No girls allowed!

Josh received an email from work about a fun family day that was being planned. This included camel rides, fun foods, and those jumpy houses that Elise just loves. He told me about it and he had told me it was just for men. So, I thought--well, that's a little strange...but a whole Saturday to myself?! While Josh takes the girls to a party! I might just be able to take a shower...or better yet read a magazine! 

However, the next day after talking to some of the guys at work he slowly came to the realization that the party was for men only...meaning no girls..not even children! Yes everyone...that means--the "family" day was for men and their sons......
 There's not much else to say about that ( at least nothing I can say on a public blog).

We experienced our first dust storm this week. It was crazier than I had imagined! It is literally like raining dust. We had the driver take us to pick up the kids and we had to cover their faces with scarves. It took the rest of the day to get all the dust out of the house. The cars are covered in it and you are constantly coughing.

We went to Khobar for the weekend to purchase a few things for the house. We bought some lawn chairs and a grill. We got an update on our sea shipment--it arrives in Saudi on April 8 and it will take 10-20 days to clear customs. It's possible we will get it before Easter. I'm so thrilled!

They don't have escalators here...

These are two pictures I snapped to get an idea of what the sides of the highways look like. They have lots of billboards just like we do. They also have people selling random items on the side of the road.

I have yet to see a billboard with a woman on it.

Our friend Alex came along for the ride. He helped us find the much needed baby gate for the house. It was a whopping 250 US dollars!! Most things are double the cost over here.

It is really hard to find your favorite things over here to eat. We have yet to find applesauce and cream of chicken soup. I am also desperately looking for swim diapers!

This is a picture of a part of our master bath. This is a foot bath. All of the villas we are in were designed for Muslims. I'm not sure how often they wash their feet, but it is a lot I think. 

I'll end with another fun fact--I've only been here for two weeks and the country has just recently banned my name. They are saying it is an inappropriate name. It is now against the law to name your baby Lauren. I'm scared as hell to tell anyone my name is Lauren. I'm thinking of randomly changing it whenever I'm asked. SaudiArabiabanLauren