“Can't wait to see you in Turkey my love!”
“ Church of St. George in Cairo”
“Grave marker in Cairo at a St. George's”
“Another grave marker at Church of St. George”
“Yet another grave marker at Church of St. George”
Showing posts with label Ian and I. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ian and I. Show all posts
Wednesday, 28 September, 2011
Friday, 29 April, 2011
Anniversary Greetings & Birthday Wishes
Happy 11th Anniversary to Ian and I! (April 22nd)
Happy 30th Birthday to me! (April 25th)
Happy 32nd Birthday to Ian! (April 30th)
So when kids have a birthday you often hear the comments like "I can't believe he/she is that old already!" or "He/she is 5 years old, when did that happen!?"
Well I would like to ask the same thing. 30 years old! When did that happen?! And what is 30 years old supposed to feel like anyway?
And 11 years! Wow, we are old married people now. Ha!
We have had a busy, fun year with lots of traveling. We of course could not have done that with out our parents taking care of our 3 cute kiddos. So again THANK YOU to our Moms and Dads! :)
On our super-duper safari in Kenya, in a hot air balloon! Amazing time! PS I still plan to blog about it.
So when kids have a birthday you often hear the comments like "I can't believe he/she is that old already!" or "He/she is 5 years old, when did that happen!?"
Well I would like to ask the same thing. 30 years old! When did that happen?! And what is 30 years old supposed to feel like anyway?
And 11 years! Wow, we are old married people now. Ha!
We have had a busy, fun year with lots of traveling. We of course could not have done that with out our parents taking care of our 3 cute kiddos. So again THANK YOU to our Moms and Dads! :)
On our super-duper safari in Kenya, in a hot air balloon! Amazing time! PS I still plan to blog about it.
In Mexico at Chitzen Itza. Such a relaxing time!
Home in Salmon Arm in the winter! For Michael and Blair's wedding. :)
So as I said before this was our 11th anniversary, that would make last year our 10th, and because I have yet to blog about what Ian got me last year to mark that occasion I am going to do it now.
A ring! The one on top with 10 diamonds!
A bit of back story, the ring with the solitaire is my engagement ring, which Ian picked out all by himself, and I love! When we got married we bought two plain (white gold) bands, one for him and one smaller one (about the size of the ring with the 10 diamonds) for me. The plan was to after the wedding have them put together. That never happened, we could have if we really wanted to, I guess it was just a case of major procrastination. Anyway so when we were home this past summer, we went looking for a ring. I was looking at one and trying it on to see how I liked the look, I liked it but then Ian said, "Why don't you get one with bigger diamonds". Okay then! So I did. :) We had the new ring fused to my engagement ring and this is what I see on my finger. I like having the 2 fused together and I love the way the 2 rings look together. :) Thank you wonderful husband! I love you!
Saturday, 19 February, 2011
Mexico!
So in Ian's field of research/work there is one major conference every year, MEMS (micro electro mechanical systems). It is in the end of January and it rotates location between North America, Europe and Asia. Last year (2010) it was in Hong Kong, this year Mexico, and next year Paris.
Anyway this year the timing was such at we were heading back home around the same time for Michael & Blair's wedding so we rolled it all into one trip. Ian was going to be going, but the best part for me was that we got to leave our kidlets with my parents and I got to go along and spend the whole time relaxing!
THANK YOU MOM! as I am sure she did most of the work, but also thank you to Dad, Mark, Michael, Blair, Barry & Donna for pitching in too.
By the time we arrived to Mexico Ian and I were exhausted! We had been traveling for pretty much 4 days straight. The night of the 18th I had gotten 4 hours of sleep and that was the most consecutive hours of sleep I got until we arrived in Mexico the night of the 22nd, which for us with the time change was the morning of the 23rd. My head was spinning, and I know we had to ask numerous people to repeat themselves because it was so hard to retain what then were saying. When Ian and I checked into the hotel it took every ounce of combined brain power we had to listen to the receptionist and remember her instruction of how to get to our room.
Before heading up to our room though we took a quick stop at the travel desk for day trips and tours in the Cancun area. We booked ourselves a tour to Chichen Itza the next morning as that was the one day we had where Ian would not be busy with the conference. We went up to our room, ordered some food through room service, showered and fell asleep the instant our heads hit the pillows.
We were up pretty early the next morning to take our trip to Chichen Itza. It was such a fun day being tourist just the 2 of us. It was about a 2-3 hour bus ride, with a stop at a beautiful cenote, along the way. We had a tour guide on the bus and we learned little bits of info about the Mexican and Mayan culture as we drove. Our time at Chichen Itza was great, it was so neat to see the ruins up close and learn about them. We had fun along the way bartering for souvenirs with all the merchants, and laughing at the ways they tried to sucker us in with their "deals". "Special deal for you today, one dollar" when really what they meant was one dollar off. We were tired again after our day of playing tourists, but that was okay because the rest of the time was all about relaxing. Well for me anyway, Ian had to attend the conference.
The rest of our 3 1/2 days there were wonderfully relaxing, we had breakfast together in the morning, Ian would head off to his conference and on the 1st and 2nd morning after reading and sending a few emails I went to the spa (our room deal came with a $50 spa coupon bonus!) first day for a massage and second day for a facial and haircut. In the afternoon, after having lunch by myself, (I don't know if I have ever eaten at a restaurant by myself, but I have now and it was nice) I headed down to the beach. The first day was the warmest so I played in the waves and then read my book. The 2nd and 3rd were not as warm so I just laid in the sun and read. Ian was always back in time for dinner, and on one the the evenings we had dinner with his students that were also at the conference, it was a fun evening with lots of laughter. We had also brought along a couple of movies we rented on iTunes so we even caught up on a few movies.
We arrived back in Vancouver late on the 27th and spent the night at Dorothy's, we had breakfast with her in the morning and then I did some shopping while Ian met with Ash and crew up at SFU. I met them up at SFU for lunch and then Ian and I spent the afternoon visiting with Mike & Lindsey, and their new little one.
We headed back to Salmon Arm that night via the bus and thankfully made it though a nasty storm just at the right time as the roads were being closed behind us.
As wonderful as our time away was it was even more wonderful to see our 3 cute kids the next morning, we had of course missed them. :)
So... that was our trip in a nutshell, it was such a nice treat to have some alone time and relax knowing the kids were in good hands having fun of their own. :)
Pictures if you please...
Anyway this year the timing was such at we were heading back home around the same time for Michael & Blair's wedding so we rolled it all into one trip. Ian was going to be going, but the best part for me was that we got to leave our kidlets with my parents and I got to go along and spend the whole time relaxing!
THANK YOU MOM! as I am sure she did most of the work, but also thank you to Dad, Mark, Michael, Blair, Barry & Donna for pitching in too.
By the time we arrived to Mexico Ian and I were exhausted! We had been traveling for pretty much 4 days straight. The night of the 18th I had gotten 4 hours of sleep and that was the most consecutive hours of sleep I got until we arrived in Mexico the night of the 22nd, which for us with the time change was the morning of the 23rd. My head was spinning, and I know we had to ask numerous people to repeat themselves because it was so hard to retain what then were saying. When Ian and I checked into the hotel it took every ounce of combined brain power we had to listen to the receptionist and remember her instruction of how to get to our room.
Before heading up to our room though we took a quick stop at the travel desk for day trips and tours in the Cancun area. We booked ourselves a tour to Chichen Itza the next morning as that was the one day we had where Ian would not be busy with the conference. We went up to our room, ordered some food through room service, showered and fell asleep the instant our heads hit the pillows.
We were up pretty early the next morning to take our trip to Chichen Itza. It was such a fun day being tourist just the 2 of us. It was about a 2-3 hour bus ride, with a stop at a beautiful cenote, along the way. We had a tour guide on the bus and we learned little bits of info about the Mexican and Mayan culture as we drove. Our time at Chichen Itza was great, it was so neat to see the ruins up close and learn about them. We had fun along the way bartering for souvenirs with all the merchants, and laughing at the ways they tried to sucker us in with their "deals". "Special deal for you today, one dollar" when really what they meant was one dollar off. We were tired again after our day of playing tourists, but that was okay because the rest of the time was all about relaxing. Well for me anyway, Ian had to attend the conference.
The rest of our 3 1/2 days there were wonderfully relaxing, we had breakfast together in the morning, Ian would head off to his conference and on the 1st and 2nd morning after reading and sending a few emails I went to the spa (our room deal came with a $50 spa coupon bonus!) first day for a massage and second day for a facial and haircut. In the afternoon, after having lunch by myself, (I don't know if I have ever eaten at a restaurant by myself, but I have now and it was nice) I headed down to the beach. The first day was the warmest so I played in the waves and then read my book. The 2nd and 3rd were not as warm so I just laid in the sun and read. Ian was always back in time for dinner, and on one the the evenings we had dinner with his students that were also at the conference, it was a fun evening with lots of laughter. We had also brought along a couple of movies we rented on iTunes so we even caught up on a few movies.
We arrived back in Vancouver late on the 27th and spent the night at Dorothy's, we had breakfast with her in the morning and then I did some shopping while Ian met with Ash and crew up at SFU. I met them up at SFU for lunch and then Ian and I spent the afternoon visiting with Mike & Lindsey, and their new little one.
We headed back to Salmon Arm that night via the bus and thankfully made it though a nasty storm just at the right time as the roads were being closed behind us.
As wonderful as our time away was it was even more wonderful to see our 3 cute kids the next morning, we had of course missed them. :)
So... that was our trip in a nutshell, it was such a nice treat to have some alone time and relax knowing the kids were in good hands having fun of their own. :)
Pictures if you please...
Wedding fun still to come!
Saturday, 15 January, 2011
Hey!
Happy New Year!
Can I still say that 15 days into January? Oh well, I did...
So I don't know if you read this post, but if you did then you know only half our fun is over. The other half is about to start in just 4 days. Eeek!
I am going to attempt to give a rundown of our going-ons since I wrote the countdown post.
Granny & Grandpa (Barry & Donna) arrived on the 7th of December and we got right to all sorts of fun stuff, Christmas crafts, baking/eating Christmas goodies, going out and showing them the new sights of KAUST, reading books, going for walks, playing with play-doh, some pool and beach time. There was also lots of fun afternoons in the backyard, Ian & I found dinosaur bone sets while shopping one night and Ian buried them in the sand box and they played "paleontologist".
Marin's class also had many field trips in the last two weeks before winter break. Granny and/or Grandpa went on all of them, the boys and I tagged along a couple of times, and Ian joined us once too, on the trip that was up at KAUST.
Marin's class also had many field trips in the last two weeks before winter break. Granny and/or Grandpa went on all of them, the boys and I tagged along a couple of times, and Ian joined us once too, on the trip that was up at KAUST.
On December 16 was the first graduation ceremony here at KAUST. Ian and all the other professors were of course part of the precession and as is tradition at university graduation ceremonies professors wear the regalia of the university they graduated from. I, as a wife of a professor was also invited to attend the ceremony and reception afterwords. It was such a neat experience to be in attendance at the very first graduation ceremony of KAUST. There is such community here and we all felt proud of what the students and we as the founding people here had accomplished.
It was also neat to see Ian having his students come and ask for pictures with him. It is fun to see him on the other side now, no longer the student in the picture, now the prof.
It was also neat to see Ian having his students come and ask for pictures with him. It is fun to see him on the other side now, no longer the student in the picture, now the prof.
This is Ian and I after the ceremony, Ian representing SFU. :)
There was Christmas of course and we enjoyed a relaxing day of gift opening in the morning, an afternoon of playing with new toys and fun, followed by a tasty turkey dinner and yummy dessert.
Late on December 27th Ian & I headed off on our Safari adventure. We had a totally awesome time and even took a hot air balloon ride over the Masai Mara! I will save the pictures and details for a post all on its own though. We returned home on New Years day, happy to see our kidlets.
On January 2nd I made oliebollen much to Marin's delight. It was my first time making them and they turned out well.
The 6th of January Ian, Barry & Donna went on the "old Jeddah" tour. It was our Christmas gift to them and it gave them a chance to see Jeddah and a little bit of it's history. They also got to check out the camel market.
Early the next morning they were off to the airport so we said our goodbyes (but see you in two weeks!) the night before. Well the kids and I did, Ian got up early to take them to the airport.
So that was it in a nutshell, now I have packing to do and a birthday party to prepare for, but here are some pictures to show you all our fun. :)
Sunday, 5 December, 2010
Countdown madness!
Today as you know is December 5th, and that means...
a) two days until Granny & Grandpa (Barry & Donna) arrive! They are coming to spend Christmas with us. It is going to be fun!
b) twenty days until Christmas! We have been decorating and making the house festive and all that good stuff. The kids are loving it! We have Christmas music playing, an advent wreath, lights, candles, countdowns calenders, with daily things to read do and look at, a tree, and special Christmasy shows to watch and books to read. We have been doing crafts and I am sure we'll do even more once Granny & Grandpa get here.
c) twenty-three days until Ian & I go on our "Christmas present" to each other trip. We are going on a safari in Kenya to this place. So Excited!
d) forty-five days until Marin turns 5!
e) also forty-five days until we begin our trip back to BC.
f) forty-nine days until Ian & I go to Mexico! Ian has a conference there and I am tagging along. So Excited!
and
g) sixty-two days until these two get hitched! SO EXCITED!
Wow the next two and a bit months are going to be so FULL of fun!
:)
Thursday, 22 April, 2010
Anniversary Greetings
Today is Ian and I's 10th wedding anniversary.
10 years!
It is fun to think back over the 10 years and to see all the mile stones we have had a long the way. Buying our first house, working towards Ian's 3 degrees, holidays to celebrate past anniversaries, 3 wonderful kids, finding a job, moving to the other side of the earth.
In some ways I can see how that has taken us 10 years to complete, in other ways I wonder where has the time gone? Physically I don't feel 10 years older, and I guess that is a good thing. I can see how we have both changed as people and grown up over the 10 years though, and that is healthy part of life and bound to happen.
It is fun to think back over the 10 years and to see all the mile stones we have had a long the way. Buying our first house, working towards Ian's 3 degrees, holidays to celebrate past anniversaries, 3 wonderful kids, finding a job, moving to the other side of the earth.
In some ways I can see how that has taken us 10 years to complete, in other ways I wonder where has the time gone? Physically I don't feel 10 years older, and I guess that is a good thing. I can see how we have both changed as people and grown up over the 10 years though, and that is healthy part of life and bound to happen.
We really are best friends and our friendship and love for each other is growing and changing along with the life we are living. We really are blessed to have each other and the life full of all the wonderful things that God has given us.
If the first 10 years have brought us to this point it is crazy to think where we could be and what we might be up to over the next 10 years. I can't imagine it with anyone else but Ian though.
Happy 10th Anniversary dear, I love you!
Previous anniversary posts about us.
A bit of our history.
Last years post with a few pictures.
Happy 10th Anniversary dear, I love you!
Previous anniversary posts about us.
A bit of our history.
Last years post with a few pictures.
Saturday, 2 May, 2009
Wraping up our time in KSA.
So here I am finally getting to the last set of pictures from our trip to KSA. I wont even bother to bore you with my excuses... that and I don't feel like writing them out.
One neat thing we did during the little bit of down time we had was go over to the what used to be a palace (but is now a convention center), it was right next to the hotel so it was really easy to get to. The main attraction for going was to see what is claimed to be the world's second largest chandelier.
It is MASSIVE!
Unfortunately, I don't' have numbers on it's size and when I searched the web for it I couldn't find it. Believe me when I tell you though, it is HUGE!
The last two days of our time is KSA was spent in Dammam it is on the opposite side of KSA and is on The Gulf. The purpose of heading over there was to tour the Saudi ARAMCO compound so that we could see what a working and functional compound is like. We also went to the oil museum, and went to The Gulf. Saudi ARAMCO has a few private beaches for it's employees and that night we went to one of them for a dinner. For dinner we were joined by some employees of Saudi ARAMCO, they spent the evening with us talking about life in KSA and what it was like living in a compound. I think we'll be able to handle it. :)
Our second day there we went to check out a mall and a grocery store to see what shopping in KSA would be like. We made a few cultural observations, first only men work in all the stores, all stores, even La Senza, and second there are no change rooms in the stores.
One neat thing we did during the little bit of down time we had was go over to the what used to be a palace (but is now a convention center), it was right next to the hotel so it was really easy to get to. The main attraction for going was to see what is claimed to be the world's second largest chandelier.
It is MASSIVE!
Unfortunately, I don't' have numbers on it's size and when I searched the web for it I couldn't find it. Believe me when I tell you though, it is HUGE!
The last two days of our time is KSA was spent in Dammam it is on the opposite side of KSA and is on The Gulf. The purpose of heading over there was to tour the Saudi ARAMCO compound so that we could see what a working and functional compound is like. We also went to the oil museum, and went to The Gulf. Saudi ARAMCO has a few private beaches for it's employees and that night we went to one of them for a dinner. For dinner we were joined by some employees of Saudi ARAMCO, they spent the evening with us talking about life in KSA and what it was like living in a compound. I think we'll be able to handle it. :)
Our second day there we went to check out a mall and a grocery store to see what shopping in KSA would be like. We made a few cultural observations, first only men work in all the stores, all stores, even La Senza, and second there are no change rooms in the stores.
So that concludes our trip, we are looking forward to our big move and setteling into life in KSA.
On a related note while in Washington DC we found out a few things (among others), one we will be selecting our house in mid May (very excited about that!) second we will be living on Safaa Island (the area closest to the Red Sea) and third that all 3 and 4 bedroom houses come with maid's quarters. Ian has told me that he will be getting me a maid. At first it was a strange thought, but as I have had time to think about it I am loving it! :) I just hope I don't turn into a princess...
On a related note while in Washington DC we found out a few things (among others), one we will be selecting our house in mid May (very excited about that!) second we will be living on Safaa Island (the area closest to the Red Sea) and third that all 3 and 4 bedroom houses come with maid's quarters. Ian has told me that he will be getting me a maid. At first it was a strange thought, but as I have had time to think about it I am loving it! :) I just hope I don't turn into a princess...
Tuesday, 28 April, 2009
(Belated) Birthday Wishes
So it was my birthday on Saturday, I am 28 now.
It was a day... it had some good parts, but many bad, unpleasant parts. It is a good thing that when you get older birthdays aren't that big a deal, cause if I were 10 it would have been horrible! That being said I am pretty sure it was my worst birthday ever.
I woke up in Washington DC, we were there for the KAUST orientation and relocation meeting. The morning was the good part. We got to meet Belky and her husband Dave, Belky found our blog about 2 months ago when searching for things about KAUST, she sent an email and we have been emailing and blogging together since. We also got to meet many other couples who will all be moving to KSA this summer, many of whom have young kids similar in age to Marin and Corban, as well there are about 3-4 other babies who are either already born or will be born this year as well, so lots of little friends for all our kids. :)
The meeting went well and we got some of our questions answered and found out a bit more on how this whole moving to KSA process will work.
We had lunch with some of the new people we had met, but had to leave earlier than we would have liked to head to the airport to catch our flight.
We arrived at the airport with plenty of time and got to where we were supposed to be, we boarded on time, but that is where things went down hill. This flight was supposed to take us to Chicago for a short lay-over, less than 2 hours, and the flight itself was supposed to be less then 2 hours. Also on this flight Ian and I were not able to get seats together and so... Thankfully the lady next to me was totally lovely and we chatted the whole time.
We didn't leave the gate on time, we sat there for a 1/2 hour, then once we got out onto the tarmac we sat there for another 1/2 hour, apparently there was bad weather in Chicago. When we finally took off we got there in the time that was expected, but had circle in the air for another 1/2 hour because we weren't able to land. This was all because of continued bad weather and so there was some turbulence. My tummy does not handle that so well so I got to re-"enjoy" the apple juice I had had during the flight. Nice. Thankfull again for the lovely lady next to me she held my hair and got me tissues to wipe my face with.
When we finally could land we could not get to the gate because of lightening strikes, the glowing wand controller guys were not able to come out and guide us in.
Um wear rubber soled boots and live a little people!
Anyway, we of course missed our connecting flight which had been canceled anyway due to the bad weather. Many other flights were also canceled so there was nothing leaving that night that would get us anywhere close to home. So we stood in line up after line up and finally got to a hotel at 11:30pm Chicago time.
Our flight out the next morning left at 9:49am and we were on stand-by, thankfully enough people didn't show, so we made it, and we even got seats together!
Once we arrived back in Vancouver (which by the way in our opinion has the nicest looking airport, we are on the look out for one better but so far not happening) it took a hour and a half to get through customs, many other flights had arrived around the same time. This was made worse by the fact that some over eager airport line up director guy thought it necessary to send us and others to the slower moving line up. Gerr!
I also must rant about the fact that we will do whatever we can to NEVER fly with United Airlines again! The flight attendants we had left much to be desired in the whole customer service area and their seats are totally more close together than those of Air Canada for example. We were not impressed!
When we finally did walk though the door into our house we were greeted by the 2 cutest kids in the world though, they both came running for hugs, hugs, kisses and more hugs. It was wonderful! We missed out kiddlets.
Speaking of kiddlets, I am in week 13 now! We are finding it difficult to get a weekly belly pictures in this 3rd time round though. To say there is a lot going on would be an understatement. So I don't have a belly picture to share with you yet, but I do have a few of these bright and cheery flowers the Michael and Blair brought us in celebration of Baby Foulds #3. :)
It was a day... it had some good parts, but many bad, unpleasant parts. It is a good thing that when you get older birthdays aren't that big a deal, cause if I were 10 it would have been horrible! That being said I am pretty sure it was my worst birthday ever.
I woke up in Washington DC, we were there for the KAUST orientation and relocation meeting. The morning was the good part. We got to meet Belky and her husband Dave, Belky found our blog about 2 months ago when searching for things about KAUST, she sent an email and we have been emailing and blogging together since. We also got to meet many other couples who will all be moving to KSA this summer, many of whom have young kids similar in age to Marin and Corban, as well there are about 3-4 other babies who are either already born or will be born this year as well, so lots of little friends for all our kids. :)
The meeting went well and we got some of our questions answered and found out a bit more on how this whole moving to KSA process will work.
We had lunch with some of the new people we had met, but had to leave earlier than we would have liked to head to the airport to catch our flight.
We arrived at the airport with plenty of time and got to where we were supposed to be, we boarded on time, but that is where things went down hill. This flight was supposed to take us to Chicago for a short lay-over, less than 2 hours, and the flight itself was supposed to be less then 2 hours. Also on this flight Ian and I were not able to get seats together and so... Thankfully the lady next to me was totally lovely and we chatted the whole time.
We didn't leave the gate on time, we sat there for a 1/2 hour, then once we got out onto the tarmac we sat there for another 1/2 hour, apparently there was bad weather in Chicago. When we finally took off we got there in the time that was expected, but had circle in the air for another 1/2 hour because we weren't able to land. This was all because of continued bad weather and so there was some turbulence. My tummy does not handle that so well so I got to re-"enjoy" the apple juice I had had during the flight. Nice. Thankfull again for the lovely lady next to me she held my hair and got me tissues to wipe my face with.
When we finally could land we could not get to the gate because of lightening strikes, the glowing wand controller guys were not able to come out and guide us in.
Um wear rubber soled boots and live a little people!
Anyway, we of course missed our connecting flight which had been canceled anyway due to the bad weather. Many other flights were also canceled so there was nothing leaving that night that would get us anywhere close to home. So we stood in line up after line up and finally got to a hotel at 11:30pm Chicago time.
Our flight out the next morning left at 9:49am and we were on stand-by, thankfully enough people didn't show, so we made it, and we even got seats together!
Once we arrived back in Vancouver (which by the way in our opinion has the nicest looking airport, we are on the look out for one better but so far not happening) it took a hour and a half to get through customs, many other flights had arrived around the same time. This was made worse by the fact that some over eager airport line up director guy thought it necessary to send us and others to the slower moving line up. Gerr!
I also must rant about the fact that we will do whatever we can to NEVER fly with United Airlines again! The flight attendants we had left much to be desired in the whole customer service area and their seats are totally more close together than those of Air Canada for example. We were not impressed!
When we finally did walk though the door into our house we were greeted by the 2 cutest kids in the world though, they both came running for hugs, hugs, kisses and more hugs. It was wonderful! We missed out kiddlets.
Speaking of kiddlets, I am in week 13 now! We are finding it difficult to get a weekly belly pictures in this 3rd time round though. To say there is a lot going on would be an understatement. So I don't have a belly picture to share with you yet, but I do have a few of these bright and cheery flowers the Michael and Blair brought us in celebration of Baby Foulds #3. :)
Anyway so that was my disjointed post about my birthday. We did enjoy the very little bit of Washington DC that we did get to see, it seems to be a very nice and architecturally interesting city. I think I'd like to check it out more at some point.Oh so I just have one more thing to say. We should all start praying for Ian now...
This trip made us aware that I do not fly so well, especially when in economy class, airports are not my favorite place, my patients wear thin very fast and I am sure this is all exaggerated a little by my being pregnant. But the next time we fly I will be even more pregnant, 5 months, and we will have the kids with us, and we will be flying to the other side of the world, that is a long time on airplanes and in airports... I may just flip my lid people, and I am not kidding...
:)
Wednesday, 22 April, 2009
Anniversary Greetings
March in KSA.
We have known each other for 14 years now, dating/engaged/married for 12 and we love each other more and are better friends then ever. I am looking forward to the next 9 plus years, because things just keep getting better and I know that will continue!I am so glad that Ian and I get to share life together!
Happy Anniversary dear I LOVE YOU!
You can read our story here.
Saturday, 18 April, 2009
KAUST Tour.
Our tour of the KAUST site, took place the morning of our second day in KSA. It was a one hour bus ride from Jeddah. The drive out there was pretty much what I expected, there was lots of sand, and not a lot else. We did see quite a few camels though and learned that there are actually 3 kinds of Dromedary camels. There are the ones you normally think of, the brown one humped camels, but there are also black ones and white ones. I did not know...
While on our tour of KAUST we took as many pictures as we could so that we could remember what it really looked like and show everyone else our future home.
I am just going to make a random list of all the things about the tour and the site, I hope that the pictures will give a good idea of what it was like.
-there are currently 35,000 construction workers working in 3 shifts 24/7
-there are 3 cement plants on site
-the golf course is already green
-there is an on site green house for all the plants that will be used in the landscaping
-the stadium has a royal box for visiting royalty
-they say it is on schedule to be ready for the September opening, if it all goes as planned the whole thing with have been completed in less than 3 years.
-there are Italian marble floors in the houses
-all the yards have underground sprinklers
-in the 4 bedroom houses each bedroom has it's own bathroom
-KASUT is 16 square km in size, but more of a rectangle shape with lots of shore line along the Red Sea. To drive from one end to the other would be about the same as driving from one end of Salmon Arm to the other.
-KAUST also includes 16 square km of the Red Sea
-KAUST also includes 16 square km of the Red Sea
-there will be multiple swimming beaches along the sea with lifeguards
-there are 3 different styles of houses, Italian, Mediterranean and Asian
-many of the houses have maids quarters with separate entrances and bathrooms
Onto some pictures, some of the captions are longer, if you put your mouse over the picture it will pause to you can read what I have written.
-there are 3 different styles of houses, Italian, Mediterranean and Asian
-many of the houses have maids quarters with separate entrances and bathrooms
Onto some pictures, some of the captions are longer, if you put your mouse over the picture it will pause to you can read what I have written.
We sure are excited to see the finished product, to find out which house will be ours, and where it will be located within KAUST. We are also looking forward to seeing what the shopping areas, restaurants and recreation areas will actually be like. It is so neat to be a part of something so new and never really been done before. What an adventure!
Sunday, 29 March, 2009
Our 1st Day in KSA.
On the agenda for our first day in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was to spend the morning getting an overview of how things will be at KAUST and then a tour of the International Medical Center in Jeddah. There were two reasons for our tour, first, IMC has the contract to set up the medical clinic at KAUST and second, any extreme emergency or preplanned surgery will happen there. It was a gorgeous hospital and very will equipped, check out the link to it, there is a short video and it will give you an idea of what it looks like. Ian and I describe it more as looking like one of our parliament buildings than a hospital.
After having lunch back at the hotel we were off again for a boat ride on the Red Sea, we didn't actually enter the main body of water that is the Red Sea we were on what they call "the creek". It is a narrow inlet about the width of a really wide river where there are lots of sea front properties and resorts as well lots of boat docks. We cruised on the boat to where the creek enters the sea but couldn't go any further, because there was a coast guard check point there and our guides wanted to avoid the hassle. So we floated there and looked out for a bit and then went back. It was still neat though.
Once we were back on land we headed to the "old souk", it is the old part of Jeddah that has open markets. While in Jeddah, one of the local KAUST employees named Badr was helping to guide us. He was great and seemed to have connections everywhere, at the souk he got a deal and all of the women in the group got abyas.
Also part of the evenings activities was a tour of the Nassif House a historic site in Jeddah. You can read it's history by checking out the link, apparently the Nassif House is also referred to as "the house with the tree" because up until the 1920's the tree out front of the house was the only tree in Jeddah. It was a very neat old house with many many rooms full of artifacts and information. It is designed for good airflow and in the evening when all the windows are open the sea breeze blows through it. The roof is flat and used for sitting on, also on top of the roof is a smaller wooden structure open to the air and sea breeze with carpets and pillows for sitting on. Sammy our tour guide at the Nassif House was a funny guy and really new his history, he brought us all up to the top and had us all sit in a circle. He brought us a slightly sweet traditional flat bread with honey to dip it in and traditional Arabic tea. At that point it was dark out and time for the evening prayer. Sammy had brought us up there so that we could hear it. In this one area of Jeddah there are 36 mosques in 1 sq/km and they all call for prayer with in seconds of each other. It is really neat to hear, a very cool "cultural experience". (The video is a short clip of it.)
After finishing at the Nassif house it was off to a late dinner, by that time we were all marvin!
So that was our first "day" in KSA, I say "day" because we fit so much into it that if felt like two days!
After having lunch back at the hotel we were off again for a boat ride on the Red Sea, we didn't actually enter the main body of water that is the Red Sea we were on what they call "the creek". It is a narrow inlet about the width of a really wide river where there are lots of sea front properties and resorts as well lots of boat docks. We cruised on the boat to where the creek enters the sea but couldn't go any further, because there was a coast guard check point there and our guides wanted to avoid the hassle. So we floated there and looked out for a bit and then went back. It was still neat though.
Once we were back on land we headed to the "old souk", it is the old part of Jeddah that has open markets. While in Jeddah, one of the local KAUST employees named Badr was helping to guide us. He was great and seemed to have connections everywhere, at the souk he got a deal and all of the women in the group got abyas.
Also part of the evenings activities was a tour of the Nassif House a historic site in Jeddah. You can read it's history by checking out the link, apparently the Nassif House is also referred to as "the house with the tree" because up until the 1920's the tree out front of the house was the only tree in Jeddah. It was a very neat old house with many many rooms full of artifacts and information. It is designed for good airflow and in the evening when all the windows are open the sea breeze blows through it. The roof is flat and used for sitting on, also on top of the roof is a smaller wooden structure open to the air and sea breeze with carpets and pillows for sitting on. Sammy our tour guide at the Nassif House was a funny guy and really new his history, he brought us all up to the top and had us all sit in a circle. He brought us a slightly sweet traditional flat bread with honey to dip it in and traditional Arabic tea. At that point it was dark out and time for the evening prayer. Sammy had brought us up there so that we could hear it. In this one area of Jeddah there are 36 mosques in 1 sq/km and they all call for prayer with in seconds of each other. It is really neat to hear, a very cool "cultural experience". (The video is a short clip of it.)
After finishing at the Nassif house it was off to a late dinner, by that time we were all marvin!
So that was our first "day" in KSA, I say "day" because we fit so much into it that if felt like two days!
Thursday, 26 March, 2009
The Streets of Jeddah.
I will start by saying that Ian and I had a great time in KSA, we met some neat people (hi guys, if you are reading this) and got a better idea of what life there will be like.
We began our trip on Tuesday March 10th, the plan was to drive to Salmon Arm so that Marin and Corban could stay with Oma & Opa while we were gone. On the 12th Ian and I got up really early, 4am, and drove to Kelowna airport. Our plane left at 8am, we flew to Calgary and from there we went to Frankfurt and then on to Jeddah. We arrived there at 7pm on March 13th. It was a long trip. There was a driver waiting for us and he took us to the hotel. The driving in KSA is not good, thank goodness we had read ahead of time that it was bad or it would have been a bit of a surprise. Also thankfully the vehicle we were in a huge gas guzzling tank so we were pretty much bigger then everything else on the road.
Jeddah like any other city has a "nice part of town" and the "not so nice part of town", there are also lots of people and lots of cars. A difference would be though that they have multiple "rush hours" due prayer times. There is "rush to work", the "rush to mid-morning prayer", followed by "rush back to work". Then comes the "mid afternoon prayer rush", that is followed by a "siesta" during the hottest part of the day. Many things are closed during this time. In the late afternoon comes the "rush back to work/out for the evening" time, because of the heat many people come out at night to enjoy the cooler sea breeze and picnic by the sea, or on the grassy areas near the playgrounds (an odd thing we noted, they have playgrounds in the middle of the roads on really big boulevards, with no fences...).
Housing there is much different, everything is made out of cement and "bigger is better" seems to be the theme. The houses are massive and are always surrounded by a wall to match the size of the house. Privacy is very important to them. In many places we saw huge walls surrounding a house and then at some point the current wall was not big enough so a wall extension was built. In one case we saw an extreme measure for privacy. An apartment building (which are a very new thing for them) had been built beside a home, it like many others was surrounded by a large amount of irrigated landscaping, a pool and of course a massive wall. With the apartment building now beside them they're privacy was gone so... they built a roof over their entire property! It was a metal structure with the center of the roof left open to still allow the sun to get in. It literally looked like an unfinished airplane hanger, it was huge!
As we drove through the streets we saw a surprising number of familiar signs, many shops and restaurants have signs in both Arabic and English. Also they have many of the same stores that you find here in Canada, like Pizza Hut, Applebees, Starbucks, Toys R Us, McDonald's, Gap, IKEA (but you already knew that he he) and lots more.
As you can imagine water is scarce in the desert, they do have underground aquifers but the large majority of the water in Jeddah comes from the Red Sea and is desalinized. Once it is used for house hold use it is "recycled" and goes through a purification process, it is then used for the underground sprinkler systems. The water that is recycled is apparently fit for human consumption but...
In Jeddah there is also a lot of art along the Corniche (the main road along the Red Sea). Much of it, I think, has a modern 80's esk feel to it. The pieces are very large and it was fun to look at them as we drove past.
Anyway I think I blabbed enough for now, here are some pictures (all of which were taken through a widow of a moving bus), don't worry I have lots more to share and loads more pictures too.
We began our trip on Tuesday March 10th, the plan was to drive to Salmon Arm so that Marin and Corban could stay with Oma & Opa while we were gone. On the 12th Ian and I got up really early, 4am, and drove to Kelowna airport. Our plane left at 8am, we flew to Calgary and from there we went to Frankfurt and then on to Jeddah. We arrived there at 7pm on March 13th. It was a long trip. There was a driver waiting for us and he took us to the hotel. The driving in KSA is not good, thank goodness we had read ahead of time that it was bad or it would have been a bit of a surprise. Also thankfully the vehicle we were in a huge gas guzzling tank so we were pretty much bigger then everything else on the road.
Jeddah like any other city has a "nice part of town" and the "not so nice part of town", there are also lots of people and lots of cars. A difference would be though that they have multiple "rush hours" due prayer times. There is "rush to work", the "rush to mid-morning prayer", followed by "rush back to work". Then comes the "mid afternoon prayer rush", that is followed by a "siesta" during the hottest part of the day. Many things are closed during this time. In the late afternoon comes the "rush back to work/out for the evening" time, because of the heat many people come out at night to enjoy the cooler sea breeze and picnic by the sea, or on the grassy areas near the playgrounds (an odd thing we noted, they have playgrounds in the middle of the roads on really big boulevards, with no fences...).
Housing there is much different, everything is made out of cement and "bigger is better" seems to be the theme. The houses are massive and are always surrounded by a wall to match the size of the house. Privacy is very important to them. In many places we saw huge walls surrounding a house and then at some point the current wall was not big enough so a wall extension was built. In one case we saw an extreme measure for privacy. An apartment building (which are a very new thing for them) had been built beside a home, it like many others was surrounded by a large amount of irrigated landscaping, a pool and of course a massive wall. With the apartment building now beside them they're privacy was gone so... they built a roof over their entire property! It was a metal structure with the center of the roof left open to still allow the sun to get in. It literally looked like an unfinished airplane hanger, it was huge!
As we drove through the streets we saw a surprising number of familiar signs, many shops and restaurants have signs in both Arabic and English. Also they have many of the same stores that you find here in Canada, like Pizza Hut, Applebees, Starbucks, Toys R Us, McDonald's, Gap, IKEA (but you already knew that he he) and lots more.
As you can imagine water is scarce in the desert, they do have underground aquifers but the large majority of the water in Jeddah comes from the Red Sea and is desalinized. Once it is used for house hold use it is "recycled" and goes through a purification process, it is then used for the underground sprinkler systems. The water that is recycled is apparently fit for human consumption but...
In Jeddah there is also a lot of art along the Corniche (the main road along the Red Sea). Much of it, I think, has a modern 80's esk feel to it. The pieces are very large and it was fun to look at them as we drove past.
Anyway I think I blabbed enough for now, here are some pictures (all of which were taken through a widow of a moving bus), don't worry I have lots more to share and loads more pictures too.
Saturday, 21 March, 2009
A quick hello.
Just popping in to say hi and let you all know that we, Ian and I are back after our trip to Saudi Arabia. We had a wonderful time and a great chance to see what life there will be like. We also met some great people. :)
I have a load of pictures to share and I will work on getting them on here, but for now I will share these two.
Ian and I on The Gulf, while touring on the east side of Saudi Arabia.
I have a load of pictures to share and I will work on getting them on here, but for now I will share these two.
Ian and I on The Gulf, while touring on the east side of Saudi Arabia.
And this one, pretty much the most important finding of our whole trip (I am kidding).There is an IKEA in Jeddah!
Wednesday, 23 April, 2008
Anniversary Greetings
Happy 8th Anniversary to Us!
Sorry no pictures, the last time a picture of just Ian and I was taken was last summer when I was 3 months pregnant with Corban, but if you want to see wedding pictures and read "our story" click here.
Sorry no pictures, the last time a picture of just Ian and I was taken was last summer when I was 3 months pregnant with Corban, but if you want to see wedding pictures and read "our story" click here.
Sunday, 22 April, 2007
Anniversary Greetings
Happy 7th Anniversary to Us!
Here we were on our wedding day, almost 21 (Ian) and almost 19 (me).
We have been together for almost 10 years now between dating, engagement and marriage, how about a little history for those of you who haven't known us for that long and a re-capper for those of you who have. :)
Ian and I met when I was in gr 8 and he gr 10 at youth group, we had some mutual friends, a year and a half after that we started spending more time together in group settings and then in the summer of 1997 we started dating. I had just finished gr 10 and Ian had just graduated. Over the summer Ian spent some time on Thetis Island working at Pioneer Pacific Camp and I went on a youth missions trip to Salt Spring Island.
Then in the fall of 1997 he moved down to Port Coquitlam to attend SFU and I started gr 11 (in Salmon Arm), over the next 2 years we dated long distance and spent a LOT of time on the phone! (My mom and Dorothy (Ian was rooming and boarding with her) I am sure can back that statement up!) Ian also made many trips back to Salmon Arm. :)
Being that he was in the Engineering faculty at SFU he didn't get summers off, with the exception of the first, which he spent in Salmon Arm working at the church on the expansion/renovation project so we got to spend more time together then. The reason he didn't get any breaks is that, SFU has a Co-op program and so he went on work terms to gain real work experience in the areas he was interested in. His first co-op in January 1999 landed him in Ottawa for 4 months in the dead of winter, and even further from Salmon Arm.
That June I graduated and Ian of course came home for that, later that summer in August we (and my friend Jessica) went to Thetis Island for a week to be counselors at little kids camp, it was a really fun week. At the end of that week we had one day at camp after the kids left and before we left to go back home. Ian had BIG plans for that day. He took me (and Jessica) to Pilkey Point while back at camp he had his sister and a friend sent up 100 plus tea light candles all over Chapel Glenn (which is located at the edge of a rocky bluff that over looks the ocean, very beautiful!) and at the center a ring! Upon arriving back at camp he and I ( no Jessica this time) went for a little walk ending at Chapel Glenn where he asked me to marry him, and I said yes!
Then 8 months later we got married.
We went on a fun honeymoon to Mexico for a week and when we returned back to Canada we moved into our first place together, a basement suit in Coquitlam.
Just before our second anniversary we bought our first home in March of 2002 and that is were we have been living since.
Over the years we have had a lot of fun and adventures, going on holidays, to friends weddings, trips back home to Salmon Arm.
Our "plans" have defiantly been changed over the years, when we got married Ian was "supposed" to have one more year of school left... he is still in school. Granted he has 2 degrees and will soon, fingers crossed have 3.
Ian's graduation for his Bachelors degree 2003
Together at Andrew & Sarah's wedding October 2004.
Ian and I met when I was in gr 8 and he gr 10 at youth group, we had some mutual friends, a year and a half after that we started spending more time together in group settings and then in the summer of 1997 we started dating. I had just finished gr 10 and Ian had just graduated. Over the summer Ian spent some time on Thetis Island working at Pioneer Pacific Camp and I went on a youth missions trip to Salt Spring Island.
Then in the fall of 1997 he moved down to Port Coquitlam to attend SFU and I started gr 11 (in Salmon Arm), over the next 2 years we dated long distance and spent a LOT of time on the phone! (My mom and Dorothy (Ian was rooming and boarding with her) I am sure can back that statement up!) Ian also made many trips back to Salmon Arm. :)
Being that he was in the Engineering faculty at SFU he didn't get summers off, with the exception of the first, which he spent in Salmon Arm working at the church on the expansion/renovation project so we got to spend more time together then. The reason he didn't get any breaks is that, SFU has a Co-op program and so he went on work terms to gain real work experience in the areas he was interested in. His first co-op in January 1999 landed him in Ottawa for 4 months in the dead of winter, and even further from Salmon Arm.
That June I graduated and Ian of course came home for that, later that summer in August we (and my friend Jessica) went to Thetis Island for a week to be counselors at little kids camp, it was a really fun week. At the end of that week we had one day at camp after the kids left and before we left to go back home. Ian had BIG plans for that day. He took me (and Jessica) to Pilkey Point while back at camp he had his sister and a friend sent up 100 plus tea light candles all over Chapel Glenn (which is located at the edge of a rocky bluff that over looks the ocean, very beautiful!) and at the center a ring! Upon arriving back at camp he and I ( no Jessica this time) went for a little walk ending at Chapel Glenn where he asked me to marry him, and I said yes!
Then 8 months later we got married.
We went on a fun honeymoon to Mexico for a week and when we returned back to Canada we moved into our first place together, a basement suit in Coquitlam.
Just before our second anniversary we bought our first home in March of 2002 and that is were we have been living since.
Over the years we have had a lot of fun and adventures, going on holidays, to friends weddings, trips back home to Salmon Arm.
Our "plans" have defiantly been changed over the years, when we got married Ian was "supposed" to have one more year of school left... he is still in school. Granted he has 2 degrees and will soon, fingers crossed have 3.
Ian's graduation for his Bachelors degree 2003
Together at Andrew & Sarah's wedding October 2004.
Christmas 2005, me 8 months pregnant with Marin.
It really has been a wonderful 7 years, we are the bestest of friends and we love each other so incredibly much!
Looking back we can totally see how God had been at work laying things out as we went along. For instance that first co-op in Ottawa was huge in getting Ian the scholarship he has held for the last 4 years, which has been obviously huge financially.
Ian has been in school for coming up on 10 years this fall and we have NO loans! Our bank account is seriously like the few fish and loaves that Jesus fed all those people with, there is always enough, in fact there is more than enough!
And the cherry on top of our amazing sundae is our sweet little Marin! :)
God has BLESSED us again and again and again!
We can't wait to see what the next 7 years and beyond brings!
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