Caribbean Vacation

 My real Christmas present was my parents coming to visit! They got here on Thursday December 27^th. They arrived at about 8:00 in the morning. The airport here is super tiny so I was able to watch them land, I was determined to get a picture of them getting off the plane. I had been waiting patiently for at least half an hour not daring to move, even when I really had to go to the bathroom because I wanted the perfect picture of them landing.I have a bunch more pictures of the plane landing, but here is one of it getting closer.....

.......and closer! I am so excited now I can hardly stand it.....

Of COURSE at this exact moment this beautiful humming bird had to land right in front of me and distract me.......

 ....and I completely missed my picture of them getting off the airplane. So here instead, is my picture of them walking away from the plane *sigh*. You win this time bird.

Mom and Dad were so cute on the whole drive back to our house. The airport to my house is about 1 hour, and its one of the most beautiful drives in the world. I love this road, but a lot of people don't appreciate it as much because it's a crazy, small and curvy road, and most people get sick on it. *It puts a chill in the bones thinkin'a how many honest sailors have lost their lunch on this passage* I am proud of them though, they didn't have any problems and they loved the drive. About every 30 seconds or so they were exclaiming "Look at that" while pointing out the window. I love seeing where I get my enthusiasm from. I love these 2! We got home, had lunch and we took them for a tour around campus. Showed them all the poisonous plants (we have no shortage of them), coconut trees and of course...moms favorite..the beach! We even spotted a few Iguanas.

 

I am going to apologize here and now...I did not take very many pictures while my parents were here. My mom was being extremely trigger happy with her camera so I didn't see the point. I figured I would just steal her flash card at the end of the trip and take all her pictures. The night before she left I realized her camera did not use flash cards and there was no way for me to get the pictures. I hope she will e-mail a bunch to me one day, or put them on a flash drive and mail them. But until then you will have to suffer with the few pictures I did get.

To sum up, Thursday was a pretty chill day of just showing them around. Friday we went with the school on a "Northern Link Tour", where we went around the northern tip of the Island that doesn't get visited as often as some other areas. First stop was at Fort Shirley, a really cool old fort that was used when the French and British were fighting over the island 100's of years ago. Its been restored beautifully with a lot of original artifacts, including authentic cannons. Next we drove up a mountain where we should have had a perfect view of Guadeloupe, the next island to the north, but it was really rainy and cloudy that day so we didn't see much. We also stopped at a cold sulfur spring, which is a change from all the tons of hot springs around the island. We last stopped at a really cool beach on the Atlantic side, I don't know its name...I should look into that. It was covered with coconuts though and mom was loving it!

 

Saturday morning was busy. We got up really early and went to the market. Of course, again, mom and dad loved it. Mom was able to drink some fresh coconut milk, we got fresh sugarcane, some yummy baked coconut bread, fresh Cinnamon, coco, and all different types of fruit. When we got back home we quickly got changed for the baptism. Alright, in the past few blogs I kept telling you to remember Pink Dreads? Well here it goes...he is this fantastic guy with 4 of the cutest kids you will ever meet and the sweetest wife ever. He is a grounds keeper at the school and would have frequent conversations with some of us students. He became good friends with a family that was always inviting him to church. Pinky is a guy who knows his stuff! He understands the Bible better then I ever will. He did not accept the church invitation for a while, but once he did, that was it! He came to church the first time and knew he wanted to be baptized. He started having the missionaries over right away and since the first time he came to church in November, Pinky has never missed a Sunday. For the first few months every Sunday he showed up with more and more people! Family and friends he was ecstatic to share the gospel with. On December 29, him, his daughter, and 2 of his sisters were Baptized in the river just beside my house. Since I live right there, they all came to get changed at my house and we had snacks and stuff at my place after. It was a beautiful day and I am so glad mom and dad were there for it. One of the most beautiful and spiritual days ever.

Sunday was mostly a day of rest, mom and dad really enjoyed church, but we should have left for church much earlier. Usually it takes Joel and I about 30 min to walk to church. With mom stopping to take pictures of everything it took considerably longer. But it was great. I love being reminded of the beauty of things right in my own back yard. I got "use" to living here far to fast and its good to be reminded of how extraordinary it all is. On the way home we meandered along a beach where there is lots of sea glass and sea shells. 
 

Monday, the real fun begins! We rented a car, or at least we tried too. They were all out so we rented a van. Joel was nervous because it was his first time driving here, and the van was huge. But he did great! We took them to Scotts Head, Champagne, and spent the rest of the day shopping in Roseau. They loved Roseau so much we went back there 2 more times before they left the island.

I am not sure what they are doing here...being weird I guess.  

Here is a picture from the top of Scotts Head looking down to the Reef bellow us. 

 From the top of Scotts Head to the Bottom... ready to go Snorkeling! Or as Dad likes to call it..Schnorkling.

 The Drop off...

 Dad playing in the bubbles at Champagne.

 While we were shopping in Roseau, we picked up everything we needed to have an amazing NEW YEARS EVE party. Joel and I haven't eaten this good this we left Canada. Chocolate fondue at its very finest!

Like a kid at Christmas....Speaking of, see my cute little Christmas tree in the back there? The lights went up the wall and made a star.

I think they meant to spell out 2013. I don't really see that though. Its more like..2034. Or Bunny- Butterfly-Stop??

 

Happy New Year!!!!

 Enough Already!! Jokes, I grew up with them. Them making out is nothing new for me.

Tuesday January 1, 2013. We still have the rental car and we decided for our first decision of the new year, we would go on a brand new adventure. We took a trip that none of us had ever done before. First of all we had to navigate our way passed all the cars and accidents that had occurred the night before. Next we needed to find a gas station because we were riding empty. Any time we stopped to ask someone where we could get gas the answer always was "It depends if the owner is sober enough to open up today". They all pretty much just pick and choose what days or hours they want to work. Our prayers were answered when right out of Roseau there was someone who happened to be sober enough to open and we filled up. Next with my amazing navigation abilities, we set off up into the mountains on  crazy, tiny, curvy and straight up roads. I took us on one wrong turn that basically sent us up a road that was only slightly better then a Quad Trail straight up a mountain. We eventually found a place to turn around and tried it again. We were looking for Ti Tou Gorge. People were always talking about how amazing it was. We drove around forever in the general area the map said it was. It was frustrating because there were absolutely no signs anywhere, at all, none. Finally we talked to someone who pointed us the right way. We got out and started walking up the mountain before we finally found a sign.

 But after we found the sign, we couldn't see the gorge. At least not the gorge that we thought we were suppose to be looking for. So we kept walking...

 ...and walking...

 ...and...well eventually we got tired of walking. We turned around and headed back to the car.

 Stopping to take a quick picture of the only thing we could think was possibly the gorge. (For further closure on the matter check back for my blog about Dan and Jess's visit. We took a guide and really figured out Ti Tou Gorge!)

After Ti Tou everything went really smoothly. The rest of the places we went to had signs. We dropped in unannounced at a really cute little B&B type place called CoCoCottages.  The woman who runs the place was sweet enough to give us a tour. She has the most amazing garden filled with every type of spice and herb and fruit tree you can name. She makes her own Chocolate, of all different flavors using all her own home grown ingredients. She was able to show us how she makes the Chocolate. It takes weeks and there are so many different stages!

 This is Vanilla!

 Cocobeans.

 We were able to buy from fresh Chocolate from her. Now, I am a milk chocolate person. This stuff is all dark chocolate because its all fresh hand made and it is honestly the best chocolate you will ever eat, and that's coming from someone who usually hates dark chocolate. Wow. Can't get enough of it. And for the first time ever, its true-This Chocolate is good for you! For Real! *Dry Land is not a Myth*  She doesn't add anything that isn't naturally grown from the earth from her garden.

 The next stop was Trafalgar falls. 2 Ginormous waterfalls side by side. You can climb down the rocks and play in the river beds and between them is a hot springs. Beautiful! 

 Some huge vines that Joel was playing on.

 After Trafalgar we went to Screws Spa. Its just below Trafalgar. Remember I said between the 2 rivers is a hot spring? Well this guy named Screw dug out six ponds and diverted different amounts of each river into each pond, so basically its a hot spring spa with 6 different temperatures so you can pick your favorite. I wasn't sure what to expect, but when we got there I was blown away. Screw has put so much work into it, the place is amazing. Each pond is the size of a small pool, the stone work all around is stunning and he threw in cool details and lights everywhere. We didn't take our cameras on this trip but there will be lots from our trip with Dan and Jess so keep posted. After you get out of the water the staff come and bring you a plate of fresh fruit and it is by far the best on the island. So So good. The perfect end to the perfect start of the new year.

On Wednesday we went with the School on the Indian River Boat trip. I blogged lots about place earlier, so I wont say too much other then it was still amazing and mom and dad loved it. But seriously you would be crazy not to, this place is the best!  Still one of my favorite on the whole island.

 Wednesday night the school did the Welcome Back BBQ. The food was great and music was provided by a fantastic Steel Band. Once again mom got all the coconut she could drink, and dad was in heaven when the school provided free ice cream.

Thursday I didn't have anything planned, so I asked mom and dad what they wanted to do, giving examples of things we hadn't done yet that they could choose from. They decided to go back to Roseau. We took just a local transport and did some fun window shopping and picked up some good souvenirs.  No pictures and not too much too report, just a fun day in the city.

Friday, their last day here. I should mention, the weather was not too great while mom and dad were here. The ocean especially was out of control. The waves were bigger then I even knew they could get on the Caribbean side. Waves totally ripped up the pier. This all starts about half way out, but isn't that crazy? This pier was full and good when mom and dad arrived. 

 Here is a sort of action shot, but I promise the waves got way bigger then this. Mom and Dad loved sitting down here and watching them. 

 So I ask you. Its the last day before my parents leave the island. The weather is rainy and slightly miserable and the sea is going crazy. What should we do for entertainment? What's that you say? Rent a sketchy fisherman and his tiny little boat to take us way the crap out into the ocean in a storm to try fishing? Yeah that's exactly what we thought too! Here is a picture of us awaiting our certain death. I will have you know mom was smart and backed out at the last minuet.

 Here is a picture of us in the boat....want to know how we got there? Well its kind of a long story filled with the guy showing up and realizing the peir was gone, so he yelled at us and made us swim out to him, but not before yelling at us to bring some leaves from a near by coconut tree, (which dad and Joel mutilated in their attempt to get them for him) that we later realized he needed to help him keep his engine going. Safe. Also, there was a brief incident where the fisherman had to bash the lock off his cubby with a rock to provide us with life jackets, which he only had 2 of-One Adult, One Child. Joel is the strongest swimmer so he went without, I took the child one and got to be the "fat guy in a little coat". Anyways, we are in the boat and headed out to sea!

 Once we got out a good distance, our Fisherman started yelling at the boys to drop the anchor. They were really confused, until they figured out he meant this bag of rocks. He was really yelling at them, maybe he was in a bad mood because of the weather? It looks like blue skies behind us but in front of us its raining hard. Anyways, the boys didn't want to make him upset so they went ahead and dropped the rocks..I mean..."anchor". Of course after they dropped it Joel  realized the other end wasn't tied to anything and he had to quickly fix that!

But Joel apparently didn't tie it right, so he came back to fix it quick. 

 Alright, we are settled and anchored down. Now time to go fishing...without poles. A role of fishing line, a hook and some rocks are really all that you need when fishing in the ocean.

 Oh, and bait! We did get bait. Line, hook, rock and bait.

Just lob it over the side...the perfect cast.

 How do you know when you have had a bite?

 You just constantly pull your line back into the boat, and if one of these is on the end...you had a bite. If not, try again. Ugly suckers aren't they? There eyes bulged out when we pulled them up because of the pressure difference. Joel was the first one to haul in a catch!

 Me pulling in my line....

Success!! 

 

Those storm clouds are rolling in! And its starting to rain good! Better check your line dad! 

 Oh...so close.

Well dad never caught a fish but he did pull in a nice piece of coral, he tossed it back though :) The fisherman was not very nice about it though. Kept trash talking dad. Things like "Your wife would starve around here Gramps, you cant bring home a fish to feed her."  Who knew fishing got so competitive and rude?All well, we all know you give him a fly rod and a river and Dad can out fish anyone! Well enough of this nonsense...and rain... time to head in. Captain hoist the rocks....I mean "Anchor".

 Saturday we stopped at Red Rock on our way to the airport and had one last little sit on the beach followed by a fantastic lunch! Seriously, best food they had while they were here. And after that we took them to the airport and said our good-byes. Joel and I LOVED having them here. It was an absolute blast! They seemed to love it too because they are planning another trip this summer. I am super happy because I love my parents and miss them all the time. They are the 2 greatest people I could ever hope to be raised by. It was really hard to see them go, but when we dropped them off at the airport a bunch of my friends were just getting back to the Island after Christmas break. They were having lots of trouble with there bags so Joel and I stayed around a few extra hours until it was sorted out so we could help with their kids. It kept me distracted so I didn't have time to get all teared up over them leaving. Now I get to look forward to them coming back! Hurray!