Family Time - Cove Style

Besides the friends we've made here, I think the thing I'll miss most when I leave this island is the cove. It holds some of our favorite family-time memories here. Yesterday Jaron took some time of studying to take Alden fishing. Eli, Gracen and I tagged along to get wet.

Jaron got a little wet himself while fishing!

The newest addition to our beach-bum family.

Gracen loved watching and listening to the waves.

Alden caught a fish! Can you see it? It's a tiny little thing, probably only 4 inches long,
but it certainly did the job credibly. Alden was ecstatic.

The view of Upper Hell's Gate from the cove.

Life is Good

Okay, so let's be honest. My life is nuts. I am a spectacle when I go to the grocery store. Yesterday I had our 5-year-old cutie blonde little neighbor, Chloe, with us and I got asked if I had triplets. Today a man, after shaking his head and repeating "wow" several times, asked me if my children were all the same age. (Um....no. The one strapped to my chest in a baby carrier is big but NOT as big as my 3-year-old in the stroller!)

Add Jaron's being in medical school and life gets a little crazier. We don't see him much which means most (almost all) home stuff falls into my hands.

Throw in a little "livin' in the Caribbean craziness" like heat and having to conserve water and not being able to walk much because the roads are so steep and not having anywhere to go.

Life is nuts.

However, there is much, much goodness.

I get to see this from my porch every night. Sunsets on the ocean are awesome. These, however, are pictures of the sunlight reflecting on the water when it breaks through the cloudiness.

This is the walkway to my house. How cool.

And this lovely number, is the bush in my front yard. And it blooms year-round. Be-a-utiful!

These adorable little numbers are fantastic kids #1 and #2. Alden is holding part of our first banana harvest (we have banana and lemon trees in our yard). Eli is informing you these are "balalas." (bananas)

And this pretty little thing is the icing on the cake. She is a doll. I love having a girl!

Sleepy Gracen

LOVE this girl!!!!!!!!


The view from our new house. Can you see the ocean?

Gracen is SUCH a good baby! She's not one of those wonders who sleeps through the night on day one (we still feed every 3-4 hours at night), but she is just GOODNESS during the day now. At 11 weeks, she loves to talk to people - even strangers can elicit smiles and coos from her. She loves to watch Alden and Eli and is constantly flexing her abs like she's trying to sit up. She is generally content to watch the bustle going on around her and goes down for the night around 7:30 these days. The only time she cries is her cute little "I'm sleepy" calls (see video) or when she gets hurt (she has two big brothers, okay?!). Hallelujiah for my good, good baby!

Okay...apparently our internet is not fast enough to download a video? Darn! Sorry grandparents!!

Aldenism

Before I turn in for the night, I just gotta post our funny little conversation we had in the car today so that I don't forget it.

Alden: "Who made the Earth?" (A question he frequently asks.)
Me: "You know who made the Earth, Alden. Who made it?"
Alden: "Jesus."
Me: "And who told Jesus to make the earth?"
Alden: "Heavenly Father."
Me: "And do you know why Heavenly Father made the Earth for us?"
Alden. "Yes. Because we wanted to come live in houses."

Ahh, the sweet logic of a three-year-old!

We made it...just barely!

All I can say is, I NEVER want to make that trip again...unless it is to leave this island for good.

We started our adventure off Monday at 2 pm when we left Jaron's parents' house for the airport in Salt Lake. The drive was mellow - the boys watched a movie and Gracen pretty much just slept. We got to SLC at about 6 PM and dragged our many suitcases to the counter to check in. At this point, Gracen started getting really upset. It took us 1 WHOLE HOUR to check in while Gracen screamed. She was hungry but by the time I could feed her, she was too angry. This = NOT A HAPPY BABY and therefore, NOT A HAPPY MAMA! The whole hold up was that we had a one-way international ticket for Gracen but no proof of her residency abroad yet. They finally let us go, after a little luggage re-arranging when they insisted that Gracen's bag could only weigh 20 lbs since we didn't pay a full ticket for her.

Our first flight was only an hour, to Denver. Our next flight flew from Denver to Atlanta and left at 1 AM. That flight was non-eventful. Everyone slept and even I managed to get some shut-eye the last hour of the flight, until I got woken up by a neighboring passanger peeling Eli off the floor. He'd slid off the seat while I was asleep! Our third flight left at 11 AM and arrived in St. Maarten at local time 3:00. When we got to St. Maarten, we collected our 6 suitcases and hooked them all together. Jaron stayed to wait for the last two bags while I went to find us a taxi. Just think what that looked like! Enter train Brunson: a double stroller with two little blondie boys in it. Then comes Momma with a baby strapped to her chest. Next comes 6 suitcases in a long line, all connected one behind the other. Needless to say, we produced more than one or two laughs before we found our way to the taxi.

We got over to the boat with just enough time to spare for bathroom breaks. The first 2 minutes of the boat ride was awesome - Alden and Eli were having a ball. Then the waves got so big that we were getting soaked so we went down inside the boat where the boat's captain arranged the luggage so that the boys could sit on it. The waves were GINORMOUS and within seconds, I was so sick that I had to sit down. I took a little boy's seat and was so incredibly nauseaus that I was cold-sweating and weak. Pretty soon Alden started crying because his leg had fallen asleep from sitting in such an awkward position. So then Eli started crying. A sweet little girl gave them her seat but I was too weak to lift Eli into the seat next to me - the young girl had to! I was too weak to even pat Gracen's back so that she could fall asleep! I couldn't open my eyes and see the rocking boat so I kept calling to Jaron to come and help me with the kids. I was informed Jaron was in the bathroom vomitting. Jaron never emerged from the bathroom the entire trip. THANKFULLY, the kids didn't get sick and slept on and off throughout the ordeal. When Jaron and I got off, we concurred that the experience must be what hell is like and we agreed never to set foot on that boat again. YUCK.

Fortunately our great friends Heather and Rachel came down to the dock and took half our luggage to our house for us. We had planned on taking two trips but Jaron was in no shape to drive two trips! I can never be thankful enough for good people in our lives!

We moved into a new house in The Level. It's a two bedroom and a little cheaper. So far we love it! The house is cute and clean (well, it will be once all our stuff finds a place). There are 3 other student wives who live in The Level so it's nice to be within walking distance of them. The community garden is also just across the street, where I can go and buy vegetables for a little cheaper than in the store. One of our neighbors has 3 little boys and they have a yard with a trampoline and plenty of big trucks for our boys to borrow. Another one of our neighbors has a yard full of fruit trees - bananas, lemons, oranges, tangerines, tangeloes, grapefruit and several different mangoes. The lemon tree was laden with fruit so I asked for a few and he gave me a whole bag full! That's before I realized we have our own lemon tree!! And banana trees as well. Yippee!

Also, I found out that our old neighbors now run one of the hotels on the island. They've invited us to swim whenever we want! Double yippee because even though it's January, it's HOT here! Yesterday was overcast and I was thinking January would be pleasant but today is HOT again - bummer! I'll post pictures of our house as soon as I get caught up with everything here.

7 days into 2010 and life is NUTS already!