We're back!

And slowly getting caught up on things. We had an amazing time. It is hard to describe exactly how refreshing and nice it was to just focus on each other, unless you have kids of your own and know exactly what you mean.

We did so many things, and took so many pictures, its hard to even know where to begin. For starters, we combined some of our gift money from our birthdays and got a Canon Digital Rebel XTi. I have been scared to DEATH of getting/using a digital SLR camera, for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is how bloody EXPENSIVE they can be. But I am SO glad we decided to do it, the pictures we got we just phenomenal and so worth it all.

When we left on Saturday, I was absolutely on cloud nine. I could do whatever I wanted, read a book while we were waiting for the plane, or even take a nap!! How exciting . . . and a true comment on what you really find exciting once you have kids!! :-) At any rate, our flight was delayed a little, but it was no time at all before we landed in St. Thomas and caught a cab and then ferry to St. John. It was so nice to be back in Little Paradise!!

The picture above in the sunrise from Sunday, our first day there, from the balcony of the house. It was pretty much the only nice weather we had in the morning while we were there. Considering the weather is usually fantastic in St. John, we had no idea what was going on. Until, of course, we came home and realized there was a very weak tropical storm while we were there. So, uh, yeah, that explains a few things!!

Anyway, we drove to Cruz Bay (opposite side of the island from where our house is, in Coral Bay) in the morning to get a few things. Along they way, we stopped at a few of the scenic places along the way and took pictures. We had an early lunch, then went to Little Lameshur Bay to give our wonderful little kayak a go. It was AMAZING, we paddled all around the bays in the area, and did the Yawzi Point Snorkel. Normally you have to hike to the point and then enter the water, but we just paddled over to the rocky beach, left the kayak and went for a swim. We had such a blast :-) Day one pictures follow. My only regret was that we didn't bring the underwater camera so I couldn't take photos from the kayak or of the snorkels.

Ruins of Windberg Plantaion. This is right along the road as you travel from Coral Bay to Cruz Bay on North Shore Road!

Overlook of Cinnamon Bay, with Whistling Cay in the background and then BVI.

View of the beach at Little Lamesure Bay from the ruins of the Lameshur Bay Plantation.

Brad setting up our sturdy little vessel!

Another view of Little Lameshur, this one from the beach.

We didn't get a ton of sleep on Sunday night, due to howling storms and major rain. At least now we know why! At any rate, it was too windy on Monday to take the Kayak out, so we decided to hike the Leinster Bay Trail and do the ruins of the plantation their. This is one of our favorite spots--the ruins are right behind the beach, but there is no trail to them and the National Park doesn't maintain the area or really even encourage anyone to visit them. So it's definately "Off the Beaten Track"! I was able to get some great shots of a couple pelicans sunning themselves. Brad took the shots of the ruins. We hiked a portion of the Johnny Horn Trail, then went home for lunch. We then spent the afternoon exploring a variety of other ruins that the area around Annaberg has to offer . And, last but not least, we hiked up part of the Cinnamon Bay Trail to the spur for the American Hill Estate House, which was absolutely amazing. We got rained on for most of that hike, but it was actually fun to be hiking around in the rain. We definately didn't let the fowl weather slow us down!!

Pelican with Waterlemon Cay in the background. Snorkeling around the cay is phenomenal!

Closeup of the Pelican.

I love this picture, he is stretching or something. You can see his tongue. If you click on the pic, you can see exactly HOW GOOD the camera is!! :-)

Water tower at the Leinster Bay Plantation

Ruins of a building associated with a more recent (early to mid 1900s) cattle operation at Leinster Bay

View of a beautiful boat on the bay

These stairs are nearly all that is left of the great house of the Freidriksdale Plantation. While these ruins are right off of the road in the Anaberg area, the NP doesn't maintain the trail anymore, and it is getting difficult to explore the rest of the plantation.

This bridge lies just across the road from the Fredriksdale Ruins. It is a part of the old Danish road system, and is excellent condition!

Little lizard hiding inside the bridge!

This next set of pictures are from the American Hill Estate House. The house was built in the 1920s, and is located at 400feet above sea level. The roof and interior of the house are completely decimated, but the walls seem to be in good conditional. Although the view is largely obscured by overgrowth, you can get a rough idea of how SPECTACULAR this house must have been in its hayday!

On Tuesday, we got up early and decided to hike to the Reef Bay Plantation Ruins. The ruins are situated in the Reef Bay Valley, which is completely undeveloped. The entire valley is owned by the national park and there are no roads. We hiked in via the Lameshur Bay trail, which included a steep 460 foot decent over a saddleback and then a decent of the same into Reef Bay Valley. The hike was wonderfully invigorating . . . . apparently I am in better shape than I realized!

The Reef Bay Ruins are in excellent condition. After the ruins, we visited the petroglyphs, then hiked to the ruins of the Reef Bay Great House and Estate Par Force. All in all, we hiked somewhere in the vicinity of 7 miles. It was a GREAT way to spend the day. We saw a ton of deer in the early morning (yes, there are deer in St. John), and even a mongoose! Random bit of St. John trivia, did you know the the plural of mongoose is "Mongoose dem?"

This tree was struck by lightening and was split in 2. Both sides of the tree are still alive!

View of Genti Bay from the Lameshur Bay trail. The ruins are situated right at the inner "V" of the bay.

Reef Bay Sugar Mill Ruins

Reef Bay Chimney

Grinder at horsemill

When Slavery was abolished in the late 1800s in USVI, sugar mills were at an impass as to how to continue their businesses. A few plantations, including Reef Bay, imported steam engines to make the work more efficient. A 15 year old girl was crushed in the gears of this particular engine. A few years later, in 1906, the Reef Bay Sugar mill closed down. It was the last sugar mill to end operations on the island.

Old copper pot (used for boiling sugar juices)

Hermit crab. The ruins were also inhabited by LOADS of bats. I like wildlife, but could not convince myself to get close enough to THOSE to take pictures!! Irrational I know, but still!!

Now on to the Petroglyphs. There is a waterfall that flows here during times of heavy rains. Yeah, that would be this trip, if ever!!

The petroglyphs, which have eroded quite a bit and are getting harder to see.

Small waterfall below the petroglyph pool.

Estate Par Force Ruins. As far as I can tell, this was an upper part of the Reef Bay Plantation, or maybe an earlier part. This is another trail that the NPS no longer maintains, but a local trail group keeps it passable. Not much left, but it is so cool seeing how nature is reclaiming these things.

Another shot of Estate Par Force

Reef Bay Great House:

We spent most of Wednesday sitting around the house . . . the weather was incredibly fowl that day, especially in the morning. I also think that this was the day that I got up, ate my husband's wonderful pancakes, and then returned to bed until noon. Now THAT was wonderful! In the afternoon, it cleared out a little and we did a little bird watching in our own back (or front, I suppose, for those of you who know the house!!). There are these delightful little birds called Bananaquits that love it when you put sugar in the bird feeders. I spent hours and a considerable amount of space on my memory card photographing them!

Bananaquit

Lizard that lives in the hole in our wall.

3 Bananaquits. The one in the center (has a yellow stripe above the eye instead of white) is a juvenille.

I THINK this guy is a lesser antillian bullfinch, although I can't really remember. He is a juvenile as well, he was all downy on the other side!

I have no idea what this flower is, but it was so beautiful I made Brad take me back so I can get a picture of it. It can be found at the base of the Salt Pond Bay trail.

The weather cleared on Thursday and we launched the kayak from Francis Bay. We paddled over to Cinnamon Bay for some great snorkling, then cut across to Whistling Key and then snorkeled Mary Point. Brad and I encountered a cool little sea turtle, who was content to just go the way he was going, which happened to be the way we were going! We got to get a close look at some neat birds called Brown Boobys (no joke), that I had never seen before. They are really quite pretty, I wish I had gotten a picture! Anyway, long story short, we didn't take any pictures because we were ON the kayak, but had a fabulous time. The wind did pick up a little, so we also got an excellent workout.

Since we had to let the kayak dry out before our trip home, we spent being adventurous and testing out the 4-wheel drive in our jeep by visiting Gooptran and Kiddel Bays. They are accessible by an unpaved, washed out road, making it wonderfully FUN to get to. Both of the beaches were divine, because they were so deserted! We then went to Salt Pond Bay and hiked to the Blue Cobblestone beach for a snorkel and to just enjoy our last day on the island. The wind was picking up again, so the snorkel was a little surgy, but still fun. We sat on the rocks and read our books, enjoyed the sun and our day.

View from our selected reading spot :-)

Blue Cobblestone Beach (again, from our reading spot).

This beach is so cool because, as the name implies, it is all stone instead of sand. The rocks make a wonderful sound as the waves roll them in and out, creating perfectly rounded stones.

And, just like that, our time in Little Paradise was gone. We were sooo very happy to have had the chance to get away, in celebration of our 5th anniversary. Garrett was great for the inlaws. This is probably the first time we went that I felt a strong need to get back home, and that was ONLY because I missed my kiddo. I can't believe we have gone 4 times in 5 years. It seems like the place is a second home . . .

Now that I have written the longest post in the history of BLOGSPOT (it took me ALL DAY!!), I will leave you with the only picture I managed to take of the 2 of us together. Yup, the good ole hold the camera and take a picture of yourself trick. :-)

A few random pics

Just a few random pictures from the first few weeks. The first is of Garrett with his buddy Joshua on the night Joshua and his mom came to sit for us so we could go to our murder mystery thing. The 2nd one is Garrett testing out our new inflatable kayak. We haven't gotten to use it yet, so we will use it for the first time in St. John, but we should have oodles of family fun with it when we get home too!!

A week from now . . .

Brad and I will be sitting in St. John, getting back to the business of simply being together. Its been a really, really insane year, with my Discovery Toys business, his job, my job, the dogs, Garrett, the house, and so on. With Brad's Coast Guard Auxilliary schedule, we have seen each other maybe once a week for more than an hour or two at a time. So a getaway is much needed. I am not looking forward to leaving my baby (ah hem, big boy) for a week, but I am at the same time looking forward to those small joys you take for granted before you become a parent, including (but not limited to):
-Not lugging a diaper bag everywhere
-Actually sleeping in
-Doing what I want to do on a plane!
-Having a peaceful meal, without spilled drinks, slung food, or all those other fun aspects of dinner time with a a toddler.
-Being able to actually LAY on the beach, and possibly even (gasp) take a nap.

The closest I have gotten to true personal time in the past year and a half is sitting in front of the computer or fluorometer at work running samples. Sad when that is my "time off".

Thank goodness for my inlaws. I am not at all worried about leaving my kid (or the dogs, fish, and turtles) in their capable hands. I really am not at all stressed about leaving Garrett. I am a tiny bit nervous about when we come home, that he will flip out when I have to leave him to go to work, and that he will be so clingy I won't be able to get any work done from home. But I am not at all concerned about leaving him with Sherry and Lynn. I know he will take comfort in having his puppies around for hugs and kisses, and for being in his own home. So I am super duper glad they are coming to us.

I ordered my Christmas Cards, and they have been printed. Now just waiting for them to come . . . It's been tempting to post the Christmas picture, because it is so cute, but alas, I just have to make you all wait to get your Christmas cards! I am still so proud of myself for getting everyone to pose together!

Not much else to report. Brad and I went to a one-person murder mystery at the local book store (http://mysteryonthemenu.com), which was nice. My awesome neighbor Garnet and her son came over to play with Garrett so we could go. It was a nice, if super short, break for us. But nothing at all like the break we have coming!! I will try to post a few more pictures before we go!

Christmas is almost here!!

We spent our nice, long weekend decorating. Garrett and Brad put up the Christmas tree (check out the cute YouTube video of that!!), they decorated outside, and I did some of the inside stuff. Garrett and I also painted the downstairs hallway and part of the stairs, a pretty, earthy tan color that both Brad and I are loving. I am so sick of white walls!! Most of my Christmas shopping is done, just a few more things to do here and there. We haven't bought Garrett's presents yet, but we know what we want to get him. A mower and a tricycle. Just haven't made it out to get them yet! Here are a few pictures of our much needed long, quiet weekend:

Something Silly

Garrett sporting his Christmas shirt from last year. Boy has he grown!!! We took our Christmas pictures today, you all are going to have to wait until you receive your cards. I WILL SAY that I managed to get everyone sitting still long enough to get the three of them together!!

Cutie Pie

Garrett in a cute outfit his Grandma Sherry brought him.

New Additions and Updates

Sorry for the lack of updates lately--things have been incredibly insane. Brad's mom just left from a 5 day visit (during which time I was in HEAVEN!), Garrett is getting his molars in and is therefore sick, and both Discovery Toys and the lab work have been completely insane. Throw in Brad's Coast Guard Auxilliary Training, and I can count on one hand the number of quiet evenings we have had. ZERO!

It was SO GREAT having Brad's mom her, she was such a huge help with Garrett. It reaffirmed to me that I really owe it to myself to get some help even one day a week for a couple of hours so I can actually get some work done. I got more done in the few days Sherry was here than I have in the past month!

Oh, and in case you can't tell by the pictures, our household has grown by two. I totally splurged on Garrett and got him 2 turtles. They don't have names, they are just "the turtles". Garrett adores them, he has to say Hi and Bye to them whenever he wakes up, leaves, goes down for a nap, etc. He will lay on his tummy and just watch them in their little lagoon. They are super cute . . . He'll say "ooohhh" whenever he sees them, and when I say "Turtles" he will say T T T.

And just so no one yells at me for posting a picture of the turtles, but not Garrett, here is a picture from Pinecrest Gardens. We were going there frequently, until things got so very crazy around here. Garrett loves to walk along the pathways with me. I have added a couple of videos to YouTube as well.

Finally, a beach day!

Last weekend, we actually managed to carve out a day for both Brad and I to be home AT THE SAME time so that we could go to the beach. Pictures are from 11.11.07. Garrett had a great time . . . the child has no fear, and would go running into the waves, laughing the entire time. The water was freezing, but he didn't seem to mind in the least. We have been going to the pool a little lately--I think he will definately be swimming by the time he is 2!!

Logan!!!

Finally, I can post pics of the neighborhoods newest addition!

Xander's little brother was born on

Monday November 5th, 2007

8lbs 1 oz

19.75" long

2:49 pm

How CUTE is he!!! Jess got to come home today, I can't wait to get over there and make myself useful!! Apparently he looks just like Xander did at that age, so he is gonna be another adorable little man!!

I honostly have no idea . . .

where the little tiny baby I gave birth to has gone. I have instead a talkative, social toddler who has no fear and is willing to try anything. Today was a busy day--we had My Gym, then lunch with daddy, then we played at Pinecrest Gardens and another park until Brad got off work. He and Garrett played for a couple of hours while I went to work, then we all went home together. Garrett loved being so busy all day. He WALKED all over pinecrest Gardens, enjoyed every minute of it. We talked about what we saw (ishie, ishie, ishie!!--lots of fishies in the water). He is listening so well these days, investigating everything, but still willingly coming when I call. It's just so amazing to me. We played in the slash park for a while, then went to the playground. Where Garrett proceeded to scare the bejesus out of me by going down a big-boy slide all by himself. He always climbs on the equipment, with me right behind him. Today he promptly plopped down and went down the slide, as I was scurrying to get behind him so we could go down together. He, of course, was fine, and did it several more times while I watched from below . . . he is so independent and adventurous, yet cautious at the same time. He knows his limits--what is too high for him to get off of without help, etc--but isn't afraid to push the envelope. I know we are going to have lots of bumps and bruises in our future.

He gives high fives to people he meets now, and shakes hands. He says "Hi" to pretty much everyone and waves when they leave. He has a new word, "puppy," and yesterday informed me that the ribs we were sharing were his . . ."Mama, MINE!" His first time putting two very clear words together! It is just so amazing to me that a year ago, he was just a tiny little immobile baby who was just learning to sit up without help!! His outlook on life is amazing, everything is approached with a smile and a giggle. He hardly ever fusses when he falls, just gets up and keeps going.

I have pics from today, but it's late and I need to get to bed. Just had to share the busy day and how BIG my little boy is getting!

Trick-Or-Treat!

We had a pretty short, wet Halloween here. Yesterday Jess and Xander came over for a little while and we passed out candy. Then the skies opened up and it poured, courtesy of Tropical Storm Noel. It was a short night, but fun!