Charlotte's bit of Heaven on Earth

Sunday, June 19, 2016

Highlights

Yikes. It's been a while since my last post. I suppose that means that we have fallen into normalcy and our regular island life routine. Nonetheless, a lot has happened in a month. It is no surprise to hear that Austin's block exams have come and gone in that time and that he aced every test. What was a surprise was the new addition to St. Kitts: road lines. Can you believe it? We couldn't either. Driving just got a little easier. You'd think it would be a bit less scary too, but there is no hope for that.

Early on in the semester, Austin, Eden, and I went with our friends to tour the Ross Veterinary Campus down the street from Austin's school. We were hoping our experience would be somewhat like going to a petting zoo. Alas, we saw one donkey, one lamb, 2 dogs, 4 birds in cages, and that was it. What we did get to see was a bunch of mosquitoes, flies, and other disease vectors under microscopes. As if we needed to be grossed out any more by the threats of St. Kitts, Austin seemed to enjoy it because he had already learned all about all that stuff in Microbiology, so it was seeing his studies in the physical. At one of our stops along the tour we got to look at a cross-section of a monkey's eye. I will admit that it was the first time that I have maybe ever looked under a microscope and understood what I was looking at. We had a double microscope that allowed me to look at the same thing as Austin as he maneuvered the slide and zoomed in on different areas. It was pretty neat. We weren't allowed to take pictures of anything past the front entrance, but this is us on that lovely rainy day before the tour.

On the occasion that I go to the gym, Eden wants to workout with me. She is really good at the medicine ball, but is getting stronger by the day. This little thing has BIG muscles! Eden loves playing on my iPad lately and is all too smart at knowing how it works. The other day, Eden turned on a workout video on YouTube and ran to get the 5 lb weights we have in the house. After straining to carry the weight to our bedroom where the video was playing, I watched her copy the instructors; she laid down and did a few bridges with her bum and then stood up to run in place. It was too cute watching her be like mom.

There are new developments and things to tell each week with Eden. Lately, her new favorite thing is a two foot tall step that acts as a sort of ledge and border around our entire living room area. She loves climbing on it and flipping the light switches. She also found a love for the piano. I hope that one lasts. It made for a great distraction while we cleaned the church (That's what Eden is doing in the picture.) Lucky for me, we found an extra keyboard in the church closet that no one else is going to use, or knows how to use, so it came home with us today. I'm so excited to get to practice- especially now that I have been assigned to play in Sacrament Meeting every other week- and I'm glad Eden will have that to play on too.

We also loaded up on Mangoes as our reward for cleaning. Mmmm....

It is getting hot enough that we miss the pool again. Poor Eden needed out of the house, too. We love the pool!

The most exciting thing to have happen this month was having Grandpa and Grandma Gardenhire come to visit. Grandpa and Grandma to Eden, that is :)

We couldn't wait to see them and show them our island. Somehow, Austin got past the "Restricted Access" gate to see them come in. What a BIG boat, huh?

Eden quickly took a liking to having Grandpa and Grandma here in person, as you can see. And that was BEFORE they showered Eden with Christmas x 2. That entire suitcase was full of goodies! We had a great time and not enough of it. The day was over all too quickly.

Now we get to look forward to the family coming in August. It's one great thing after another.

Saturday, May 14, 2016

Photo blast from December 2015- May 2016

It always takes a while to get pictures from Austin's phone, so here is another photo dump from December until now.

This is the biggest Christmas tree on the island. It's at the Marriott, of course.

It's a nice mix, don't you think? Sunglasses, swimsuits, and Christmas decor.

Sunrise in St. Kitts the morning we left for home. This is at the airport. It's so beautiful before it gets hot.

Clothes!

UTAH! <3 the cold.

... and back to island heat once again.

This is the crater of Mt. Liamuiga, the island volcano. Not what you would imagine, is it?

See the grassy field down below?

Just doing our nails.

Pretty toes!

Happy Easter!

Marriott #1

Oh yeah! Austin won a game of bocce ball. Go Austin!

Starting early... learning how to walk on the balance beam.

Looks like a jungle if you ever saw one, yes?

Catamaran + Marriott = One HAPPY Family

It's a good thing we have pictures to remind me of everything we did over the last two weeks. The time has flown by! It always does when you are having a good time. Austin was on break from school until Monday of this week. It wasn't much of a break for him though. The incoming class was lucky to have him as part of their welcome committee. As such, he picked students up from the airport, took them to their apartments and grocery store, and then planned and hosted activities to welcome them to the island. Man oh man, we are both EXTREMELY glad to be on this end of things instead of being the newbies.

Even though the week of welcoming wore Austin out, he did get paid for it (as a tuition reduction) and we were allowed to go on the Catamaran trip with all the new students. What a blast! It's the first real date Austin and I have had on the island. Eden stayed with our friends and probably had just as much fun. She loves their family- Lyle, Joanna, and their 6 year old son Grant, and twin babies. Seriously though, Eden would be happy holding and kissing the babies for hours!

Sailing away on the Catamaran with the St. Kitts flag behind us.
This is a shot of St. Kitts from the boat.

Back to our date... Austin got to go on the Catamaran trip when he was a new student a year ago, but on account of a couple unfortunate things- heat rash, lack of babysitters, yadda yadda- I didn't go. Because of that, Austin was so looking forward to taking me this year. It's a big reason why he did the Welcome Committee in the first place, as a matter of fact. We loaded at the Port by where the cruise ships come in. The catamaran we rode on was huge- big enough to fit around 50 people quite comfortably. The front end is mostly roped netting that you can sit on; you can see straight down to the ocean as you are sailing. It's pretty cool. They took us along the coast down the peninsula of St. Kitts and stopped at a place where a large ship had wrecked and created an obvious and intriguing landmark. The boat anchored for a couple hours while we jumped in and grabbed our snorkeling gear... noodles included. Personally, having a noodle while in the ocean makes snorkeling so much more relaxing and enjoyable for me. Austin and I really enjoy snorkeling together. I'm sure I wouldn't see half as much if it weren't for him pointing things out. That being said, I get credit for finding a conch shell. Too bad it was in the middle of lots of sea urchins so we left it on the ocean floor. There were huge sea urchins all around the ocean. That was a little nerve-racking, but pretty. We were surrounded, more than once, in huge schools of tiny fish. Thousands! That was fun. We saw a good bunch of fish besides, and an octopus! We followed that funny looking creature for a good while. Austin imitates it pretty well if you ask. The boat also had free drinks and pizza. While everyone else went crazy for rum punch, we were more than delighted with the pineapple juice, orange juice, ginger ale, and ting. Ting is a big deal on the island- everyone loves it. It's pretty much like Fresca in a bottle.

Loving the Marriott. What a great life!

Anyway, that was a fun adventure. The island is very pretty when you are looking in from the ocean. It's also very pretty within the walls of the Marriott. Thanks to dad, we were able to experience that luxury again for the past week. I even won a game of Bingo and a raffle at the welcome breakfast. Our family has winning blood, so it was no surprise. It came as a big surprise to everyone else when I mentioned that we were from St. Kitts though. Many people asked me what they could do to live here. If only they knew.. but hearing all the tourists say how beautiful St. Kitts is makes me change my paradigm a little. It is breathtaking in the right places. In fact, the past week has been overcast and rainy. The clouds over the volcano are absolutely beautiful! Everything is much more green that way too. Rain is a good thing.

We came back to our apartment on Friday. I haven't been so depressed as I was on Friday. I did NOT want to leave. Austin said that was a sure sign that we had a great time. It's absolutely true. We loved every minute. Now we are home. Sigh... it's really not that bad here either, but I could easily get started on a list of complaints if you'd like to hear it. Pearl came to clean up our yard for us this morning- she found three dead chicks at the base of our side door being decomposed by large ants. What a lovely find. We are so grateful for people to take care of us. That's just not something that I would want to deal with.

Austin is good at documenting with pictures so they will tell the rest of the story, but that's all for us!