Birthday Extravaganza

Last Thursday we threw a party for Brooks' and our friend, Micah's 27th birthdays.  Brooks' birthday isn't until March 8th, but we wanted to celebrate with all our Saudi friends before we left so we planned a joint party.  It was a lot of fun, with all our close friends.  Stephanie and I decided we wanted to go all out for the party so we splurged and bought 2 USDA certified briskets to fix, we cooked lots of side dishes, and had, what else, birthday cake!  It just so happened that Thursday was also one of our other good friends' actual birthday so we added her to the party invite and made it a group birthday bash.  We love our Saudi friends and can't imagine what life would be like without all these wonderful people.  It's nice to celebrate together and enjoy each other's company.  

Everyone just hanging out after eating dinner.  I think we might have all been too stuffed to move. 

All the guys and kids played outside

 Micah and Brooks checking out their basketball cake. One of the kids was claiming what piece she wanted. 

This is Melissa. It was also her birthday.  She loves Tiffany and Co jewelry and actually got a bracelet from her sweet husband for Valentine's day.  He called and asked me if I'd male her a cake to look like her Tiffany Jewelry box.  She was pretty excited when she saw it!

Singing Happy Birthday

Us with Brooks cake.  

The aftermath.

The party was a blast and we're so glad we got to celebrate as a big group.  Brooks will get a few more birthday celebrations while we're home in the coming weeks.  It will be like his birthday month! 

 Brooks and Micah play basketball with a group of guys every Tuesday, and now Sundays.  They love it and have enjoyed getting to have guy time.  Making a basketball cake seemed like the best thing to make that worked for both the guys.  

 The Tiffany Jewelry Cake.  After making this cake, I learned that several of the ladies on our compound all have gotten jewelry from Tiffany and Co and they all still have the blue box it came in, with the bow.  

Watching, Waiting, and Riding

I realized I haven't been posting about things going on with us, other then specific events that are accompanied with photos, so I thought I'd take some time and catch you up on things in the Perry World.

I titled this post Watching, Waiting, and Riding because those are 3 things we've been doing a lot of lately.

WATCHING- we've been watching the events transpiring in Bahrain for the past two weeks.  What started out as a peaceful protest in a very popular area of Bahrain (one that we visited or passed on each occasion that we visited Bahrain) turned differently in the middle of the night.  We've never been in danger and there was never a BIG risk that something could over flow into Bahrain's neighboring country, Saudi, but none the less, we still kept our eye on things and we have prepared all of our emergency documents just incase we ever did have to get out.

Originally, when we first signed on to this project we were going to be living in Bahrain.  In 2003, there was an attack on an Expat compound, which was what prompted our company into moving all the families out of Saudi and into Bahrain.  Then, 5 years later, and no sign of any threats or activities on Westerners in the country, companies started moving their families back into Saudi.  We still have families living in Bahrain who are either being grandfathered over into Saudi and must return by 2012 or families with high school aged kids.  We were concerned for them and eventually our company started evacuating them over to Saudi.  It was a voluntary evacuation and was used to allow families a place where they could be incase the presence of military tanks escalated things.  Never thought in a million years the company would have to evacuate families INTO The Kingdom.  I always figured we'd evacuate to Bahrain.  The entire time these events have been transpiring, our companies security advisor who lives in Bahrain, was on the ground monitoring things for everyone.  He provided daily updates for the company and everyone stayed safe. I'm very grateful that during this time in the Middle East, we will be heading back to the USA.

Speaking of the USA.... we've been WAITING.  We've been waiting for Miles' passport.  I'm happy to say that it arrived at the US Consulate's office yesterday morning and I went and picked it up (along with Miles birth certificate) to get it in our hands.  We've been waiting for it for several weeks, but needed it quickly, in order to get Miles a visa, which allows him to get in and out of Saudi Arabia, as well as put him on Brooks' Igama, which serves as proof of the purpose for living in the country.  Our Government Relations Officer needed two days to get all the paper work taken care of and thankfully, we should have all of Miles stuff done by Wednesday in order to allow us to get on a plane Thursday morning.  We've been praying a lot for his passport to make it here on time and it just happened that we applied for it in the middle of the US changing their entire printing of passports internationally.  We even had started discussing changing our flights because we didn't think we'd get them in time, but we did!!!  Woo hoo!

Yes, we're coming home to the USA on Thursday!  We're so excited and can't wait.  We started telling Gavin that he gets to ride on a plane and that's all he keeps talking about.  I'm brainstorming ideas of what we need to bring with us and am having to create strategic plans in order to bring the least amount of stuff so that we can have lots of room in our suitcases to bring items and necessities back with us.  We can't wait to see all of our family, let everyone meet Miles, spend time with friends, eat at restaurants, go shopping without getting kicked out for prayer,  drive our selves around.... ooohhh I just got an idea for a new post... so I'll stop there for all the things we're looking forward to.  Brooks gets to be home for 3 weeks, but has to return to work at the end of the month.  The boys and I are going to stay until mid April, which will give us plenty of time to do all the things we want to!  Our schedules pretty jam packed as it is and we've made plans months ago to travel to Arkansas, Houston, Baton Rouge, and have family from Colorado come visit us.  oooohhhh--- I'm so excited I can't wait.

The 3rd part of this post has to with Riding.  You may or may not have seen on my facebook status a week ago a conversation that Brooks and I had, but it had to do with a vehicle that came and picked us up one evening to go to the store in.  Our convo went like this:

Brooks: Lindsey, don't freak out okay.
Me: Why would I freak out?
Brooks: Because you're about to ride in one of the BPV's.
Me: What's a BPV?
Brooks: Bullet Proof Vehicle.
Me: ........................ (this was me just staring at him)

This was honestly a conversation I thought I'd NEVER have, like ever!  I learned however, that I actually prefer that vehicle a lot.  It's bigger.  The windows are tinted, not to mention when you knock on the glass it doesn't make a sound, at all!  These vehicles were used years ago when they transported the men working in Saudi back and forth from Bahrain (where their families lived).  Incase you were wondering, no, there was no special reason the BPV's came out last week, other then that some of our normal vehicles were getting serviced, leaving the transportation department short.  I must say after reading several facebook comments and getting emails about BPV's-- I have never once felt like my life was in danger since I've lived here.  We don't feel threatened, nor do we feel that we're in harms way.  Sure, we're cautious and have been encouraged to watch for certain things in public, or not to go in certain places, but for the most part, life is pretty normal here.  Besides, the punishment for someone doing something illegal is pretty severe, not many people want to risk getting caught doing "illegal" things.

Hope this post finds you and your family doing well.  We'll be home soon and can't wait to see many of you!  

Laissez Les Bons Temps Rouler

We had the chance to celebrate Mardi Gras here in the Kingdom and had a blast "Letting the Good Times Roll".   Our friends, Micah and Stephanie, hosted a Murder Mystery Party with a Mardi Gras theme.  We all were given specific roles to play, suggestions on how to dress the part, and got to eat some delicious gumbo and king cake.  What a way to feel like we were home.

I won't give away too many details about the game incase any of you ever get the chance to play it, but it was based on a New Orleans millionaire who lived in a large Chateau and he is killed in his home.  The object of the game is to figure out who is guilty.  We all were given scripts to follow throughout the evening, which gave clues to one another.  

Brooks was a chef named Cayenne Pepper.  His motto the entire night was "Turn Up the Heat"and "Stay out of my Kitchen".  

Our friend Brent was a jazz musician.  He had a great southern accent throughout the whole game.

Here's all the girls.  From left to right, we had the gothic neighbor, daddy's little rich girl, the "wife", a girlfriend of the musician, and I was the maid.

The guys were hysterical and really got into their parts.  From left to right, there was the lawyer, the hick boyfriend of the daughter, Micah didn't have an actual part, the nephew musician, and Brooks was the chef.

Stephanie really out did her self with lots of fun decorations and delicious food.

The yummy king cake!

My script.  My name was Elise St. Gresch.

Stephanie reading the Police Report to start the game.

It just so happened that Brooks and I were paired together and we were the mansion workers.  We secretly were in love throughout the game.... many thought that was our motive to get rid of our boss.   

The night was so much fun.  Everyone really outdid themselves getting into character and playing the parts the best they could.  What a great way to celebrate Mardi Gras on this side of the world.  Thanks Steph and Micah for giving us some memories we'll remember for years to come.

Be Mine

For Valentine's Day, Brooks and I were able to go on a date minus both our kids!  Since we've moved here in August, we've only gone solo out to eat maybe twice, so this was a special treat.  We went to dinner and spent the evening enjoying adult conversation, uninterrupted.  It was really nice to be on a date together and get to enjoy one another's company without any distractions.  I love you babe!  Thanks to the Ford's for watching Gavin and The Sperling's for watching Miles!

We actually went to dinner the night before Valentine's Day, so I was able to make Valentine's Day really special for Brooks and Gavin.  For breakfast, Gavin got heart shaped toast (we were running late for school so I couldn't make the traditional heart shaped pancakes for him).  I made Brooks his favorite meal that I cook (Chicken Enchilada's) and whipped up a Valentine's cake for everyone to enjoy.  

Hope your day was filled with love!

Upstairs

It's taken me a few days, but as I promised, here are the pictures of our upstairs.  

This is the craft room.  It stores all of my crafting supplies: my cricut, scrapbook materials, paints, and everything else.  When you walk up the stairs, this is the room you walk into.  It is in between the master bedroom (on the right) and the two boys rooms (to the left).  I've loved having this room because all my stuff is out of the way and not scattered along our kitchen table.  So, whenever I want to work on something, I can start a project and not rush to have it all picked up, since it has a place to stay.  The big piece of furniture on the right was what Brooks and I got each other for Christmas.  The front "doors" of the cabinet are actual real, authentic doors from India.  We loved the look of them and liked even more that we could use this piece of furniture in various places in house to come.  Plus, it acts as a great storage area for the time being.

This is the 3rd bedroom.  It is Miles room and as you can see is large enough for a queen size bed, too.  This room was wonderful for when my parents came to visit.

We brought our crib from home along with the rest of our nursery furniture.

Every room has floor to ceiling closets that really can store a lot of stuff.  However, you either have to get shelves added liked we did for storage, or get them to put hanging rods in for hanging clothes. We are able to have a place for all of our baby stuff in the closets and use part of this room to store our suitcases, and excess large items.  I use to be worried that we weren't going to have any space for all our stuff, but several cabinets in each room have empty space.  The vanity you see will be the changing "table" for Miles once we move him into his room.

This is the boys bathroom that is in between their two bedrooms.  As you can see all the bathrooms have sprayers.

So I can buy vinyl here REALLY, REALLY cheap... by the rolls.  I'm able to cut vinyl with my cricut so If I get creative, I can generally find useful uses for it.  My mom bought Gavin these Toy Story figurines, which were precious, but I kept looking at the wall thinking it was bare.  Until, I was in a store and found lime green and blue vinyl- then I knew just what to do.

Even though I put up Toy Story figures, the bathroom actually has a sports theme.  I wanted it to be boy universal and sports just worked.  I found all the stuff back in the states and sent it over in our shipment.  

The shower use to have another half piece of glass that acted as a door, but it didn't cover the whole shower.  Plus, when the door was opened, I couldn't see into the tub, which made me nervous.  So I called maintenance and had them come remove the part they could and I added a shower curtain.

This is Gavin's room.  I absolutley love his room.  I knew before we came over here that I wanted his room to have a trucks, planes, and boats theme.  I found several pictures and knick knacks that incorporated the theme I wanted at Marshalls and then found his bedding at Target.  I was so thankful I found a rug back in the states to have with the tile floors.  We found the big piece of furniture at IKEA here and it has come in handy so much. Not to mention we can take it with us and put in any room in any house we have in the future. We've been able to store lots of toys, books, and BIG items in there without things being scattered all over the house.

This is the master bedroom. I found these curtains while my mom was here and she put them up for me! The pack and play and rocking chair are just temporary.  I'm working on ideas for something to put above our bed as decoration, but for now, it'll just have to wait.

Again, more floor to ceiling closets.

***Totally forgot to take pics of our master bathroom.  It's big, with 2 sinks.  The bathroom has a toilet, sprayer, and an additional "toilet" used for sitting and rinsing.  I don't know how to spell it, sorry- it starts with a b and is found in many European places.
 

This is the stair case going downstairs.

The view of downstairs (from the stairs).

There's our home!  Hope you enjoyed it and got a glimpse of our life here.  

Downstairs

When we first moved here, I posted some pictures of our villa, but it's changed a little (or a lot) in the last 7 months so I thought I'd post updated pictures of the downstairs (I'll make another post with the upstairs pictures later).  

While my mom was here, I took advantage of her many talents and we moved furniture, hung pictures, did a little "redesign" and now it feels like a home.  You can check out the before pictures here.  Our villa came furnished so the majority of the furniture that you see was provided for us (incase you were thinking we picked it out or purchased it).  We brought all the decorations and house knick- knacks. 

This is what we now call Gavin's "playroom".  All of his toys downstairs are in this area and he has really taken advantage of spilling his toys out on the rug, in his tent, using the chairs, and it has truly minimized the amount of toys that are scattered around all the other downstairs rooms.  Plus, it's nice because the opening on the left, leads to the kitchen, so when I'm in there cooking, Gavin can see me and is more willing to stay in the playroom to play.   We also moved Miles changing table downstairs for the time being so that we wouldn't have to walk upstairs every time his diaper needed changing.  There is a vanity like area in his room that we will use as a changing area for Miles once we move him into his room permanently- he's still in a pack and play in our room.  

This is our living room area.  We brought the recliner with us, thank goodness, those couches aren't the most comfortable things in the world.  We like how spacious the room is and we've set up the center coffee table for Gavin where he can play, do puzzles, color, or eat when watching cartoons.

Oh, yikes, sorry this picture is horrible.  This is in between Gavin's playroom and the living room... it's our dining room (obviously).  The window faces the beach, so we have a great view to look out to every day.

This was one of our first purchases since moving here and we finally got it hung a few weeks ago.  It's an authentic Saudi window.  Yes, a window.  In Saudi, because women don't cover their faces while in their homes, their houses are surrounded by tall concrete walls and what windows can be seen are generally wooden or have some major designs on them to prevent anyone from being able to see inside their homes (and the women's faces).

This is the foyer of our house.

This front area was one of the areas we moved furniture around from so that we could have a place to put diaper bags, storage, etc for when we walk into the house.  We changed this over a month ago and I everyday when I walk in, I think to myself how much I love it!

The wash room.   Notice the sink and notice the door on the right.

It leads to the bathroom.  Where there is also a sink.  Hmmm, not sure why someone did that.  Actually, it's for when Muslims pray, they have to wash their hands and feet before praying to Alla.  This way, they don't have to go INTO the bathroom to wash.  There is a sprayer in there, too.  Just incase.

Our kitchen, which I love.  I like how open it is and I have a long counter space, something I didn't have at our old house.

The curtains my mom made!  Thanks mom!

Our office/desk area.

The laundry room/closet behind the desk area.  I don't really mind the washer and dryer being in a closet since I can close the door and not have to stare at all the junk.  It's also nice that it's right off the kitchen so I can do laundry in between loading or unloading the dishwasher or cooking.

Stay tuned for pictures of the upstairs.