She and Piper would isolate themselves in the bedroom and took naps together, Cari definitely misses being around her baby having gone from full time mom four months ago to a full time med student now, they both loved their extra time together.
Once Cari was rejuvenated from her much needed rest, and once she got into a state of relaxation after hearing the results from her finals and finding out she did really well, she was actually ready to enjoy her break. First thing she wanted to do was go to Maho (Sunset) Beach. I've posted about this beach in previous posts. Normally we wouldn't be drawn to this beach, it's really small, heavily populated all the time, and not that clean, BUT, it's right next to the airport, and watching a 747 fly directly over your head is quite exciting. Having never witnessed this yet, Cari was really anxious to go, and it didn't disappoint. When the plane is descending from the sky it's so incredibly loud, and it generates so much wind power that the waves all of a sudden get humongous, I had to yell to Cari who was holding Piper in the ocean to get out because the waves were about to get huge, and I knew it'd be hard to hold onto her. Sand flies backwards behind the giant jet and it whips you in the face, gets you in the eyes, but it's a blast. Sand's bound to do that anyways. Every single time I come home from the beach and take a shower I'm always mystified as to how sand gets all over your body, even if you don't even swim and just walk on the sand and sit on your towel. Tricky, tricky sand.
My friend Kristin organized a "Cover the night-Kony 2012" event on the island which I was very excited about, I took the kiddos and we went to Maho and put up our posters. I was so proud of them for wanting to be involved. We had a nice conversation in the car on the way to Maho, they had a lot of questions about different global issues, and were asking questions about Osama Bin Laden, and 9/11, I was really happy that they're so interested. Andi, Tanner and Piper are all such smart kids, and they retain information like sponges. I get excited when I can teach them something they didn't know about before.
Casey's parents, Kent and Gayle, came to visit and stayed with us for four days, and we had a lot of fun with them. Those poor souls came on an overnight flight so they were just so exhausted when they got here, and were struggling to stay awake all night. They came bearing gifts of our favorite candies, and a cute quiet book for Piper. The Sunday they got here was Carina's birthday, she asked for a stethoscope and some first aid books, she's gotten really lame in her med school years. That night we just stayed in and made dinner and had the cake that Andi found on a pinterest recipe of course :) Cari loves peanut butter and chocolate (duh) so we made her a Reese's peanut butter cake and it was amazing. Pinterest does it again.
The first day they were here we took them to the market in Marigot which is the capitol on the French side. Most of the market consists of souvenir type clothing, jewelery, but there are some stands with really cool items for sale. Kent spotted this stand advertising these "Tagua" nuts.
They're these nuts that harden in the sun, and then this woman takes them and smooths them and sculpts them into awesome little animals, trees, flowers, etc. She had dozens and dozens, and they were really cool.
After an exhausting half hour of bartering with the tagua woman, Kent treated us all to some fresh coconut milk.
After we finished drinking the milk, the worker cut it open for us so we could try the coconut meat, too. We also got a real sugar cane to try, and it was...interesting. Way too sweet for my taste, unless you're into dumping packets of sugar down your throat, then you'd probably be a huge fan.
Day 2 of their trip here we went to Grand Case (pronounced cause) which is another city on the French side, it has a lot of restaurants, and shops. The place was pretty hopping. Walking around with Kent and Gayle was a lot of fun because they like to stop and talk to random people, and walk into buildings where they hear music coming from, and it made me realize you can embark on a lot more cultural experiences if you just chat it up with people you don't know, and venture into different places. We stopped for a little while to listen to this group of kids playing their steel drums in this old warehouse, and then on the way home from dinner we sat in on a church choir practice and you wouldn't believe how catchy their songs were. I was signing them for the next two days.
The main area of Grand Case that attracts tourists is essentially a very long alley that's filled with all of these different shops, pretty strung up lights, and some really cool art museums.
The restaurant we went to that night was off a recommendation from a couple we met on the street. The restaurant was called "Sky's the Limit" the couple told us it was delicious local food, I don't know what that couple was smokin', but the food wasn't anything to rave about. The whole atmosphere was just kind of funny, and by kind of funny, I mean weird. It was an outdoor restaurant, right in front of me was a lobster tank, and I swear to you the lobsters were dueling, the whole time we were eating I couldn't stop watching them deck each other in the face over and over. Psycho. The menus made Cari and I laugh for days. Almost every single entree ended in "food." So you can get "Pork chop food," or "Steak food" and for some reason I thought that was really funny. Not to mention every single entree came with literally ten sides, ranging from coleslaw to macaroni to spaghetti to rice and beans. I don't think any of us finished our plates, it was toooo much food. But our server was awesome, super nice and quick, plus we were solicited halfway through the meal by this lady who was selling her homemade coconut desserts, and those were delicious.
After dinner we took Kent and Gayle to Carousel, the gelato restaurant by our house because it's the best gelato on the island, and they had to try it. The Carousel has a carousel in the back (WHAT A COINCIDENCE) that Piper tried for the first time that night. At first she wasn't wanting to go on it, but when we were leaving she was screaming hysterically and wanting to ride the carousel again, so she's officially a carousel lover.
We were sad to see Kent and Gayle leave on Thursday morning, we had a blast having them here, and had a lot of fun new experiences. Plus I got to try my first sticky rice and mango with fresh mangoes from the market. Very yummy.
Since Cari didn't have school, she went with me to bring Andi to sailing one night. The yacht club where Andi takes her sailing lessons has a nice view of the lagoon and all of the ships and yachts that are docked. We took Piper with and watched as Andi finished her lesson and started putting her things away. It was a perfect night until Piper was walking on the dock and the yacht instructors giant dog ran by, his leash dragging behind him caught on Piper's foot, the dog kept running and dragged Piper behind him down the dock!! It was absolutely terrifying, Cari and I both ran to her and had a heart attack, the dog turned a corner on the dock and the leash came loose off of Piper's foot and she laid down on the dock screaming hysterically. All I kept thinking was how lucky we were that her foot was released when he turned the corner, or she would have ended up falling in the ocean most likely. She screamed for a while but she's a champ and soon she was okay. Now when we take Andi to sailing she makes sure to ask where the dog is before she'll even get out of the car.
Before Cari went back to school we made sure to take her to Orient Beach which is on the French side, it's by far my favorite beach. It's really clean, the water is so clear, and the best thing about it is how much is going on there all the time. There's a lot of people kite surfing, there's a water trampoline, and its a great beach for people watching. Orient is also notorious for being one of the more popular nude beaches, but that's only off to one side of the beach, we stay on the opposite end, but every once in a while some nudey swaggers by, here's a pic of one guy I found particularly funny, just for your viewing pleasure ;)
The highlight of people watching was definitely this one man who was in the ocean with a bag of bread, schools of fish were swimming after him like crazy, he was able to pick them up by hand and I thought, "wow, that's really impressive" then he'd take the fish and kiss it on the lips, and I thought, "Wow that's really gross! I'm gonna camera stalk him" so for like twenty minutes he kept repeatedly catching fish, kissing them, and washing his mouth out with ocean water, it was so weird and random. People kept clapping on the shore for him, he was getting an audience for sure. He saw me with my camera and kept telling me to take more and more pictures, i'm appreciative that he was so cooperative.
We spent a couple of hours just laying on the sand watching people and laughing at crazy stuff Piper does.
Besides beaches and shopping and restaurants we spent a lot of time at home watching movies and relaxing, and a bunch of time in our pool. Our "backyard" pool area is by far my favorite place on this entire island. The view of the ocean is absolutely amazing. It's hitting me more and more every day how little time I have left on the island and I'm trying to take advantage of everything more. I've been going down to the ocean to hang out a lot more lately, especially at night it's so pretty and you can see the moon and stars perfectly because there's no city lights to disturb it. Its so quiet and nice. I went out there at midnight a couple of days ago and sat on the ledge and this old man yelled down from his porch and said "I'm glad you sat down! I thought you were going to jump off the cliff!" So apparently one can't enjoy the view without it being interpreted as a suicide attempt ;) that guy and I talked for a while and then on my way up I stopped to talk to our security guard, Jerry, who's literally my best friend on this island, with the exception of my family here, I talk to him more than anyone else, he's awesome. But I'll definitely miss the ocean view here.
The last thing Cari made sure I do before school again was her hair. Her gray roots were not cute, and she's gotta look cute in her little white doctor coat. My friend Ellen from Aveda is a gem and sent me some color to do her highlights.
Our friend Karla and her three sons move back to the states on Wednesday, so after church today we had them over for brunch to say goodbye and thank them for all of their help ever since the first second we got here when they picked us up at the airport and had us over for dinner and sent us home with a bunch of food and things we'd need in the apartment. We'll miss you guys like crazy!
It's been a really fun break with Cari around a lot more, and showing her the island she hasn't seen yet since she's had her nose in a book for months. Being a doctor looks hard, guys.
My brother Dillon and his wife, Amy, had their baby this week! They ended up having to get a last minute c-section but both Amy and Vince are healthy and home! Dillon had to go out of town for work training the day after Vince was born but we're happy that they're all reunited now. I'm so excited to see him as he gets older, and i'm SO anxious to meet him.
This upcoming week we're getting back into routines. Cari heads back to school and I'm looking forward to having Piper all to myself again ;)
Her funny story of the week has to be last week when she picked up her doll that was "crying" which of course only she can hear, since its HER baby. She grabbed the doll and said "You wanna go in a time out?" then she walked her doll to the bedroom, put her on the bed and walked out. Then she put her ear against the door and said, "are you done crying now? you wanna come out?" then she walked in and got her "baby Emma" and gave her a hug and called her a good girl. She's such a little mom, she's way too cute.
I'm off to a 10 way call video chat with all of our siblings, its hard to get al of the siblings together at one time, so we just do it virtually. Hope everyone has a good week!
No comments:
Post a Comment