House guests

 Steph and Jordan made a super quick over night trip down to visit us and while it was good seeing them it was so much fun seeing Kiely.  Her cousins love, love, love her and who wouldn't?  She is adorable.  Plus I'm pretty sure she loves me best.

Baseball '13

Ansen's season flew by this spring.  Honestly, where did the time go?  We are so proud how great Ansen did.  His batting and fielding improved by leaps and bounds.  He had an awesome coasch and great team mates.  One of the best things about this season though was the weather.  It was amazing.  Blue skies, warm breezes.

Great season Ansen!

Jog-a-thon

 Running machines.  Lap after lap they smiled as they passed me with looks in their eyes that said "Don't slow me down Mom!"

 The day was a tad bit wet and chilly but it was perfect running weather. Perfect.  Both kids exceeded their lap goals and really enjoyed themselves.

Good job runners!

Cub scout

He's the cutest one I've ever seen.  Hands down.

Science Fair Project

 A few months ago Braley came home extremely excited that she and her class were going to have a science fair. I got wicked excited too. The possibilities of projects were endless.  The creative juices were flowing. You could smell science in the air.

 Annnnnnnnnd then--the work started.  It was endless. It was beyond time consuming. And it was a liiiiiiiitle bit boring.  Thankfully Braley loved her project and loved doing all the work, research and experiment.  Braley's experiment was titled Ramses Respiration Rate and she studied the affects of Rammy's breathing before, during and after playing. She wrote a fantastic report and made a great display board.

 At the science fair:

Great job Braley!

District Music Festival

She came. She sang. She conquered.  District music festival is always fun and this year Kahau did an awesome job.  It's nice to have musical kids cause they surely did not get that from my side of the family.  No siree.

The biggest highlight was of course watching my baby sing, but the second biggest was (as always) the high school Mariachi band.  Guys, they are dang good and really fun to listen to. And it always makes me crave chip and salsa.

Great job Kahau!

Party like an 8 yr old

 Ansen is officially a "big kid." And big kids only celebrate in BIG ways....at germ filled fun centers with fun friends.

 These 5 were lots of fun to hang out with to celebrate Ansen's big day.

Above (l to r) Mia, Hailey, Birthday boy, Zach and TJ

 They were awesome at laser tag.  Seriously, you should have seen how serious they were. They were in it to win it and they really enjoyed themselves.

 A lil' lunch break to feed their bellies inbetween climbing, chasing, laser-ing(?)and game playing.

 

 Happy Birthday Ansen!  You are the coolest 8 year old around.

Birthday shout out

8 years ago today this guy came rushing into our lives and boy, oh boy, things haven't been the same since.

Ansen adds a fun, loud, stubborn and loving dynamic to our family and we are so glad he is ours.  He is 8 and that means so many big things are about to happen for him.  What things?? Cub scouts for one, and getting baptized for two.  This is an exciting time for Ansen and he is jumping into everything full force. 

Happy Happy Birthday Ansen!  Now, lets go have an awesome birthday party in your honor.

Related

I'm a list maker.  So is offspring #2.  Here are her plans for this summer thus far.  She made sure to tell me that she will be adding plenty of other things, this is just "tentative."

I get the biggest kick out of #6.

What's next?

A year ago that was our question.

Our conversations always circled around a few main questions:

 Where is the best place for Jason professionally?

Where is the best place for our children?

Where should our family be?

What is right for us?

While Jason liked his job, he was tired. Contrary to popular belief, traveling for a living is not as exciting as it seems. Yes, there is the Southwest air miles (that we try and hoard) and yes, there are the unlimited continental breakfasts (mmmmm rubber eggs)...but living like a King is no fun without your Queen and peasants (Did I just call our children peasants? Yes. They have no money, they are poor. The title fits.)

So we starting testing some waters, looking under some rocks and looking ahead. We talked and talked til we were blue in the face, we made lists (ok, I made lists), we prayed about it. A few things surfaced that I was gung-ho for but in the end it just wasn't right to make any real transition. The answer to our questions was to stay where we were and bloom where we were planted.  Honestly, we were a little bummed out.  We like change and adventure and we were itching for something new.

But sometimes something new is not what you need.

This past year has been good to us. We still are itching for adventure and the chance to whisk our kids off somewhere new and exciting, but we are more than content with the opportunities that we have been afforded and the further opportunities that lay ahead in the future.

Jason's career is running full steam ahead, the kids are doing awesome in school and their activities and man alive-I am the best chauffeur in town. I'll even let you choose the radio station if you promise to sing the right words.

What's next?

We don't know.

But we are excited to find out.

Newbies

We got us some new babies this weekend.  Kirstin and Travis welcomed their twins on Saturday morning and everyone is doing well.

Meet Axel:

And Olive:

Welcome to the world babies!

Recap

We had an awesome time.

We feel very fortunate to spend this time together.

We are so glad Jason's parents were able to come along and celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary.

We are so very grateful for Jason's career .

We can't wait for another adventure.

Photo ops

 Everywhere on the ship there are people with cameras wanting to take your picture...over and over and over.  I now understand the reason celebrities are always in sunglasses.

We do have pics of us all dressed up but I can't seem to find them.

hmmmmmm.

St. Martin/St.Maarten

 

It's the smallest island in the world ever to have been partitioned between two different nations. St. Martin/St. Maarten has been shared by the French and the Dutch in a spirit of neighborly cooperation and mutual friendship for almost 350 years. And it's pretty....realllll pretty.

I was really excited for this stop because I wanted to do a little shopping. Did you jaw just hit the floor because I said that?  Yes. Me.  I wanted to shop.  Save this in your memory because it might be the only time I ever say it.

The day was overcast which was perfect because it was so hot the day before in St. Thomas and Jason and his dad went Deep Sea fishing which left Virginia and I to wonder around the town.  I was on the hunt for some Dutch Christmas tree ornaments that my parents purchased while here a few years ago.  After some searching, lots of direction asking and a little luck Virginia found the store I was looking for.  I picked up what I wanted and she and I hit the beach.

The boys got skunked fishing but they had a really good time and that's all that matters, right?

St. Thomas

Ahhhhh, St. Thomas. It was such a beautiful day to get off the ship and do a little exploring.  We did the Blackbeard's Castle excursion, which had a bit of a rocky start but seriously, how rocky can things get? You're in paradise.

Apparently Blackbeard made St. Thomas his home base as he pillaged and plundered the Caribbean. He had this tower constructed to be able to have the perfect view of the bay so he (and his crew) could watch for any dangerous pirate activity. The Danes (who settled in St. Thomas) also used this lookout as a place to watch for supply vessels coming into the area.

The tour started at the top of a large hill and wound us through the tower, homes of local families and government leaders and a rum factory (heeeyyyyy) until til finally dumping us down by the bay itself.  It was really interesting and now we can say we've walked in pirates footsteps.

FYI:  Did you know that Jack Sparrow was a real live pirate?  I did not.  I assumed that he was a Disney creation but nope!  He was the real deal.  Pirate thru and thru.

 This is the world's largest Amber waterfall. It's a big deal here on St. Thomas.  Why?  We really aren't sure. But it is-so there you go.

 The complete tour was centered around these steps which are called the 99 Steps. These steps were built in the mid 1700s, by the Danes, who found streets of steps to be the easiest way to climb up and down the steep hills of Charlotte Amalie. Some historians have said this stairway was actually a result of impractical planning on the part of Danish engineers who had never been to St. Thomas. The 99 steps are actually 103 steps and we did them all.

 Jason tried to have a meeting with the Governor but he was at lunch.  Maybe next time.

 As for our lunch.  Man, oh man, was is good.  Being with Jason always means you eat off the beaten path and thank goodness we did. Cuzzin's was definitely worth the stop.

 Before:

 After:

 Look!  They are Boston Strong in the Islands too!

 We go looking for a funeral home/cemetery on each Precoa trip.  I know you think its weird but actually you be amazed how many people do it too.  We asked a local where to find a cemetery and she told us that she would not send us to either one because they are in a dangerous part of town.  We were bummed but quickly got over it.  At the end of the day we decided to walk off our enormous lunch and instead of take a taxi back to the ship and bam! Funeral home:

 Cemetery:

And the local was right.  It was a sketchy part of town.

We made it back to the ship safe and sound and ready to eat more food.