Pictures with friends, Judo & More

We really wanted to have pictures of some very special friends we have made here on the island.  We wanted pictures for ourselves but also to give our sweet friends a special gift before we left. Our friends Niz and Zay however ended up leaving the island just over a month before us.  I took the kids out to a few different sites around the island to have a go at some photography.  We went to a little shack down town, a land stranded boat that came up on land during the first hurricane we were there for in September 2010, and then to the beach!  We took a whole bunch but I just picked out some favorites and some funnies. These are also NOT Photo shopped or anything.

Katie and Niz

Here is the little gift we gave them with their pictures in it along with a copy of all the pictures we took.

The kids last day of Judo.  They were sad to have their last day with Teacher Vienna but it was such a wonderful experience.  They worked so hard each judo practice and learned a lot about some of the techniques and some of the Japanese language used in judo.  There is so much more to learn but we have been so proud of their progress!

Teacher Vienna has been so proud of the kids too.  She even gave Courtney a special award for always trying 110% at each practice!  To top it all three kids received an orange belt!  Skipping the yellow belt completely.  Tr. Vienna said to Courtney now don’t be scared but I think you have earned this! In Judo they receive belt levels for both physical knowledge of the sport, technical and the theory.  They all did so well!

Getting their new Judo Belts!

All the students just LOVE Sensie Vienna!

Jase getting his new belt!

Arnold, Sharique & Jase! Good Judo Buddies!

Getting Tr. Vienna to sign their memory books.

Ahmed 'fighting' with Courtney!  It was really cute to watch. Courtney totally took him down!

Katie and I took these pictures while we were going around town one afternoon.  This is outside Julie’s Store.  We went here to get groceries quite often.  Great price on fresh fruit, tomatoes, and eggs!

Looking down the street - you can see our little white car on the right hand side.

And we got a picture on one of our beach dates!  The mermaid!!

We had some special last beach time/late night with Niz and Zay before they were to leave Statia for good.  Niz’s Mom – Anike – was so sweet and gave her kids money to go into Mazinga on the Bay to buy a nice gift to remember each other by.  The girls bought some cute sundresses and the boys bought matching man bracelets! I got a picture of the girls but the boys were of course to busy to pose for a picture!

Boys at the beach - Vino, Zay, Jason & Jase.

Marta Came and joined us at the beach!

Zay fell asleep at our late night!  We had so much fun and there has been so much going on these last few days everyone has been exhausted!

And showing Anike the gift for the kids.  We miss you so much xoxo.

Then the next day we celebrated Canada Day!  It was a whirlwind of non stop everything!  Thanks to the Sala family who threw a Canada Day Party for some of us Canadians!

The Families – Sala, Harker, Farrell, Bridge, Ramkissoon and Erickson!  

Awards, Job Training, Last Day of School and CTR

After a weekend filled with congratulations to Jase and his graduating class it was the whole SDA school award night the following Monday.

Jase and Courtney had such a wonderful and successful year at school thanks to their hard work and the hard work of some great teachers!!!

Courtney got one of three awards for the most outstanding student in her class – I did hear a roomer from ‘someone’ in the office that she had the highest GPA in her whole class!

 She also got medal after medal for her performance in Track and Field this year!

Here she is with one of her most favorite teachers – Teacher Anna!!  Courtney had a fantastic night!!

Jase also again had a big night to add to his last three days!  His Spelling Bee Award for the best speller in the school, metals for track and field and he and his best buddy Sharique were voted to be the best sportsmen of the games!!! 

Always and always there is a farewell to say.  Katie Bridge and her kids said farewell to this lovely little island – see you in Canada!

 Payton, Stella and Lucy!

I wanted to take some pictures of just random things on Statia – I really wish I had taken more but they are really nice to look at.

In the last few days of school Jase got to do job training – when I grew up we called Job Shadow.  A few weeks earlier her chose to do it at a restaurant/hotel called Golden Era.  He had a fantastic time on his first day learning about working in the food industry part of the hotel, setting tables, washing dishes, serving customers and even getting a tip from one of the customers! 

Day 2: Jase did such a marvellous job that the manager of the hotel invited him to come work there during the summer if Jase was looking for something to do!

Courtney started having her friends at school start to sign her book.  My friend Joanna White-Spanner was very sweet gave me some wonderful sturdy coil books for the kids to make into their very own autograph/message books. So when we go back to Canada they will always be able to look in their books and read messages from all sorts of people we have gotten to know and love.

As part of a closure to celebrate Jase’s graduation the class had their own special dinner night at Lynn’s Restaurant – formerly know as Papaya.  He said it was a fantastic meal and great fun with his friends!

Courtney had a very last day of school with her friends and wonderful teacher!  The last few weeks leading up to her last day she collected special things from around our house to give to her classmates as gifts to remember her.  So we wrapped them all up and had some special time with the class to hand them out.

Gift to Winston

Shaydon

Nicole

Reshendrea, Zique

Shammil

May-Rubya opening her gift.

We also made a treat to share with the kids and they also signed her signature/message book.

CTR!!  CHOOSE THE RIGHT!!  We also gave them each a CTR ring which helps you to Choose The Right with any choice placed before you!  The kids seemed to really like them!!  It’s a ring from our church, meant for everyone, to remind each of us that we are very special and worth making the righteous choices that will strengthen us and who we are – as children of our Heavenly Father.

I missed the part when Courtney’s teacher said, “We have a problem going on!” and the kids said, “What problem?” and teacher Anna said, “Courtney’s the problem!” And she had Courtney come up to the front of the class and said that Courtney is leaving the island and that Court would be very missed.  She then presented Courtney with a sweet card signed by all of her classmates and a nice gift to remember them by.  It was a sad moment with a few tears for her. Courtney truly treasures these.

Courtney later gave Teacher Anna the gift that she made especially for her.  Courtney made her a necklace, placed it in a cute heart tin and decorated a pretty card for her. Courtney just LOVES teacher Anna and will miss her dearly xoxo.

A copy of a picture Anna put on her Facebook page of Courtney's card to her.

Courtney and her class!  Cycle 1 Group 4 – 2013!  (Grade 2)

We gave each staff member at the school a special gift from us and this is what it was.


The Back:

The front:

And these are the Messages we shared: