Beth & Eric's Wedding

We got back last evening from our trip to St. John in the US Virgin Islands.  We had a great time and I took so many pictures.  It's good to be home, but I miss the island already.  It's definitely my favorite place on Earth and while having our boys with us may not have always been the most relaxing thing, I am so glad they got to come along.  The memories we made and experiences we had were priceless.

This was Adam's first time flying.  He did pretty well.  He had his moments, but we made it.  The DVD player was a huge help!

We  ate a lot of meals at the Beach Bar.  It was close to where we stayed- Battery Hill, and had good food.  The first night there we sat there for quite a while.  Kids are allowed to sit at the bar and they sat for such a long time taking in the sights and sounds.  We would have gotten a table, but there are only three tables in the restaurant and they were taken.

This is the view from my parent's balcony.  Doesn't it look like a framed picture?

The little cottage next to the pool is where the honeymooners stayed :)  I'm a little jealous that they get to stay there until Friday!!

Our pool- we shared it with everyone else staying at the condo complex.  There are 9 units all together.

Owen was doing some homework and Adam was standing around naked while watching a movie.  I think he was naked about 75% of our trip. When I told him he should put underwear on he replied with, "Why?"

It's kind of sad how built up the island has become.  I've been going to St. John since I was little and it's changed a lot.  That big ol' roof wasn't there the last time we were there in 2006.  Thankfully most of the island is a protected national park so nothing can be built on that part.

We stayed on the other side of the pool- Rainbow's End.

Our little kitchen.  I didn't clean one dish the entire trip, thanks to my wonderful husband :)

This was probably my favorite meal of the trip.  Steak.  Delicious!

Driving on the island is crazy.  Almost everyone drives a 4 wheel drive jeep and you drive on the opposite side of the road.  The roads are windy and extremely steep.  There are not many guardrails either.  That's Beth & Eric's jeep in front of us.

Oh that water!  There's nothing quite like it.

If you look closely at Adam's belly he has marker all over it.  He told me he was doing his homework.

One of the beaches we visited (Salt Pond) had hermit crabs everywhere.  Each of us picked one for our big hermit crab race.  We stored them in the cooler until we were ready for the race.  

Paige snorkeling

My mom and Owen playing Ninjago

Watching our hermit crabs race.  It took a while for some of them to wake up.

Paige gave her hermit crab a pep talk before the race... Pocahontas beat everyone.  She was very fast!

These huge iguanas crawled all over the bushes outside our condo.

Thursday was Thanksgiving and also the day before Beth and Eric's wedding.  Eric's aunt and uncle  were so nice to invite all of us over to their place for Thanksgiving dinner.  They made a huge feast which is no small feat on a little island with a small grocery store! 

This cat was always around our condo.  It was so sickly looking and we all tried to stay far away from it.  Paige named her Cleopatra.  She thought giving her a pretty name would make her feel better about herself.  Poor thing.  I think she's on her last life!

 Now onto the wedding...

It was perfect.  Beth's dress was so pretty! 

 The ceremony.

Beth's photographer, Sage, was awesome.  She lives on St. Thomas, but does the majority of her wedding photography on St. John.  Beth got married in Trunk Bay.  The weather and lighting was perfect.

Beth and Eric (my brother-in-law)

Adam and Payton (Eric & Beth's nephew)

 The reception. Simple, cozy, fun, and just what Beth and Eric wanted.

Beth's wedding favor was a print from the local artist-Elaine Estern.  I love her paintings.

The reception was at Spyglass.  It overlooked the harbor.

Adam was a dancing machine.  He danced all night long and had some crazy moves!!

Eric's 85 year old grandma made the trip.  She just got out of a rehab nursing home because of a broken arm and back problems.  She was such a trooper and cute as can be!

Beth had a great guitar player. 

It was definitely a wedding to remember.  Having all our extended family there made it even more special.

Owen loved having a pool to swim in whenever he wanted.  I think this particular day he swam for over 4 hours.

The infamous Ninjago pose.  He's centering himself before his big jump.

 One of my biggest fears before going on this trip was that one of the boys would get sick or hurt and need a doctor.  There is a hospital on the island, but it is only open from 8-5 everyday and has one doctor.  I had to visit it when I was in St. John in 1998.  Well, we had to visit it again with Owen.  Wednesday he got a bug bite on his temple.  The mosquitoes were so bad.  Adam was completely covered in bites.  We had to give the boys Benadryl before bed each night because they kept itching.  Thursday morning Owen woke up with his eye half way swollen shut.  I assumed it was from the bite and didn't get overly concerned except for the fact that he'd look funny in pictures.  The following morning he woke up with ear pain and swelling down the side of his face and neck.  It scared me because it was so close to throat and he said it was itchy.  I was scared he was having an allergic reaction to a bite.  We woke Aunt Beth up (thank goodness she's a nurse) and she went to the clinic with us.  He was given an antibiotic, steroid, and epi pen.  After that he started to feel better and the swelling went down. 

Poor Aunt Beth... this is how she spent the morning of her wedding.

Eric fell asleep and didn't know Cleo was this close to him!

The last night in St. John we went up to visit Boo, Judy, Maddie, and Below.  This is the view from where they stayed.

 Then it was time to say "good-bye".

A scene from the Miami airport waiting for our next flight. 

It was a trip of a lifetime and I just know we'll be going back a few more times.  Maybe Mike and I will have to take a trip there, just us, for our 10 year anniversary:)

I'm sure I'll have many more photos to post.  So stay tuned!!  I had to upgrade my google account.  It said I maxed out my free usage space.  Imagine that!

Pictures from China

Mike got back from China last night after being away for 9 (almost 10) days. We were super excited to see him!  I loved hearing all about his trip.

 

There were 400 school administrators from around the world that went over.  There were 42 people in Mike's group that traveled together.

They got to visit a Kung Fu (aka "Ninja") school.

He had such a great time learning about China and their education system.

Anyone that knows Mike well knows how much he loves Germany and all things German.  Well, he said China is right up there with Germany.  He'd go back in a heartbeat.

Mike with a monk

 I'm not sure I would feel the same way.  Everyone smokes and the pollution and smog in the cities like Beijing is awful.  He ate crazy food like snake, pig's ear (which he said was good), pickled ducks feet, pigeon, and chicken (with the head still on).

He probably ate dog and cat too since that is normal over there.  He became so close with the people in his group.  He even joined Facebook so he can keep in touch with his group- Henan 7 (and he was anti FB for the longest time).

Mike's new best China friend. Unfortunately China does not allow Facebook.

I think Mike could take a trip in a cardboard box and make it a great time :)

Here are a few more pictures from his trip...

The Great Wall

The holes in this tree are from monks standing there tapping it over and over again with their finger and contemplating life.

The tree in the background is over 1200 years old.

 And now I'm off to write sub plans for next week, do a ton of laundry, and pack for our trip to St. John.  By this time next week my sister and Eric will officially be married and we will be celebrating all together on a beautiful, warm, tropical island. 

Peace.

Where's Mike?

Coon Skin Hat

We got an e-mail from Owen's school last Monday telling us that a family with children at his school had a fire in their home.  They lost many of their things and have to relocate while their house is being repaired.  The kids were invited to wear a hat on Tuesday with a donation for the family.  How great is that?!  When I asked Owen which hat he was going to wear I started giving him some choices... "your Phillies hat, or your Orioles hat" and he stopped me right away and told me he was going to wear his coon skin hat.  I think he looks so stinkin' cute in it, but I knew all the other kids would be wearing baseball hats and I didn't want him to feel wierd.  So I had him put a baseball hat in his bag just in case he changed his mind.  I didn't say anything about what I thought all the other kids would be wearing because I don't want him making choices based on what other kids are doing (although I'm sure he will eventually).  He wore the hat and I wish I had a picture.  I was surprised since a few weeks earlier he wore the most boring striped socks for "crazy sock day" and refused to let me roll up his jeans. 

When he got home from school I asked him how it went with hat day.  He said he wore it all day.  He also told me that some of the kids made fun of it and said it looked like a girl hat.  (Insert mama bear claws).  I asked him how it made him feel when the other kids laughed at him, expecting a really sad little boy with possible tears.  And he thought for a second and just shrugged his shoulders and said he didn't really care.  He said he wore it anyway because he really likes it.  I gave him a big high five and told him I was so proud of him for doing what he wanted and not letting the opinions of other kids change his mind.  Plus, if those kids knew anything, they'd know it's a hunter hat and I bet very few girls would ever wear a hat like that.

Tuesday afternoon Mike and I had Owen's parent/teacher conference.  I quickly voted before and let me say it was not an easy decision for me.  I have some very liberal opinions about certain topics and very conservative opinions about other things.  In the end I had to pick what was most important to my family (my job) and vote based on that.  But it wasn't easy and I know very little about politics so that made it even harder!  Regardless, I feel lucky to live in a country where we are able to vote.

 Owen's conference went really well.  It was nice of his teacher to conference with us a day early so Mike could be there.  We are very proud of Owen and so happy that he loves school!

Last night we hung out at home.  I was exhausted, but mustered up enough energy to wrestle with Owen.  Daddy wasn't home and while I had no desire to wrestle, the look of sheer joy on his face when I said I would made it all worth it.  I truly believe that wrestling is a boys way of bonding.  A few minutes in, he said "I think you are better at wrestling than daddy!".  No lie.

Tonight we were invited over for dinner at Uncle Boo and Aunt Judy's house.  It was so nice of them and we had a delicious dinner.  The boys loved playing with their marble shoot.

TGIF!

Trick-Or-Treat

 Tonight was our neighborhood's trick-or-treat night.  I was really on the ball with Owen's costume.  He wanted to be a red ninja (Kai).  We found one Online, but when it arrived he wasn't too impressed.  They don't usually look as good when you get them as they do Online.  He eventually liked his costume.  I asked Mike to stop by the Dollar Store for a ninja sword.  I saw they had them a while back.  Supposedly they were out. 

Again... the poses are all his idea.  I had nothing to do with them.

Thankfully a friend let us borrow his sword and it worked just fine.  Owen spent a lot of time running around the back yard hitting things with his pvc pipe sword and doing ninja moves (thanks Jenny!).

I feel a little guilty that Adam has worn a hand-me-down costume for the past two years.  I knew if I bought him one he would change his mind and not want to wear it.  That's just how he is lately so why spend the money?  We have a big bin of costumes and he kept changing his mind about what he was going to dress up as.  A few minutes before trick-or-treat he decided to be Elmo.  He looked really cute- just like his brother did 4 years ago.  Plus, it kept him really warm. 

We had a little, impromptu Halloween party before we headed out to Trick-or-Treat.  Kate and Bea came up from Philly for a visit.  The boys had not met their newest little cousin yet and were anxious to hold her. 

Her mommy and grandma made her the cutest butterfly costume. 

I loved holding her.  I could hold her all night and if it wasn't for daycare, working, college, and house size I think I'd be sold on #3.

Adam was in his element.  He ADORES babies and now he was holding a real, live one.

The boys and Bea walked around the neighborhood trick-or-treating.  Adam is at a really fun age when it comes to things like going house to house for candy. 

Some of the things he did and said were so funny.  He had a blast.  Owen had fun too, but like every year, he is over it quickly and would rather be at home handing out candy to other people. 

We had such a fun night and hope to start a tradition of Trick-or-Treating with Bea every year!!