Red Rock

On the other side of the island there is a resort called Red Rock.  It's an absolutely beautiful place with bungalows interspersed with jungle and set against huge red cliffs that have been shaped and smoothed by the water and wind.  At the beach bar they have tables shaded by palm frond umbrellas that are underlit at night.  This place is absolutely magical.  We went with the Ashton/Green/Roses, Beares, and Ally LeClair when she visited.

Aaron and Charlie Beare- She looks so tiny!

The sand at this beach is very coarse.  You can find a lot of shells and miniature sea urchin skeletons washed up on the shore.

There I am in the background collecting for the sea urchin skeletons

 Here's an example of what they look like.  They are SUUUUPER thin and fragile.

Matthew and Taeyon heading in for dinner

 Zoned out.....

 I love how we are in this amazing place and the kids are playing games on their iphones...  lol  Except for Colin and Megan.  They're making googly eyes at eachother.

Makin smores!  

 yay fire

See the ocean in the background?  I love this place.

What a great day at Red Rock!  Can't wait to come again!

Celebrating US Independence in Dominica

Soooo July fourth is a much different day in Dominica.  In fact, all the normal holidays are.  It's just a day like any other day and the only way you know it's a holiday is if you keep track of your calendar.  Today we got together with the student families in our branch and had a swimming party.  No fireworks, nothing patriotic or heart warming, just swimming.  At least we got to try out the waterproofness of our camera and kind of learn what works and what doesnt.  Boys who wont stand still, for instance, can not get a clear picture underwater. ;)

Matthew and Aaron doing their usual acrobatics in the pool

look at those cute teeth

 whoa I look weird.

They love seeing the bubbles on the pictures

Squirmies

I think somebody lost their shoes.

Nope, he's not dead.

Time to go home!  Gnight all!  And enjoy some fireworks for me!

random thoughts consolidated for your amusement.

Listening to the boys playing in the back of the van while carpooling at 7:30 this morning brought a question to mind...
What is the plural for "triceratops?"

I love school.  I love that I know people and that they like me enough to call to me from across a courtyard while I'm walking the other direction so I will come talk or walk with them.  I love learning.  I AM feeling the weight of a full schedule this semester and second guessing my choice of enrolling in 8 classes/18 credit hours.  However, from the looks of it, I chose the right teachers to overload with... for the most part... kind of...  ANYWAY, I might have some exciting news about a trip to a very north eastern popular US city for Jazz Ensemble.... to work with one Phil Mattson. BUT nothing's official as of right now, we just have to see if the college will pay for our registration fee which is.... VERY expensive. All wealthy philanthropist readers please contact me :)  We are one of  only two community college choirs selected in the nation- joined by two University choirs and 1 professional choir.  All are a capella jazz choirs. NO choreography, thank you very much. ;) it's all about the tone, harmony, and expression.

Martin Luther King Jr Day aka Civil Rights Day was a ton of fun! Among other things we went and used our last two groupons at Bahama Bucks and I got something that is now my new favorite: 1/2 Rootbeer, 1/2 Jamaican rum Bahama Mama Rama. holy cheeseballs. It was sooooo good.  I don't think I need to try any other flavors ever. ever. ever.

The other day Matthew and I were eating our favorite snack and he looked up and me and said:
Matt: Mom, I heart chips and salsa. (how cute)
Me: *smirk* sighhhh Me too.
Matt: Really, I just heart salsa.  If I didn't have a chip, I'd use a spoon.

-----and then I proceeded to teach my young padawan my "pour-the-chip-crumbs-from-the-bottom-of-the-bag-into-the-salsa, mix-and-proceed-to-eat-like-unto-the-eating-of-cereal-WITH A SPOON" technique.  I know this may be a little too personal to share on the blog, sorry :) *sniff* my little boy's all grown up..

Now that I've got all that out of my head, it's time for ... no, not haiku Wednesday, but a Wednesday Limerick!!
 
I went back to my school this week
To learn how to add and to speak
to tell girls from boys,
play keyboards with poise
And learn about rocks like a geek.

Wow, I pretty much covered all my classes except for choir and voice....  I was going to do this for the last line:

And go sing for Phil in NewYeek <-----but I would've had to do new yeek instead of new york. and thats too weird for 90% of my readers.  I personally would've giggled every time I read it, though. Dang, I should've put it.  I'm such a sell out. hanging head in shame and going to curl up with my kindle to read a few chapters for my Psychology & Gender Differences and Public Speaking classes tomorrow.

What I overheard...

While I was doing my hair this morning and the kids were getting ready for school this morning I overheard them having this conversation:

Matt: Megan, you should try out for soccer cause you're a good  kicker and that's what good kickers do
Megan:  Really?  you think I'm a good kicker?
Matt: yeah. and you should try out for soccer
Megan:  Matthew, do you want to know why I don't try out for soccer?
Matt: Why?
Megan:  Cause I forgot who was on my team last time and I messed up.  And then this boy said later "YEAH MEGAN, MESS UP AGAIN!"
---------pause----------
Matt: it's ok, you just gotta remember their names and remember what they're wearing.  You should still try out for soccer.

I like that.  It's a good day.  (And alls I've gotta say is whatever it is that someone slipped in my proverbial drink this morning is amazing.  Good mood, yummy breakfast, kids on time, ahhhhhhhhhh)

Halloween costumes and other interesting stuff

Halloween night. 

Matthew was Indiana Jones (with a real whip made by friend David Gibbens)

Aaron was "life" and had boxes of lemon heads to hand out

I was Grecian handmaiden to Megan, who was the goddess Aphrodite (She's been really in to Greek Mythology for the last 6 months).

(I had already made my outfit for a program I sang in called Women at the Well a litte over a year ago, so all I had to make last week was Megan's outfit and jewelry and Matthew's leather satchel)

......and heeeeere's Johnny!

As you can see I had a lot of projects going on at once, but

Johnny= the minky quilt I made for my Brittney (otherwise referred to as B or really any word that starts with B).  Holy Fazolis minky fabric is the devil. My house was a fuzzy fluffy mess when I was done. All of the pieced side is fur, there is no stuffing, and the other side is actually made from a very high thread count sheet so it's nice and soft, too.  This is folded into fourths in this pic, I think.  It's basically big enough to wrap a baby in and small enough for a little kid to carry around while sucking their thumb.  And soft enough to never want to leave behind :)  I want one for me now.... too bad I got all the fabric from the fur scrap pile (any fabric left on the bolt that was less than a yard) at SAS and had barely enough for the baby quilt. no duplicating.... booo...  well, there is a teeny tiny little bit left... hmmm.... what to make, what to make.... 

It's funny- Megan will say Mom, can I have your scraps?  and I'll say uhhh honey, Mommy doesn't have scraps. Anything I have left over is just fabric I'm saving for another project.  ha.  it's so true.  but I give her some anyway.

Some funny things the kids said today:

Matt told Megan that her feet were "EXTREMELY smelly." (which, really, that boy's feet smell like pedivomit, so he's the world's shortest hypocrite)

and when we were singing the name game (you know, Stephy Stephy bo bephy banana fanna fo feffy me mi mo mephy, Stephy)

Megan said, no one do "Mutthead" cause that would be bad.

Oh, AND the 6 year old genuinely beat me in a thumb war tonight.  What has the world come to?  I think I'm going to have to cut down on the protein I feed that kid.

Kids make life so much more interesting.  In an innocent funny sweet kind of way.

The Kinder-Graduate and More

This last week Megan had her last day of Kindergarten and her graduation (or promotion if you will). She is now a big first-grader! Wow, time flies... I'm sure I'll be saying the same thing when she gets married... tomorrow. ha ha.She just loved her teacher, Mrs. Memmott (whom I will be teaching with next year)Here she is with her good friend and carpool buddy, Carsen. And here's our family in the gym in front of the "Panthers" wall pads. Megan's teacher gave them all a big packet of homework that she said they could do "if they get bored this summer." Megan's already done a little of it. ha ha. She loves school. Saturday we had an end of the school year family day. We went swimming all day (meaning from 2-5) and then Aaron BBQ'd for us with his new grill I got him for graduation. He grilled steaks, pineapple, and corn on the cob. Delish!

After dinner I hurried off to a coupon party that my friends invited me to for coupon sense. I had heard of it a million times before but hadn't joined. I'm now a newbie member and I'll be posting my savings every time I go shopping. Aren't you excited? I didn't realize how cheap it was- I thought it cost like $60 to join, but no, the first month is a trial month and only costs $4. and then $14 per month after. Crazy, you say? Crazy-Awesome, I say. Especially when you save a few hundred a month and build up your food storage quicker than you can say Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanokoniosis.

Gardening with Mittleider part III

Before reading this post, please be sure to read:
GARDENING WITH MITTLEIDER part I
GARDENING WITH MITTLEIDER part II

- by the way, Matthew has his own small shovel now :o)

I have the rest of the initial videos downloaded and so here is part III: (while some of these things seem simple to a lot of us, not everyone here has even picked up a shovel, so, there you go.)

So sorry about the tutu folks. Welcome to my life :o)

This one is really dark, SO sorry!

So basically just wrap the end of a dishtowel around the end of your hose and rubberband it in place. Lay the towel-hose at the end of the row between the peaks, turn the water on low and let it seep out to fill up the row 1" deep full of water. I water mine every morning so they are watered and ready to face the HEAT! 105 degrees today! I need to get my shade cloth! (we will talk about this soon)

[Clever kid-related blog title here]

Hey friends. Just wanted to post a little about what the kids have been doing lately....

1. They have their very own box garden :o)The kids wanted to be in my garden all the time, so I made them their own and they love it!

I got a wooden pallet (the kind used for fork lifts) from the side of a dumpster (yes, me and the dumpsters, I know) and I pryed two boards off the top and nailed them to the sides and ta-da! A garden box! (with really good drainage, too)
Matthew planted corn and cantaloupe in his side and Megan planted watermelon and cinnamon basil. Matthews just came up and hopefully Megan's won't be too far behind! fun, fun!

2. They now have dish duty :o)
I probably waited a little longer to teach them this than I should've, but my kids are now dish-doing dudes! yay! they love it! 3. They had fun painting today :o)
This has got to be the most AWESOME-est Bakugan-holder ever! Matthew does a really good job painting- he loves to make sure every little spot is covered.

If you don't know what Bakugan is, it's the latest and greatest toy to get for boys right now. It's kind of a spin off of Pokemon but when you play, you roll the bakugan balls over cards and if they pop open (see below) on the same card as the opponent, you battle. Don't ask me more than that, that's all I know. The card has a metal plate in it and the balls have a magnet in a little spot in the bottom where if that spot touches the metal plate, it pops open to form a creature of some sort. They're fun to open.

Megan's teacher asked her to make a replica of her crocodile, Pippa, for her new preschool (Sunshine Sharing Preschool) and told her she'd pay her for it. Awesome-

She hasn't painted the white eyes or teeth yet, so they are still blue, but you get the idea. We'll post a pic when it's done. Megan is starting out young with her crafting business. ha ha. She said that she wants to make a catalog to "sell home-made toys, and blankets, and cushy pillows" And Matthew's job is to mail the catalogs and toys all over the world. She cracks me up.
Speaking of crafts and painting, I did another bow holder- this time for Megan. She saw me do the ones for her friends and wanted one so badly, so here it is. It doesn't even hold all of her bows... how sad. Oh well, it's cute anyway.

Kids say the darndest things...

The naked cowboy....
This morning when Aaron was leaving for work, Matthew stuck his head out the door and called to him "I love you daddy! Bye! Be careful to not fall down!"