This week marked a big change in my family’s life.

Rewind to December 15, 2013:

We were celebrating my daughter’s sixth birthday.  We had a party with her friends from school in the early afternoon and then invited family over for dinner later that evening.  After the last guests left, and the children were in bed, my parents were still loitering.  (Aside:  You must know that my parents are not the loitering kind.  They are social and enjoy visiting with friends and family, but when the evening is over they love to head home.)  I was happy that they were still hanging around, and ignoring that feeling that was trying to tell me something was off.

When they asked me to get my sister on facetime, I began to suspect something was up.  My parents are open and straight forward, so naturally my mind was not going to a *happy* place.  We did reach my sister on facetime and sat down in the living room to chat.  I can only imagine what my face looked like when my Mom said, “We have some news for you.  Your Dad has decided to take a job in Saudi Arabia for a year.”  I know I did not believe that they were really going to Saudi Arabia!  I asked them if they were ok.  If someone was sick.  I guess I was both in shock and denial. 🙂  They went on to say they were leaving January 4 and that they had most of the details taken care of already.

It took me a good two weeks to adjust to the idea of my parents living so, so far away.  Thank goodness their departure date was pushed back!  They left this past Thursday and after a nearly twenty-four hour voyage, Mom and Dad reached their destination: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.  I’m so excited to hear about their new home.  I know the culture shock will be incredible.  Life in the middle-east is so different from living in Canada, and that’s not taking the temperature difference into account!  Mom will have to wear an abaya whenever she leaves the compound because that is the custom for women in Saudi Arabia.  They are supposed to have their hair covered with a scarf, too.

Back to Present Time:

The rest of the week could hardly compare to my parents’ adventure, but here are the highlights: We visited with my brand-NEW niece, my little one tried on my long socks, AND my son let me grab a pic of his gorgeous blue eyes!  We had an evening visit with my parents followed by a bittersweet goodbye at the airport the next day.  Friday the kids braved the cold and played outside until after the sun went down, and, of course, no weekend would be complete without some hockey!

While I was photographing Sunday’s hockey game our son created quite a funny scene when a player from the opposing team got his stick stuck in my guy’s skate!  The ref had to stop the play to help dislodge the stick. 🙂

Have a great week!