Thursday, February 28, 2008

Leap year

Tomorrow is leap day.
What does one do on this day?
Are there leap year festivities -
besides birthday parties for those who only get them once every 7?
These are things I ask myself.
Are there leap year seminary scripture chase games?
Where would one get one?

I will find festivities, I will!

Okay - so I'm going stir crazy.
Yesterday I had BU all day long. Yes, BU
It's something you get in Guatemala, and
it really isn't fun at all. Killer BU is
worse, but I just had BU.
I lost 7 lbs! I should market it as a diet
But then everyone would be dehydrated and die.

Anyways- my child has tired of movies
(while mom rests) and wants to go for a
walk in the sun. I want to lay down.
Actually the walk doesn't sound too bad,
but I canceled on volunteering in the school
again today due to my illness,
so I'm afraid to be seen outside my house.


Here's what I'm grateful for today:
TP
People who have your back
Sun
Melting Snow
Healthy kids
That quote by Pres. Hinckley - "hang on, it will all work out."
My electric blanket (thanks santa)
A bed
DVD's that occupy my kids
Caller ID and Answering Machines
It's Thursday - just scripture chases tomorrow
A blog where I can vent


Did I say bed?
I'm going for a nap.

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Holiday!!









That's what they call it where we were at least!
Well - I know I posted a bit from location, and this may come in spurts and starts, but boy did we have a classic Dickens vacation. One of us had the best of times, and one of us had the worst of times.
I am grateful to say that my vacation was fantastic. My poor husband!
Here are some of the highlights of his trip:
After arriving at Houston, while checking in, he was told his passport had been "tampered with" and that it would not be accepted. It had gone through the wash and it was obvious, but TAMPERED?? - that's a strong word.
Rushing to the federal building to get a new passport by the next morning. Can we say $$$? How many people get to drag 4 suitcases and their wife along for a new passport?
Getting the only cabbie in Houston who didn't speak english, and who wanted US to give him directions to the Federal building - what are the odds?
While traveling by ferry from Trinidad to Tobago (2 1/2 hrs) he was sure he didn't want to use any of my motion sickness medicine. Needless to say, he spent most of the ride outside with the throw uppers.
Decided to go swimming with the car keys in his pocket. Got to buy the rental car a new security system after it was corroded by the sea water.
Stopping to relieve himself, just as a tour guide and his group came up the trail in full view.
Parking (at my direction) like all of the other cars lining the entire street. Unfortunately - it was in a no parking zone. As the police were asking him to step out of the car, he finally found the car registration insurance that they were demanding. They were mean and he was sure he was going to jail! Dang Parking Nazis. They told him they would let him go just so he would know that Trinidadians are nice people.
Being yelled at by locals for leaving the car running and the door open as he stepped out to take pictures.
Not following wife's navigational direction, and ending up driving for hours instead of minutes.

I would say that pretty much sums up his lovely vacation experience.

Here's mine:
Getting to stay an extra night in Houston and eat at Lupe Tortillas
Enjoying the movie "bring it on" on the ferry ride (inside) not sick at all
Wonderful couple of days at the most amazing, idyllic tropical island
Seeing the Buccoo Reef from the glass bottom boat - even a turtle
First snorkeling experience - scarey but pretty fun
Getting to see the rain forest and most of the beaches on the E & W coasts
Finding nutmeg, curry, saffron powder, incense, and dias
Got some great indian roti, curry, and sada recipes
Seeing my husband's old areas, meeting members he knew from his mission
Church in San Fernando - wonderful to go to church in other parts of the world
Great Haagen Das experiences - the first time my husband laughed the whole trip
Driving up (then down) the STEEPEST roads I've EVER seen in my life - I needed some high blood pressure medication for that - it was a trip!

That pretty much sums up my trip. It was the best of times and the worst of times. We were on the same trip, but boy did he get it for some reason!
I'm posting some photos so that you all can decide to take a trip there too. I'm planning on taking the girls within 2 years. I could have just stayed on Tobago the whole time and loved it.

Monday, February 18, 2008

February 18, 2008

I woke up this morning - so excited to have access to modern conveniences like high speed internet and a good air conditioner. Why wouldn't I you ask? As I write, I am overlooking the ocean from my hotel room in Trinidad. Yes a very small island off of the coast of Venezuela. Actually - just for the record, I found out that the islands of Trinidad and Tobago are considered part of south america, since they are an extension of the Andes Mountain range. I am fully satisfied now that I have been on all of the American continent now. Canada, America, Mexico, Central America, and finally South America. I feel very accomplished. I think my next stop must be Europe - then maybe Asia? Actually that one doesn't really interest me but that's completely beside the point.
I do have to state that I have a wicked sunburn. I'm sure everyone reading this in the cold parts of the world right now are really sad about that. But I DID WEAR SUNSCREEN. Problem is that it didn't work because I was on some motionsickness medication that had an insignificant warning about sun exposure which I didn't believe. It was 4 full days ago, and boy do I believe it. Anyways - if you can think of idyllic tropical islands, that's Tobago..Someone described it as such, and there's no better explanation. My husband was even successful in convincing me that I'd like snorkeling - which I did... it was pretty cool. We even saw a turtle swimming around on the reef. Check out Buccoo reef on the internet- pretty cool.
So - we'll be heading home tomorrow...and I'll definitely post some pictures. Just for the record - we didn't just up and decide to take a tropical vacation. My husabnd was a missionary here, and was finally ready to go back - it happened to coincide with our 10th anniversary, as well as being so darn sick and tired of the snow (although we bought the tickets in December). But what a great combination. We were able to go to church and see some of the members that he knew (We are going to eat roti with one of them today), and he was able to find out that someone he had tracted out and worked with right before he came home had been baptized and never missed a Sunday. It was an old man, a newspaper reporter who had been jaded by the world - he'd seen so much ugliness in his work...he was SO excited about the gospel. Pretty cool to see you made a ripple.
Honestly, I haven't missed the snow or cold... this has been a tropical paradise..