Birthday's, Halloween, friends & Caribbean life

* A bunch of these pictures are take with the iPhone so quality is not at its best*

Oh the way home from the beach on day – after not going for weeks, the kids wanted to spot off at this tree that grows these ridiculously gooey sticky berries.  I can’t remember the real name but it just might be sticky berries.  I don’t know why the kids like them so much, they are pretty tasteless and have a wierd texture in your mouth, but they think they are pretty awesome!

Todd had kidney stones – again!  Poor guy.  Luckily the students here have great coverage for themselves and are completely covered for everything medical.  You have to pay for certain prescriptions if they are not covered by the health care system here, but its dirt cheep.  The Dr’s are great and have helped Todd out as needed.  Dr. Odongo likes to get the stones out of students ASAP so they can get on with their studies. So he hooked Todd up again with some saline to try and push them out, and that’s what happened. 

When we first moved into the house we are currently living in, no one had been living here for about 2 years at the time.  Things had worn down including the couch.  I had washed the roach, bird, insect, rat, and critter pooped and peed covers the best I could but unfortunately all the acid and ware and tare over the years of use – looked like it was covered in the 70’s, holes in it just got bigger and bigger and our land lady Ellie asked us to replace the cushion covers. Well… a little trick from here seeing as you can’t get the fabric easily, I have no sewing machine but not sure I’d want to attempt that anyway.  There is someone on the island who supposedly can sew on the covers but we were lucky enough to have Todd’s Mom and Dad say that they would handle it for us!  We gave them some material options, measurements of the cushions; which was not easy because they are not all just regular square shapes.  With the combined work of Todd Dad’s mad accurate measuring/cutting skills and Todd’s Mom’s problem solving/sewing skills we got these awesome new covers for the couch and chairs!  Thanks Mom and Dad!

The animal welfare here on the island is always looking for help with animals, and especially homes for animals.  Earlier in the month of October we joined our friends Debbie and Sarah Rodriguez at the shelter to play with some cute puppies and help out a bit.  Katie and Courtney have gone a few time with them before, but this time there where these cute little things.  The last day Katie was here with these little guys she let one suck on her chin until it was purple! Oops!

Jase actually has quite a few boys around the island who really appreciate his friendship.  I think it has to do with his kind heart, quiet manner, non-judgmental, easy to get along with, personality.  At home it’s a little bit of another story that we are working on but he truly is a good soul.  Always wanting to lift others up when they are feeling down, and helping them to see how wonderful they are.  The other day as we were driving we came across one of Jase’s friends Orville. He has a daily job of delivering roti to a man on the island and gets a dollar for each delivery. He treats himself to a sweet at the store afterward.  When we saw him he was picking up the roti to deliver and we asked if he wanted a ride home.  He did and then Jase was able to stay and play for and hour and help Orville make his delivery and share a sweetie with his earnings.  He is a gentle boy like Jase but always seems to be the one to get picked on by some particular kids in his neighbour hood.  I just hope it stop soon because he is a really great young man.

This is just a really neat picture I was while driving from Zealandia beach back to the main road.

After Church on day with the super cute little Farrell twins!  Our girls all had matching dresses! Fun!

We went to the fort another time to play and look at the view and just enjoy the beauty.  The kids love to play hide and seek here with us.  This particular day we were here the doors to this little nook was open – we’ve never seen it open.  So the kids had fun climbing in and out of it through the little doors and down the little stairs into the dark whole and I wondered what it was.

 Here is the plaque outside the door.

Thanks to Courtney’s Dutch teacher, Tr. Anna Jongstra I found out that is it the gunpowder warehouse (kruitmagazijn) where they kept the ammunition ready for use.  I don’t have a recent picture of the whole warehouse but here is an older one with Jase sitting on it from May 2011.

Swinging from the palm in the fort.

During one of the storms passing through this year it made the sky look like a crazy orange color.  This is the only shot I got of it.

And also during storms Todd will climb up on the roof to make sure the water is still flowing properly into the syctern or into the pool, but also just to make sure there aren’t any big clogs stopping the water from running off the roof.  It tends to leek so this helps it from leaking too bad.

But there are things to enjoy during a storm like swimming in the rain with the pool right full of water!

The girls enjoying snacks and treat while watching Edward Scissorhands in bed under the mosquito net!

For a very long time now I’ve wanted to try to get our little church group here more involved in the community. I wanted the primary children to do a sort of church song service for some of the elderly on the island.  With the help of Katie Bridge who is our primary leader I was able to organize a time for us to go and sing for a group of elderly/special needs people who gather everyday – with the guidance of Hilda Berkle who started the gatherings.  I loved her introduction of our little group of singers.  At first she thought we were representing the University, where we are all associated, but we told her where were here representing The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  “Oh yes of course,” she said. And then to the group of Elderly, “the same church as Mitt Romney!” It was pretty funny!

Among a much spirited rendition of ‘Going on a Lion Hunt’ done by myself, it was a beautiful uplifting experience for everyone.  The children were quiet, reverent, and respectful as they sung and the elders noticed that.  We all felt the spirit as the kids sang sweetly of their love for our Savior.  Two of the gentlemen followed the tune of the songs with their guitars and we all just enjoyed the music.  You could definitely feel the unity, peace, and love in that room.  And you knew we are all equal and loved in the eyes of the Lord no matter who we are or where we come from.

After that they sang a song for us while some played the tambourine or guitar.  They then brought out some snack for everyone to enjoy together.

And as a special treat for the kids Saggy, one of the elderly/special group members, presented the children with his very own art, one for each of them to choose from and it will be a special keepsake from our time here on Statia.  This will be one of the many wonderful moments in life that we will remember.  And hopefully we can do it again soon!

Happy Happy Birthday Katie’s is 10!  We just celebrated the last of 3 birthday’s Katie was to have on the island.  I hate to think of things that way but its sometimes hard not to.  But I think she had a fantastic time having a P.J, Shake-It-Up Make Your Mark Birthday Party.  Her birthday was on the same day of one of her favorite TV shows – Shake-It Up (I hate it).  They were having a dance competition aired that night called Make You Mark featuring young contestants who were trying to win a dance off.  So we partied and watched her Shake-It-Up show. What a partay!

They made their own pizza’s – that’s where her Dad gave her a certificate to take the PADI Junior Underwater Diving course!  She is soooooo very excited about that!! (Jase got one too)

The girls danced, played games – with inspirational help from Hannah Farrell, Party guru!! – and had super amounts of fun.  The only game that didn’t work was the lifesavers on a toothpick because they got way to sticky in the humidity and wouldn’t slide down the stick!  But they had fun trying. Don’t eat Pete!  I have never heard of this game before and it was hilarious to watch them play! One girl leaves the room and the others pick one jelly bean/candy to represent Pete.  The girls then comes in and slowly pick up the jelly beans in no particular order, place them in a bag and if they pick up Pete the group yells, “Don’t eat Pete!” It pretty funny!  And then the pack flour in a cup put a dime in the top and try and try to cut away the flour without making the dime fall game.  Whoever makes it fall has to get it out with their teeth.  More FUN!  And then your classic White Elephant.

Of course Food and Cake and Gifts!  Thanks to all her friends for making it a wonderful birthday!

Saw these interesting mushroom type fungi growing in our yard. I knew they were mushroom things of sort because they had a strong pungent old mushroom smell to them.

Dinner with some fun friends.  It s small world after all is a very true quote here on Statia.  We had dinner at the house of the Hunter family from Cardston, Alberta.  A small town very near the one we came from in Southern Alberta.  They were readers of this very blog about the island and University and how it would work for their family… and here they are.  The church network also is beneficial because they attend the same church we do.  It was a fun night of visiting and yummy food!

There are a few people who have come to the island from the blog.  One person was driving down the road on a quad and saw my kids going on a walk and said they recognized them from the blog!  Funny.

HALLOWEEN!!

Well this is our third Halloween here on Statia, and like the other 2 years no trick or treating for the kids.  It really is a disappointment for them or is it just me because I don’t even recall them mentioning it this year.  Or the fact that they know they can’t do it anyway so why dwell on it.  This year was our turn, well we took initiative, to throw a Halloween Hoopla Trunk or Treat Party this year.  We invited our friends from the island, church, and university to join in the fun. 

Courtney – our little pirate

Katie – our little witch

Jase – our mad scientist

Jase even had one of his buddies from school, Chevron, come and join the party.  And I thank Nathan Maguire and Lauren Ricks for sharing their Halloween Costumes with Chevron who didn’t have one! It really made his day!

This was his first, and he said his last, Halloween Party ever and he said it was awesome! People don’t celebrate it here, a lot of them for religious beliefs, and some just because it was never in their culture so they don’t do it.

Oh yes and the host and Hostess the Crazy Doctor and his Zombie Bride. Got to get creative here with a dishtowel as my veil.

Everyone came and parked out front in preparation for the truck or treat later that evening, and then had a kids parade up at the house so we could see all the fun costumes!

Let the fun begin!  We had Guess the Candies in the Jar, Vote on your favorite trunk of treat vehicle – is action during the trunk or treat – The fishing game – Hosted by the fabulous Hannah Farrell and her sister Emma, bobbing for apples, Lots of yummy, yummy food and drinks that everyone shared with each other. A gross out box that you put your hand in, all the classic Halloween fun!  I was so pleased with how it turned out and all the fun almost 60 people had at the house!

Bobbing for apples – The girls loved this one!

Really fun fishing pond with Hannah and Emma – plus Hayley Hunter behind the ‘water’.

TRUNK OR TREAT

People had their light going, scary music, creepy decor, dead people in body bags – that was Todd freaking out any kids that got close – chain sawed arms by Eric Vos!  It was really pretty hilariously awesome how creative everyone got. 

Jase and Mr. Nobody (Justus Hunter)

Everyone enjoying themselves, eating, voting on the winner of the best Trunk or Treat.

And the winner of the Pumpkin Poop (bag of cheese’s)… The Vos’ moving chain sawed off arm in the back if their trunk! 

A group picture With the Hunters and more friends!!!

And a thank you to Hannah for her help with decorating ideas.

With Halloween being on a school night it was a short but sweet and fun Halloween night!!  A big thank you to Shrek, Carrot and family for helping with what they could with the cleanup!

So maybe some of my Canadian family and friends might have notice that we skipped Thanksgiving at the beginning of October.  That was done on purpose.  For me 2 birthdays, Halloween and a Thanksgiving all in four weeks was a little to much for me to handle.  And here is the beginning of the second birthday I am talking about… Courtney’s.

It started out when we went to buy stuff for the truck or treat from Rachael’s store and to use the left over chips for part of Courtney’s party sack for her class.  Here on the island when a child is ‘making birthday’ for tradition they usually share out treats for the whole class as a party sack.  So Rachael’s over heard me talking to Courtney about left overs for the party sack and she immediately took Courtney over to the toy section and had her pick out her favorite toy. It was so cute to watch them go through the Barbie’s hugging each other.  Rachael just loves the kids and loves to spoil them anyway she can.  She is a wonderful friend and we love her.

I need to mention one time on the way home from the beach, the kids and I, we stopped at Rachael’s because we needed a few things, and I needed to stop off at a few other places as well.  The store had just got its shipment in and there were piles of things to be priced and put on the shelf.  And that’s just what the kids did, Rachael gave them each a price gun to put the stickers on, and they helped her put them on the shelf and Rachael sent me off to do my shopping and come back later.  From what I know they had a fantastic time working and hanging out with Rachael without Mom there and were very disappointed when I had finished my errands to come and get them.  They were on a Ting break when I arrived.  I was so glad they were able to do something like that to help Rachael out and of course she got them a Ting for helping.

Courtney loves her schoolteacher – Tr. Anna.  There are some days in the morning when Tr. Anna is responsible for supervising the children waiting for the school but at the SDA church and Courtney gets to ride in Tr. Anna’s car to the school.  I saw them driving by one morning after dropping Court and Jase off at the church. 

Back to Courtney’s birthday!  On their birthday they are allowed to wear anything they want to school – of course appropriate.  She wore pink and handed out pink cupcakes, chips and a drink box to her classmates. 

And here she is with her teachers.  Teacher Anna and Teacher Julia – the teacher assistant.  Court thinks her teachers are the best!

That day after school I arranged to pick up all of the little girls in Courtney’s class to come to her birthday party.  There are 5 girls in her class but only 4 could come. And Courtney really wanted Savannah Hunter to come as well and we were so glad to have her with us to help out and join in the fun.  She is a very sweet darling girl of 12 years but so wonderful with Courtney.  And of course it was so wonderful to have Katie there as the big sister to help out with the girls too!  She was so thoughtful and offered to stay and help instead of going and playing elsewhere!

Through out the party, games and food these little girls were in and out of the water all afternoon just loving the pool on a hot November day!  In order here is: Nicole, Sineille, Xaviera and in the group picture also Mae-Rubya.

If you will notice Courtney birthday party is almost an exact replica of Katies.  Court loved it so much that she wanted pretty much everything that Katie had; minus the Shake it up but plus a piñata which she decorated all by herself.  Paper mache doesn’t dry here so we make them out of just a cereal box, or something similar, and decorate it.  She did a fantastic job!

So we have our homemade pizza,

Don’t eat Pete

Plate of flour game

White Elephant

And Courtney’s awesome piñata! She is so beautiful!!

And then cake and gifts from her friends!  Gifts are not a huge part of the birthday party culture here, the odd person will do it though.

Sunday November 4^th was her actual birthday so I made her a very special dinner with the great help of master dish washer Jase.  Having no dish washer here makes the dishes pile up very fast! We had Chicken, Frogeye salad, stuffing, roasted potatoes, carrots, and gravy.  Yummy… but she wanted to share it all with someone and it was a good think because we had a ton of food so she chose to call the Hunter family over for dinner and games.  She actually chose Nathan Maguire too but he was on his way to St. Maarten – lucky bum!

Here we are playing Apples to apples together.  I had to put the goofy face in there just for Court to remember her funny faces!

Another cake and gifts.  And a huge thank you to Katie for literally throwing together a gift for her.  It was just some random stuff around the house, oh and some money, but Katie was so sweet to think of something for her.  As a crazy mother with too much going on I completely forgot to get her a little something to open.  The bikes the kids got toward the beginning of the school year was a huge chunk of their birthday gifts, but it’s nice to open something.  What a great sister!

 

One of the many random big bubbles Jase makes in his hands with hand soap and air.

The University building the dorms for students.  No knowledge on the estimated time of finish but it is on its way.  This is an older picture so they are a little farther along.

After church one day little Liam was very eager to help Todd carry the keyboard to the car.  It was so cute!  I miss those days of cute little helpers like that.

Saying goodbye is horrible! We meet such wonderful people and then they have to go.  Pallav is a friend we have known ever since we arrived on Statia.  He and Todd met in premed classes – Pallav didn’t have to take as many as Todd.  He’s been there for birthdays, Christmases, there as a good friend to us all and is forever known as Uncle Pallav to the kids.  We invited him and his good friend Robyn, his roommate, over for his last supper on the island including his favorites of frogeye salad, and this oriental salad that I make of my Mom’s recipe.  The kids wanted to play jacks with Pallav and thanks to Robyn we remembered how to play.  

The kids all made him a special card for him to remember them and take home. It was really sweet to watch the girls sit on his lap and Jase, of course getting older, sat on the chair next to him.  But it was really sweet watching them look at their cards together.  I loved the comment made by Pallav about the fact that Katie made sure he was coloured brown in her picture.

Final group pictures

Or so he thought…

We surprised him with a visit to the airport for his early morning flight at 6:00 the next morning.  We wouldn’t have missed it for the world Pallav!  

It was really sad to see him go, and the kids will really miss seeing him but we are very excited for his next step in becoming a Doctor.  For us it will be soon enough.