News from the Jacobs family in Saudi Arabia
Devil’s Lake is the best swimming beach close to our cabin in Danbury and we managed to get there to swim a couple of times over the summer. Though our vacation is over and we are back in the heat and humidity I still have quite a few pictures from vacation so expect a few more posts.
As vacation was winding down we made another trip to Arlington, Minnesota to visit family. Enjoy the pictures.
The last day we spent in San Diego we visited the Birch Aquarium in La Jolla which the GPS Navigator pronounced phonetically as La Joe-la. Kidding aside, driving in new territory with a GPS Navigator is such a marvel of the modern age. No more fiddling with maps ahead of time, just jump in the car and go! I remember our very first GPS was in a car we rented in Germany several years ago. I swear when we missed a turn the German woman’s voice would get a disappointed edge to it as it recalculated our route. Not so with our current model. Crystal programmed in an Australian accent for our current unit and it never runs out of patience.
After the aquarium we let the GPS direct us down the coast for a visit to a beach – we figured it would be a shame to have visited Southern California without at least being on a beach for a few minutes. The beach was nice but the water was pretty rough with signs posted warning of dangerous rip currents so we kept Kai and Nora back as well as we could. The water was freezing so I’m surprised that they wanted to go near the water at all but they were keen to get their feet wet. One bonus was the seal we saw sunning itself on a rock a little ways from shore.
Our last major stop of the day was the USS Midway – a carrier put into service shortly after WWII which saw its last action during Desert Storm. Now a museum it was amazingly well done. If you are ever in San Diego I highly recommend this attraction. They had actual aircraft up on the deck spanning the years the carrier was in service and the self-directed audio tour was top notch. I’ve never been on a carrier before and I was blown away. Kai too. He was most taken with the missles and bombs; Nora’s big question was “where do they brush their teeth?” We thought it would be a quick walk through and we’d be on our way before the kids got bored but we ended up staying a long time – especially on the flight deck with the planes.
Enjoy the pictures!
Our second week back we stuck close to home. That weekend Grandma Wiemann, Lea Ann, Nina, Sara, Paul and Bev all visited as well as Grandma and Grandpa Jacobs. We had some good food and a nice visit to the Fur Trading re-enactment at the nearby Forts Folle Avoine. Enjoy the pictures.
Nora had been asking to start learning to ride “two wheel style” and so on Thursday morning we headed out to one of the empty parking lots on the edge of camp and off came the training wheels.
The 100th day of school is coming up–a very big deal. Crystal has been working to bake, frost, and bag cookies in the shapes of 1’s and 0’s. This weekend work on the poster will commence — the aim is to create a display that best captures the essence of the number 100. In other news Kai was recently promoted to Tiger Scout at the annual Blue and Gold Banquet.
Every father is secretly pleased when his son takes a genuine interest is something that he also had a passion for as a child. Maybe it is sports or building models but whatever the case the shared interest is more that just an opportunity for the two to spend some enjoyable time together. It allows the father to revisit his own childhood and reconnect with some of the creative play that is often elusive in the adult world.
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For your viewing pleasure the Imperial Landing Craft build. One hour condensed to 1 minute.
With departure back to Saudi Arabia iminent it was time to clean out the fridge and freezer. Art, Ellen, Julie, Eric and Evelyn all showed up to help out the cause. We had a wonderful meal of steak and salmon.
It was been an excellent winter visit to Danbury but we’re looking forward to getting back to Saudi where it will be a bit warmer (transcontinental flights not withstanding).
Enjoy a few more random pictures from the end of the trip.
Now that we have been back for a week I have the pictures off the camera and processes. Here is the first batch with some of the sights we took in when we had some free moments from the conference.
Not too many pictures this year but it certainly was a fun time. The kids were excited from the moment they woke up and from the Halloween parade to the evening trick-or-treating.
