian's parents, Barry & Donna, aka Granny & Grandpa were here for a visit. They arrived in the end of February just in time for Corban's birthday and they stayed until Ian and I got back from Uganda. It was a week ago actually that they left.

This was there 3rd time visiting and so they jumped right in to life here at KAUST taking the bus around campus on little adventures with the kids. Many mornings they would take Jeriah out to the library or to get a little treat. In the afternoons they would take Marin or Corban out. Corban enjoyed going to the library with Grandpa to get Bill Peet books and Marin and Granny had a couple "manicure adventures" at the salon. In the evenings Ian and I enjoyed teaching them a new favorite game of ours Carcassonne, or we all relaxed watching Survivor or Amazing Race.

They were here to see Marin be the MC at her K3 assembly (sorry can't put videos of that on here way to many kids in it) and to be part of book week for Marin and Corban's school. They got to go to each class and read a book and go on a field trip or two as well. 

They were then of course here while Ian and I went to Uganda. The week we were gone was spring break for the kids so they had lots of fun planning days with activities, like morning walks to look for fish by the docks, swimming at the pool in the afternoons, and doing craft projects like decorating Easter eggs.

Here are a few pictures of some of the fun that I was around to snap pictures of. :)

Oh and cute story, you will see pictures of Barry and Jeriah sitting at the table building block towers. Jeriah started knocking them down and saying that he was shocking Grandpa by doing this. Barry would build the tower and then with great gusto Jeriah would knock it over saying "Shock you Gandpa!" It was really funny!

We also took a little visit to Ian's lab, hence the safety glasses pictures. :)

Thank you again for coming all this way to visit us, and for helping us by hanging out with the kids while we went off on an adventure of our own!

Fun with (plastic) Bugs

A quick little snip-it of our visit from Granny & Grandpa. :)

Ian the Instagramer ~Part 30

The kids really enjoyed it. You can see them running up to this tomb which stands alone. It was un-finished on the inside and when Marin came out she announced that it was "Super Boring" inside. :) 

This is where the temple, shrines and sacrificial areas for Madain Saleh was. Michael and Blair are looking into the temple sitting area where they would have had feasts. Marin is crawling into the ceremonial wash basin. (oops we didn't know at the time) That narrow gap behind our guide leads to a small valley where the sacrifice area and another area of shrines are. 

temple area we could hike to the top of the surrounding mini valley and the view was beautiful. 

Corban at the top if the valley. The climb was mildly dangerous so each of us took a child. Corban my little adventurer was my climbing buddy. Mom you would have had the HeebyJeebees, but Corban and I held hands at the scary parts and we had fun. 

Corban and I at Elephant rock. Called that for obvious reasons, it is near al-Ula and Madain Saleh. 

Happy Birthday to Corban!

Happy 4th Birthday to our Corban boy! 

Brand new

1 month

8 months

11 months

17 months (the day we moved to KSA)

Hard to believe the little boy above was the one we loaded up and moved over here two and a half years ago. Looking back at pictures of Corban sure makes it feel like a long time ago that he was so little. What a cute little chubby boy though! :)

Although I know Corban dosen't yet fully appreciate that fact that he got a "real" birthday on the 29th this year, it was fun to celebrate on his true birth-date for the first time.

Corban has grown quite a bit in the past few months, he is slimming down and getting taller, he is growing out of many clothes and moving into a size 5T.
His imagination is always full and he is never lacking in ways to occupy himself. He is curious and likes to take things apart, he wants to just check everything out. He loves to create creatures and robot like things out of blocks.
His love of playdoh remains and his love of books. For his birthday he received 3 new books and paused each time he opened one to examine the pictures on every page. He loves to read books and snuggle. He also received 3 playdoh sets and has already put them to good use.
Corban is not a morning person, he would snuggle with us in bed until 8am every morning if he could, his non-morning person-ness also comes out in the fact that he dosen't really like eating breakfast either.
Corban is a sweet, loving boy, he gives hugs and kisses, he tells us he loves us, and he comforts Jeriah and Marin when they get hurt. He also brings me a flower every morning from the flower bed in our front yard.
He likes going to school and playing with his friends and exploring and learning new things there.
Corban is left handed, now what are the odds of that! A leap year baby being left handed...
He loves pizza and he loves pizza crusts, he likes to drink tea, and he likes welsh cakes without currents in them... All just like his daddy (Ian didn't like currents in his welsh cakes with he was little either). Corban also loves small shell shaped pasta with "totayeenee sause" (tortellini) as he calls it. Chocolate milk is also a favorite of his.
Corban is a wonderful brother to both Marin and Jeriah, he is a great playmate to both. With Marin he plays all sorts of made up roll play games, they are usually animals of some kind. With Jeriah they play with trucks, trains or cars. They also like to chase each other and run around. Corban knowing that Jeriah loves slap-stick type humor will pretend to run into walls or fall on the ground just to make him laugh. Or when Jeriah is upset of hurt he will do it for him too.
He is a smart boy and you can see the wheels in his head always turning.
Corban is wonderful, happy, sweet, cute boy, and he brings us so much joy.
We love you our Corban Barry, Happy Birthday!


Corban had a birthday party on Wednesday afternoon with 5 of his friends. They went in the pool and played on the slip and slide after eating cake.
At Corban's request he had a cake with knights on it, specifically some on horses.  In the evening he opened his gifts, he is enjoying them all. Thank you everyone for your thoughtful gifts and for helping us celebrate Mr. Corban's birthday. :)

Ian the Instagramer ~Part 29

The Al-baydha project site. A permaculture project being done among the settled bedouin near mecca. Very cool might help rebuild the environment here. Check them out www.albaydha.org

Marin, the now 6 year old, on an amusement park ride on her birthday at Red Sea mall. Here in KSA pretty much every mall has a small amusement park and games area.

 Road trip to Mada'in Saleh. Here it is camels you have watch out for not deer. 

Nabataean Tomb carved into the rock at Mada'in Saleh. This is the same civilization that built Petra in Jordan.  

The tombs are carved right into the sandstone in a giant circle around where the town was. This UNESCO world heritage site is really big.