Time is Going too Fast!

Time is going too Fast!

Rachael and Team come over for one of their last visits one Sunday.  It was nice as always to have them over for a little visit – the girls gathered Rachael some flowers from the garden and put together some little gifts for them.  Some little trinkets they themselves had collected or made.  Rachael and Team knew they weren’t fancy but were always very sweet and surprised when the girls gave them their gifts.  Teams English has been getting a lot better and makes simple conversations with us.  I’m sad to admit we really didn’t learn any Chinese from them but I’m pretty sure his main goal was to learn as much English as possible with his experience here on Statia.  I don’t think I mentioned before in the blog that at Christmas time we Christmas caroled at the home where the group of people who work for the employers of Rachael lives.  And while we were there singing she thought it was the radio or something because she didn’t have her glasses on to see us and didn’t realize it was us until we walked up to her doing her laundry in a bowl outside her house.  But it was there that I gave her a leather necklace with a blue bead that I had found on the other side of the harbor in the shallow water a couple months before Christmas. And here this day as Rachael and Team were visiting us Todd gave them each a blue bead.

**If anyone from Statia is reading this tell Rachael and Team that we miss and Love them!! Tell her to give me her phone number! In Fact give me your number too!**

We have collected and made many things during this wonderful time here on Statia and we took some pictures to try and remember all that we could!

Our collection of pottery.

Katie Made these at school.

Pieces of pipe

More neat pottery

Courtney made this at school

It was so sad and so hard to have to leave so many this behind.

Oh Sweet Mia! She is such a wonderful sweet person!  When she first came to the island I told her about Zumba and of course she new Todd through school, her working with the students in Anatomy.  We had one last little get together with her before we both left the island.  We were finished and she was off with bigger and better things ahead of her.  So it was a quick visit and bakery treat at Ash and Leandra’s bakery!  Miss you Mia and those fresh bakery’s too!

So the kids and I were determined to hike all the hikes on Statia which goal they pretty much accomplished with our hikes together and hikes with STENAPA.  With all the activities we have been doing and responsibilities we had at home sometimes they were hard to squeeze in – motivation maybe… but it was around the mountain we wanted to do.  So we took our famous shortcut right from our house, walked up to the big green radio tower and up the direct trail toward the top of the Quill.  And it is a REALLY direct trail. It feels like you are walking pretty much strait up. This picture doesn’t really do it justice.

We saw some really neat things along the way.  Some different fungi and a really pretty spider.

Now we didn’t take the regular way around the mountain like most people do which is going toward white wall around the mountain.  We went the other way around toward the botanical garden.  It was beautiful but shall we say definitely the road less traveled.  We got turned around a few times not really knowing where the path had disappeared to until we happened to catch a glimpse of a red/orange tape tag around a tree, whether in front of us or off the path we were traveling (which we thought was the path!) So it was a little tricky.  Not necessarily a hard hike but for sure very long. 

We finally hit some distinct markers so we new not all was lost!

And then we tip toed around this area!

And then… came the fall, tears, tired legs – I should have REALLY looked at how long the hike was that we wanted to do with was in actually about an 8 hour plus hike.  I thought it was only the 4 ½ hours that we had already hiked and we weren’t quite half was yet. To top it off the storm clouds came and soaked us to the bone!  Luckily we were within running distance to the Botanical Garden entrance from the Quill.  We ran and ran and made it to the pavilion in the Botanical Garden! From there we called Daddy to save us from the storm and our hike!

This island is full of historical findings waiting to be found.  In July they found yet another gem hidden in the ground in Lower Town.  If I’m correct they believe it to be an old Hotel or storage unit of some kind.  It was pretty cool to be able to check it out a little bit.  It always amazes me to think of who built these buildings and what life might have been like for those who walked in these building and on these foot paths.  You can see the fine brickwork in the bottom of the building. Bricks I believe were taken from the ships, ballasting bricks, to use in their construction.

At one of the many potluck dinners we attended at the University a few of us got and sang a song called ‘A Child’s Prayer’.  I think at this time there were only 4 kids left in primary – maybe 3.  All the other children were to young and in nursery.  It was Clare Sala, Me, Katie, Courtney, a little friend name Suri who came to church with the Salas little girl and one of Hannah’s little twins standing in the front for cuteness!

One day Tony came around the house putting new medicine in the palm trees – penicillin – to keep the palms from dying of the disease destroying hundreds of palms on the island and surrounding islands. It seems to be working because it has stopped spreading in our yard.  I caught a picture of the girls who were following Uncle Tony around the yard.  I was pretty cute.

I had to take pictures of the ever-talented Miss Hannah teaching the girls their last ballet lesson on the island.  Miss Hannah was leaving the island for a little holiday back home and we were leaving it forever not long after her.  It was so wonderful to have Hannah there to teach the girls - it was such a fun experience!! Miss you Miss Hannah!

Just a few pictures from around the island.

In here there are mini markets of sorts on Fridays.  You can get cuts of beef, goat, veggies, flowers, or plants.  But it also depends on who come to the market to sell.  I wish I had a picture of one of the market day!  It was never very big but fun anyway.

Activity night with the Relief Society girls from Church.  We made cards!  It was pretty fun actually – I’m not much of a crafty person but with good company it made it that much more fun!

With Clare Sala, Hannah Farrell & Kayla Harker.

One of Jase’s good buddies that he met on the island, Beau, Had moved back to the Netherlands a year ago. He came back to visit his Grandparents for a few weeks in the summer so he and Jase got together and had a great time hanging out at the beach! It was a fun reunion for those boys! They didn’t really get a proper goodbye when Beau left the island so this really made up for that! Adulfus had joined us to go to the beach that day too! 

One of the favorite things for the girls to do with their Daddy in the water is to do flips off of his shoulders!  This day they were practicing their back flips!

Katie

Courtney

You can never get enough of the ocean – whether you are swimming just strolling down the beach, or sitting and watching it – you can never get enough of the ocean.