St. John Virgin Island

Sadly our trip to St. John is over. Our quick four night stay in the tropical paradise was much needed rest and relaxation on some very beautiful beaches. We visited some famous beaches, including Trunk Bay, Cinnamon Bay, and Magens Bay. We did some snorkeling in Trunk Bay which was fun but we have to say that the snorkeling in Hawaii was much better.

We flew into St. Thomas where we rented a Jeep and took the ferry over to St. John. There isn't an airport on St. John because there is not enough flat ground for a runway. We stayed three nights on St. John where we spent our days laying on the beach, snorkeling and doings a couple of hikes. The roads were a lot of fun to drive on, narrow, winding and very steep in places. Not to mention that we had to drive on the left side of the road but the speed limit was only 20 miles a hour on the whole island, so even if we had hit someone we wouldn't have done much damage. The island itself is not very big, 10 miles east to west and 4 miles north to south. So we had little problem seeing the whole island during the three days that we were there. For our last night stayed on St. Thomas so we could catch our flight early Sunday morning. Of the two islands we liked St. John better, it was not as populated and didn't seem like such a tourist trap.

We didn't get a ton of pictures because we were having camera issues. But that may not be such a bad thing because I am not liking pictures of myself in a swimming suit right now. The residual baby pounds and flab have got to go.

Family Night

For family night last night we made some fall wreaths with all of the leaves and sticks that the kids helped me pick up last week on our nature walk. Grandpa was saying that he needed some color for his door, so we made two so that he could take one home as well. Nicole was very excited about the project and she became the official hot glue specialist. The boys however did not show that much interest.

Peacock

If you have been to our house you have probably seen the peacock that likes to frequently visits our front step. Well, I have to report that the peacock which has been wandering the neighborhood for 17 years died the other day. I have to say that I am not all together sad about his passing because he was becoming increasingly aggressive and I had to chase him away from the kids on numerous occasions. However, he was quite beautiful and very much an icon for our street. I could often give directions based on the street with the peacock.

Project Completed

I bought this armoire about two months ago off of Craig's list. It had just what I wanted as far as storage but I hated the doors and bottom drawers (which I had already removed when I took this picture) they were a kick back to the seventies with very rounded corners. So me being someone who can make a project out of anything, I set out to make new doors and drawers. After two months and a few small mistakes it's done and now I have a place to store my sewing stuff (so that I can work on more projects).

Nature Walk

Yesterday may have been our last nice day before winter sets in. It was a beautiful fall day that reached about 70 degrees. With such a nice day I decided to take everyone out for a nature walk. We have a creek bed about a hundred yards behind our house that we walked along and explored. I was surprised with how well everyone did, even Maris was quite the trooper with me carrying her in the front carrier. We picked up leaves and sticks that I plan to have the kids use in a craft next week. I just love the fall. It is kind of sad to watch the rain fall today taking with it the last of the leaves.


About a minute before I took this picture, Nolan and Parker fell backwards off the log as Nolan tried to get situated. They recovered quickly.

Dirty Kids

We have a pretty steep hill in our backyard and for the last few weeks every time the kids go out to play they come in filthy. They have decided that the hill is great for slidding down. I don't know why the hill is better than the perfectly good slid that is ten feet away but for some reason they can't stay away. So for now I am stuck with a little more laundry and more baths.

















Parker at the top slidding down.

Nolan getting ready to climb up.