Another Park Day

This morning we hit the park with every one of the SOS families with kids.  Amanda was nice enough to take some pictures of the kiddos doing what they do best - having fun.

This one of Gracen is my personal favorite.

Try taking a picture of 8 kids after 2 hours of fun play.  NOT an easy task!

Shearwater

Our friend Paul, who was our neighbor when we lived on Booby Hill, now runs Shearwater resort.  He's been inviting us for awhile to come up for a swim but between the rainy weather and our broken car, it just hasn't happened until today.

I love how the hotel's architecture is built into the mountainside of Booby Hill.  Everytime I go up there, I am hit again by the AMAZING view the hotel has to offer.

We had a great time.  The pool is deep but the kids had a good time testing out their bravery on how to swim without mom.  Alden had a ball getting around with just a tube or his waterwings.  Eli felt more secure in water wings and a tube.  Gracen rode in her floatie boat for awhile before growing tired of that and deciding she preferred to just swim with mom.

It breaks my heart that the kids aren't going to remember swimming in such style!

And then Gracen drove us home.

Kidding, of course.  But this girl is sure getting around these days.  I've only seen her flat-out crawling (hands and knees alternating) a few times but this girl has no problem getting herself across the room.  She's also started pulling herself up on furniture, but she quickly gets scared when she realizes she's not sure how to get down!  Can this sweet baby girl really be turning 9 months in a few days?!

Lately and Starfruit

This week I started our preparations to leave the island.  I did a little deep cleaning in the house, including bleaching the walls.  It's been so rainy and humid lately that every fingerprint that ever graced our walls began to mold.  Crazy, I know.  I also started making signs and preparing to sell our things.

I thought I'd be hitting the cove every other day before we left, but between our car being broken or without gas, and because it's been so rainy and windy, we haven't made it down there in weeks.  We finally got to go on Thursday.  I am sure going to miss the cove!

We went with Heather and Megan and their kids.  It was the most packed I've ever seen the cove.  Child Focus (the island's "summer camp" for kids whose parents work) was down there.  It was a little crazy but we still had a good time.

After we got back from the cove, Alden went out to play with our neighbor, Shaliq, and Eli helped me make dinner while Gracen napped.  It was so nice getting to spend one-on-one with this little guy.  He's such a crack-up.  He made sure to taste each topping before we put it on the pizza, as evidenced by the cheese all over his chin in the second picture.  Pay no attention to the dirty dishes in the sink that I just drew your attention to.  We keep it real on this blog!

Today, I couldn't resist "styling" Gracen's hair.  Since birth she's had this tiny tuft of hair that's been about an inch and a half longer than any of her other hair.  Can anyone say "Alfalfa?"

Speaking of the plastic frog Gracen is mouthing in that picture, we had another frog in our house last night.  They're about that size and I have NO idea how they get in here.  But the kids sure enjoyed the little guy and Alden even caught him in his hands!  I was just grateful it wasn't another cockroach!!  I can't remember if I've told this story on here, but I'm going to tell it again so I have record of it.  A couple of weeks ago, I picked up Gracen in the night and put her on my shoulder.  I bent down to lay her on the couch and I felt something run down my back.  I thought to myself, "That felt like a cockroach."  I flipped on the light and, sure enough, a 2 inch cockroach was scurrying under the couch.  EEK!  I get chills just writing the story!  I will NOT miss the cockroaches when we leave! 

Guess what we found growing in the neighbor's yard today?!  Actually, Heather found them and directed us their way.  STARFRUIT!  I was so excited to not only get to see a starfruit tree, but to pick them and eat some!  The last time I had starfruit was in Jr. High Home Ec when we made fruit pizza (funny what you remember, eh?).

Yum!  They are sweet and sour at the same time - even the kids really like them!

Rainy Day Safari and The Big Game

WARNING: PICTURE OVERLOAD!

I've been posting a lot, and posting a lot of pictures at that.  I think it's because I'm sad we're losing this unique way of life we've had here.  I'm really trying to capture what our everyday life is like here!

Saturday it rained again.

So the kids and I constructed some baskets and binoculars.  Then we made some animals to "hunt" on our safari.  Alden drew the car and spelt "RAC" all by himself.  It'd be perfect, except that it's mirror image! :-D

After our safari, we headed outside to puddle jump.  OH how I'm going to miss the beautiful flowers that are so abundant here!

The boys LOVE this puddle that always forms when it rains.  Last time we did this the boys' heavy denim shorts got so soaked, they ended up returning home in t-shirts only.  This time I was smarter and I kept them in their I-don't-care-if-they-get-dirty-because-they're-already-stained pajamas.

Then, after naptimes, it was time for The Big Game.  Jaron's school has a flag football league where the semesters play each other.  Jaron's semester (4th) were undefeated going into Saturday's final.  Even though the sky still looked like this, it was game on:

It was 4ths vs 5ths. A little pre-game talk to hammer down the rules:

4th semesters' #1 fans: me and Megan!

The boys stayed busy racing cars along the fence.  The little girls stayed busy keeping us busy.

Go Jaron!

Jaron got 2 touchdowns - including the game-winner!  Final score: 4th: 6, 5th: 4.

One of Jaron's psychology professors is Dan Eckstein, a world-renowned psychologist who just happened to play in the NFL for the Greenbay Packers and the Miami Dolphins.

He presented the trophy to the league champions.  Yay 4ths!!

Gasoline

If anyone is my friend on Facebook, you've "heard" me complaining about no gas on this island.  5 weeks ago we got our car back from the mechanic.  We made 2 trips to the Bottom that weekend, picking up and taking home the local family who comes to church at our house.  Then that Monday I went to get gas.

There was none.

The guy sitting at the station, turning everyone away, couldn't tell me when gas would come.  And of course he had no phone number that I could call to keep checking whether there was gas.  "Maybe on Sunday" he said.  By the time I got home, my tank read "E."  So I parked the car and relied on my good friend Megan to take us to the cove and relied on the grocery store to deliver us home with our goods on Wednesday.  Then Sunday came and went and no tanker came.  I hunkered in for the long haul and resigned myself to walking up and down the enormous hill carrying my kids.

Then the next Sunday came and the tanker broke down, supposedly on the way here.  I kept hearing rumors that Big Rock might have ordered 5 barrels on the grocery boat or that a boat from Statia might come to fill jerry cans.  But I only had enough gas for one chance down there!  So I waited.

And on Wednesday, I was rewarded.  I went down to Fort Bay and was greeted by this:

A line so long that I couldn't even see the gas station.  But it was encouraging because it confirmed the rumor that the government had indeed bought gas for the island!

30 minutes later, the line looked like this and I could almost glimpse the gas station.  A total of 50 minutes later, we got our gas!!

When we return to the States, I am certainly going to appreciate things like being able to gas up my car whenever I want.  However, as my kiddos and I waited, I started thinking about how bad I'm going to miss this:

The ocean.

Man, I love the ocean!  The kids and I are leaving the island for good in 6 weeks.  I am definitely going to miss the ocean, which I can see from my house.  Watching it has a calming effect, whether the seas are rough or smooth.  I really love the ocean.  I love the currents and the white caps  I love the long ripples of the waves.  I love the oceanic horizon.  I love the reflections of the clouds.  I love watching and listening to the waves hit the rocks.  I love the buoyant feeling the salt water gives you when you swim in it and the incredible colorful fish and plants it holds.  I can't believe I've lived my whole life so landlocked!

I'm also going to miss stuff like this:

Saba has so much beautiful flora, that blooms year-round!

Preparing to leave is such a bittersweet thing!!

Lynn's House and The Biggest Carrot Ever

First of all, I've decided that everything man has ever made was inspired by something in nature.  Does this plant look like a fan to anyone?

Cool, or what?!

So last night before bed we needed to burn some energy.  We headed outside so the boys could "run races" up and down the walkway to our house.

We ended up wandering up the hill to our neighbor Lynn's house.  Lynn's house is fun because she has a goose and turtles.  The goose was hilarious - squaking at us nonstop!  Until we fed it some bread, that is.  I think the goose has been trained by Lynn's granddaughters, age 5 and 3.

The boys loved the turtles.  Lynn said these turtles live to be 60 years old!  Out of captivity they live much longer!

Did you know that turtles like bread too?

And now, the moment you've all been waiting for.  The unveiling of:

THE BIGGEST CARROT EVER!!

Granted, I'm not a gardener, and I know there are some mammoth vegetables that come out of home grown gardens.  I found this beauty at our grocery store!  They get carrots in these huge bags as big as garbage sacks - who knows where they're grown!

Speaking of gardens, we've been trading food with our neighbor Lloyd.  I take them a plate of baked goodies every time I bake and he in turn showers us in cucumbers.  Right now, anyway, since that's what's coming out of his garden.  He also shares loads of bananas with us.  He's got mangoes, oranges, avocadoes and tangeloes ripening right now - I just hope we're still here when they're ready to eat!  (We only have 6 weeks left on this island!  Yay but WAAAHHH too!!!)

And, we can't forget Little Miss.  Ain't she cute?  She's starting to do that rocking on her hands and knees thing that comes before crawling.  ACK!  Our house will know no peace!!