Well, where to begin. It has been a while since my last update, so I will do my best to catch you all up quickly. Since I last wrote, I went home to Florida in late October to get my work visa. Brenda and I took a week and spent it in Asheville, NC. We stayed overnight in Savannah, GA and walked around downtown a bit before hitting the road towards NC. When booking our trip we found this great lttle hidden gem called Willow Winds of Asheville. We had a wonderful cabin right near the Blue Ridge Parkway and the hiking trail called Sea to Mountain trail. We visited and did many interesting things, like gem mining, horseback riding at the Biltmore Estate, a behind the scenes Architectural tour of the Biltmore Estate, and cappped the trip off by visiting the Omni Grove Park Inn for snacks...and so Brenda could try and catch a glimpse of Sarah Palin, who by the way was there celebrating Billy Grahams 95th birthday bash. We were sad to leave Asheville and very much look forward to a return trip in the near future.
After leaving North Carolina, we made our way to Jacksonville, Florida to pick up our little man for a week with us at Universal Parks in Orlando, Florida. We had booked a room at the Hard Rock Resort on the property and spent several days in all of the parks and enjoying a few of the rides. I'm pretty sure Brandon enjoyed it all more than we did, but hey, it was all about him. We spent our last day at the hotel and rented a cabana by the pool for the day. It was a nice relaxing day!
Once back home from all the relaxing trips, it was time to start packing for Saudi. Our trips and packing for Saudi was overshadowed by the death of a family member. Our sweetest and loving cat Zinnie had been having seizures and we made the tough decision that any parent hates to make. She had a bad seizure Saturday morning and we took her to the vet, said our goodbyes and held her while she went to sleep one last time. Hardest thing in the world but she isnt in pain anymore and she lived a full life, 20 years to be exact. Loved her to peices...whew! Enough of that.
So not a whole lot has been going on here since I returned to Saudi. Winters to say the least are non existent. I put a light jacket on twice. I've enjoyed fishing and snorkling on the Red Sea. There are some of the most beautiful coral systems here and I look forward to taking some underwater photos and posting here soon.
So now for the title of this blog. The Yanbu Flower Fesitval for 2014 started a few days ago. I had a chance to go by today after work and take a few photos. Here's a link for a story from The Pennisula Times. www.peninsulatimes.org
My photos are below for your enjoyment, until next time.
