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?

Science outlook: Echinoderms

“Eekino… whats? Huh? What in the world are you talking about? “ Oh, you mean you don’t know what those are? It’s pretty fun to teach A the Latin name for random things.  If you are interested, Echinoderms are Sea Urchins. 

Aren’t we all fascinated by those guys? Covered in spines – some short, some long, white, black, or striped; those guys are just neato.  What is better is when they die, they leave behind the prettiest skeleton. It can be teeny tiny or extra large super combo sized. However, both end of the spectrum are pretty hard to find unless you know where to look. 

I remember snorkeling with my parents and seeing them grab up a long spiny sea urchin and cut it open to attract fish – the fish around here LOVE those guys, I also remember seeing people “harvest” them – especially the bigger ones and take them home to dry out and put on shelves.  I never thought about the ethics of that until now, but would I do it….. umm, maybe.  Shoot me ok, get mad at me for that statement, but I just might – especially if it was HUGE.  I think though, that a part of me would feel really bad about doing that, so rather than go with my baser instinct, the kids and I went on an echinoderm hunt the other day.

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We started off the day going to a beach near the north side where I had heard there were a lot of them(of the bigger variety) that occasionanly washed up on shore, we found one and it was big, but C was unhappy and kept whining the whole time, so I packed us up and went to another beach on the South Shore.  We found some tiny and medium ones, but our real find on that beach was a Helmet Conch.  Those conchs are rare – I don’t think I’ve ever seen one in the wild! Finally we went to our last ditch beach where I knew I had seen some monster big ones feeding – SCORE!!! We came home with at least 10 in semi perfect condition.  Some still had a lot of meat in them as I think they had just died and were literally washing up on shore. The car got really stinky on the way home even thought the windows were down, and we have them sitting on various ant piles right now, but once they are all clean, we should have some nice dust catchers on our shelves.

Here are some random facts we learned about Echinoderms before we went hunting (it was after all a science lesson):

• Echinoderms means spiny skin
• Some Sea Urchins can live to be over 200 years old
• There are red, black, blue, brown, stripped, white, pink, and green urchins
• Urchin eggs are a delicacy in Japan
• There is a whole industry around harvesting Sea Urchins
• They are NOT endangered
• When Urchins reproduce, the male lets his sperm float out into the water, then the female releases her eggs and if they chance to touch – BAHM! A baby Urchin is born.
• Sea Urchins have 5 teeth that grow continuously and they have to eat all the time to grind them down (like Beavers)

It was fun, educational, and fit the bill for a perfect science trip. 

Vinegar Walkers

Ever since I was a little girl, I was fascinated by Vinegar Walkers.  We used to find them on our playground at school(our playground was sand) and on the beach.  When we had a few of them saved up, we would take them to our teachers and they would pull out a flat plate, a few tablespoons of white vinegar and a hush would descend upon the gathered children as the little guys did their things.  Occasionally there would be oohs, and aahs as a few Vinegar Walkers made spectacular jerky movements across the plate.  It was a magical and thrilling moment every time it happened, and it is one that I have shared with my children many times over.  

So, what ARE Vinegar Walkers?  I had no idea exactly what they were until a few days ago.  Imagine, 30+ years of not knowing something, not knowing where to turn, and most of all, being ok with my ignorance.  Turns out that Vinegar Walkers actually have a very cool Latin name: Operculums. 

Operculum means little lids.  Apparently these semi-rounded coin shaped things with a beautiful spiral pattern on the flat side is a type of door that small mollusks or snails close when they are exposed to air.  Pretty cool, huh? Thanks Deborah for the links and info.  Without you, it might have been another 30+ years before I got that info.

For cheap thrills, go out to your local beach, find a few Operculums, head back home, grab some vinegar, and sit back and enjoy the simple joys of life. It is an experience that you and your kids will remember for a long time to come. Simple, pure fun.

Monk’s Baths, St. Croix

One of my earliest memories of growing up here is going to see the Monk’s Baths in Frederiksted. I clearly remember going down the incline of death, and stepping into this HUGE pool of clear, warm water that I was going to drown in. I also remember the GIGANTIC waves that splashed over the baths and soaked my Dad and Mom.  I remember the feeling of being somewhere magical, somewhere where no one else was around, and somewhere that just had discovered. 

In reality, was that how the day went?  Probably not - I was younger than 5 and older than 3.  Somewhere in my childhood mind, this memory stuck. It actually faded into the background quietly for a LOONNGG time, but recently it has been popping up and nagging me. I think it was telling me that I needed to do it again and I needed to do it 1. soon and 2. with my kids.  So, since there is no day like today, I called/texted a bunch of my friends, my kid’s friends, and even some distant acquaintances to see if I could get a group to go with us. 

What are the Monk’s Baths you ask? Good question. They are not on any tour of the island, no reference is made to them in any literature that is given to visitors, they are not talked about, and there are only obscure reference made online to them. 

Aislin and her friends clowning around.

Here is what I remember my parents telling me.  WAY back in the 1600s, the Knights of Malta (click on the link for an interesting look at the Knights of Malta – a group still in existence today), a group of French monks who were commissioned by the King of France, lived on St. Croix and they had two “outposts”. One in Judith’s Fancy; and one in Frederiksted.  These monks, being cleanlier than regular people (cleanliness is next to godliness, maybe) decided that rather than bathing with fresh water – which was hard to get here - they would carve out some “Roman” types baths in the hard coral outcroppings along the beach in front of their monastery.  So with much hard work, and I am sure “praises” to God, they carved two rectangular baths into the hardened coral outcroppings, carved stone steps into the sides of the baths and “Viola! Zey had a baz for warshing!”(say it with a French accent, it’s quite amusing).

A few interesting side notes that I stumbled across when looking up the Knights of Malta: 1. They still exist as an organization and were created in 1085 to protect hospitals, not for fighting in the Crusades, 2. They made St. Croix profitable and used mainly Catholic indentured servants as slaves and then used enslaved Africans, and 3. It is thought by one historian, that they brought the Ark of the Covenant to St. Croix and hid it here. My Dad would have liked that last factoid.

Pretty cool, n’est pas? I mean, this stuff should be mentioned to tourists, it should be on some sort of guided island tour on cruise ship days, and it should at least be marked so that the intrepid tourist or newbie islander could stop and say: “oh, what’s this?” This is history that is accessible to everyone, the location is free for everyone to use and admire as it is on the beach, and all our beaches are public property, and it is really super neato (if for nothing less than the history alone)

We meet outside Rainbow Beach in F’sted at 9 and caravanned out to where I thought the Monk’s Baths were, we only had to stop once before I found the right spot. Went down the incline of death (JUST as I remembered!): 

After walking about 5 minutes north, this is what we found:

Beautiful!

So, if you live here and haven’t been or are visiting, or planning a visit, the trip is well worth it.  To get to the Monk’s Baths you go out of Frederiksted going North, pass Spratt Hall, pass Butler Bay plantation, go around the curve (look out for the random pillars on the right hand side on the curve), go a bit further, and look for the sign on your right that says “Northside Valley”. Stop there just after the orange house on your left.  If you look carefully, you will see a 4X4 with ropes leading down the incline of death. 

Here is a video of the Baths both outside and in, as well as a review of what the girls thought of the Monk’s Baths. Listen to them, they are after all the experts on what is cool.  Excuse the choppiness of the video, I was trying to keep my balance. There is also some weird banging noise going on, no idea what that is from, but you will get a general idea of what the Baths are like.

Have a great week!

Homeschool 2012 Outlook

It has been almost 1 year since we started homeschooling Aislin and we are loving it. I noticed that during December we were having issues staying on track and the whole schooling thing was just not fun anymore. I also started having my own issues with staying on track and getting anything done.  Part of it was that it was getting close to Christmas and the other part was that I just didn’t seem to have a schedule and it was really easy to goof off.  In order to rise above the rut, meet our schooling goals, and have fun again I am revamping our homeschool routine.  We are going to do more fun games more breaks where outdoor fun is on the menu, and we are going to use a schedule book.

I could have gone out and bought a premade schedule book, but it was much more fun to make one.  I got to use some of my scrapbooking paper stash, made cute cards to stick on each page, and was able to be crafty.  There is a page for everyday of the school week, mini cards that have the activities or lessons we are going to do, and it spiral bound.  I set it up in a weekly format so that I could set it up each Sunday and not have to worry about redoing it every night. I think it looks pretty cool, and it seems like it should help keeping us on track as long as we use it! Aislin also seems very motivated to use it, so that should be half the battle taken care of.

In order to incorporate more fun into our homeschooling lives I decided we are going to do more learning through play. Does that mean that we are not going to do our worksheets, required readings, or curriculum? Nope. It means that we are going to do those, but when I can I will add a game that teaches the lesson in a fun and innovative way.  For example, I prepped the other night for our weekly science lesson, and I noticed that the first week we were going to work on classifying as it relates to Biology.  So, yesterday, I packed up Stephen, the Little Monster and Aislin and we went off to the beach to pick up flotsam and jetsam so that we can classify what we found our beach instead of boring household objects. Aislin had a great time, we examined sea urchins in various stages of decay, found loads of stuff to classify, AND spent quality time together – BONUS!!

Flotsam and Jetsam we found at the beach.

I also found some great paint chip word games for spelling online, floating math addition games, construction projects that will give Aislin a better sense of measurement, creative ways to experience history, and some great cooking experiments to help all of us have more fun and keep the learning going on.   Above all, since I have to keep the schedule book in order every week, I need to prep for school the week before – sort of like my past life as a teacher – that way I can figure out where to stick games, and fun in so school becomes FUN again.  With all these changes, schooling should be fun again without loosing productivity, and I should be able to keep us on track. 

Our basic academic challenges this first half of 2012 is to have Aislin master her spelling rules, and master multiplication facts up to 6.  Stephen’s goal in math for Aislin is to not have her counting on her fingers at all, which means rote memorization but I will make it fun – I hope.  As for the other subjects, her reading and her comprehension are great so I am not worried about that at all.  Social studies and history are fun for her, and she LOVES science.  I do want Aislin reading and writing in Spanish by June so that might take a little work, but we are starting a new program called PowerSpeak and it seems like between me and PowerSpeak, that goal should be easily met.

Here’s to a fun filled 2012!

The Day After

Here it is, Christmas Second Day.  This is the day we use to recover from all the festivities that happened yesterday. It is 3 days away from the first day of Village, the day to relax on the beach, eat leftovers, put away Christmas gifts, and tackle the mountains of dirty dishes in your kitchen.  Although we had family over for dinner yesterday and we didn't make everything for the meal, it feels like my kitchen didn't get that particular memo:

Somehow last night after going to bed, the dirty dishes multiplied - it must be like chicken math... there are never the same amount of chickens twice when you are counting them.  I swear dirty dishes are like that.  You go to bed and WHAM! they get crazy and multiply and divide on you.... there is a math lesson in there.  When you figure it out, let me know so I can explain it.



The kids gifts haven't followed that rule, there are still the same amount of gifts, but the old ones have joined forces and multiplied, so finding places to out them becomes impossible until the new toys throw up their hands in disgust and give in.  I swear I just cleaned out the kids rooms and made loads of space, now if only I can find where it went...... Oh, and if the heard of very large Elephants would move out while I am at it, I would be grateful, cause boy do those wreck havoc on the bedrooms when they get together to play.

Of course, the up side is that the fridge is stocked for the next few days.  Sadly, I think we will get tired of leftovers before they are done, but that is why we have freezers right?  If I can only figure out what do do with leftover pork to make it interesting by day 3 then I will be set. Maybe enchiladas or burritos, or maybe I can do something Chinese or Thai that would be different.  Although, pork enchiladas dripping with green salsa and swiss cheese sounds really yummy right about now.

Today, after I clean up the million and one dishes in my kitchen and evict the elephants we are going to go out to Cane Bay and party with some of A and C's friends - if it isn't raining.  Heck, even if it is raining here, we may just take the drive and see if it's sunny there - because you know, this is an island and things like that happen here.  So, however you spend your Christmas Second Day, enjoy your time  with your family, adopted elephants, and anyone else who may happen to cross your path!  Rest up, cause in just a few days you will need that energy in order to get through the New Year's rush.


Sit back, have a glass of Coquito, and enjoy the leftover Christmas energy from yesterday.