Life, Crazy life

I feel like my life has been crazy. What am I saying? Life HAS been crazy and I don’t see it getting any easier in the next few months either. SIGH  Between school, family life, and trying to keep us going on a sane schedule, we made the mad, crazy decision to leave St. Croix.

SSIIGGHH. 

Don’t get me wrong, we are excited to start a new adventure, to expand our horizons, and try new things, but you know, leaving is SCARY, hard, and WAY too much WORK!  There are tons of reasons why we chose this time to leave here, and tons of reasons why we could have stayed, but once we laid the cards on the table, it made more sense to leave STX than stay right now.  I know those of you living up where it gets cold and whom have know us since I was little are probably just shaking your heads right now in disbelief. I don’t blame you; I shake my head in disbelief and can’t really grasp the thought that in (hopefully) less than a month we will no longer be on this bright little jewel in the Caribbean. St. Croix will ALWAYS be where my heart is and a HUGE chunk of my heart will be consumed with my love for this island; but it is NOT the island of my youth anymore.  It has changed so much in the last few years- but especially in the last 8 months – that I almost don’t recognize her. 

People don’t seem to care for our way of life here anymore, yes things are getting hard economically, but that isn’t even what I mean.  What I mean is that there are so many more people here now who are being bad elements. There are more burglaries, shootings, hold ups, rudeness, drive by shootings, and just general disrespect going on that it saddens me and makes my heart feel burdened. I feel that we have lost our way and need good government and sensible people to help bring us through our rough times.  We need visionaries who can give up their own agendas to bring St. Croix through her hours of darkness and back into the light.

Will St. Croix be what she was when I was growing up? Probably never again – we have gotten too big, been exposed to too many outside “values”, and been shown how the outside world lives to ever return to the good ol’ days. Will St. Croix once again become a place where many people can live in harmony, support one another, look out for their neighbors, and where people will stop to help those in need? Yes. Will that happen over night? No.

I think this transformation needs to start in the home – if you see your child being mean to another – STOP them. If your child disrespects you because you haven’t been a parent who has rules – make some rules and give your child consequences. If you allow your children to be disrespectful, take wheat doesn’t belong to them, and have no consequences then you will get more of the same as they become adults.  

Maroon ridge view

After giving our children consequences for their actions, we need to look to our governmental leaders. If they aren’t working to better this place we call home, why keep them in office? Why do we pay them the money we do? Is it so they can pass legislation renaming roads? Maybe it is so they can return money that the Feds give us for our schools so our children fall further behind in education? Hmm, no? Oh, I know, it’s so those politicians can steal more money from us and further weaken our economy.   Heck, if I didn’t do my job, I’d be fired in an instant – why can’t we fire our Senators if they don’t do a good job?

ANYWAY – this post wasn’t supposed to be about St. Croix’s ills, it was supposed to be about our crazy life and how by leaving I have made it crazier.  SO yes, I have been a hermit these last 4 weeks trying to do school, pack, not kill my husband or kids when things got crazy, empty the fridge, learn all about the moving process, and not tear my hair out trying to figure out how to do EVERYTHING I want to do before we leave. Life is CRAZY here right now, but we enjoying all of our remaining time on St. Croix because I want to impart my love of this place to my children before we leave. 

We have gone hiking, chaney hunting, ruins rambling, Taino Indian learning, taken part in food events, gone to the farmer’s market, spent time with friends, played on the beach, etc.

There is still so much to do!

Sunrise over St. Croix

If you don’t see me out and about it is because I am trying to get in a last minute dive, go to Buck Island, walk the beach at sunset, watch the sunrise over Point Udall, go down that road I ALWAYS wanted to explore, climb that mango tree, snorkel the reef at Jack’s and Issac’s, and generally just explore this beautiful island paradise.  I want to drink Tamarind juice, eat Armsrong’s Ice Cream, have another Pate, eat another Roti, have a rum drink at Buck Island, swim a beach I have never swam before, take pictures of everything, lime in Christiansted, explore the back streets of Frederiksted. I want to go horseback riding in the rainforest on a fast horse, see the tide pools at Annaly, go to Maroon Ridge, I want to breathe in our salt air, smell the rain on the hot ground, feel the Tradewinds caress my skin after coming out of the ocean. In short, I want to take all my favorite parts of St. Croix wrap them up in my heart and carry them with me so that when the going gets tough on our new adventure I can pull out each memory or experience and remember what a charmed life we had here and what a truly special place this little island in the Caribbean is.

St. Croix is where my heart is. Where is your heart?

These boots were made for walkin'.......

deep sea explorer

In about February, my friend Anna was leaving island and while at her house I saw these über cute cowboy boots that I thought would be super fun and super cute for C to wear. She gladly gave them to us as handme downs. I think we were the 3^rd child to get them.  They were some well loved footwear by the time we got them.

beach boots!

These boots have been used as cowboy boots, firemen boots, astronaut boots, exploring boots, and most recently fisherman boots. They have been used for stomping on gongolos, running, climbing, holding swords, hiking, hiding things like toys and leaves, cars have ridden in them, they have been worn to town, the grocery, to the beach, to see horses, on boats, and to bed. THANK YOU ANNA for providing fun hand me down footwear for my kid for the last 7 months.  I can count the times on one hand that C has worn other footwear in that time frame – umm, 5 times. HE LOVES those boots!

During this whole time that C has been wearing the boots, it has been without socks so you can imagine the stench that emanates from them when they are removed. They must be taken off outside and they never come inside anymore.  Even the bugs that get put into them come out gasping for air! He has sweated in them, put dirty feet into them, had pee accidents in them…. You get my drift.

boot love!

It has gotten such that when people see C and he doesn’t have his boots on they ask him what happened to the boots? He will answer I left them at home, or they needed a rest.  He hears EVERY reference to his boots when we are out(EVERY SINGLE ONE) and answers with a “Tanks! I love my botas”. He even asks complete strangers if they like his boots.  He would sleep with them on if I let them come into the house off his feet.  He models them - naked.  When I ask him if he wants to wear his shoes and am holding the boots, he says “Not papos mami, botas(not shoes mommy, boots)”! The kid cracks me up!

garbage boots going
on assignment!

Sadly though, the age of these particular boots must come to an end.  On Friday he decided to go wading into the sea to catch fish while wearing the boots.  Salt water, sand, and fish are not friends of leather boots.  Not sure how I am going to explain to him why the boots must be trashed, but would you want to wear something that has foot stench, salt water, fish, and sand smell? He probably wouldn't mind but I and the rest of the family on the other hand.......

So Adieu dear boots, adieu. It has been fun, and one day we will get another pair, but for now – out you go.  Enjoy your well deserved rest in boot heaven where all well loved boots must go.

       

The home schoolers go indigenous with the Caribbean Indigenous Arts and Crafts Museum on St. Croix!

Today, we had the pleasure of going on a field trip to the Caribbean Indigenous Arts and Crafts Museum at Cane Bay! Whew, what a mouthful! This trip, although open to all ages, ended up being all elementary kids. There were three girls and three boys - what a great group they were too!

The kids arrived and were instantly captivated by Kelly the Parrot who sand Happy Birthday, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, some opera, and cried like a baby!  She was really cute and hates to not be the center of attention.  Anyway, after talking and interacting with Kelly, they all went over to the open air picnic area and took their seats.

The children learned all sorts of fascinating things about Tainos. Tainos were the indigenous people who lived here on St. Croix from PreColumbian times up until shortly after Columbus "discovered" the Virgin Islands.  They were one of the most populous groups of Native peoples in the Caribbean. They farmed, hunted, gathered, and created beautiful works of art.  It is thought that their farming techniques were so far advanced that they only had to dedicate 2 hours a week to gardening. They produced such food stuff as pineapples, cassava(or yucca), peanuts, and sweet potatoes. They also grew cotton. Apparently when Columbus came by he noted, as did other explorers, that the island of St. Croix was heavily terraced and farmed with cotton plants.

Some of the islands in the caribbean still retain their Taino names. Some of these islands are Jamaica, Cuba, and Haiti.  It is thought that St. Croix's name was AyAy which means The River. Now, why would St. Croix be named The River? There are no rivers or flowing bodies of water here! Well, way before the plantation industry got going here, St. Croix was FULL of rivers and streams and guts. With the advent of plantation farming, all the trees were either burned or cut down and it stopped raining here.  Once the rain stopped, guess what else stopped? THE RIVER!! Salt River is named just that because there was a river of water that flowed out of the hills and into the ocean. When we have tremendous rains, our guts fill and flow into the old path of our ancient river. I wonder what St.Croix would look like today if those plantation owners hadn't deforested our island - don't you?

ANYWAY back to some facts that our group thought was neato:

1. There were between 20 and 30,000 people living on St. Croix at the time of Columbus' arrival
2. A Taino woman shot one of the Spaniards with bow and arrow when Columbus' men came ashore
3. Columbus never actually set foot on St. Croix
4. Tainos had parrots
5. Tainos used blowguns
6. Spent a lot of time making very cool art
7. They wore feathered hats
8. Taino Indians were some of the first Indians to live on St. Croix
9. Many words came from the Taino Arawak language

So folks, if you get a chance to go visit Brian and his wife Jill at the  Caribbean Indigenous Arts and Crafts Museum at Cane Bay, please let us know what you think.  This is a great resource for artists, collectors, and children to learn a bit about our history here on St. Croix before the European conquest.

The Summer of Ice Cream!

Pure ingredients

It seems like in years past each summer has had a theme. Last summer was jams and jellies. This summer has been ice cream!  When I was little my Dad made homemade ice cream every once in a while.  I don’t know why he didn’t make it more often, but I do remember that we had an old White’s Mountain hand cranked ice cream maker. It was the kind you had to put rock salt and ice into.  Maybe we didn’t make it more often because my Mom didn’t like the egginess of homemade ice cream, or maybe because finding rock salt on the island was hard back then.  Who knows, but I do remember being sad when Hurricane Hugo destroyed it.

The secret to tropical ice cream!

A few years back, my Dad got a new Cuisinart ice cream maker that was electric and had a freezer bowl. It was genius! He started making ice cream again, and since he usually had an excuse to make it when we came for dinner, it became tradition for A to tell him what flavor to make. He started making Cinderella and Ariel ice cream….. what is that exactly? It’s vanilla ice cream or almond flavored ice cream that has been dyed the appropriate color to match the Princess in question’s dress. Hence blue ice cream for Cinderella and pink or red ice cream for Ariel.  My niece L also got into and started asking for Aurora ice cream, and then later Pocohantas ice cream. I am sure that is Disney got a hold of this site, they would make an even larger fortune!

Mixing

Anyway, I have an attachment for my Kitchen Aid stand mixer that promises to make ice cream. I tried it once and it worked marginally. This summer, I was determined to figure it out and make it work!  So, I experimented – a lot J

Tricks to using a KA ice cream attachment in the Caribbean:

1.     FREEZE your bowl for at LEAST 5 days.

2.     Chill in the freezer your cream for at least 2 hours before you mix it into your base

3.     After mixing your base, CHILL for 2 days in fridge or FREEZE for 8 hours.

4.     Start mixing as EARLY in the morning as possible(5 am is NOT too early in this case)

5.     Cover your KA with a fluffy bath towel while it is mixing.

6.     Once mixed and soft serve consistency, place into metal or ceramic bowl and put back into freezer at least overnight

7.     Eat with friends and family outside while admiring the lingering heat of the day

Basic ice cream recipe:

1C whole milk*

1C sugar

2C cream

4-6 egg yolks(large)

flavoring

*The more whole the milk you use, the creamier the ice cream

Scald milk and sugar in pan. Beat yolks in separate bowl. Add scalded milk to yolks once milk is slightly cooled. Mix continuasly so yolks don’t cook.  Return to stove top and stir until the mixture coats the back of your spoon. Once it is thick and coats spoon, mix into super chilled cream, add flavoring and chill in fridge or freezer.

Some notes: If you are using whole flavorings like mint leaves, cinnamon, rosemary, etc steep those in the scalded milk for at least 30 minutes then rewarm milk and add to yolks after removing flavoring(or not – your preference)

Some of our favorites this summer were:

Mango and Morita Chili

Rosemary, Blood Orange Olive Oil, and roasted Pepitas

Chocolate Decadence with Cocoa Nibs

French Vanilla

Mint Chocolate Chip with real mint leaves

Mamey, Cinnamon, and Piloncillo

Mango

Mamey

I have a few other flavors up my sleeve but will not tell you about them just yet!

We enjoyed this summer’s theme. Did your summer have a food theme?

Fun with Donkeys

I don't know of anywhere else in the world where children and adults can take part in the highly comedic biannual ritual of passage where half wild donkeys are gathered into one spot and then you either ride, drive, or simply watch them being used for personal enjoyment.  What in the world? Why it's the Gentlemen of Jones Donkey Races!

We first went and took part in the Donkey Races with children in tow about 2 years ago. I do remember going to one race donkey years ago that was held at Canegata Ball Park, I think I was in high school or maybe middle school.  When they first started I have no idea.

Well, this year we decided to hang on the beach in Frederiksted until the children wanted to go to the races. Of course we stayed at the beach way later than anticipated, but it was fun. We got to the Donkey Races at the Paul E. Joseph Stadium about 3:30 and poor A was too late to sign up to ride.  I was a secretly relieved Mama as I had C and didn't know what to do with him while I was leading A around the track with her donkey.



Those beasts are some of the most stubborn animals I have even met! Have you ever tried to lead a Donkey around and have it go where you wanted to? It's freaking IMPOSSIBLE! Especially if you have stuck a person on their back, but honestly in defense of the donkeys they only get someone on their back once or twice year, other than that they get hang out in the bush and not be bothered at all and then one day when they are minding their own business a human or two come along, grab them up, stick them in a trailer with a bunch of other donkeys that they don't know and then take them to Frederiksted. Now, while they get a free ride, I am not too sure if standing nose to ass in a crowded trailer while zooming down the highway is their idea of fun.  Then once they get to Frederiksted, they are stuck in pens, bridled surrounded by loud music that ranges from Quelbe to Shakira, petted by children and adults alike, pointed at, not allowed to request any particular type of music, and indignity of all indignities have people tossed on their back and are expected to simply do what you want them to do? FORGET IT!!!!

For the people in attendance, this leads to many many side splitting laughs, guaffaws, and ass jokes. The above video isn't from this year, but I thought it would give you a good idea of what goes on during a Donkey Race.

First place finisher! Woo hoo!

Anyway, once we got to the Stadium, and found out that A couldn't ride we decided to hang out and watch one, maybe two races because frankly standing around watching people and asses make asses of themselves with a cranky toddler just isn't fun. ANYWAY, as we were standing around a little girl backed out of riding her donkey in the 12 and under race so A was able to hop on ride her donkey around the ring.  The course consisted of two laps and A did a phenonomal job on hanging on as her helper lead her around the ring twice.  She did fall off in the homestretch and was able to get back on.  A ended up placing first for which she got a trophy and a ribbon. She also got a sore arm and jammed pinky but hey, if you don't get hurt it isn't fun right?

If you are ever around for the Donkey Races, you should go out west and watch and if you are brave enough, participate. I did two years ago and got my trophy tons of good memories and the title of chief ass rider(for at least one year). Seriously, where else but St. Croix are you going to see something like this???

Planning for next year - Preschool (YIKES!)

I love planning. I get all excited and like to browse and look at stuff for ideas for HOURS! C is going to be 3 soon - where did the time go? He gets bored easily and wants to do work like A, so I figured I needed to do more with him this coming school season. I don't expect to do worksheets, or activity pages or anything, but I think we will do unit studies in conjuction with what A is studying or whatever takes his fancy.  Of course, I have been looking at all these ideas from all these great sites and it's easy to get carried away. That being said, I created my list of goals for C today and it looks something like this:

Know:

Colors

Shapes

Counting objects to 5

Be able to sort different objects by color, size, and/or shape

Be able to sort animals according to characteristics

Draw a circle, square, triangle

Be able to complete an ABC pattern

Sing songs

Be able to do:

Lacing work

Pasting

Cutting

Coloring

Crafting

Puzzle work

Building skills

Sharing

Patience

Would be nice:

Recognize A, C, D, M, S

To change:

Less TV, more books and toys

More one on one time

More hands on fun like painting and messy work

As you can see, there is nothing in the above list that involves "seat work" - which is how it should be. I have found a site called Confessions of a Homeschooler that has some great free printables for lacing, patterning, letters, and colors. She has puzzles that correspond with each letter that I will be using just as puzzles - we will talk about the animals on those puzzles and the beginning letter sounds, but I TOTALLY don't expect him to know those sounds. I do want to expose him to that concept though so that when we start PreKinder stuff he has heard the idea before and it isn't alien.

So far I have decided that we will make a cardboard car and gas pump, sensory floor tiles(round or square cardboard tiles covered in different stuff like sponges, Bath sponges, bubble wrap, etc), lacing cards, sensory balloons, craft stick shapes, giant felt shapes, a felt button worm made from felt scraps that can be ordered by color or shape, etc.  

Some of the items that I can't make, I will have to buy.  Those include wooden puzzles, sorting trays(wood silverware trays), craft items like paint, pom poms, etc, aquarium gravel, rawhide dog bones in all shapes and conditions for dinosaur bone hunts, stampers, paint rollers, and dot dot painters, etc.  IF you live up in the great white north and want me to send you money for when you go to Goodwill and can pick me up some of those things, I'd be super excited :) Send me a message, I'll send you money :) :)