The Year Mark

Well We have officially been on the Island 1 year as of August 16th 2011. Its been quite an amazing year with so many adventures and growing experiences. Time has flown but the good thing is we still have – as of mid August 20 more months I believe – to be here. Of course we sometime get a little home sick, but when you look at it in ratio to the time we will be spending off the island after this ummmm maybe 50 years we really appreciate the time we have here. How often do you get to live in the Caribbean in a lovely house with an unbelievable view and a swimming pool. Yes we finally have our pool functioning, but I will get to that later. Of course the maintenance of the home is sometimes a huge pain in the butt but… it has been a great blessing that we have learned to appreciate. Some days it is easier to appreciate than others though!

After me and the kids returned from Canada it was back to life working in the yard and getting ready for another school year to start on August 15th.






And yes they each had a turn using the machete under close supervision. We were working on this dead Coconut tree stump and finally got the truck to pull it out.

So the kids were all scheduled to go to the SDA (Seventh Day Adventist School) and the girls were very excited to see their friends and get their new teachers Jase was a little more apprehensive because it was his first time going to the school, but I knew he would be able to hold his own. It does frustrate him in some ways though. He is very structured and obedient and doesn’t understand why the other kids can’t just sit down and listen to the teacher. I think there is a huge power struggle in the schools and unfortunately the students aren’t getting all the education they should be. Not that the teachers aren’t working extremely hard. They are and I’m quite impressed at how they run the school and the desire they have for the children to succeed, but you can only do so much and then it is up to the students and their families. Anyway, Jase, Katie and Courtney are all doing wonderful in their classes, and their teachers love them! Courtney received a special gift from her teacher for being the best behaved in her class! We are proud of our kids for doing so well!











Picture of Courtney in her classroom.


Katie and her class, with her Teacher Tr. Debra. She absolutely adores Katie!






So we were back on the island for a couple weeks and then we were off again on a super fun trip to St. Kitts! We caught a boat across the channel between the two islands with a local fisherman in his boat. If we were to have flown over there it probably would have cost us over $200.00 per person t go there and back which is ridiculous because the island is only 20 miles south of us. So the boat it was and it was one ride I don’t think we will ever forget.

Waiting for the boat!







Our boat appropriately named “In God we Trust!”



We were on this adventure with two other families, Marlin and Hansel, and the Coopers. We each had on a life jacket thank goodness, Keep in mind that we were in hurricane season with storms frequenting off and on for a few weeks – rough water being the result but just calm enough to make it there alive. After a much needed pray offered by our captain we were off. Me, Marlin and Hansel sitting in the back were soaked to the bone (Marlin getting the brunt of it) bouncing up and down a little bit on the way there dodging waves that would over turn the boat, while the ones in the front, including, Todd and poor little Courtney, suffered extreme bumitis in the front for the weekend. All I can say is Amazing boat driver ever, and neat jumping fish! (Seats were changed from in the picture before we took off.)









Lad Ho! We were grateful to have made it there in one piece and with our stomachs intact. Thank goodness for the gravel the kids took and me who gets motion sickness very easy! The kids thought it was really neat to have gone over to St. Ktts on a boat! Our Captain took care of our immigration procedure by having his cousin – who works for the immigration office, come and meet us at the mini port where we drove into to do all of our paper work, and then drive into town to get our passports stamped. Pretty great service!







This is where we ‘landed’, you can see tin the last picture on the top of the mountain the fortress that was build back in the 1700’s. that would have been fantastic to see!

On too fantastic and wonderful things at our resort stay in the St. Kitts Marriott Hotel!

See as we just got back from Canada the kids weren’t in too huge of a culture shock like there were when were fist left the island, but it was still quite impressive to see this big fancy hotel, soft beds and drinkable water as Jase said about arriving in Canada. On the phone to his Dad he said the best thing is we didn’t have to worry about the bugs and we could drink out of the taps!! We spent a lot of the time swimming and playing at the resort. That’s all the kids really wanted to do and with the time we had scheduled there arriving on Thursday and leaving on the Sunday. We just decided t relax and enjoy ourselves and not try and run around the whole time. The kids loved the pool and most!










On one of the days Jase was able to get on some scuba gear and try it out like Mom and Dad. He did really well and the trainer was quite impressed. Todd wants to get Jase certified for his underwater course this winter break and Jase is really excited about that!




Picture from outside our hotel room. This is a glimpse of the fancy tourist side of the island it is actually quite large. On the other side of the island, the side we can see from Statia, the people are sadly struggling quite a bit. Unfortunately there is a lot of crime over there and there were 2 murders during our short stay on the island.




One of the most fun parts about the trip was meeting Jimmy. Jimmy is (at the time) an eight month old - I think that’s what his owner said - monkey. His owner takes him around to show tourists for a little bit of cash and he lets you hold him and play with him a bit. The kids thought it was hilarious! The owner would but a maraschino cherry in your hands and the monkey would sit in your hands and eat it or climb all over your shoulders and head. He loved the top of Katie’s head and started chewing on her hair! He didn’t like it if you had your hand curved around him so you had to keep your hand flat or else he would knaw on them with his gums. He was so cute and soft the kids just wanted to cuddle him but he was too crazy and fast to do that. On St. Kitts they have wild monkey that live in the forests, but they are quite a nuisance I hear. Wrecking window wipers on cars and making messes and getting into mischief. I guess it’s a good thing we don’t have any here on Statia.

(I didn’t make it back from the hotel with my camera in time to see Jase hold him but Rebecca got a couple pictures of Jase for me.)












On Saturday Todd took us on a bus, a big commercial van, and we walked a little bit around some of St. Kitts. We ended up near the tourist part for a little bit with all of their cruse ship shops and there were no cruise ship people either – not that time of year. It was neat to see and the kids loved looking at all of the creepy shaky manikins that store owners used to attract customers, but it doesn’t give you any sort of idea on what the island is about – which we are more into.






Then we walked to a different area where there were local venders and lots of local people shuffling around buying stuff. Pirated movies, and CD’s, fruits, veggies, peanuts, shaved ice from an ice block with flavored syrup – which we got and they tasted very interesting. We actually didn’t finish them. But it was nice to support the local venders. There were lots of people from all walks of life, and some who needed help so we bought them some fruit or vegetables. At the end of our venture down the vendors lane we sat down in a stairwell during a flash rain and enjoyed our fresh starfruit and Ting! (Ting is a very yummy drink made in Jamaica).






We also found a nice park to sit in and listen to a live band for a while – a band camp actually for Youth.
That is a picture of a big old church in the background.



We had some fantastic sushi that night after a swim in the pool!



On Sunday morning we weren’t sure if we going to be able to make it home as scheduled because there was a tropical storm passing by and the waters were extremely rough to cross, so later on that morning our captain called and told us that we would need to stay another night. We had no complaints whatsoever. The kids were excited to miss another day of school (two in total). So we spent the day doing inside activities some of which the hotel had set up for us. There was a movie, board games, coloring contest and Wii games. We even went up to the top of the hotel for an amazing view of the area. You have to get special permission to go up to the top with a security personnel and a special key. It was beautiful. We also had a view through to the bottom floor of the hotel. It was quite a ways down!













Alas the day of departure came and we were on our way back to the real word with lots of gravol!


The sea on the way back was even scarier than on the way there. The ocean was different in the way that we weren’t bouncing up and down so much over sharp high swells, we were twisting and shifting between multiple waves and swells pulling us and coming at us in different directions all the time. The storm really made a mess of the water! Sometimes it almost felt like we were hydroplaning in a car, I honestly thought a couple times we were done for as the sea was flush with the side of the boat and we were slipping and tilting. I was watching the kids as we were going hoping they were okay Their Daddy was near them though, Courtney’s hand were gripping the bar so tight they were white, and poor Jase – well I think I gave him a little too much Gravol – kept nodding off. Katie was just fine right by me, well a little nervous I think. I’m not sure if they would ever do that again, in the near future anyway. It took quite a bit long to get back to Statia because we had to leave from a farther mooring, so I think our trip back was just over an hour. Oh, and our boat engine wasn’t working very well either. Lots of prayers I’m sure were said in the boat that day – well I know from me there certainly was!

So with Todd still off of school we were free to do more work on the house while the kids were in school. After about 8 months in trying to prepare the pool for use – having to work between Todd’s schedule – we got it going! You should have seen it before had, full of water and just like a swamp. So we’ve cleaned it, prepped it, continually pumped water out and we did it. Fewph! Randall came by and helped for an afternoon with some painting of special pool paint concoctions, we had ordered form the states, which was great and allowed me to get caught up on other things because we’d been spending so much time on the pool. And then Todd and I finished it all off the next day!!





Fill’er up! So we got the pool filled and boy were the kids ever excited! The first day we had it filled about half way but that didn’t stop the kids or Todd and I from trying it out! It has definitely been a great addition to our life here on the island. We were at first a little worried about the maintenance, and the problems with having way to many plants and trees around the water, which is frustrating sometime because it is always getting organic material in there, but we find the fun has definitely out weighed the work – so far, lets hope it stays that way!






The last picture is of a Tree Frog here on Statia, the males have a high pitch sort of whistle that they sing all night every night to attract the ladies! This little guy was our first casualty in the chlorinated pool water. I have to say I wasn’t so sad about it. These little frogs have got quite the sound!

The other day – in September we were invited to go to my good friends Marcela and Edwin’s house for a luncheon. It was really nice to be there with them in their home. Marcela is from Chili her native tonged being Spanish and she has been learning Dutch and English. She’s been practicing her English with me , and we’ve been getting to know each other really well. We’ve also been Zumba buddies! Sebastien, their son, loves to watch the kids play and to have the girls give them all f their attention. When Marcela and I can we get to tether in the morning and have some herbal tea and cake together! They also have a pair of baby goats (at the time) that were given to them because the mother died and they needed to be had raised. So that’s what Marcela and Edwin did and they were planning on eating them but I think they might have gotten a little attached! Who wouldn’t! We love seeing all of these little baby goats and lambs running around town. The kids especially love trying to point out the tiniest little baby they can see.




Courtney lost her first tooth. We can’t believe our baby is getting so big already. Her tooth was really wiggly for quite some time, but she was so nervous about it sming out, I decided just to leave it until she was ready to take it out herself, and that’s just what she did. Pulling on it one night and out it popped. She was so proud and got quite a handsome sum from the tooth fairy I might add $5 for her first tooth!




Lobster for dinner one night. Court just loves the stuff! Also a picture of Todd with one of his catches. I saw him get this one in the water. It was pretty cool to see, this was the biggest one I’ve personally seen him catch, and it was really neat. It looks kind of small in the picture big to me it looked like a good size. However its not the biggest one he’s ever caught.




To make a longer story short, Katie was invited to attend the Terminal school, the school where Jase was last year, I was excited and torn all at the same time. Her teacher loves her at the SDA School, and I mostly didn’t want to disappoint anyone by taking her out and moving her. I was worried about her missing friends and just the over all experience. This may sound silly to some but I really wanted to make a good choice. Anyway we chose and it has been just wonderful. I’m sure Katie would have got along fine enough at the SDA, but this gave he other opportunities and another experience of small island living. Make that small school living. With only 5 kids in the elementary and 4 in the high school its right tiny, but so wonderful for Katie to have a great relationship with her teacher(s) and have the opportunity to do other things in the class room that you otherwise wouldn’t be able to do in a larger group setting. We brought farewell cupcake to Katie’s class at the SDA School on her last day, and they sang a song for her. It was really sad actually. Her teacher, Tr. Debra, gave her lots of big hugs and we took some pictures of them together. We still stay in good contact with Tr. Debra, and she is always curious as to how Katie is doing. Katie also took pictures with a couple of her other teachers Tr. Waal – Dutch teacher, and Tr. Helen - math teacher and also Jase’s home room teacher.
















And the last picture is Katie with her new teacher, Tr. Hilda. Katie just told me the other day that she loves Tr. Hilda, and she is fun, and funny! ZUMBA – ZUMBA, shake it, shake it. Right Tr. Hilda!

Courtney at assembly with her class this year and her new home room teacher, Tr. Cheryl. Courtney is doing very well in class, and is the best behaved student. For being so good her teacher gave her and E-Twee (pencil case) with some pencils and erasers!


Some fun things around the yard! Jase found and caught a really cute baby lizard!



STAR FRUIT! We just Loved the little starfruit tree we have in the yard. Everyday the girls would go out to see if there were any ripe enough to pick. You had to pick them a little early or else the ants would get them before you, although if we found one that wasn’t badly eaten we would just blow them off and eat around the spot.



This is a sweet apple that Marcela gave to me. It has a very sweet but interesting taste. At first the kids thought they were okay, but now they aren’t really huge fans which is a little surprising because the generally love anything fruity. And then having some fun swinging off of a huge palm tree leaf that was on the verge of coming off but not quite! The kids loved that!







And then for the first annual long awaited Bike/ Walk –a-thon that was organized for kids between the ages of 6 and 12 years think it was. Jase and Courtney’s school could send all the kids in that age range s they had a contest for which class could bring back the most signed permission slips before a certain date could go, and Jase’s class tied with another class so they were both classes able to go. They were raising money to go toward to purchase of, I believe, books for kids’ awareness for being safe. Katie’s class (Katie, Sarah, Jasper & Tr. Hilda) was also going, so I had Jase walking and Katie riding – that what they chose to do. They really had a nice time being with their friends and having fun raising money. I watched Jase talk with his little buddies the whole time they were having a nice walk together, and Katie would race down and up the road with her friend Sara on their bikes, taking breaks here and there. The organizers provided water and fruit for all of the participants. We finished at noon , and it was a good thing because we were melting in the sun by the time it was done. A good time by all though!



















So in September Todd officially started his MD courses! To us is felt like we were moving on to a nest level, which is very exciting, but the hard work keeps on going. The courses he’s taking this semester are Anatomy, Public Health, Patient Doctor, Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Histology, which is enough to keep him very busy. Anatomy being a big one the professor has squeezed in the whole course, which he taught before in 1 year, into 3 ½ months plus embryology. Its really unbelievable how much Todd has to try and absorb is such a short period of time! The school is actually looking into dividing the course into at least two semesters (7 months total) instead of the one. He is doing very well though for his first exposure to real anatomy with cadavers and such.
These are some pictures form his first term party. Its a dinner the university throws for all of the new students arriving for their first term. Well we’ve been to 3 first term dinners already; none technically being ours, so I only thought is appropriate to take some pictures of our actual first term party! The kids always have such a fun time dancing and eating – although the music is seriously way too loud, so much its quite uncomfortable. We don’t stay long anyway because the later it gets the less kid friendly it gets. So we just eat some good food, have free pop and visit with some friends for a little bit and have a nice quite night at home!


Todd with some of his guy friends; Saad & Joel



Me and some of my girls friends ; Mia, Vonda, Kayleigh





Court and Pallov



Katie was dancing almost the whole night, and loving it with the rest of the kids! Pearl, Carson & Addie. Courtney is a little more reserved as you saw her picture of her dancing in the back with her Daddy! And jase well… he was just enjoying the Leapster at the table trying to “not go deaf” from all the music!





It has been a wonderful first year, and we are feeling more and more at home as time goes on. Cheers! To an even better one this coming year!


P.S One thing I forgot to mention in the last entry on our flight home from Canada Jase lost a tooth!! So now he can say he lost his tooth on an airplane thousands of feet in the air!