Quick update - October

The kids and their friend Ben

Meeting Grandma at the airport

So time is really flying by, I can't believe it has been so long since I posted something. So here is a quick synopsis of the last 2 months. Mom came out for a visit in August. It was great having family here and the kids had a blast showing grandma their island. We made a trip to Cabrits one day and saw the old British Fort Shirley. That was really cool cuz they still have all the old cannons and musket balls, and it is a great view over the bay. We also made a trip around the island visiting Carib Indian Territory to buy baskets and hand made crafts and also hiked to Emerald Pool. It was absolutely beautiful. We also took a trip down the Indian River where part of Pirates of the Caribbean was filmed, the kids got a big kick out of that.

View of Portsmouth from Cabrits

Fort Shirley Cannons

I finished my 1st semester of med school at the end of August, it was a huge relief to make it to that bench mark. We had a two week break with the kids between the semseters and we had a good time just being together. We also started another business of buying and selling books which turned out to be a lot more work than we had anticipated but it paid off in the long run.

Indian River Tour

Just before 2nd semester started, I was called to be the Relief Society President. It was a huge shock to me, but I accepted the calling and have been incredibly blessed for it. Our little branch has really grown and we are now at just about 80 members and are quickly outgrowing our space.

Our Church Building in Portsmouth

The kids started back into school in September, Zak is in the 4th grade there are only 3 kids in his class. Burke is in 2nd grade and is the only boy out of the 4 kids in his class. Paige is in the junior kindergarten and there are about 7 kids in her class. Mike is in his 3rd semseter of Master's in Counseling and stays really busy with the ice cream business.

Over all things are great. We have set the date for Burke's baptism for February 24th, for any one who is able to come we would love to have you. We went to a convert baptism a few weeks ago and now Burke is really excited to be able to be baptized in the ocean.

My favorite study spot

Pictures

I've had requests to post more pictures so here you go...This is the ice cream sandwiches that we sell at school. I make the cookies then Mike makes the sandwiches out of them. They are a huge hit!
The kids went to a birthday party at the pool this morning. This is Burke jumping in, I can't believe how brave he has gotten. It took him awhile to get over his anxiety about water, but bit by bit he keeps improving and doing more things.

Zak won't stay out of the water, unless he is running back around to jump in again. He has really gotten into doing cannon balls and diving in.

Paige got water wings and nothing stops her now, she is all over the pool when she has them on.

We made our first ice cream cake this weekend, you can't tell but it was really big. I would kill to have my wilton stuff right now.

This is the sewing shop in town, the sell some of the woven baskets and mats that the carib indians make. They are absolutely beautiful, I'll definately be getting some of these before I leave the island.

July

Mike has had a bit too much free time on his hands lately because he is on break from his schooling. He goes spear fishing with the guys very regularly and has brought home several squid, octopus, and lobster tails. Unfortunately I haven't been able to eat any of them (I start gagging at the site of them) and I really wish he would just catch some plain old boring fish, but I guess that's just not as much fun. This week Mike took over an ice cream business from another student who is done on the island and leaving. He makes ice cream sandwiches out of chocolate chip cookies and sells them on campus along with brownie sundaes and plain scoops of ice cream. He did really well this week and we are hoping that the ice cream sales will help us make ends meet a little better. However, I have discovered that having that much ice cream in my house is really not good for me, it has become my replacement for drinking milk. I may need to have some one send me some bigger pants soon :) Mike on the other hand has been very good and doesn't eat hardly any of the ice cream, he is continuing to lose a little weight every week and I'm very proud of him. I did get to have some real milk last week, I was very excited and it tasted sooo good! And at $18 for a 1/2 gallon, I will never complain about the cost of milk at home ever again.

Mike's octopus marinating in sauce, notice he left the suction cups on (gag).

We have had a lot of rain the past few days. It is nice because it cools down a little bit, I even had to sleep under a blanket last night because I was cold though I doubt the temp got below 80 degrees, I' pretty pathetic., I don't know how I will handle going back to the snow. But all the rain does make life a little bit harder. We usually filter water at home to drink but when it rains a lot the water gets a lot of sediment in it and the britta can't filter it out so we have to walk to school and fill up bottles of water there. It's the same story in the shower, it just feels wrong trying to wash your hair in dirty water but it's better than being stinky. I also can't do the laundry when the water gets dirty because it can plug up the washer and the clothes don't come clean. I wouldn't be able to dry them either since it is raining so much. On a plus note, we do get some amazing rainbows just about everyday.





The kids are doing well and enjoying school a lot. They finished the school year at the end of June and are now in the summer program. They get to go on field trips around the island each week and go swimming in the pool every day. They have made a lot of friends and are excited that for the first time, they live close enough to friends to be able to have them over quite frequently. Since we have the biggest house, the kids and adults tend to congregate at our house to play.

2 Months Done...14 To Go

Sorry I haven't posted for a while, we've been busy having fun! Actually Mike and I both have been very busy with school. Mike finished his first semester towards his Masters degree the same week that I had my first set of tests. It was a pretty rough week for us but we made it through. Mike has continued to go spear fishing with his buddies and brought home an octopus for us to eat. Of course neither one of us had any idea what to do with it, so Mike let our friend Lilly cook it up. Mike got to try it and said it was really good but he forgot to bring some home for me to try.

Our landlord is really nice and bought a washing machine for us to use, I was sooo excited! Most students have their laundry done by the locals which I guess is pretty nice because they iron and fold it up for you. But it costs about $15ec a load and there was no way we could afford that with as many loads of laundry we have each week. We had been washing our laundry by hand in the bathtub before the washer came. The washer is not like a US machine but it is an LG brand, it has a large barrel with no aggitator in it and uses a bunch of jets to get the stuff clean. It can do a lot bigger load than a regular machine too, I can get about 2 1/2 times as many clothes into one load now. For the most part, they don't use dryers here because the power is so expensive so everything goes outside on to the clothes line to dry which can be a problem since it rains pretty much everyday.

Mike showing off his smaller waist line!

Some of the flowers in our yard.

This little humming bird is always buzzing around the front yard, he is fun to watch. I loaded up a few more movies onto our you tube channel, some old and some new. You have to click on the Youtube button to go to the website to see them all.

Just for Mike

Mike is so proud of this that it deserves it's own post! He and his new friends, Nick and Wes, went night snorkeling on Friday so they could see the bioluminescence and maybe catch a few crabs or lobsters. Nick and Wes both have a spear gun and this is what they came home with...
They caught a 44" Baracuda

Check out the teeth

Mike, Nick, and Wes

Nick the fish and the spear gun

Wes getting a good look at the teeth.

Big Fish

The also caught several lobsters.

On another note, I know it's hard to tell :), but Mike has lost over 15 pounds since we got here. Yay for him, I only wish I could say the same.

White Coat Ceremony

Friday was our white coat ceremony. We were officially "coated" by MD professors and given a pin by the PhD professors. It was pretty cool but the keynote speaker was really boring. I'm going to get a DVD copy of the ceremony since I'm sure you are all dying to watch it :).

Mike managed to burn himself again, you would think he'd learn the first time but no, he went snorkeling twice on Friday and is now a crispy critter.
We go to the "market" every Saturday morning in Portsmouth. You have to go around 6 am to get the good stuff. It's set up like a farmers market so you can get fresh fruit, veggies, eggs, fish, and meat there. This week we tried the fish. I got 2 pounds of fresh tuna for about $4 US. We weren't sure exactly how to cook it cuz it was cut in steaks so we just fried it up with some Mrs. Dash and it turned out really good, the kids even liked it. The other option they had last week for fish was a blue marlin, I didn't know if they were good to eat so I passed on that one. You can buy beef and pork there as well but it is a big slab of meat they just chop off how many pounds you want, not a steak or a roast so until I get some knives for my kitchen we are passing on that.

This is some of the stuff I got this week, the Tuna, some really small potatoes, carrots, celery, mangos, and corn on the cob. I also can get a huge bunch of bananas for about 75 cents (we eat bananas a lot).

First week of school

School started on Monday for me and the kids and things are going really well so far. I have class all morning and then I meet Mike and the kids for lunch. After lunch, I either have more classes or anatomy lab and I’m done by at least 5 everyday but usually 3. The kids get done at 3 so we camp out on a deck that over looks the ocean and all five of us do our homework together. So far classes are all review information for me, but there is a lot of info they get through in a day so I’m working on reviewing and remembering everything. The first test is on June 8th. The kids are loving school and making new friends.

We have a great branch here, it’s about half students and half locals. We had 49 people there on Sunday and 22 of them were kids so we have a nice size primary, but only one young woman and one deacon so Zak is the second oldest boy in the ward. We have talked to the missionaries about Burke getting baptized next year, it will definitely be in the ocean and we can arrange to do it any time we want after his b-day so if anyone is interested in coming for it let me know so we can coordinate everyone being here at the same time.

We have made friends with several of the families here, there is even a family from Boise (they proudly sport their BSU shirts). Mike is getting involved in the spouse’s organization, he calls it the wives club, but there are several guys in there including a couple from our branch. The club has a lot of connections and info about how and where to get things done which has helped a lot.

The island is absolutely beautiful; it is about 80 all the time even at night and the humidity has ranged from 70 to 85. It rains just about everyday, sometimes hard and sometimes light but it usually only lasts a few minutes and then is beautiful and sunny again and the rain is warm and feels good. Because of all the rain we get to see a lot of rainbows which Paige always gets super excited about. The ocean is warm and nice and clear, warm enough that even I get in it! Mike went snorkeling with a friend yesterday at 8 am, not fair right? It’s ok though cuz he got a massive sunburn on his back (he didn’t want to ask the other guy to rub sunscreen on his back). There is a reef just off the beach that has everything, Mike could go there everyday and never see it all and that isn’t even one of the nice reefs here.

I will take the camera out with us this weekend so I'll get more pix and videos up soon. We miss everyone a ton, and really wish we could be there for Jen & Kade and little Paxton.