A blog that follows our family life and journey from St. Croix, in the Virgin Islands to Texas where we explore our new city, raise our children and try to hang on to that island feeling.
In about February, my friend Anna was leaving island and
while at her house I saw these ΓΌber 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 3rd
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.
I love watermelon, but living here we just don't buy it very often. Why? Well, because usually it is tasteless and super expensive. Usually it prices out between $1.19 - $1.69 a pound. I have a hard time justifying that expense when I know the end product isn't going to be any good.
photo from food.com
On Saturday, we happened to stop by the Farmer's Market in LaReine to look for Mamey(I'll tell you about that some other day), and one of my agriculture friends mentioned that there was a farmer with AMAZING watermelon. Now, I don't know about you but when an Ag person tells me some fruit or veggie is amazing I take heed. So I sent A of to buy a small watermelon as usually we just end up throwing most of it away. When A came back she was empty handed BUT she was followed by the farmer carrying a HUGE, HUMONGOUS watermelon. I wasn't too happy as I figure we got taken - after all , who sends an almost 9 year old buy melon on their own and expects to get a good deal? So we loaded that monster into the car and $15 poorer drove away to pick up our CSA. What was included in the CSA box last week from Sejah Farms? MORE watermelon. At this point I was starting to regret even buying the first melon.
Turns out it was a good thing we bought the first one. C devoured ALL of the melon we got from Sejah Farm while we were at the farm stand. Once we got our sticky boy back home, I unloaded the beast and chopped him open. We used half to make Agua de Sandia - a refreshing water melon drink, ice pops(about 12) and ate some. The other half I chopped up into slice and chunks. By Sunday afternoon we had no more watermelon left! That was not only the BEST watermelon I have ever had, but the fastest to disappear in our house EVER! Viva local, fresh, organic watermelon!
photo from ourbestbites.com
Now to go early and grab an even bigger monster this week!
What a theme we have this week! Character Development - we all want our children to be upstanding citizens of the world, to contribute, to put other's before them and to be happy. So, how do we teach Character Development? We can model the behavior and hope that they catch one, we can role play, or we can just talk them through situations that are hard for them as they arise.
Today we went to Mango Melee(a festival that celebrates EVERYTHING Mango) at the St. George Village Botanical Garden and at one of the booths, what did I see?
WOW! Someone else is concerned with how our children develop character. This photo shows a game that the children could play. If you look closely, there are mangos clothes pinned to the tree. The children had to unpin a mango and then pick a character trait. Once a trait was selected, your child had to tell the booth attendants one thing they would do to model that trait. C, who is going to be 3 soon grabbed a mango right away and pointed to the kindness trait. We asked him how he could be kind - of course he gave us a blank look. Sheesh! So, when rephrased it question in toddler terms, of "How can you nice to the cat?" He promptly stated to "bring him a raton(mouse)". That's my boy! Of course after we all finished laughing, he got to pick a prize and was so super happy. A who is 17 days away from being 9(!!!), picked self control from their list and stated that we can wait to buy something if we really don't need it. Very proud of her for that one, and she managed to come home from Mango Melee without spending that $20 she had in her pocket.
I loved this game because the child got to pick their virtue and state what we could do. The only prompting that the adult has to do is ask the very open ended question. There are really no wrong answers, and hopefully by doing this when your child is presented with a problem that calls for character they will know what they should do.
If you don't want to create this game, you can bake cookies for your elderly neighbor, drop by a homemade card to someone who is sick, or just buy that bum on the street a sandwich. All of those are ways to model good character to your kids. Yes, it's hard and yes you will embarrass your older children when you hand food to that bum, but if you explain to them why you are doing it, they may learn compassion and see the world through different eyes and start to become the person you want them to be.
We read and enjoyed "Good Habits to Have" by Jenny and Karen Carter today too, if you haven't read it yet, give it a go. the message is simple and sweet.
Don't forget to read - join the Readathon at MeMeTales - it's been fun for us and hopefully will be just as fun for you!
All photos from the St. Croix Food and Wine Experience unless noted
Some weeks living here on St. Croix is just mundane,
mundane, mundane. Other weeks, you have to remember to sleep things can get so
busy! This past week has been one of those busy weeks where on top of the
regular things that we have to do; school, laundry, cooking; we were busy with
meetings for the June Swim Invitational, starting a blog for the homeschooling
families on St. Croix, going on a field trip, etc. Then there was the best part
of this week – the events surrounding the St. Croix Food and Wine Experience.
Volunteers helping in the kitchen at Pearl B.
This is a week long event that consists of famous chefs from
all over the US, and some international ones too, who give of their time to
bring scrumptious food, wine, and fun to St Croix.There are private dinners at villas here on
St. Croix,“food fights” where celebrity
chefs “fight” local chefs for bragging rights, wine dinners and tasting, BBQs,
cooking classes for kids, etc.I would
hazard a guess to say that this event is the BEST food and wine event in the
Caribbean for both it’s variety of offerings as well as the caliber of chefs
that come to cook for us Crucians and visitors. The biggest event for this week
is the Taste of St. Croix, which is held at Divi Carina Bay Resort.The tickets for this particular event sell
out within about 4 hours.We went to
this last year and it was great. Everyone dresses up, dances, and eats
scrumptious food from our local restaurants.The bragging rights for winning this event are tremendous.We thought about going to this again this
year, but decided that with everything that we had been doing last week it
would be just too much.I was sad L
Acting as sous chef with Ana Sortun
This year however, I volunteered to help with the Kids
Cooking Classes and the Wine in the Warehouse event. I had never even attended
the Kids Cooking Classes event – possibly because last year we were so busy
that one more thing was just too much. This year, I was asked to help out and I
did so gladly. My background is in event management and I have been wanting to
get back into events on a part time basis so this was fun to do.My part was small, but totally fulfilling. I
gather my volunteers and on the day of, provided support to the chefs.
Let me tell you, the classes were AWESOME! The chefs were so
friendly, and it was so much fun to do.Of course, one of my volunteers was A, and she LOVED it. She loved
meeting the chefs, helping to prep the food, set the tables, “work” in the
kitchen and then play with her food.She
is so excited about everything that they did, that last night she made the
special iced tea that Ana Sortun from
Oleana made with the kids during the class for her babysitter! She also got
to know Evelyn Paul,
another great chef that actually grew up here.By the end of the afternoon Chef Paul had become Auntie Evelyn! A is so
enthusiastic about the whole day that she wants to help next year and do more –
like maybe the shopping for the chefs or having them stay at our place so she
can be at their beck and call!She is so
cute I could just eat her up J
enjoying her Moroccan sandwich!
The attendees all had a great time fixing food with the
chefs. There was laughter, smiles, and best off all full tummies by the time
the classes were over.Everyone that I
spoke to had such a great time, and some kids got to try new types of food. Ana
Sortun made Moroccan sandwiches which consisted of mashed potatoes with cheese,
spices, hard boiled egg, scallions, and salt.It was very tasty if I do say so myself.Evelyn Paul made Southwestern Chicken wraps and short cupcakes with
buttercream frosting.Who wouldn’t like a wrap and cupcakes?! The
filling for the wrap was so yummy I could have eaten it for breakfast, lunch,
AND dinner and still wanted more.It had
black beans in it.Really, almost
anything with black beans in it will make my heart beat faster and make my
stomach happy.
After cleaning up from the Kids Cooking Class, I dropped
volunteers at their houses, grabbed the babysitter, and got home with enough
time to change and walk out the door to go help serve wine at the Wine in the
Warehouse. This event is a wine tasting where people come from all over to
taste some fantastic top wines and eat great food.This is our 4th year helping out
at this event and it is always fun.We
talked to people from St. Thomas, Puerto Rico, Chicago, etc…. I was serving
wines from the Hoffman wineries and each bottle had such a great story that it
made serving and “educating” tasters a blast.S was helping to hand out water, and empty spit buckets. I am pretty
sure I had the better job J
There were tons of people at this second to last event, and everyone seemed to
be enjoying themselves immensely.
If next year you have a few hours to spare, and you have
children I would highly recommend attending the Cooking Classes. They are fun,
support a great organization, and you get to meet some wonderful chefs that
otherwise you wouldn’t see unless you were watching TV or at their
restaurants.The classes are on time (a
rarity here), and just plain FUN! Plus, you don’t have to clean up after your
child plays with their food – we do it!
See what I mean? St. Croix is just plain hopping these days and so super busy! If you think our island paradise is sleepy – you would be right. Not, however because there is nothing to do here. But because there is so much to do that we can’t get enough sleep!
Aerial photo of Sandy Point taken
from stcroixtourism.com
When I was a little girl, I remember going with my parents to see the Leatherback turtles come and nest on Sandy Point.I tried to take A about 2 years ago to do the same, but the group we were with decided to leave at 10 and we didn’t get to see anything. So, in the spirit of homeschooling and experiencing the island I decided to give it a go this year.
Let me just tell you, it was AWESOME, AMAZING, INCREDIBLE, and COOLIO!!!!
This was our group minus a few adults because
taking pictures in the dark is near impossible!
So, here’s the lowdown. Anyone can go see these amazing animals come up on shore and lay their eggs at Sandy Point as long as you have reservations and the turtles cooperate.You need to get a hold of the Fish and Wildlife personnel to do this. If you have a large enough group (15-30 people) it’s like your own private tour, if you are a small group, they might be able to sneak you into another group.Oh, and it’s FREE.Of course if you want to make a donation to a great group you can pay St. Croix Environmental Association to make your reservations for you as they block off certain dates in advance.Anyway, you need to make your reservations, confirm your date, and then on the day of gather at the Refuge entrance at 7:45 pm. Bring bug spray and PLENTY of it.I brought drinks and snacks for my kids, but we ended up not needing anything but drinks.
photo from simonsen.photoshelter.com
This is how it went for us. We got there, all the homeschoolers who had signed up for the field trip were there. We listened to Jennifer from the FWS talk and tell us the rules. We got back into our cars and headed into the refuge. After driving down some amazingly well paved roads, we got to our beach spot.Then we waited – it was POURING for about 30 mins.Eventually we got out of our cars and this is what happened according to A:
When we got out of the cars it was wet and damp and I could smell the wet sand and the sea and it smelled wonderful. Then we went on a path to the ocean and there was a bridge that we had to pass. We went to a spot on the beach and we stayed there for an hour and a half until we got the first call on the radio and there was a leatherback sea turtle! When we got the call I was so happy that we were going to see a turtle nesting.
photo from thew2o.net
After getting the call on the radio, we packed up all our stuff and moved back to the road and booked it to the next parking area where we walked/ran to get to where the turtle was.All this time, we were only using the light off the moon and the stars to navigate by. It was amazingly cool. We could hear the surf the whole time too because it was a rough night.Once we got down to the beach were the turtle was, we had to walk along it until we actually found her.The beach sand was a luminous white with ribbons of black seaweed all along it, so walking was a big difficult, but not bad.All of a sudden, there appeared before a huge, hulking, black mountain that hardly moved at all but was quite substantial.It was our leatherback momma.She was in the process of laying her eggs. The researchers had started to collect her eggs as she was laying then in the area of the beach where the waves broke and could potentially have been washed out to sea if it had gotten rougher.After being able to touch her carapace(shell), back flippers, shoulders, and even sides we got to see the researchers measure her from the front of her carapace to her back, measure her width, and put in new tags.She did NOT like the new tag bit – can’t say I blame her. Then she disguised her nest for a bit before “the mother sea turtle clumsily slid into the black ocean.”
The kids named her Friday as we saw her on Friday the 13th! She measured 164.5cm from the front of her carapace to the back. If you added her head into that she was at least 184 cm long if not longer.She laid 132 eggs that night. Can you imagine doing that?!
Sadly out of those 132, probably only 1 will survive to sexual maturity and come back to nest.
photo from youthgo.gov
If you have never been to a turtle watch before you NEED to do this. Email the Fish and Wildlife Service, call SEA, find a group, sell an arm or leg to do this. It is an AMAZING experience. It touches you in ways that you didn’t know possible. It makes an impact on kids. I REMEMBER each and every time we did as a child, I remember helping hatchlings on other beaches find their way back into the water. I remember being so amazed at these turtles size that I thought it was as big as a VW Bug when I was little.This event only happens between April and Jule/July so if you are here during that time, it is well worth the effort to go and see these animals up close and personal.
I have been much inspired by the recent trend towards lapbooking for homeschoolers. I think it’s a great idea to get your kids writing, drawing, creating, and recording their experiences from various subjects. We just finished our Mangroves/Wetlands lapbook. It was a project – only because we had so many holidays and breaks during the last few weeks in trying to finish it.
Here it is:
Cover of book
Inside pages, you can see there are multiple pages in the book.
A had to cut, color, paste, write, think, define words, look at maps, etc in order to finish it. I think she did a pretty good job and I am proud of her. We did pull pictures and drawing from the net where we could, but she also drew some things on her own.
Journaling and a flat diorama of animals in the mangroves.
More photos from her field trip
We are currently working on two others – the Middle Ages, and Sea Turtles – specifically Leatherbacks because we are doing a turtle watch this Friday. The turtle one is going to be very artsy fartsy and it will require a helping hand from Mommy at points, but will be primarily put together by A. I will post photos when we are done with the Sea Turtle lap book. It should be pretty cool.
This is a BIG departure from my regular posts about our adventures, but I feel the need to write this. There aren't many pictures, but I will include a video of some cool stuff. I promise.
I grew up here on St. Croix. My Dad got a boat when I was about 5 or 6 and some my earliest memories of life here on the old rock are of going to Buck Island with my family. Buck Island was and still is my favorite beach "on" St. Croix.
In the 80's there were a LOT of sail boats and people used to do spinnaker swinging. That is where you anchored your boat, attached your spinnaker(the colorful sail that is only used in racing) that had a seat on the bottom(no idea how they attached it), and you could sail up into the breeze and then plunge back into the water! It was cool and I ALWAYS wanted to do it. There were huge parties out there at Buck. People wind surfed, snorkeled, hiked the trail, little kids played in the Salt Pond(very messy, very muddy, VERY not allowed). People saw turtle hatching on the beach and made way for the hatchlings to get to the water. The beach sand was white like sugar, soft, deep, and just so AMAZING.
Only good photo I could find. Sorry about the watermark.
Buck Island was a magical place. It was a place that you fell in love with and it touched your soul.
If you were lucky enough you got to spend the night on your boat at Buck; wake up to the fish splashing around, see the sunrise from the top of the hiking trail and know just how wonderful a world this planet is. If you have ever been to Buck Island and snorkeled outside the reef on the North side, or even just outside the lagoon area by the trail you would see an amazing collection of fish, corals, and other sea life. There were times that the snorkeling trail was full of non poisonous jelly fish and it felt like you were swimming in jello! You could imagine that there were mermaids around the next head of HUGE brain coral. You would feel peace, contentment, and a camaraderie for all living creatures around you.
Doing this would not be allowed under the new plans!
When the sun set and you were getting ready to go back to port, the water would turn pink, then purple, then green, and finally the dying rays of the sun would be reflected on the water around you. If you stayed too late, the stars and the moon would be your guide back to port and their reflections in the water would lead your boat back home until another day at Buck Island could be enjoyed.
All of these things are going to be taken away from YOU, from ME, from GENERATIONS to come if we do not act now. The National Park Service must by law come with with a General Management Plan for Buck Island and it's surrounding waters. The MUST by law figure out a way to protect the threatened Elkhorn and Staghorn corals in the water around Buck Island. The NPS, has a plan......... yes, this plan protects the coral; but it also removes TONS of liberties that you the user of this National Park should be able to do. Some of the proposed plans seem reasonable, other bits just don't make a DAMN bit of sense.
Painting by Linda Mooreland
Here is the low down:
The NPS wants to protect the coral - great. They have decided that if you snorkel around the coral it damages it, so they will allow you to swim around it instead. Umm, excuse me, but if I can't see where I am going aren't I going to hit that threatened coral and do more damage? Wouldn't it make sense to let people continue to snorkel around it for both the people's safety and the safety of the coral?
The NPS - has decided that paddle boarding, kite surfing, kayaking, windsurfing, surfing, etc are damaging to the National Park and that none of that should be allowed to happen to anymore. Hmm... no studies to back this one up, and as I don't kiteboard I can't make a comment on that one. I do however paddleboard and I know how to wind surf. On both of those counts, I am going to stay FAR the heck away from coral. I don't like getting scratched or stuck - hey, maybe you do, but most sports people I know don't enjoy getting hurt on coral when they can avoid it. The NPS also wants to prohibit people from landing at Buck Island with those water craft. So say I grow a pair and I paddle board to Buck from St. Croix........ now how do I take a break and recoup my energy if I can't put my board on the beach? Oh WAIT! I don't. I just float around getting closer to that threatened coral because I can't drop an anchor!
Anchors are BAD according to the NPS. Putting our anchors in sand kills coral and hurts fish. They are going to install moorings instead. I am ALL for moorings for larger yacht type boats, and for people who want them; but don't tell me that my 19 boat with it's puny anchor is going to damage the coral and kill fish or other animals if I put it in wet sand. Don't force me to compete with my friends for a mooring that isn't well maintained, that won't be secure, and that doesn't allow me to anchor near enough to the beach. If I can't anchor close to the beach how are my children going to get to the beach, or back to the boat if they don't swim well? What if I have some who doesn't swim with me? I have a small boat, therefore I don't have a digny. If I had a kayak I could use it - but oh, wait, I can't use those in the park either according to the new plan. CRAP! I guess I can't go to Buck until my kids can swim 200 meters without drowning, my husband who doesn't swim well can't EVER go with me, and I can't leave a napping baby on the boat while I sit in the sand because at 200m it's too far away to see or hear if he's awake until he falls over board and drowns!
I know. You are saying, I don't live there what does it matter?
Well, it does.
This is a NATIONAL park. That means that every SINGLE person in the US has a stake in what happens here. This means that if you live in Alaska, are an expat in China, or are even thinking of visiting the US and going to a NATIONAL park you should care. Why should you care? In this day and age of governments failing, of economic downturns, of depressions, any of these new plans are going to cost you money. This is another way of big government trying to take away something that is YOURS, that is YOUR right to enjoy, that belongs to YOUR children, YOUR grandchildren, and YOUR great grandchildren. The ideas and sentiments behind the plans are great but there needs to be some common sense used here.
Photo credit: costalliving.com
We have until May 1, 2012 to comment on the NPS plan. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE take 3 minutes of your time, click on the comment link on the left hand side of the page and fill out the form. Tell the NPS to either leave Buck as it is, or at least allow for snorkeling on the North side, to allow kayaking, paddle boarding, windsurfing, kite surfing, etc within park boundaries, and to allow anchoring in the wet sand. PLEASE. It's not just my plea to you as a Virgin Islander, but my plea to you as a human being. Do this for your fellow man, for your family, for yourself, for the generations to come.
I thank you and Buck Island thanks you. If you do this, drop me a comment. I'll buy you a rum drink and get you to Buck Island when you come visit so you can see what you helped to save.
What a weekend!It was filled with Crucian Christmas finales, weekend warrior events, and reconnecting with friends and family. On Friday it looked as if nothing good was going to happen this weekend as my sciatic nerve as acting up and I could barely walk.My Mom came over to watch the kids and take me to a massage appointment at Tropical Therapy in Gallows Bay.Can I just say that Debbie is a miracle worker? Then my Mom made me lie down on the couch for the rest of the day – Thanks Mom!I don’t know which it was, whether it was a combination or what, but Saturday morning I was feeling 98% better!Since the kids were driving Stephen nuts – specifically The Little Monster, I decided to brave the Three Kings Day Parade with my Mom’s help.
C and friend R playing with street dirt.
After limping down the street to join up with some of our very best friends on the island that always camp out across the street from the Lost Dog in Frederiksted, we proceeded to make merry. We talked, laughed, danced – surprisingly the whining movement didn’t hurt the sciatic nerve – go figure! It was a slow starting parade, and we almost left, but then it got MUCH MUCH better. Aislin jumped the barricades time and time again to go across the street to say hello to some of our friends. The barricades are new as of last year, and I personally HATE them. They make it so much harder to cross the street and say hello to other people; you can’t easily join in on the tramp, and if you have a stroller, forget about making it through the crowds.I KNEW I was feeling better when the Trini floup came by because I jumped the barricades with my Mom and Aislin – leaving the Little Monster in the care of my friends, and danced down the street with the rest of the revelers.I also got to blow some random guys conch shell – it felt good, I hadn’t done that in years – need to find my old conch shell and start blowing it again J
Dolphins Swim Team members before the swim.
Sunday, we hauled ourselves off to Frederiksted AGAIN – boy is the car getting some mileage!This time, we were there for the Dolphins Swim Team annual Sea Swim.The Sea Swim is in its 7th year – I believe – and is a one mile swim from the pier in Frederiksted to Rainbow Beach. People of all ages and abilities come out to “race”.I started swimming it with Aislin about 4 years ago when she was the tender age of 5.At first, my Mom, my Dad, and I took Aislin – along with a boogie board, or other flotation device, but this year I told the fish like child, that she had to do it on her own. No emergency floatation device was going with us.At first she balked, but then, figured I wasn’t going to relent, so she had better do it.I KNEW she would be able to do, the question was, would I be able to keep up this year or not?
Top three finishers in the under 11 age group with fins.
So, we get to F’sted bright and early, get our numbers, our timing chips, our beautiful BRIGHT yellow caps, and set out to wait. We saw a few turtles, enjoyed chatting with friends, enjoyed keeping the Little Monster from diving off the pier, and waited for the start.I somehow ended up in charge of 2 other girls from the team, so I figured I would have my work cut out for me in keeping up…. As soon as the Conch shell blew, away we went!One of the girls I was watching took off and I never saw her again – good wrangling skills on my part huh? Another girl I was watching had mask problems and ended up having to haul out, and Aislin swam off with another friend and her Mom.So, there I was all alone……. I did what any non-competitive person would do in that situation – I hauled @SS and swam like a ray out of hell in order to “catch up” with Aislin. Needless to say I never found her. I did end up beating my own personal best, and getting out of the water WAY before Aislin!You should have seen Stephen’s face when I asked him where Aislin was.(Sorry, no picture.) It was priceless! As if I would leave our first born out there all alone – husbands!Anyway, Aislin ended up coming in within the top 3 of her age group – way to go Aislin!After she came in, we learned that she had developed MAJOR blisters that had popped while swimming. I am SUPER impressed that not only did she swim the mile with no help, but also she swam it while nursing blisters.What a champ!
digging to China - again!
Fun in the sun.
The rest of the afternoon was passed in idyllic fashion, imbibing on the beach while playing with the kiddos, talking with friends, eating the best onion rings I have had, and just relaxing.The whole weekend was a blast, and I would love to do it again sometimes soon, but just not this weekend….
