News from the Jacobs family in Saudi Arabia
This week has been unseasonable cool which is to say that the temperatures have been very pleasant. It even rained a bit yesterday which is a real treat this late in the year.
Here are a few random pictures that I threw together…enjoy!
A recent addition to the new house has been the horse shaped tire swing that Lisa and Chris gave us. We hung it from a tree behind the house–it is actually outside of our gate which isn’t exactly “Aramco standard” but it is such a perfect place for it. It is a super hit with Kai and Nora (and pretty much all the kids in the neighborhood).
Last weekend was the second annual motorcycle rally here in Dhahran. It was quite an event with over 200 bike that lined up in main camp and then drove through camp to the soccer field across from the Hills fire station. It was very loud and very impressive and there was a “family fun day” set up with some music and food at the end. It was a Harley rally with no beer but plenty of bouncy castles.
A little while ago, on a nice spring day, Crystal took Kai and Nora out to the desert outside the perimeter road to go a scientific expedition. We purchased a digital microscope and finally got it working on Dad’s 64bit system so it was time to collect samples. In addition to the raw thrill of science there was looking at bugs in the desert, running on the perimeter soccer field, and hopping brick to brick as they passed the mosque on the way home.
Looking at the specimens under the microscope was fun but it was surprisingly difficult to illuminate and focus on irregularly shaped objects. I can see why people prepare slides for microscopes.
Here is a quick post with a few pictures that have accumulated. There is a box fort made with remnants from the move, reading books with face paint and Nora playing in Dad’s shoes.
Nora’s new bedroom has 3 walls painted yellow and fourth is painted green ((it is what I am told is an “accent wall”)). When I saw the color green that Crystal and Nora picked I immediately thought of chroma-key effects. These are just with a still camera, my new attempt will involved better lighting and a video camera.
The weather is officially warming up and that means we are entering pool season. These two pictures and video were from last week when we took an excursion to the kiddie pool at the Hills. These were taken on my cell phone and their quality impressed me.
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I mentioned in the last post that Kai has a trip to the ER recently. A combination of running in the house, a loose carpet and a tile floor led to a banged up mouth. Crystal was traveling in Abqaiq but thankfully the Collins were home and able to watch Nora while Dad and Kai rushed off to the ER. Thankfully there were no loose teeth and the oral surgeon thinks everything will heal just fine. Kai is getting to be an old hat at the ER here and he behaved very well once he established that he wouldn’t need to have a nebulizer treatment for his breathing (which is the usual reason for a visit). As a friend of ours remarked, Kai’s has been “A Life Crowded with Incident” ((From Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest)). Notice the ER bracelet in the pictures. He wears them as a badge of honor and still has this one on.
A couple of days ago Kai slipped and fell and hurt his mouth. While he was in the ER (he is fine) with Mom, Nora and Dad broke out the paint to make a get well picture. She sang the alphabet and numbers while she mixed paints (not much painting really) and Dad captured a bit on his cell phone camera. In case you are wondering what she says she is painting towards the end of the clip it is a “pancake”. That’s art!
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We are getting settled in the new house as the images below will show. One major task left is hanging pictures; we only have a few large things up at this point. Overall it was a pain to move but we do appreciate the time we had to get the new house just right in terms of modifications before we moved.
