Diving in the Red Sea

We finally had a three day weekend!  Yay!  Bryan coordinated a boat to take 30 of our friends out on a snorkeling trip to sand island.  Can you guess what would be on sand island?  Hermit crabs, 1 bush, and lots of sand.  Bryan and I never got to see the island because we snorkeled the entire time.  I can't believe that was our first time out.  It is so easy, cheap, and beautiful. 

This is my first time inserting a video.  Hopefully it works.  Notice the octopus!  So cute!

 Here is the upper deck.

 Can you see Sand Island!  Looks like a whopper!  However, it has a great reef that surrounds the island.  It keeps the kids busy while we play.

 Here is most of our gang.  Imagine us coordinating an event. 

 My Kiwi girlfriends!

 The blue is the inside of a clam.  They were so beautiful when they opened up . 

 Lion Fish

 Jellyfish Season

 They served us breakfast and lunch.  We only paid about $125 for our entire family for the day.

 Home Sweet Home

 

We had a fun day with all of our friends.  Bryan and I are now working on taking a refresher course for scuba diving.  We are doing a weekend out to sea when the whale sharks come.  I can't imagine swimming with something so big!  I will have lots of pictures when that happens.

Kids Triathlon

Today the Recreation Center hosted a kids triathlon!  Our boys had a blast swimming, biking, and then running.  They were troopers! Enjoy the pictures.

 I don't think many triathlons have this type of view!

 Cameron is the 2nd child over and Carter is the 4th child over.

 Determination! The brothers were duking it out at the end.

 Cameron was 3rd!  Way to go Cam!

 Carter was 4th!  Way to go Carter!

What a fun morning!  Next week there is a bike race.  Should be fun!  We feel so lucky to have all of these opportunities. 

Sand Dunes

Rebecca's Point of View: This has been the longest we have gone without posting a new blog since we have lived here.  I guess the month of January was a little busy with the end of the semester, new sports, and our daily activities. Cameron started playing after school rugby, Carter continues with TKD, Bryan is all over the place, and I have decided to try golf.  I have completed two lessons, so we will see what happens with this new adventure.   Today is Bryan's turn to blog.

Bryan's Point of View:  Rebecca stated that I am all over the place, but does that surprise anyone??  That is what I thrive on, and here, I am able to go full-tilt until I crash and need sleep.  Actually, it is not that bad and more just generally being busy.  I was coaching 3rd-5th grade baseball which was fun watching kids who are normally cricket players hit the ball with a round bat.  Cameron loved playing too which was fun for me and it was good to get to know more kids in the community and share baseball with them, which is not very common in these parts. 

While Rebecca was in a professional development class yesterday, the boys and I jumped in with one of our friends here and his 2 daughters, and drove about 30 minutes down the road to some wonderfully cool sand dunes (I know, sand dunes in Saudi Arabia - surprising!) 

 

We had boxes and tubs to sled in but the sand was too loose so we just tumbled down the hills.  The dunes were amazingly picturesque and I got some great shots with the camera that now needs a new lens because of the sand in it!!  Will bring my kites next time too.

Playing golf 1-2 times a week but still not getting any better.  But I have a heck of a time playing and try to keep the swearing and club throwing to a minimum.  Have a good group of 10-12 guys that have a standing 7:30pm tee time.  Played during the day a short while back and it was strange as I am very used to playing under the lights.

Had a chance to go on my second mountain bike ride in the desert today which was fantastic.  It was a very hilly, loose road but made for some great descents and grueling uphill chugs.  It wore my fat old body out but I will be ready for the next ride.  I am also helping the mountain bike club put together a bike track here for the kids and adults.  We have been given a plot of land and said "tell us what you want built" so that is kind of fun helping out with that.

Got into Jeddah this past week and finally bought a new bbq.  Only issue here is that there is not propane, only butane, so I need to go into the neighboring town and have the hoses swapped and a new regulator put on - things are never as easy as they appear here!  Looking forward to bbq'ing some fresh fish, chicken, and steak.

My days seemed to be occupied with all sorts of fun things to do, but being here has given me a great opportunity to attend almost all of the school activities that the boys do - and there is a lot!  It has been excellent having that flexibility.

Cameron will be blogging about his swim races soon!