Mon.5/4 - Sun. 5/10

5/4 Monday  So, seriously, can we just slow down time a little bitty bit?? I know it's not over yet but I don't want the break to be over!! This evening the school had a welcoming BBQ. It was nice not having to worry about dinner. We planned to go to the swimming pool afterward for some night swimming. Mark had never been to the pool on campus. He felt it was kind of silly when the sea is so close. But we went and we all had a great time!! It was nice not bringing home tons of sand too. :) It was the windiest day we've had here and we were almost a little chilly when we were done.

5/5 EMMA'S 1st B-DAY!!
I can't believe my baby in ONE! How did a year go by so quickly?!?

 

     

Our girl loves dogs! She climbs up stairs and going down she doesn't like to go down the safe backwards way we taught her. She likes to do big kid things. She thoroughly enjoyed going to nursery with me for over a month while I was subbing.

Our day turned out to be centered around Emma and coconuts.
Emma's awesome Daddy made coconut pancakes complete with hot coconut syrup.
We put a candle on Emma's pancake and sang Happy Birthday to her. She didn't know what to think of it. It was pretty funny watching her expressions.
Mark made her a German chocolate (box) cake with homemade coconut frosting. We cut out a huge piece and let her at it while we took pictures. She was SO cute!!
We Skyped with family members and overall had a fun chill kind of day.

5/6 Before 7 this morning I went for a run outside. I may have to make it a habit and become a morning person. I felt good and had more energy to do some other exercise things afterwards. The last couple days have been quite breezy outside which has been really nice. Our clothes on the line dry a bit fastest with a nice breeze through the house.
Mark went for a run then came back to take the kids to a swimming area in the river we'd heard of. They had fun and brought back a coconut Mark cut up with his new machete. He then made us refreshing pina coladas. Yum yum!

Mark went to Indian River tour. We already went at the beginning of last semester and the kids went for a field trip so we opted out.

 

5/7   We went to Bense pool again but this time with all the kids. Isaac and Lexi jumped off the cliff!! I was impressed they did it. Lexi got up there and jumped right off without hesitation. I was shocked. She expected to like it but she really didn't like the fall. Who can blame her? I'm not sure I really like it either. It's a strange feeling. Later she did jump again from a slightly lower point and she again determined she didn't like it. She had way more fun jumping off a small rock. Isaac on the other hand loved jumping off the cliff  so much so that he did it 13 times! I jumped too. Mark did back flips and dives. Lexi and Isaac went down the natural water slide with Mark.

5/8  It was a laid back kind of day. Isaac and Kari went to play with friends for a while. My whole body is sore from the exercise I did the other day combined with the hike from Bense. Emma was napping when Mark determined it was time to cut Isaac's hair. Our hair clippers here are INSANELY loud here so they took an extension cord and did it out the back door. When they were done I sprayed Isaac down with the hose on the stairs. Having a hose is wonderful!! I hosed the girl's off after a beach outing the other day. I love my garden hose.
I cut Kari's hair!! I've never cut girl's hair before. She desperately needed a trim. She had nature's mullet going on, as Mark like's to call it.

5/9 I was so productive today!! I love a Saturday when we either have tons of fun or get lots done. I made 4 loaves of bread swept and mopped every room did some dishes.... Boo yeah!

Mark went with the welcoming committee on the "island tour". We did it last semester and it is an all day thing that I think once was enough to do with the kids.

Sunday is Mother's Day. We received the most beautiful island flowers at church. My kiddos had worked hard on making thoughtful gifts for me. I love being a mommy!!

Mon. 4/27 - Sun. 5/3

Over the break Mark will be part of the Welcoming Committee and will be going on all the trips Ross offers. This will be a paid job for him. The kids and I will go on most of the trips too. Thursday will be his first trip with the school.Classes starts up again on May 11th.

On Tuesday (4/28) we went with a group to Batibou Beach. A little bit of salt water very possibly ruined my brand new "water resistant" phone. So we may not end up with ANY pictures from that trip! I'm bummed.  :(  We wrote 'M+M 10 yrs' in the sand with a big heart around it. Tomorrow is our 10th wedding anniversary. We also took a family snap shot when we got to the beach. I took tons of pictures of the kids playing in the sand. Especially Emma waving. I'm sad that they may all be lost. I wish we'd had a memory card in the phone.

Emma had a rash pop up all over. I'm hoping it's heat rash. I don't have much experience with rashes. We're going to keep an eye on it. She had a fever the other day but it doesn't seem directly related to me.

In the evening we took the kids to my friend Cami's house and went to a restaurant called Sisters down on the beach. It was nice to go on an actual date. We chatted with the people at the next table over. It was a father visiting her daughter who is going into 4th semester. It was nice to chat with them. It came up that we have 4 children and we were celebrating our anniversary. They were so kind and he even paid for our meal!! It was very sweet. That's exactly the kind of thing we want to be able to do for others someday.

This is a terrible picture but a general idea. We were right on the water.

 I love this man!! He's always making me laugh!

 Happy 10 years to us!!

 We weren't terribly hungry so we shared an entree of Mahi Mahi with Banane Pesee (plantains)

 

 Dessert was Coupe Dominic with Mango Coulis 

(Ice cream topped with tropical fruit and mango sauce)

 We picked up the kids and started home.

4/29/2015 It's officially our TEN YEAR anniversary.

I LOVE my husband so dearly!! I can't believe 10 years have gone by!! T-E-N!! WoW!  We have 4 sweet kiddos and have moved 9 times with the 9th being the first move out of Idaho (and the country for that matter) here to Dominica.

I'm so proud of his desire to become a doctor and am happy to support him in this dream. (remind me I said that during rotations and residency!)

I love how optimistic he is.
He always wants to help others in whatever way he can.
He's outgoing, friendly and kind. 
He is so patient, understanding and selfless. Especially with me.

We get along quite well. I am pleased to call him my very best friend. I can't imagine my life without him and wouldn't want to.


We rented a car for the day. Mark drove. I won't sit behind the wheel of a car here! They drive on the left side of the road and the roads are curvy and crazy! It was weird and fun to load up in a car with only our family in it. I sat in back so I could hold Emma. We don't have car seats here. Our friends had rented cars too and we met up with them at a place called Ti Tou Gorge. 'Ti tou' means 'little throat' in Creole. It was a place where you take a short swim through an open cave type place to two little water falls. The water is cold and too deep to touch so it made it a little interesting to move the kids along. Emma had on a life jacket and was in a baby floaty. She couldn't really move and didn't like that. The kids were terrified at times and there was a moment when the girls all cried together. Isaac played in one of the waterfalls that made a little current and spun you around a small area. (This is very hard to describe. Maybe you should Google it. Haha.) Lexi, Mark and I jumped off a VERY small waterfall as we began to swim back out of the gorge because it was easier and more fun then climbing back down the side of it. We walked back down to the car, ate some snacks and loaded up. The kids were more then ready to head to our next destination Screw Spa. We had been there before without Mark and they were anxious to go there again.

The car our friends rented had this license plate that my math loving Mark had to get a picture with. It's Pi!

This was ours for the day.

At Screw Spa Mark loved the hottest pool. He was in heaven. It's fun showing Mark places we've been to.
When we were done at Screw Spa we headed to Roseau and stopped at the French bakery. We wanted to eat pizza for an early dinner but they we out or not making more or something... We ended up eating chocolate cake and planned to stop by Pizza Hut later,
Then we went to find a few stores that I only generally knew the locations of. I'm a terrible navigator anyway but put me in a city of a foreign county with narrow one way roads WITH a baby wiggling and crying on my lap and I'm not getting you anywhere! Good thing Mark is easy going, has experience driving in the Caribbean on the left side of the road AND is TOTALLY and COMPLETELY AWESOME. :) We made it near the store Brighter Days where Mark dropped me off (it's hard to find a place to park!) and I ran in to see what I could stock up on. Having our own car for a Roseau trip was wonderful!! I brought bulk toilet paper and boxes of snacks that we just put in the back of the car! It was so cool! We then went to Save-A-Lot grocery store. This time we all went in and again it was wonderful to put all the bags in the back of the car!! I didn't have to be sure to keep my stuff together and know how many bags I had or...or...or.  Just no worries. Put it in and we were on our way for dinner. Success!!

We went to Pizza Hut.  They had a window where you could watch them make the pizza. You're not allowed to take pictures in there. Oops! We took this one before we saw the sign. There's just a little counter where you can order and wait. There are not tables so we ate in the car and headed back home. Again, I was so grateful Mark was willing to drive! It was stressing me out. I just stopped looking out the window all together. The two little girls fell asleep on our way home.

What a great family day!!!!

4/30 We went to Cabrits National Park located on a peninsula north of Portsmouth. Not far from where we live. Here there is an old fort there named Fort Shirley (a large 18th century British garrison which one housed 600 soilders) Some of the old ruins have been reconstructed. There are other ruins half-hidden in the jungle.

 Mark went on a hike that the kids and I opted not to go on. He took the next 4 pictures on that hike.

We have now been on the island for 4 months and they have flown by!!! I hope the next 12 will too!!!! :) Some days I really miss America! Don't get me wrong. I'm enjoying our adventures here. I just really miss some conveniences and temperatures I'm accustomed to...


5/1 On Friday we went to Mero Beach most of the day. We had such a nice time. We had two reclining beach chairs under a little canopy thing. It was quite relaxing. Well the 2 seconds I laid back and closed my eyes were anyway. Mark attempted snorkeling but it was too murky to see anything. I don't think we have a single picture from the day. We enjoyed some lunch then Emma took a nap with Mark and I went to float in the water with Kari. We had such a fun time!

Isaac dropped his face mask in the water and it doesn't float. The water was really murky and we couldn't see or feel it around anywhere. I thought it was hopeless and just gone with the waves. The kids thought to pray for help to find it. I fully supported that idea but also wanted them to know it was still possible it was just gone. Isaac left the water and went to where our stuff was and knelt to pray that they could find the mask. I had given up and Lexi yelled out that she thought she had touched it. Then Isaac felt it at his feet and was able to grab it! Yay!! The power of prayer and sweet faith.

5/2 We went on a trip to Roseau. We were dropped off and told to meet back at a certain time. We were free to roam around and explore. We went to a couple stores then went to the French bakery for lunch. We shared a large calzone and sandwich. As we walked back we found an ice cream shop and stopped for a cold treat. Somewhere along the way I set down one of my grocery bags and left it there. I was juggling so many other things I didn't even notice until late that night... Oh well. I'm hoping someone found it who was in need.

5/3 As part of the Welcoming Committee Mark had to miss church today and went on a trip to the other side of the island to Kalinago Territory (the kids and I have not been there) and then on to Emerald Pool (the kids and I have been there). He and a boy from Lexi and Isaac's school class volunteered to play the drums.

Emerald Pool