Okay, so FINALLY I will post about the Emerald Pool. It was the easiest hike EVER, even with holding Matix. The walk in was beautiful. Full of trees and plants and flowers and noisy jungle bugs and animals. Very cool.
We went there on Monday, early in the morning, so the water was still cold. But we all got in anyway. Very refreshing. :) It was the most tropical looking place we have been to thus far. The waterfall was gorgeous and the cave behind it was great for exploring (Matix loved it!). Paul and Morgan had fun cliff jumping into the pool, much to Matix's amusement.
Yay! We really LOVE visitors (especially when they bring us diapers!) :) Thanks you guys for coming out! Paul and I couldn't get all of our stuff into the baggage we were allowed to take so luckily Lee and Stacy wanted to come out and were willing to bring all the rest of it. :)
Matix got lots of much needed Grandma time.
He got so much Grandma time, that he even let Grandpa hold him every once in a while. :) Right Lee?
Eating sugar cane and drinking coconut milk from the backyard.
And the cows... there are cows on the island EVERYWHERE. :) Very fascinating for little boys.
AND big boys! :)
We went a ton of places and got to see so much of the island. We went to Toucari Bay, Emerald Pool, Sulfur Springs, Fort Shirley, Champagne Bay, and played on the beach and in the pool nearly everyday.... AND TONS OF SNORKELING!!! :) Lee and Stacy even went just before getting on their plane! :) We were impressed and amazed with each new place we went. We can hardly believe we will call Dominica home for the next 16 months! Crazy! :) I will post the other adventures soon.
Sadly, they left on Tuesday, and took Morgan with them. :( We miss you guys!!! We had such a great time with you here.
Last week on Saturday we all went to Fort Shirley. There are ruins all over the island (some are in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies). We went on a hike for most of the morning and on into the afternoon.
I don't know why Paul looks like he is yelling in the picture, but this tree was CRAZY huge!
Some fun with the cannons... :)
Having a snack with Grandpa.
Matix in his backpack... The look on Paul's face is "this kid weighs how much?!!!"
Pictures of some of the ruins...
The boys went to explore a room that was filled up with dirt mostly by the door, and Matix tried to tag along. :)
Family shot
I wish the pictures turned out better. This place was really beautiful and amazing. The amount of detail and precision in each of the buildings was incredible... I can hardly believe that those people were able to build them so perfectly, and that they are still around after so long (they started building in 1765). Very impressive. :)
Another little trip we went on was to Champagne Bay. It is down near Roseau, but worth the drive. The reason for it's name is because when you dive down underwater, you can see bubbles coming up from the sand and it looks like champagne. Very pretty. Morgan dove down about 40 feet, Stacy snorkeled along the reef, Paul and Lee saw TONS of bubbles and played in them, and Jessie played with Matix along the beach fighting off the occasional iguana that would knock rocks down the cliff toward them, YIKES! :) Fun for all.
Paul's parents got here on Sunday the 23rd, and we have been going out on little adventures everyday.
On Wednesday, we went to Toucari Bay. It was a 15 minute drive from campus. The University has been putting together little tours for the students and their families to get to see the island before the semester starts, so it was free.
The bay has a beautiful sandy beach with palm trees that grow out over parts of it. There is a huge coral reef in the bay with lots of colorful fish. Perfect for snorkeling. Morgan was on a dive working towards his scuba certification that day, so he didn't go. Matix and I played on the shore the first half of the trip while Stacy, Lee and Paul explored the reef. Then Stacy and I switched so I could snorkel too.
What you don't see in the video is when I got burned by fire coral. :( Now, I know you're not supposed to touch coral, but a wave pushed me towards it while I was admiring some fish... I used my left hand to push myself back from it, but it burned me! My gut reaction was to get away from that area as soon as possible. So I pushed away from the coral with my shins since the initial burn shocked me into that position with my legs underneath me, rather than behind me. That burned me too! OUCH! It was pretty deep where we were so I swam back to the shore following Paul so I didn't run into any more coral. My hand and legs bubbled and blistered up and looked like a bad rash right away.
The crappy thing about fire coral is it isn't really a coral at all... It is an organism that grows on corals and the thing that burns you are the toxins it shoots out if it gets touched. It is supposed to paralyze fish. Anyway, every time you get your wound wet with salt or fresh water, it triggers the toxins to fire again in you. So every time I take a shower or go swimming, it burns again. But it has been getting better and better each day. I can still see a light rash on my legs now, but it doesn't sting anymore.
All that aside, look how cute this picture is. Paul found a starfish and brought it up for Matix to see.
Matix loved it, especially when it was trying to move around while he held it. Lots of giggles. :)
One of the days we went to the beach (which is nearly everyday), we went just south of the regular beach we go to. It has a half sunken ship that you can explore (if you're brave) :) and a nice empty beach for digging holes, which is one of Matix's favorite new things to do. I got this picture of him, and I love it. :)
You can kind of see the half sunken ship in the background too.
We have been in our new house now for a few weeks and we love it. It is blue and white outside and has blue doors (even the inside doors).
It has two bedrooms, one bathroom, a study area, dining room, kitchen, and living room. There is a fence around it too to keep wandering little boys close. :)
This is Matix yelling Dadadadadadadadadada! His new favorite thing to do.
It is also very close to campus and grocery stores, which is a big plus for us. Although I don't much like the lizards, the backyard is really big and shady. We have a banana tree and a coconut tree, and our neighbors have an orange tree and a mango tree that reach into our yard... We have yet to pick from their trees, but Paul has been sizing up a mango that hangs really low. :)
We have been having a great time exploring. Matix likes to collect rocks and tries to bring them into the house. I will take some inside pics soon. :)
Also, do you like Matix's new favorite outfit? His diaper? Yes, unless we go out, that is his main outfit. He wears clothes to church, trunks to the beach and pool, shorts to the grocery stores and around town and jammy shorts to bed. But that's it. Diapers are perfect attire for EVERYTHING else! :)
Okay, following a friends lead... She thought it would be fun to post wedding pictures. These are the only ones I have on my computer, but I really like them. :) I think that the people who read this post should put up their wedding pics too.
Paul's cousin Morgan is here visiting. Yay for visitors!! :) Everyone is welcome to come, but you must bring a box of diapers with you. Size 3 or 4. :) They are super expensive here, so we are trying to stock up so we don't have to purchase many from here.
Anyway, Paul and Morgan have been going out on snorkeling adventures almost everyday so far. This is a video they put together from the past few trips. Some are inside a sunken ship (yikes!) and some are from the reefs. I think they did a great job with their video. Check it out.
They also bought a machete since Morgan has been obsessed with trying to get coconut milk. :)
Matix is enjoying him here too. This is Matix doing his best impression of Morgan. Eating snacks and watching TV. :)
Matix and Jessie joined Paul in Dominica on Friday the 7th. We stayed with the Roy family (friends here on the island also going to Med. school) until we got our house on Monday. The Roy's have 5 kids and were gracious enough to let us stay for quite a few days. Thanks Roys!! :)
The trip was fine, a bit long, but we made it. Here is a video from our trip. No running, almost missing flights, or close calls, but still worth watching. :)
Paul has a history of having interesting flights...missed flights, late flights, long and hilarious stories about it all...:) ANYWAY, We are leaving for Dominica in less than two weeks and I want to see what you predict will happen.
1. He will make his flight, no problems, and on time.
2. He will make his flight by running through the terminal and yelling for them to hold the plane.
3. He will miss his flight, but catch another later that day.
4. He will miss his flight and blame all of you voting for this choice because you jinxed him.
The results of the votes are as follows:
1. 23%
2. 61%
3. 0%
4. 14%
Watch the video below of his trip to the airport to see
if your vote is what really ended up happening. :)
Okay, so for some reason our blog is cutting off some of the youtube videos, so the ones with words don't make as much sense. If you double click so youtube opens in a new screen you can see the videos better and even enlarge it to see the video on the entire computer screen. Anyway, just an FYI, because things like that tend to bother me. :)
So we are now living in Dominica... it is HOT here. Well, not hotter than Arizona, but SUPER HUMID and HOT at the same time... My hair is really curly, (for those of you who know me well, you know that I do NOT enjoy my curly hair), Matix is taking weird naps because he is so hot and sticky, we have to walk everywhere... and the lizards... the CAT-SIZED LIZARDS! YIKES!
BUT...
It is BEAUTIFUL! I have never seen so many shades of green. All the plants and flowers are huge, and colorful, and perfect. The beach is around every corner and the water is cool and nice (no big waves to knock little babies over). There are fruits and vegetables here that I have never heard of or tasted but look delicious. Matix LOVES the food here and can't get enough of it (I hope he is going through a growth spurt because we can't afford to feed him like this for much longer). The people we have met here (locals and students) are all REALLY nice and helpful. Our new house is perfect for us and all the doors are painted blue, which makes me happy. Anyway, despite it being crazy and hard to adjust, I think we are going to do just fine. We have lots of support here and at home and are looking forward to the rest of our time here. I will put up pictures soon of our trips here and some of our first few days here soon. So, check back in a few. :)
And we didn't want to forget... these are some of the things we did before we left:
We sold "Tangy" our scooter. :( So sad. I LOVE this scooter!
and Paul's car. Not so sad, but it was a good car. (Paul burned his hands and face for this picture) :)
Packingand packingandpackingand packingand packing... seemingly forever. Some things were put in boxes for storage for the 18 months we will be gone for. Some things were packed into luggage to go with us to Dominica in August. Some things were packed to stay at Paul's parents house for when Jessie comes back to the states to have the new baby. Some things were packed to be brought down to the island after Jessie, Stacy and the babies return to the island in January (just a guess of the return date so far... it really depends on how quickly we can get the birth certificate/social security card/passport/visa/etc.) Anyway, thanks to Mary Poppins, Oh, I mean Stacy, for all the help packing and unpacking and repacking EVERYTHING! :)
Camping! Yay for camping! It was Matix's first time camping and I think he had a great time.
He ate probably 10 pounds of dirt and pine needles. We took hikes around the lake, Paul and Dale swam across it too. Matix fell asleep in the hiking backpack. Colleen made a great fire for us. I made a clover crown, like I did hundreds of times in my childhood, but not since then. Matix took a nap in the woods (in his pack and play) with Grandma near by (to watch for BEARS, yikes!) :) On our hike we found TONS of butterflies. Vanessa and Gavin found and played with a disgusting looking horny toad who was affectionately (NOT) named "Grossy". Lee taught me how to skip rocks. I got two skips on film, but three was the best I did. Yay me! :) I think Lee, Stacy and Dale made 15 skips or something crazy like that. We all had so much fun. Here is a video of some of the adventures from that trip.
And, DUN DUN DUUUUUNNNNNNN.... Our camera broke. :( Matix broke the little shutter over the lens and drooled on it a bit, then I spilled Chinese food sauce all over it. Paul took it apart to clean it out, but still, no luck. :( BUT, good news! We got a new better one! It is awesome, but the feature we like the best is that it is water proof. Here are some of the videos we took with it in the water. Some have sound and some don't (we are still learning about all the features) :)
This is my little guy while I was packing. He was being super helpful, so I tried the Daddy toy trick (see the Bath Time Baby post on 8-1-09) and this was his reaction.
He giggled for about 10 minutes before I grabbed the camera. Too cute! :) Also, please ignore the food stuck to his cheek, that was the trick I tried first...
So, ignore the wet hair (oh, by the way, I cut off all my hair for those of you who haven't seen me recently... 15 inches, YIKES!)... But this is my belly at 22 weeks! Yay! Just over halfway and I am already showing!!!! With Matix I didn't really "pop" until I was around 6 months. I love pregnant bellies and I was always so jealous of everyone who had a big belly earlier than me. But THIS time, I am showing at 5 months along! WOOHOO! :)
Okay, so we got our new camera, but I still don't have a video of Matix walking... :( Sorry. I will get it soon. But in the meantime, I thought this was a cute video from our old camera of Matix having fun in the bath. Paul was putting toys in his mouth and then spitting them toward Matix and Matix thought it was VERY funny.
You can kind of see the half sunken ship in the background too.
It has two bedrooms, one bathroom, a study area, dining room, kitchen, and living room. There is a fence around it too to keep wandering little boys close. :) 
So, ignore the wet hair (oh, by the way, I cut off all my hair for those of you who haven't seen me recently... 15 inches, YIKES!)... But this is my belly at 22 weeks! Yay! Just over halfway and I am already showing!!!! With Matix I didn't really "pop" until I was around 6 months. I love pregnant bellies and I was always so jealous of everyone who had a big belly earlier than me. But THIS time, I am showing at 5 months along! WOOHOO! :)
