One thing that I really have enjoyed about living here is that there are no car seat regulations. At home Courtney and Katie would still be in a booster seat where as here they don't need one. They actually don't even enforce wearing your seat belt, and I don't believe that any one ever does. You might think that is is pretty unsafe but we rarely even go fast enough to even worry about it. There is pretty much only 2 road stretches where you might be able to get up to a good speed the rest are to narrow, short, or rough ( I mean huge holes) to even get going. I don't mind at all though because you can get around this cute little island in no time flat.
Do you remember me telling about these cute little Kittens. Well the day after my last post Lucky died. It was so sad, we were all upset about it, but we still had Chocolate.
The middle picture is Chocolate enjoying some milk holding the 'bottle'. It didn't last long so it was a fast shot. But so cute, we loved it!
Jase had been having the sniffles and a bit of a cough that kept slowly getting worse, and then one night he broke out in hives all over and wouldn't eat much and it got so bad his hands and feet were swelling and he couldn't sleep it was actually painful. We took him to the Dr. because he was sick before the breakout with fevers at 104 (kids at school were sick too). (Hard to keep down when its so hot here!) He got some medicine that didn't' work and they had to finally go to steroids to give his body a boost because he couldn't do anything. Well we also thought that it was Chocolate the kitty. So when Jase was on the mend we called the animal rescue and they found her a home. So sad to see her go - or course I cried because I had been working so hard to keep her alive. But the best thing is is that Jase is no longer having problems with his asthma, runny nose, and he feels a lot better. Poor Jase wasn't feeling well for 3 weeks and then his body just said "THATS ENOUGH" and just started shutting down!! So no more cats ever for us. But I still love them. Look how cute she is!
I just wanted to put a picture up of a laundry day for me here on the island. There are a bunch of towels on this day that I didn't have room to put on the line. It doesn't look like much but it can take a whole morning starting at 7:30am when I get home from dropping the kids off at school.
There is a place here on the Island called the Botanical Gardens and it is run by a group of volunteers that come to this Island for stints at a time to help clean, and keep the Island, and help with the wildlife and a variety of other things. This group has an acronym of STENAPA (can't remember what is stands for though!). This is who Jase & Katie have their Jr. Rangers through. Anyway this picture of Courtney is at one of the different stations in the Garden. It was getting too dark so I didn't' get anymore pictures but we will for sure be going there again sometime.
Last week I went with Jase's school on a field trip to hike the Quill volcano. It was really nice to get out and enjoy some special time with him. He is at school later than the girls so I don't get to see him as much. We hiked up a trail part I've never hiked before in my vast hiking experience of the Quill (Once before!). Of course all the kids are running up the path, but it was nice to take with the ladies there and interact with some of the kids.
This is the entire school! Pretty neat hey! I love it!
This has probably got to be the worst picture of me in all my days!! (Jase looks cute!) I really wounldn't have put this picture up but I wanted something of me and Jase together for our hike, and this is what I got!! ENJOY!! HA HA HA!
All the kids from Grades 1 - 5 Jase is the oldest in this group.
5 Dutch kids, 1 local boy, 1 Hispanic boy, 1 Jase! They are all great kids!!
This is the Caribeen side of the Island - you can sort of see the Island Saba in the clouds on the ocean.
These are some pictures of a grave yard on the Island. There are quite a few around. They are quite fascinating!
Katie & Courtney had their friend Niz over the other day and they wanted to cut down the Corileena (a plant that grows all around all the other plants and chokes them out) and they decided to pick up garbage around also - which seems to be a problem here on the island. Courntney runs in and says with big saucer eyes, "Mom You've got to see what we are doing! We are saving the World!" So here are some pictures of the girls saving the world!
Little Courtney. This pencil she is holding is the golden pencil that she won at school for earning the most points toward being the best listener and kind person in class! Her points are always well beyond everyone in her class and she is always getting the rewards at the end of the week. Last week she got to use the teachers camera and take pictures around the school. She comes home with stickers, and always saying that she has the most points on the chart - always! What a good girl! Also they had to make a rule in Courtney's classroom because of her. The kids are not allowed to touch her hair until recess!
Katie and Niz. Niz's parents own a restaurant here on the Island and we went on night to their Indosenian Night and the kids danced to some music.
This was hilarious! We had to be home a lot during the week that Jase was sick and the girls were playing all sorts of funny games. They play a lot of games with grocery bags and their stuffed animals. They make parachutes and capes and other stuff. One day Katie decided to make an outfit out of different bags. Here are a few of the picture that I took.
A few other interesting things have happened. We woke up to go to church one Sunday to find Todds scooter had been 'borrowed that night! It was on the side of the road but he always parks it right up nest to the building behind the gate. We thought this was quite odd, and found that someone had snipped the wires taken it for a ride that night then cracked open the front (breaking it a little) and then took a fundamental part of the scooter to make it work. Sooo a joy ride, and stolen part. The guy must have really needed the part then! Perhaps you are wondering why the guy just didn't take the whole bike well - the island is so small that there would have been no way for him to keep the bike with out getting caught so they returned it! Anyway Todd got his friend mechanic he met on the island to get him a part and fix it for him for next to nothing the following day. We were quite frustrated at first because we are trying so hard to be kind and nice to everyone around us, but no matter what part of the world you go there is always someone wanting to have a part from your scooter!
The weather is quite hot here at times, I feel like it is cooling off a bit. I'm sure I'm getting a little more accustomed to the weather, but it is also getting closer to winter weather. Its still hot for the kids though. Our kids hang out in their underwear a lot around the house, and they have some friends who are not as shy when it comes to wearing underwear with friends/guests over. We've gone to a little friends house to find them playing around in their underwear outside and it continues during the play time. I don't make a big deal because they aren't my children and it is hot, I do tell my kids to keep clothes on though when there are people around. The funniest thing happened the other day on this topic. Jase has his little friend over - he is a few years younger than him -6- - and Jase was changing out of his school uniform to play. Well his friend walked into Jase's room and Jase was in his underwear. His friend said I want to be in my underwear too, and Jase tried to tell him that he was changing to get different clothes on and this cute little boy proceeded to get down to his undies in our front room to play. I tried to tell him that Jase was getting clothes on but I was laughing so hard It didn't come out. So both boys were playing Wii together in their undies in the living room!
WE had Katie's 8th birthday party for her birthday on October 19th. I think she had a lot of fun. She picked out what cake and icing she wanted, and she put the icing on the cake all by herself and put the candles in. She decided what she wanted to do for her party and we went shopping together for the stuff. It turned out pretty good.
Here is Katie with her cake.
This is the girls holding the present that Courtney gave Katie! Don't you love the presents when the little kids find some miscellaneous things around the house or items that are already the kids who's birthday it is a wrap it up and give it to them! Court was so proud of her gift. These are only 2 of the gifts she gave Katie. Katies sunglasses and a rock.
These are the friends Katie had at the party. Courtney, Emily Cooper, Niz and Maia. Here they are getting their nails done by Marianne a professor at the University wife.
On the day of her real birthday she wanted to have purple waffles with whipped cream. And she decided to have it as her cake too, cuz we didn't need any more cake!
Well thats it for now! Next on the go - Halloween and Courtneys Birthday (Nov 4)
Happy Birthday Katie! Sorry about the scooter, Todd! Sorry about the kitty, too.
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