Beach Blanket Baby

The Saudi Aramco Employee Association (SAEA) organized a trip to Qurayyah Beach. We opted to drive so that we could return home before the scheduled 11pm end.

Ethan settling in for the 2 hour drive

Graham's first beach experience

Qurayyah is one of Aramco's private beaches. That means I can wear a swim suit if I so desire. When we visited it was full of Saudis, as well as Arabs of other decent. The women went in fully dressed in their Abayas or just fully clothed. A friend told me there are a number of drownings each year of women because their Abayas weigh them down.

Recently I was in a sports shop and saw a full body swim suit similar to wetsuits worn for scuba diving. It had a hood, but no veil. I believe it is an option for women but you would never see one wearing it.

We went for a walk on a manmade pier. I carried Graham in the front pack and everyone just adored him. We are always stared at when we put him in it. People even stopped us to take our picture.

The SAEA set up a snack bar with a popcorn machine and drinks

The afternoon was full of organized games. It is not often you seen grown men playing musical chairs or jumping in a sack race. The sacks were beautiful by the way.

They did demonstrate their manliness with a few rounds of tug of war.

Unfortunately, the water was full of jellyfish. It took a bit of convincing to even get the boys to go in. Note: the girl heading in she was going out fully dressed to join her family.

Once in they LOVED it. Zach has been excitedly telling everyone about the first time he fully stepped into the ocean.

At sundown the men stopped for prayers. Afterward we had a fully catered buffet dinner on the beach. It felt strange to eat off dinner plates with regular utensils on the beach while listening to the waves and feeling the breeze. After the servers picked up our plates we showered the boys and set off for home.

This was a much needed relaxing and fun family day!