So this is our first post on our first blog for our friends and family who are interested in staying touch without really having to stay in touch.
As you know we have decided to move to Dhahran, Saudi Arabia to continue our careers in the oil industry whilst living abroad and seeing the world as a family - "Not in these pants".
The amount of time and energy to move to the middle east makes our Denver - Calgary jaunts seem like a tea party. Some of the things I have been doing instead of answering your phone calls are: Medical check; Background check; Space availability in the kids school; House availability in Dhahran; Religious declarations; Visa bloodwork; Visa acceptance; Benefit enrolment forms; Denver house rental; Shipping the vehicle to Dammam; Ontario storage for our other items; A combined 16 vaccination needles for the family; bla, bla, bla...
Regardless of the hassles of moving, the boys (and us) are rather pumped about living in a scuba diving mecca and helped us organize and service our dive gear as seen in the photos. The proximity to the nearest dive site (12 miles) and the Red Sea, Maldives and Seychelles made us quickly forget about beef on a bun or Bon Jovi at the Calgary Fair this summer.We are all very excited about the new adventure and have been packing and organising for about a month. The boys have donated their old bikes and toys to a variety of charities (Gus Polley and Parker Findlay excluded). Heather has bequeathed nearly 20% of her shoe collection and I have decided that a variety of concert T-shirts should be with Sally Ann instead of me.
Our present timeline looks something like this for those of you who are planning on spending some time with us before we go...
- June 16-18 - Heather finishes her CMA in Regina
- June 20-21 2010 - Houston to meet with the Aramco people
- June 25 2010 - William's last day of kindergarten
- July 8 2010 - Ship vehicle to Dhahran
- July 9 2010 - Heather's last day of work
- July 13 2010 - Pack up our Denver house
- July 17 2010 - Go to Ontario
- July 29 2010 - Fly to Dhahran, Saudi Arabia out of Toronto
Exciting about diving! Cool that the boys are game for it. Have they done it already? BTW, let us know if you think you are going to make it to Craiggers in Carnarvon and when. We may be able to pop up! Ciao for now!
ReplyDeleteHi Heather - sounds like you all had a crazy time prior to departure - I'm sure your not missing the Calgary "non-summer" this year! We are all looking forward to your updates from Dhahran - If you get to go Scuba diving in the Maldives it will be fantastic!
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