St. Thomas

Next port of call: ST. Thomas

Andrew and I rented a scooter and we explored the island on our own. It rained off and on throughout the day.












In the early afternoon we ended up at the same beach Dave, Diane and his parents had taken an excursion to. Magen's Bay, one of National Geographics 10 most beautiful beaches. It just had some mild very calm waves, beautiful water and sand. It wasn't very exciting, so Andrew took off on the scooter to explore some more. He then came back and got me, to go show me the views from the top of the island.

Antigua

Antigua was a restful day for us. Several members of the family had planned a shore excursion to go on zip lines over some canyons on the island. Those of us that were too scared to do such a silly thing, or pregnant, or just didn't think it was worth it, opted to just get off the boat and see what we could do. Mainly we planned on it being the souvenir shopping day. As we got off, Andrew and his Dad saw a church up a hill and decided they would rather hike up to it, then spend time haggling over prices of t-shirts.

St. Lucia

For our second port of call, St. Lucia, the whole family was supposed to go together to a beautiful beach for the day. Because of the sunburns we had received the day before, Andrew really did not want to go spend another day snorkeling in the sun. He had watched a show highlighting this island, and decided that he would much rather go see some of the islands attractions. So we ditched the family and went on our own long bus ride tour of the island.

Along the way, Andrew informed me that pictures are no fun to look at if they don't have people in them, so here is my concession to him, a picture of us overlooking the small fishing village, Anse La Raye. Every Friday, they shut down all the streets in this village and have a big party.

A banana plantation. They put these blue bags over the bananas to keep bugs out, rather than using pesticides.

One of the islands highlights is their "drive-in volcano" Basically the last time it erupted in the 1700's it left a huge caldera. This part of it is still active, it is like a mini-yellowstone. Complete with stinky gas and boiling mud pits.

The boiling water that comes out is very mineral rich and believed to have healing properties. They siphon part of it off to a pool where you can go bathing. The grey color of the water is not because of shadows, it really is a very dirty grey, like the sludge that comes out of my carpet cleaner. I was tempted to try putting one leg in, to test and see if it would heal the sunburn any better, but chickened out because of the intense pain I was already in, I didn't want to heat it up anymore.

The highlight of the tour was this waterfall where you could take a "natural shower" This is what Andrew most wanted to do. The water was very cool and refreshing. The force coming down sure beats the "low-flow" showerheads we have.

This is the cove where parts of Dr. Dolittle were filmed. We got to see it from above, the rest of the family got to go in it on their taxi boat ride.

Along our tour we had to stop and look at trees. Apparently the driver is proud of these trees.

A coconut tree.

a coffee bean tree

and, finally a tree I would actually like to have in my yard, a mango tree.

If you ever decide to go visit St. Lucia, be sure to carry a little extra cash, in case you need to use the facilities.

Barbados

Our first stop on the cruise was Barbados. Here we learned that although getting off the ship and finding your own transportation to places is cheaper than pre-arranging it through a shore excursion, it still seems like a rip-off compared to the way fares are determined in the USA. Lesson learned here, take tons more cash than you think you may possibly need.

Several of the family members decided to just go to a beach someone had researched and heard was supposedly good and had snorkeling.

On the way our driver stopped by the oldest church in Barbados for us to have a little looksie. These are the pipes for their organ. Not quite as impressive as the MoTab's but still pretty neat.

The church had lots of neat decorative touches. Sometimes I think it would be nice to have pretty things in our church to look at when my mind is wandering or the speakers are boring. Imagine if we had these neat chimes that might just end up ringing at random times.

We ended up going to two different beaches per the recommendation of our driver, who was nice enough to come back and get us and ferry us all around. The first beach had some dead coral to snorkel around, but the waves were a bit rough so it wasn't that great. At the second beach we got to go out swimming with giant sea turtles. Andrew actually managed to grab hold of one and get a bit of a ride. Apparently though, the guides on tours there, don't like you to actually get close enough to touch them.

On the beach, there was this nice gentleman who was selling shells he had gathered in the wee hours of the morning. He was also cutting up the meat from the conch shells and sharing it with beach goers. Rich and I were the only ones brave enough to actually try it. Now, I am not much of a seafood eating person, but for some reason when it was offered I thought I could handle it. Just so you know, it is kind of a tough meat, with a salty icky seafoody flavor. I managed about two or three chews, then realized I better just swallow it before I gagged or barfed. Rich also learned how to blow the shell like a horn.

This is also the stop where I got my horrible sunburn. The backs of my legs from my swimsuit line to my ankles were very deeply red, and sore. It hurt to walk, to sit, and to move in any way. The pain lasted all week, then the itch started that lasted over another week. I think it is one of the worst sunburns I have ever had. I was sure to mention it a lot to Andrew and try to get sympathy from him, but unfortunately, he also ended up pretty badly burned and didn't feel to sorry for me.

Many Hours of Torture

It seems like the theme of this trip was travelling. We took two days to get up to my parents. We stopped in Klamath Falls, Or. on the way up. There was snow there. The boys were especially enthralled with the piles of dirty plowed snow in the parking lot. Travis was hardly in the hotel room at all. Fletcher did not care much for the snow.

Andrew and I left my parents at 1pm Friday to drive to Seattle and catch our flights to Puerto Rico. When we got to the airport we found out that our 11pm flight had been delayed a few hours and we would not be able to make our connecting flight to PR. This happened to be on the day that Chicago had earlier cancelled over 450 flights due to bad weather, it was spring break, and the Friday before Easter. Needless to say all flights on all airlines were already overbooked and things were looking pretty hopeless. After many phone calls, lots of prayers by Andrew's family, and a smattering of patience, some incredible person managed to find us

(Looking so good waiting for a red eye)

a way to Puerto Rico by routing us through Punta Cana, Dominican Republic and changing our airline along the way. We had some fun adventures in this little country (really read some problems caused by being sent to another country and having to deal with immigration and customs). Eventually we made it the ship before it sailed, only 4 1/2 hours later than originally planned and 25 hours after we first set out.

(So happy to have made it to our cabin)

On the way home to pass the time, I decided to try to get pictures of all the dormant volcanoes we passed ( I failed to get them all, but I'm sure I'll have more opportunities). I'm always enthralled by these whenever we drive up to Washington. They are so beautiful rising over the rest of the landscape.

The quiz of the day is: Name That Peak!





(Actually I can't name them all, someday I will have them all memorized)



I think Andrew started to get a bit annoyed with my quest. I almost took more pictures on the way home, then I did the rest of the trip. It did help to break up the monotony of the long drive. If you look carefully here, you can see an upside rainbow around the sun, over Lake Klamath. The ice beginning to melt and break up was also very pretty.



So Andrew and I had 8 days of torture, the kids only 4. We all survived it, including Fletcher.

Happy Birthday Kyle

Today is Kyle's 12th Birthday. He was born when Andrew was in his last year of graduate school and just finishing up his PhD. Shortly after he was born we moved to New Mexico.

Kyle was one of those challenging babies. It is amazing we were brave enough to have any more after him. As an infant he needed to be in constant contact with his mom or he cried, and cried, and cried, (really, screamed, and screamed, and screamed). We had much sympathy for our neighbors. He would not nap for more than 3 minutes if he was not being held. He stopped napping totally at 18 mos. He didn't believe in binkies, bottles or being fed solid foods.

Kyle is a very determined individual. This is both good and bad, depending on the situation and the mood of those around him. For the most part he pushes himself to be the best. Currently he is the most advanced math student his teacher has ever had.

He is a very creative writer, and I am truly amazed by his abilities. He always goes way beyond on school writing assignments, when assigned a paragraph, it becomes a whole essay, a short story is several pages long. In first grade he was very proud of himself for writing the longest story in his class. It actually had a plot and made sense. In middle school his stories rival the books that he reads. (ok, maybe I am a little biased here)

In our family he is known for his incredible insights. Once while travelling we asked the kids why they just couldn't be good. Kyle's response was "We are being perfectly good, just not from your perspective."

And Cammie says that sometimes he is good and nice.

(meditating before opening presents)

We're Home

After two weeks, we have finally made it home. Home is a nice place to be.

Some thoughts I have had during this time:

Is a seven day cruise really worth it if it requires 8 days of travelling, 4 of those with 5 kids and a dog?

After having to drive through it, and feel the cold of it, I am so glad I don't live in a part of the country that has snow.

Which is worse, 16 hours driving in one day, with everyone getting super grouchy, or an expensive night in a hotel, with all the kids going crazy in one little room, and spreading the driving out over two days.

Why do money limitations go out the window when you are on vacation?

After a bad sunburn, how many layers of super itchy skin can you scratch off before causing permanent damage?

Stay tuned in the next couple of days for pictures of the good parts of our trip