Mon. 4/20 - Sun. 4/26

Monday was Mark's big first semester final!! It was 191 questions and over 4 hours long! It sounded torturous! They won't find out their scores until NEXT Monday. Which is torture on it's own. I went to a restaurant called The Tomato to have breakfast with a bunch of ladies as a goodbye/baby shower for a gal who is leaving the island. She has twin boys and is pregnant. She was told it was a girl but then told it's a boy. We wore blue in support of baby boy #3! It was nice to socialize and be able to run away from dishes and laundry for the morning.

When Mark was done with his test around 4pm he looked fried and was ready to go snorkeling. He just bought a pole spear/Hawaiian sling. Or as I call it, "fish killing thing".  He was anxious to test it out. He did kill a fish. Unfortunately, it was a puffer fish which is poisonous to eat. The kids and I hung out at the family lounge and watched TV while he was gone.

When he returned we walked up to The Tomato for dinner to celebrate Daddy finishing the semester. We were pretty disappointed at the cost vs. the amount of food. Regardless, we had a nice time going to a restaurant. There were signed pictures of the actors Orlando Bloom and Johnny Depp.

After dinner it was Kari's turn to go with Daddy to Swirls. She was thrilled!

Tuesday morning Mark was off to the sea again to snorkel.

Wednesday morning Mark and I borrowed our friend's kayak and left Emma with a friend while the other kids were at school. We were planning to take the kayak to a place called Secret Beach but it was windy enough and far enough that we were afraid the way back might be miserable. We ended up taking the kayak to PBH and snorkeled there. At first I felt it was kind of lame because we have been to PBH so many times BUT I had NEVER snorkeled. Ever ever ever. I told Mark I didn't think I would last more then 2 minutes. I was afraid of breathing with the snorkel and mask and wasn't sure I would do well swimming around for very long. Once we got flippers on and swam out to the reef I was fascinated!! 2 hours later we went back to the kayak for a snack and to put away some sand dollars. We should have reapplied sunscreen then... I ended up burning my back pretty good but of course didn't realize it until later. Oops!

We found some teeny tiny sand dollars that were incredibly fragile!! 

Thursday while the kids went to the beach during school Mark and I walked around to find a place to each lunch. We ended up going in to a Chinese restaurant called Hope. Afterwards, it was my turn (and Emma's) to go to Swirls with Daddy.

Friday I was excited to finally get the chance to take Mark to Bense pool!!! He loved it like I knew he would. He enjoyed doing back flips off the cliff.

The fines on this tree looked so cool.

Our tour guide Serge carefully picked up this crab to show us.

This is the natural water slide. The cliff we typically jump off of is on the right. Some do jump on the left side but it's a few feet higher and you have to jump out a bit further to be sure to clear the rocks.

Saturday was the MOST productive Saturday EVER!!! We all worked together and were able to sweep and mop our entire apartment among other cleaning. That's the stuff my dreams are made of!! Haha!

Poor Emma had a fever. Thankfully we had medicine for her. She was a pretty good sport.

Mark and Isaac went snorkeling. Afterwards they went to Swirls. Isaac said it was the best night of his whole life. :)

Sunday~ Emma still has a fever so I am home with her while everyone else went to church. I am trying to catch up on blogging a little. (I'll always be behind!)

Mon. 4/13 - Sun. 4/19

Monday Mark took his mini #4 exam. It's so nerve wracking to ME for him to take tests. Luckily, he deals with stress much better then I do. After his test he wanted to go snorkeling. He loves it and it helps him unwind after all the pressure of an exam. We all went to the beach to play. Emma ate so much sand!!!  No pictures...  I'm excited for our new cell phones coming soon so I can easily take pictures again.

Mark enjoys going to Swirls the frozen yogurt place. It's a special treat!! After a big test is the perfect time for something special. Isaac was the lucky one chosen to accompany Daddy today.

Mark made some fantastic super yummy cinnamon rolls with maple frosting!! He didn't even follow a recipe! I can't do that! We were all impressed. He even impressed himself. :) Seriously, SO good!! He said his mom would be proud.

Tuesday I went to my first RSO board meeting. It was sort of a changing of the guards kind of meeting. Where we were told what we would be doing. 

Maybe too much information but when I changed Emma's diaper today I found a sand castle due to all the sand she ate yesterday!! Ha! 

Wednesday was my grandma's birthday and we were able to Skype with her and other family members that were there. Technology is amazing! How are we able to see and talk with people so far away? I'm grateful. While we were talking with them it was the first time Emma seemed to intentionally wave her arm to say bye. It's her newest trick. She is also now a pro at going down stairs. She doesn't like to go the safe backward way either.

Here she is practicing stairs and looking at the dog Butch who lives behind us. She loves dogs.She makes the cutest little barking sounds and says, "da da" which means dog not dad. :) Except sometimes when it might actually mean dad.

My little helper! Whenever I sweep up a pile she races over and scatters it around.

Lexi did a science project to see an eggshell dissolve in vinegar.

 Isaac did a science project to see out of 10 items what things will dissolve in water.

Thursday~ Imagine this: I'm walking home with a gallon of water in each hand and Emma attached to me in the baby carrier. We go up the hill and it starts raining. Just little sprinkles at first. Then it starts raining harder. A local lady with an umbrella runs across the street and covers us. She asks how far we were going? Home was just up around the corner and she walks out of her way with us. It was so kind!!

Saturday we went to the pool and met up with some friends who are leaving the island at the end of the semester. Emma enjoyed trying out her new skills of going down stairs on the steps in the pool. It made me so nervous but she had a blast having the freedom to go up and down and up and down the first step in the pool.

This was the first time putting my hair in the water in public since I chopped it off. When I got home and scared myself in the mirror I thought I may need to find a hat to wear when I plan to get my head wet. POOF!!!

Sunday ~ Church was especially great today. I'm not sure why exactly but I felt the spirit through the talks. I'm so grateful for the knowledge and faith that I have.

Isaac asked me the other day, "Mom, how do the days go by so fast?"  I've wondered the same thing!! Time flies by so quickly! I can almost feel time speeding up right now. TOMORROW Mark will take his FINAL for first semester and then we're one semester down! The kids will be in school until Friday and then no school for anyone until May 11th when we jump into 2nd semester. I have a feeling the break will go by too quickly!! (And that it will take me a while to blog about it...)

I want to record my current typical day before things change a little with the new semester.

Mark usually takes the kids to school which starts at 8am (we struggle getting there on time)

I stay home and typically work on dishes/laundry/sweeping/baking bread/blogging or admittedly Facebook... while Emma naps for about 2 1/2 hours. Then I load up with her in the carrier on my front, my backpack (on my back obviously) and our bag of lunch and walk down to campus to meet the kids for lunch which starts at 12. Sometimes I bring our big double stroller but it's a bit of effort getting it up and down our stairs. I figure before Emma gets too big I'll just haul her around in the carrier for the most part unless I'm planning a grocery store trip.

After lunch on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays I leave Emma and Kari with a friend at the family lounge and go exercise at the gym. Then I come back and hang out until school gets out at 3.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays I just hang out longer. It's not worth heading home at 1 to have to turn around and be back by 3. It's too far. Even if I took a transport it's just not worth it.

When the kids get done with school they either meet me at the family lounge or I go over to them. The lounge is close to where they go to school. We then typically drag our feet to gather our stuff and head up the hill home to worry about dinner/homework/bedtime... Life. :)

Here is my laundry set up. I have to fill the machine from the sink and load the clothes and soap then run the machine for 15 minutes. I then drain the soapy water and put the clothes in the spinning side of the machine (usually I have to split up the load for the spinner). Then refill the washer and put all the clothes back in for a rinse. When they are done there they go through the spinner again. I now hope the clothes are clean and rinsed enough and hang them to dry either in the living room on a line, a clothes rack or out the back door on a line. Sometimes I even hang things over chairs and cupboard doors. I wash cloth diapers about every other day and they go through another rinse cycle. 

Mark cut a hole in the bottom of a water bottle so I can use the faucet to fill the washing machine. Pretty creative huh? Having this hooked up makes doing dishes and laundry at the same time quite challenging. ~Thankfully I NOW have a garden hose hooked up to a faucet behind the machine that has more pressure and doesn't interfere with dishes. If it has rained hard all the water is brown with dirt and not so awesome for washing anything with. I'm not sure what we'll do when rainy season comes.

Now for somewhat of a tour of our apartment. To be honest the way these rooms look is only staged for the picture. None of these rooms are ever this clean and definitely not at the same time! This is how I wish it looked and how I will present it to you :)

This is the master room and bathroom.

This is Isaac and Emma's room.

This is the kid's bathroom.

This is Lexi and Kari's room.

This is (obviously) the kitchen. Just to the left of the washing machine is the "back" door that we use.  There is a very small balcony and 25 steps out there. We have another door that we don't prefer to use.

This is our living/sitting/family room. We haven't decided what to call it. 

This is the front balcony. Ta Da!

Mon. 4/6 - Sun. 4/12

Monday at school the kids had an egg hunt and face painting.

I have never made poppy seed bread or muffins (from scratch) before and I was given poppy seeds and almond extract from someone leaving the island when we first got here. I finally made Almond Poppy Seed Bread with a Lemon Almond Glaze!!! I was so excited. The Almond extract smelled AMAZING! It tasted pretty good too. 

This week Mark's fellow 1st semester classmates voted him as class representative. Woot woot! He has made himself well known among his classmates. It seems that most everyone knows who he is.

I was nominated and voted to be on the RSO board as a Sponsorship Coordinator for other families coming to Dominica. Coming to the island is a huge stressful ordeal. There are so many unknowns, I will either answer questions myself or set people up with a sponsor to help them make the crazy transition here.

The school had a Spaghetti Dinner at the sea deck on campus Tuesday night. It was nice not to have to worry about what to do for dinner.


I feel I'm somewhat in a funk at the moment. I don't want to do anything. I'm feeling lazy and unmotivated. I don't want to clean anything or cook anything or worry about anything!!! Ugh! Snap out of it!


Sunday ~  Mark has his last "mini" tomorrow!! That will be followed by a Histology practical on Thursday, an Anatomy practical on Friday with the Final exam the next Monday! I'm not envious! I can't believe we are almost through the first semester!! I will be worrying about what to do for the break between semesters.