Finally the update you have all been waiting for!

Finally here I am to update you!
I have good news, we are now living in our house!
Unfortunately though things are not exactly what we were expecting. Let me fill you in.
On Aug 22nd we went out to KAUST for our appointment to see our house, it was at 1pm. When we showed up they were not ready for us, our file was missing as were the keys to our house. After about a 45 min wait the keys were found and we were taken to our house.
We went on in to check out our house. Unfortunately it was quite clear that the crew they had in to paint and do some of the finishing work on the house didn't really care at all about the quality of work they were doing. Also neither did the crew they had in to clean.
There were also some things that needed to happen before we could actually move in, one example most of the interior doors all lock and require keys to unlock them, different keys than the one for the front door. This was a problem because the last thing we needed was for one of the kids to lock themselves into one of the rooms! We walked through the house making a list of things that were issues and problems. A couple examples, our fire alarm system had a back up battery fault and would randomly go off, not the actual alarm, but a warning beeping sound, gate latches were missing on the gates at the side entrances to the yard and our garage door was not working. Also many items from our "soft pack" were missing, towels, bedding, pots and pans. Before leaving we prioritized them as to what we needed them to fix before we could actually move in. We figured the other things could be fixed once we got here.
Anyway we left that day discouraged.
On Aug 23rd, Sunday, day 17, Ian went out to the house again (from the hotel it is about a 1 1/2 house drive) to check on things and found that we had keys for the interior doors, and our soft pack items were also in place. We decided that we would move out on Monday.
It should also be noted that Ramadan started during this all which meant that the majority of stores were closed during the day and many other services had shorter day time hours and more night time hours.
This affected moving out to our house. KAUST would arrange for all our luggage to be taken out to our house, we had our rental car, but there was no way all our stuff would fit in it. So the time we were given for our stuff to be picked up was 9pm on Monday night. That afternoon I packed up the hotel room, we had dinner, bathed the kids and put them in their pj's and had our stuff in the lobby ready to go at 9pm. We ended up waiting in the lobby for 50 min! Corban had fallen asleep in my arms and Marin had made friends with some of the other hotel patrons who had given her chocolate cookies. We handed our stuff off to the movers, packed the kids into the car and started off our our 1 1/2 drive. When we arrived at the house we didn't have the playpen for Corban, and we didn't want to put the kids (who were both sleeping) in a bedroom they didn't know in a big house they were not familiar with, so the kids and I hopped straight into Ian and I's bed. Ian had to wait up for our stuff to arrive because he would have to go and meet them at the gates to lead them to our place. He got a call from them at midnight.
So Tuesday morning Aug 25th we awoke for the first time in our new house, Ian and I felt icky after missing out on our shower the night before, and all our stuff was still packed the suitcases. To add to this we couldn't sleep in, we had a doctor's appointment booked for me at the KAUST clinic at 10am. So when the alarm went off we still punched snooze, ha!
I will now back track a little to tell you that on Sunday Corban started not eating well, we pegged it at teething, because that is usual for him. Sunday night though he had a fever, still not totally uncommon for teething. Monday night he had a fever too and was eating even worse. We thought that while we were at the clinic we would also have him checked too.
So off to the clinic we went. Upon arriving we filled out all the paper work for Corban and I being that it was our first time there. I went first, we brought the doctor up to speed on this pregnancy as well as answered all the other questions he had. Then he took us for an ultrasound. :) Baby Foulds #3 is doing wonderfully! Everything is as it should be and the doctor confirmed for us that a little boy is on the way.
Then we saw a different doctor, when he came into the room he was right away cheerful and very engaging with the kids, he also "knew" who we were. He had been following our blog since our visit to KSA in March. Too funny!
He looked Corban over and found that our poor little boy had an ear infection in his left ear. :( This was a first for Corban as well for Ian and I as parents, Marin has never had one. Anyway, antibiotics were prescribed, and we were warned of the symptoms to look for should Corban be allergic to the antibiotics. We walked over to the pharmacy located in the same building and got what we needed and then headed home.
That afternoon we had to go out to get some groceries. There is a mini mart open here on campus, but it does not have all the needs. Corban had his nap on the way to the store, an hour drive. It was the most unpleasant shopping experience I think we have ever had, no fault of the store though. It always takes longer to shop in a store you have never been in, add to that that not all the brands on the shelf are recognizable, nor is all the writing on the products. Then add to that Ian and I were really tired, Marin was tired too and didn't really want to be in the buggy (no way we were letting her out though!) and then there was poor Corban. He decided not long into the shopping trip that he would only be happy if I was carrying him, if not he screamed, poor sick boy and poor pregnant me, I was in some real physical pain by the time it was all over.
We did it though and we all lived to tell about it! And we got food to eat too! Food that we would have in our kitchen that we would make, this has not been the case for 2 months. It is nice. :)
Okay so now here is the funny thing, by the time we got home that night after shopping it was so late and we had grilled cheese and apple slices for dinner, ha!
So for those of you who may be interested a few little observations that we have made about shopping here.
1) Shopping hours during Ramadan: in general grocery stores are open from about 1pm to 6pm, and then re-open again from about 9pm to 2am. This is similar for IKEA. ;)
2) Yogurt only seems to be available in large amounts if it is plan, the flavored kinds only seem to come in the individual serving sizes.
3) Buying in bulk or in large containers is also not something we have seen yet. No 2kg of peanut butter, or 24 rolls of toilet paper in one package for example. Water is a different story though that is sold in all different bottle sizes and amounts per package.
4) We bought peanut butter that was made in Canada, although it is not a brand we have ever seem before, at least not in BC.
Also on a similar note for those of you who missed it on Facebook gas (or petrol as they call it here) is the cheapest I have ever heard of or seen. We filled up our rental car for $6 and it was totally empty!
$6!
Crazy eh!?
Okay so on with things.
Our first 3 days here were rough, Corban was still not totally well, or eating well, we were all tired and not sleeping great, our home didn't feel like ours, we had no internet or phone and couldn't really connect with anyone and we were missing "home".
On Wednesday I had to go back to the clinic to take the pregnancy glucose test which takes 2 hours. In the afternoon Ian made phone calls to have the various departments come and start fixing some of the issues we had with the house. Ian also started moving furniture around to make it more the way we would have things and safer for the kids. That night he also mopped the whole lower level of house. What a guy!
On Thursday morning it was apparent to us that Corban indeed had an allergic reaction to the antibiotics, he had a rash on his back and a bit on his face. We headed to the clinic, again, as we were walking in I said to Ian that we really needed to make an effort to not go back to the clinic the next day. 3 days in a row, or first 3 here, was enough!
Anyway we went in and the same doctor and nurses that had seen him 2 days before were there, and within half hour we were in and out with a new set of antibiotics. By now he had also started eating better too, but was still not totally well.
In the afternoon Ian got the computer up and running, we finally had internet, as weird as it sounds having the computer back up and running made things a bit better, more like "home". We could listen to some of favorite songs on Youtube, Marin had her Backyardigans shows back, the kids could play Webkinz again, we had access to all our pictures and we could connect with family and friends via email, Facebook and Skype.
That night for dinner we took advantage of the free food that is here on campus, we had pizza from Pizza Inn, and when Ian and Marin went to pick it up they also grabbed some ice cream at the mini mart. We all were happy and ate well that night. :)
Since then things have picked up, the kids and I have been enjoying heading over to the "Island Oasis" in the mornings to play, it is super close to our house a block at the most. Corban is eating better, we are happy to be making our own food, and eating together just as a family, not in a big restaurant. Last night we even went for a little family walk after dinner. I think we will be okay here. :)
There is still lots to do, there are still things on our list for the house that need to be dealt with, and the first day of class starts on Sept 5th, four days from now. Ian will be teaching his first class on Sunday Sept 6th, his class will run on Sunday and Tuesday afternoons.
We also want to work at making this house our own. My brain has been working overtime on furniture, colors, arrangements, and all sorts of decorating ideas.
Our air freight has already arrived here in KSA and should be clearing customs today or tomorrow. Then shortly after that it will be on it's way to us. We are very much looking forward to getting it. It will be like Christmas. :) Our sea freight is due to arrive here on Oct 1st.
Marin will be starting preschool on Sept 26th, the date for that was originally Sept 5th as well but it was decided that preschool through to Grad 12 would begin after Ramadan this year to allow people to settle into their houses and life here, that and many people will still be arriving throughout the month of September.
There is still lots to be done here at KAUST, one thing being the beach. The sea shore along here is quite shallow and so a little ways down the beach from us they are building the Island recreation center, right on the beach. Sand will be brought in and also a bike path is in the works that will come down the beach towards our place. When you stand in front of our house the beach is to the right. To the left is the yacht club as well as the beacon. We have an awesome view of the beacon from our front balcony. They are making good progress on the beacon, it is already much taller then when we first arrived here. I am looking forward to evening walks down the breakwater to the beacon. :)
And now finally some pictures that I know so many of you have been wanting to see! :)
In all the pictures Ian has, at my request :) moved the furniture around and or removed things entirely. The maids room and the 3rd bedroom upstairs are currently storage rooms for all the excess stuff. Anyway here they are.

Where we are at.

So, last I wrote we were on day 11, Monday, what I didn't tell you about day 10 (Sunday) though was that late that evening we got an email announcing that they were going to start allowing people to move into their houses! I didn't say anything because I know how it goes... never the way they say it will!
We had been hearing rumors that many of the houses had been finished since the end of July, but that they were not clean or set up for people to move yet. Also that the roads and other necessary buildings like grocery stores and what not, were not ready. Workers were still everywhere, and it was not really safe for people to be living there.
So anyway the email instructed us to make an appointment 48 hours (or more) from the time we phoned to tour the house, pick up the keys and find out anything else we needed too. Ian got on the phone right away and set up an appointment for Wednesday at 5 pm after he was done work for the day.
HOORAY!!!
Right?
Nope!
See this is why I did not tell you all.
We were supposed to received email confirmations to set up a few more details. When Ian got back from work on Tuesday (day 12) and there was still no email, he called, there was no record of our appointment!
Hello fuming angry pregnant lady!
He spent some more time on the phone being sent from one person to the other, finally it was set up that he would be able to go see the house, but that it wouldn't be ready because they didn't have the time at the at point to have it all clean and ready for us.
Fine.
So on Wednesday (day 13) he went, nothing was of course ready and he got no keys.
(He was able to confirm though that even though we don't have a complete sea view that we will be able to see bits of the sea from our house! :) Here is a link to the post where I showed a picture of the location.)
We are now on the afternoon of day 15 (Friday) and still in the hotel. We tried to get things fixed, but we're getting nowhere. We made a new appointment for this coming Sunday morning so we shall see.
I really hope to have good news to share soon!
There was nothing else mush to share from days 12 and 13, Ian was gone both days all day. The bus leaves here in the morning at 6:30am and doesn't return until 6pm. Wednesday he didn't arrive back until 8pm.
Those are really, really long days for us here at the hotel, too long for a pregnant lady 2 1/2 months away from having a baby, chasing around a 3 1/2 and 1 1/2 year old. I also will add that our hotel room is the second furthest room from the restaurant and hotel lobby, it seriously feels like walking a kilometer each time we have to go anywhere. And add to that Corban has to be carried for large portions of it because otherwise he tries to play with all the stuff we pass in the hallway. The cleaning trolleys for room service, the privacy signs on the other rooms, having a seat in the chairs we pass along the way, you know all that good stuff a little boy needs to check out. Can you tell I am done living in a hotel? That, and I never really wanted to live here in the first place!
Anyway...
Yesterday was day 14, the weekend "Saturday". In the morning our rental car was dropped off for us and Ian went out to the IOB to pick up the Iquamas for the kids and I, and also some diapers, we were down to 2 left! His first solo driving experience went well, he only go honked at once. :) They honk a lot here and lets just say that their driving is a little less "structured" then ours is back in Canada. :)
Later in the afternoon the 4 (5) of us headed out on a little adventure, first we drove to the car rental place to give them our credit card imprint and then it was off to one of the many malls. We went to Al Roshan mall, it is at the end of Jeddah closest to KAUST and we wanted to see what what is in it. Toys R Us, (very important!), a Mother Care (kind of like "Please Mum, but with a few added baby accessories, like soothers, strollers, and bottles etc.), an ECL (Early Childhood Learning with nice toys and stuff for kids), and a Hyper Panda (very similar to Superstore in Canada) among many other stores. We had supper at Chili's, and looked around and just enjoyed being out and about. We headed back to the hotel for bath time, and were pleased that we made the whole trip without getting lost or honked at, in fact Ian did the honking! I can tell already he is going to pick up some interesting driving habits. :)
So today, day 15, Friday ("Sunday") we went for a walk along the sea wall here by the hotel this morning and now Ian is getting some work done while Corban naps, Marin watches some VeggieTales and I bring you all up to speed.
More later, with in theory good house news!
:)

I am sure some of you noticed that this post was lacking in the picture department, sorry, I have nothing to share. I do have a post in the works though that will give you a picture overload, so I am sure that will make up for it.

A bit of an update about the baby belly ~29 weeks, and life in the hotel.

I can't believe I am 29 weeks already! So much has been going on that being pregnant has kind of been put on the back burner. I remember last time after being pregnant with Corban that after he was born I felt like I had so much more energy and that I felt "normal" again, I imagine this time it will be even more noticeable!
I have been waking up really early in the mornings since arriving here, around 5am, and I am sure there is a combination of things to blame for that. #1 jetlag, #2 needing to pee for the 2nd of 3rd time that night, thanks to the growing little one inside me, #3 Corban squawking a bit because he can't find his soother, and #4 once I am awake at that time my brain goes into over drive and I can't stop thinking about all the things I will want and need to do once we finally get into our house!
My hips are still in bad shape, but I don't expect that to get any better until after this little one has arrived.
This little guy is getting bigger and stronger and he moves around quite a bit. More so than Marin did, but a little less than Corban, I think anyway. He also doesn't get hiccups very often. It was interesting switching time zones like we did, I think he was still doing his normal routine so I got to see what he was up to at night time. :) He was pretty wiggly. I think he has started to change again to match more of what I am doing though. We are looking forward to meeting this little guy and finding out what his personality is like. :)
Anyway we managed to snap a few pictures this week, unfortunately we don't have a tape measure with us so no numbers this week.
Onto a bit of what we are up to while living in a hotel.
When I last left you we were on day 6 so onto day 7, the "weekend". I think I mentioned a long while ago that here in Saudi Arabia the weekend is Thursday and Friday. I think this is going to take a bit of getting used to, the whole "weekend" we were calling Thursday Saturday and Friday Sunday. Ha ha.
Anyway day 7, the morning was spent with Ian doing some work, I straightened up a bit and unpacked a few more things and played with the kids. In the afternoon there was some napping on all 4 of our parts and Ian organized a beach day for Friday. There are no public beaches here that you can go swimming at, but there are private beaches, you pay a fee to get in and you can wear a bathing suit and do normal beachy type things.
So day 8, beach day! We took a rented mini bus along with another couple and headed out at 9:30am on our little adventure. The beach was about 45 min away and we had a fun drive there seeing parts of the Corniche we had not seen before. We arrived at the beach paid our fee and headed in. There were sun shades with tables and chairs, and lounge chairs on the beach. There was a snack hut with burgers, hot dogs, drinks and all that.
We got into our swimsuits and got out the kids little inflatable rings and headed into the water. It was SO warm! And SO fun to just hang out and relax in the water. Marin and Corban loved it, they played in the sand and splashed in the water. We enjoyed hot dogs and fries for lunch and without trying improved our tans, we of course had sunscreen on. :) At 1pm the bus picked us up again and we headed back to the hotel for some naps. It was a good day.
(I unfortunatly have no pictures to share, one of the beach rules was no cameras, and although others were not following the rule we thought it best to do so. I am sure you will get your fill of pictures of us at the beach in the years to come though. :) )
Day 9 "Monday" (Saturday) nothing stands out as a major event for that day, they are blending together a lot... Day 10 though Ian went and got his drivers license. Here is how the test went, 4 of them got in the car, it was a standard, the first guys drove forward 10 feet around a pylon. They switched drivers, the second guys backed up the same way the first guy had come. The third and fourth did the same. Ian got to drive backwards, he passed. Ha!
And onto day 11 today. Ian had a meeting this morning out at the KUAST campus, and was gone all day, the kids and I filled our day with eating, "hotel playgroup" with the other kids and moms that are here, naps, and a "hotel room playdate" with Belky and her girls.
So there you have it, I will leave you with a couple pictures.
Vegging, watching VeggieTales.
Marin saw me trying to take a picture of them and decided that the best look would be this, nice right?

A very bubbly bubble bath.

No bubble bath picture of Marin, poor girl is not over the the jetlag yet, at bed time she is so tired that she is in "melt-down mode" and tonight she told us that she didn't like bubble bathes which is SO not the case. She also ask to go to bed now and after prayers, a little song and good night hugs and kisses she basically kicks us out of the room saying "I want to sleep now". Such a change from before!

***
For those of you interested I have added a couple more links of the professional photos of KAUST to the side bar.

The Goods on Our Big Move.

~Prepare for what may be my longest post yet~

So we are here now and it is unfortunately not all daisys and roses.
Let me fill you all in.
Our trip here began on August 5th, we were in Salmon Arm and had been there since June 30th. The plan was to fly out of Vancouver, (a 5 hour drive from Salmon Arm for those of you who may not know) on August 6th.
We woke up bright and early on the 5th to read the very disappointing news via an email sent to Ian, that our house was not ready for us, and that temporary accommodation would be waiting for us. No other details though, like when the house would be ready and what temporary accommodations we would be getting.
This was 2 hours before we planned to leave, to say that I was not impressed would be a HUGE understatement!
Ian got on the phone right away to find out more details. Our new move in date was not yet known, we would find that out the day after we arrived, and the temporary accommodations was a hotel.
Obviously (because we are now in KSA) we kept on with the plan and packed up and headed out of Salmon Arm, we were on the road by 9:15am.
We stopped at Ian's grandparents on the way to say good bye and then went to the airport to check in an unload. At 6pm we met Dorothy, Mary Ann, and Brian at a nearby restaurant for dinner and good-byes, and they took our van for us.
By the time that was all said and done it was time for the kids to have a bath and to bed, we all had a good night sleep.
On the morning of the 6th after breakfast and a few last minute packing details we checked out and got all our stuff over to the check in counter so we could send it on it's way.
We were a bit of a sight as we made our way through the airport. Ian was pushing one fully loaded cart and pulling a second fully loaded cart. I was pushing a loaded stroller with Corban in it and had Marin on her safety harness.
Once we had checked in we headed to the lounge for some lunch and then spent our time wandering the airport.
Playing on the bobsled at one of the Olympic displays.
Checking out one of the many water features.
The kids both liked the aquarium,
and Corban totally loved the escalators (the flat ones, by our gate there was a set of 2 going in both directions, Ian took him to ride them over and over again, Corban thought it was awesome!).
At 4pm we boarded the plane and at 4:30pm we took off on our 10 hour flight. It was bye-bye Oh Canada... We had window seats, Marin and Ian sat in front of Corban and I. For take off Corban sat on my lap with a special child's seat belt. He fell asleep during take off, poor guy missed his afternoon nap, and he slept for a long while.
Marin and Ian played with some of the toys we had along.
Marin had a melt down at dinner time, but after that fell asleep, and slept for the majority of the flight.
Corban was up for a little while in the middle of the flight, but fell asleep again for the end, Ian and I managed to get some sleep too so that was good.
We landed in Frankfurt for a 2 hour layover, it was just enough time for us to get to our connecting gate and give the kids a bit of time to stretch their legs.
Once on the plane we settled in for a 5 hour and 20 min ride, this time we had one window seat, Marin sat in that with me beside her and Ian and Corban sat across the isle from us. Corban sat on Ian's lap during take off and again he fell asleep.
Once we were in the air Ian moved him to the seat beside him and he slept the whole way except for the last 30 min. Marin watched some shows both from the selection on the plane and a few on the portable DVD player.
This meant that even Ian and I got to watch a couple movies!
When we arrived in Saudi Arabia it was 8pm, I put on my abaya and took the kids off the plane, Ian got to handle all the carry-ons. When you get off the plane at the airport in Jeddah you go down onto the tarmac and then take a bus to the airport. The kids and I were ahead of Ian getting off the plane and I thought he was behind me coming out the same door of the plane, we waited at the top of the stairs for him, it was taking a while, but he did have 6 bags! After a bit more waiting, I realized he had gone out the other door of the plane and was on the tarmac with all our bags. I looked over the edge of the stairs to see him running back to the plane from the bus after looking for us in there. Ooops, silly me. I called to him and thankfully he heard me. Poor guy.
Our stroller was waiting for us on the tarmac so we put Corban in it, Marin already had her harness on, and then we hopped on the bus.
We entered the airport and found the KAUST representative there to meet us. He took us to the front of the line at customs and took care of all the details. Ian and I had our finger prints and pictures taken (a normal process since we were going to be residents) and all 4 of us had our passports stamped. We then went to collect our luggage, we had 8 pieces, and it all arrived!
3 other professors had arrived at the same time we did, so once we all had our luggage we headed out to the SUVs to load up and head to the hotel. Ian quickly installed the car seats for the kids, our luggage was loaded into the vehicle for us and we were off, it was about a 30 min drive.
Once we checked in and were in our room we ordered up a big batch of room service, we were all really hungry! None of us could stomach the airplane food on the second flight and snacks only go so far. While we waited for our food we showered off and got into our pj's, when our food arrived we stuffed our faces and then passed out in bed, we were all so tired!
I don't really remember what time we woke up the next morning but after breakfast Ian and some of the other new faculty and staff went to the IOB (Interim Office Building for KAUST here in Jeddah) to get the whole paper work process started for their iqamas, medical, and ID cards.
The kids and I after breakfast (room service) went out to explore the hotel a bit and get some fresh air.
This is one of the courtyards at the hotel, the water in the distance is the Red Sea (we can also see the Sea from our hotel room window)
Marin's first time by the Red Sea, she was all about making silly faces.
(and yes she is wearing her harness, she wanted too, she named it Lyla, I wanted her to wear it too, I was tired and didn't want to have to chase her!)
Corban's fist time by the Red Sea,
I asked him to say "cheese" for me, I got "cheese" with a bit of "gerr baby" mixed in.
Then he flashed me a good one.
These kids are too cute!!!
Ian wasn't gone for that long and arrived back mid afternoon. He brought with the bad news that our new move date was now Aug 27th.
Now comes my rant! I think I am allowed one after all this! If you don't want to read it skip this section, but this is MY blog and I am ranting!
***
Aug 27th!!!!! That is 20 days in a hotel with 2 small kids! Now I know what some of you are thinking, room service, no having to cook our own meals, house keeping, laundry service, blah, blah, blah, how bad can it be?
Well...
We have 2 joining rooms, yes 2 rooms, that are large, but still in total is less space then we had in our town house. They are not kid friendly rooms, lots of sharp corners, marble floors with no rugs, glass tables, high beds, things like phones where they can reach them, if you have little kids I am sure you can imagine. The food is fancy, the whole hotel is fancy, not kid friendly. The hotel pool is not operational yet (the hotel is brand new and not fully open yet) and even if it were it is for men only. Outside yes there is the Red Sea, but it is a big rocky boldery shoreline that is down a 8 foot drop off along the walk way. The courtyard with the fountains is full of sharp marble edges, the lobby is also full of marble and sharp edges with pillars they can disappear behind and stairs for Corban to fall down.
We have had 4 different move dates and now 2 different dates that our house would be ready. We have made our plans according to the dates we have been told and have been flexible and adapted when they have changed. We have been in "transition" since Ian was offered the job in the end of November. The preparation to sell our house, the actual selling of the house, the moving into a rental because we couldn't move to KAUST yet, the moving in with my parents for 5 weeks because we still couldn't move to KAUST, and now this!
Baby Foulds #3 will be here in less than 3 months, I want to be able to get our house ready and set up before he arrives. Being pregnant makes all of this harder, physically I am just not as able as when I am not, and this will only get worse as time goes on.
I want to be able to get some sort of "normality" for the kids, in an environment that we have set up for them. I want to cook again, it has already been 6 weeks since I have been in my "own" kitchen, I like to cook and I like the food I cook.
I am done being in transition, I don't want to be "homeless" anymore, I want to go/create a new "home"!
Okay I think my rant is done.
***
So day 2 we worked at "kid proofing" our hotel rooms, we removed 3 of the 6 phones, had one of the 2 single beds removed as well as the base of the second so that it is now a mattress is on the floor as Marin's bed. We got a playpen from the hotel for Corban as well we had 2 of the 4 arm chairs removed. We positioned a few other things differently to shield the kids from running into sharp corners and we got a driver and took a trip to IKEA.
I HEART IKEA!
Even though we are in a totally different county and 95% of the signage was in Arabic we still knew where everything was and how to get what we needed, it was so nice to be in a familiar place. We got a rug, some toys, 2 clocks (the hotel has no clocks in any of the rooms), 2 high chairs with trays (the hotel has only one high chair) and a few other odds and ends. It has made a big difference!
Day 3 I went and got the medical portion of my paper work done for my iqama, and in the evening Ian took a trip out to get a few more things, toothpaste, Cheerios, a kettle to boil water, and peanut butter. He was also looking for cell phones, but didn't find what he was looking for that night.
Day 4 Ian had to head out to the KAUST campus for a meeting and to pick up his new laptop from IT, he was gone from 7:30am till 6pm. The kids and I managed well that day until the very end when jetlag was really setting in and it was getting close to dinner time.
The kids enjoying one of the last gingersnap cookies Oma sent for them.

Jetlag seems to hit us the worst between 4:30 and 6pm, we are 10 hours ahead of you guys over in BC so once that time of day hits here it is like we have been up all night and it is early morning for our bodies. I am also finding it really hard to eat dinner, I think because at that time my body is more in breakfast mode. Slowly the jetlag is lessening though, Ian, Marin and I are now able to make it though the day without a nap, but we are ready for early bedtimes that is for sure.
Anyway onto day 5, Ian was supposed to head out to KAUST again, but I was not up to another day with the kids and I stuck in the hotel on our own, so he stayed with us and got to work finding out what could be done about getting a large conference room set aside as a playroom for the kids, there are many other young kids here and more are arriving in the days to come. Things are in the works for a daycare/playgroup room so that is in theory supposed to be ready for Saturday. Also on day 5 the Ketchersons arrived. :) Marin and Elana have seemed to hit it off and have enjoyed playing together, Corban and Victoria enjoy getting in on the fun that their older sisters create. I am glad they have little friends to play with now, and that we are getting a chance to chat with Dave & Belky too. :)
This brings me to today, day 6, Thursday, which here in Saudi Arabia is the first day of the weekend, so it is like Saturday. We actually "slept in" till 7:30am this morning and by we I mean Ian and the kids. Corban has been waking up at about 4am and then coming in bed with Ian and I, he is going back to sleep again, but a restless, wiggly sleep. I have not been able to fall back asleep again so that has allowed me some time to work on this very large blog post. Ha ha!
After breakfast this morning I sent some of our clothes to be laundered, and Ian worked at getting his laptop set up while the kids watched a VeggieTales. Later in the morning we went out for a walk along the sea wall, the wind here is great, Ian can't wait to get a chance to go sailing!
This morning, playing with stickers.
(and oh yeah we thankfully packed two gates, so we are using one to separate the rooms, we called the kids side with all the toys the "fun side".)
Having fun playing on the lawn of the hotel grounds.
Giving me the "okay mom I'll look at the camera again" look.
Anyway so that is where we are at, we are trying to remain positive and get through these next couple weeks. Pray for us if you think of us please, and that our house would be ready when they say it will this time.

Hello from the Foulds 5 in KSA!!

So we made it!
The flights went well and all our luggage arrived too!
Our house is not ready though...
We are stuck in a hotel...
I have loads to share, but I need to get the kids and I over jetlag first.

Our KAUST House Near the Red Sea Shore.

So time for an update on our big move...
First we got our housing assignment, and we are pretty excited about the location of it.
Look how close we are to the Red Sea! And the yacht club! As well as an early childhood learning center!
(This is a picture (of the scale model in the show tent) Ian took during his last visit to KAUST at that point we didn't know which house was going to be ours and he just happened to get a picture from an angle that our house is in.)
(If you click on the picture it will come up much larger.)

Secondly you may have noticed that the number of days left on the count down (on the side bar) has increased, not decreased. Along with our housing assignment came the news that our house would not be ready for us until August 7th. We were originally set to arrive on August 1st and were offered a hotel for the week, but a week in a hotel with toddler, a preschooler, and a husband who needs to work, along with the fact that I will be 27 weeks pregnant was not at all appealing to us. So we opted to have our flights changed, we will now be flying out on August 6th and arriving at KAUST on August 7th.
And third we got our visa, so now we can all officially enter KSA.
Yay!
We are still plugging away at preparing all our stuff for shipping, and getting all our paper work and what not in order.
Moving to the other side of the earth is a LOT of work!

Ian's June visit to KAUST.

Here I am finally finishing up this post...
In June there was a KAUST faculty meeting, it was held in Jeddah and some of the meetings took place out at the KAUST site.
We were all set for Ian to take lots of pictures, he snapped as many as he could and even took some video.
(He would like me to let you all know that many of the pictures were taken from a moving bus or through a dusty lens, so please excuse the less then perfectness of them.)
This is just a picture he took of the sky, I like it so you all get to see it. :)

Ian even had a few people to come up and chat with him and comment that they have read our blog. (Hello to all of you!)
One of those people is Aram. He is a fellow Canadian. He wanted to be on the blog too.
Everyone say Hello Aram.

Hello Aram from Kristin Foulds on Vimeo.

So onto pictures I know you all want to see!
This set is all of the university buildings.

A video of the view from the inside of the university buildings.

Panoramic view from KAUST university building. from Kristin Foulds on Vimeo.

This second set of pictures is of mix of both the inside and outside of the university buildings as well as some of the other buildings at KAUST.

This last set is a mix of shots from around KAUST.

And last but not least a video with snippets from the inside of a 3 bedroom house they toured through. (Again, Ian wanted to say sorry it moves a little fast, but he had to take the video very quickly so that he didn't get left behind.)

3 Bedroom House from Kristin Foulds on Vimeo.

So there you have it.

Wont be long and we'll be living there!
:)

A Date!

We have a date!
We have 4 plane tickets!
July 31st is the day we fly!
We will arrive at KAUST, our new home on August 1st!
Hooray!

I have put a count down on the side bar, 33 days until we leave!

Bye SFU.

SFU, Simon Fraser University has been a large part of our lives, especially Ian's. He started his undergrad degree there in September of 1997.
Now almost 12 years later he is married (for over 9 years), with 2 children and #3 on the way, has earned 3 degrees, bought and sold a house, has made many friends and memories, and temporarily lived up here at SFU, while we wait to move to KSA. The time has come to leave now though, and I know he will miss it.
While living up here the kids and I have taken many walks over to the campus to just play around and enjoy the sunny weather.
SFU is located at the top of Burnaby Mountain, and has a spectacular 360* view. Architecturally the campus is full of very straight lines and has a very large courtyard called the academic quadrangle. In the quadrangle there are sculptures, the reflecting pond, and well trimmed hedges with straight lines keeping in sync with the buildings.
If any of you watch any of the Si-fi shows like Stargate, or Battlestar Galactica then you have seen many shots of SFU, it has been used a lot in the filming of those shows.

On June 30th we will be packing up a U-haul and heading to Salmon Arm, we will stay there until we head to KSA. We will sort through all our belongings and decide what we want to have shipped to our new home at KAUST, and what we will pass along to others.

Things are really happening now, our big move is becoming real.
We will miss the lower mainland, it has been our home, we are ready to move on though, we always knew that this was not going to be forever.

We are not saying good bye forever. I know we will be back for visits, but until then, good bye Coquitlam, good bye lush green Vancouver mainland and good bye SFU.

More KAUST Pictures.

I was sent a link to some recent professionally done pictures of the construction of the KAUST campus by our friends Jason & Rebecca, they were on our tour of KAUST and KSA with us.
KAUST is going to be huge and amazing!
When you are looking at the pictures to get a perspective of size keep in mind that the palm trees are at least 15 feet tall.
We are getting very excited to go! :)

Also thank you so much for those of you who left a comment introducing yourself on my last post, it will be nice to meet you in person soon. If you sent me an email I plan to write back to you.

So anyway here is the link to the pictures of KAUST.

Also on a related note I have added a weather bug to the side bar of the blog with the current temperature in Jeddah.
When you are looking at it note the time of day it is right above it.
It's gonna be HOT!

Serching for KAUST?

We have a stat counter on the blog, two actually.
You can see evidence of one near the bottom of the side bar, it has been there since sometime in November of 2006, I added it five months after I stated the blog.
I added the second one, Google Analyics in March 2008.
I find it interesting to look at the stats and see the keyword search phrases and words people use while looking on the world wide web that end up bringing them to our blog.
Many of the search words and phrases contain our name Foulds, people looking for us, a extended family member or someone else who shares the same last name as us.
There are also lots of hits with people looking for Dr. Ian Foulds, or variations there of. (If that is you here is Ian's work bio.)
What I have found really interesting the past little while though is the traffic we get from people using keywords that contain KAUST.
I'll give you the break down with some numbers.

December 1st 2008 was the first time KAUST appeared on our blog.
Since then we have had 4751 visits to the blog.
Of those 4751 visits 791 have been keyword visits.
Of those 791 visits 363 keywords or phrases have been used.
Of those 363 keywords 92 keywords have contained our last name so 25%.
Also of those 363 keywords 113 have contained the word KAUST so 31%.
Breaking it down a little more of the 363 keywords or phrases (many get used multiple times) 368 individual visits have contained our last name that works out to 47%.
245 individual visits have contained the word KAUST and that works out to 31%.

So are any of you still with me?
I am not even sure it I am still with me, but whatever, it is late.
Clearly we are getting a lot of visitors looking for KAUST information, I think that is neat.
What I like even better though is that some of the people searching for KAUST who found our blog have contacted us via email (address on the side bar) or left a comment. We have had a chance to start getting to know each other and share information and experiences about our big move before we even get to KAUST. It will be nice to not all be complete strangers when we get there. :)

So if you were searching for information about KAUST and you arrived to this post then contact us or leave a comment and say hi. :)

Move #1 done.

So we moved on May 7th, and would like to say a
BIG
HUGE
THANK YOU
to my brothers Michael and Mark for coming to help us move and also to my parents for letting us borrow the truck so the boys could take a load of our stuff back to Salmon Arm to store and to mom for sending dinner and dessert to feed us all the day we moved.
The move went smoothly and we are now settled into our rental. We only took the stuff with us to the rental that we will be using between now and our big move. We aren't going to go through the effort of hanging pictures here, so our walls look a little bare, but it is only going to be for 2 months.
Yesterday morning we went to the notary to do the official sign off on our house. It is kinda strange not to be living there anymore. Ian and I lived there for 7 years. I think what we miss the most is the area we lived, all the parks and everything so close by. We'll have that back once we get to KAUST though!
We don't have an official move date yet, but we are aiming for July 15th.
That is 2 months and 2 days from now!!!
There is a lot to be done between now and then, I started making a massive "to do list"!

And so this post isn't completely lacking in cuteness, here are a couple pictures and a video of Marin and Corban playing with playdoh for the last time at our old place.

They have been really enjoying it lately and can spend up to an hour playing together with it. Once they are done there is a massive mess, and Corban usually requires a clean set of clothes, but oh well.

I like how they interact with each other in this video, they are working on sharing and for the most part to a pretty good job.

M&C playing Playdoh from Kristin Foulds on Vimeo.

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.

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...