That's the sound of sunshine comin' down on me

10 December

Dave and Mimi during one of Dave's study breaks. Dave thinks he's Bruce Lee. From Mia's view, he is.

[Yummy Brunch]

11 December

Saturday made us super aware that we are seriously leaving this month and we're not coming back after break. We got out early to head to the semester sales to sell more of our junk. Then our gooooood friends from Nevis were heading through the airport in St. Kitts for their break, and wanted to meet for brunch. It was so good to see them, and it made us remember just how far we've already come as we reminisced about Nevis and about how much we missed living by each other.

Michelle and Amr moved into the pink palace right after us. Since we only moved up the hill, we were close, and spent a lot of time together, even though it was only for a few months. They were one of the few reasons we tried to initially stay in Nevis after transferring schools. They are fun, good people that are the definition of hospitality.

[Trying to coerce the kids to fall back asleep]

12 December

Sunday I wanted to sleep in. Bad. The kids had other plans. Dave didn't help me out with my plan. He sided with the kids and took pictures instead.

[Mia playing "fix it"]

13 December

Since we gave about 90% of Mia’s toys away, we’ve gotten a little creative with how we spend our time around here. She can literally sit for hours and unlace my running shoes if I leave them out. After about 5 minutes, she’ll come to me and ask me to “Fix It!” (meaning…relace the shoes so she can do it all over again).

It’s a fun game. Sort of. Actually, it’s kind of annoying on my part. Who likes to lace up shoes the first time you buy them…let alone over and over again in the same hour? But, for Mia, it’s great because:

1. She thinks it's fun.

2. Hey, it’s free, man

3. It’s nice and quiet

4. She invented it…now that’s creativity!

5. It doesn’t involve the TV in any way.

Oh well. It makes her happy, and since the cleaning lady threw all of her wooden lacing beads away that Milo and Pearl gave her (sorry Abby), I guess this will have to do as far as working on her hand-eye-coordination.

(No, I’m not complaining that we have a cleaning lady. I’m taking advantage of the last few times someone besides me gets to be the maid around here because our contract includes this service as “compulsory.” Like the cleaning…still want my beads back)

[Mia and Dave taking a morning dip]

14 December

Tuesday I woke up to a very quiet house. Kainoa was still sleeping, and Dave and Mimi were no where to be found. I headed outside to see if the van was still here and heard splashing in the pool. Man does it feel good to go swimming in December!

[Mimi and Kainoa at Bedtime]

15 December

Mia decided that she was going to read to Kainoa Bear before bed tonight. There are about a million and one things I love about this picture and the cuteness that is in it.

Shake Your Fire Maker

[Lobster Dinner at the Shiggity Shack]

Dave surprised me last night with a date night...babysitter and all!!! The lovely Tamsin came and watched the kids...and was even brave enough to take Kainoa Bear so we could totally relax and enjoy the night. The food was delish, and the best part about it was that we took time out to really enjoy where we're at!

[Dancing on the Beach]

After dinner, the live band started, and so did the "fire dancer." He and his red pants came out and gave us a typical Caribbean show. Take a looksie...

Final Fever

[Daddy and Kainoa relaxing on the couch]

Dave's finals for this semester are in full swing. He spends his time either studying, or trying to relax on a break to gear up to study some more. It's soooooo much information for each test. I sometimes think his head might explode. It's pretty overwhelming.

Only a few more tests to take, lots of beach time for me (hopefully), and last minute fun with friends. All of our crap is either being given away or sold, I'm starting to pack for the long trip home, and we're officially running out of food. Which is good, but I gotta start getting really creative. Me, creative. Now that's hilarious.

It's really 12:01 am. What am I doing up?

Why can't church be later in the day??!!??

[Getting Ready For Church]

Even though we let her sleep in until 8:30, she was just a wee bit tired this morning. Dave's finals start tomorrow...which means I am officially on my own so to speak for a couple of weeks with the kids, so as you can tell, he's not the only one getting to bed late around here!

I like my kids. A lot.

[Admiring Kainoa Bear]

This picture is from last week. I'm too exhausted/lazy to go in the other room to get the camera to download pics from today...as it's almost midnight and I have no idea what I'm doing up. Maybe I'm so tired because I spent 6 hours working on a paper for school today. Maybe it took me 6 hours because I kept looking out the window daydreaming about swimming at the beach (what I'd MUCH rather be doing than writing a strategic case analysis for a business management class). And now this post is taking me way longer than it should because I'm sitting here trying to think of clever things to say that may (or may not) make the 2 people that read our blog think "Wow, that Becky is so witty."

Not.

Good night. (Hopefully...Kainoa)

When tres leches goes bad...eat it anyway

[Beth, Brigette, Tamsin, Angela, Sister Case, Me, and Baby Bear]

Perfect day for partying. Today was Beth's birthday, and we made sure to make it count! We had a girl's lunch at the Marriott golf club while all the kids (besides Baby Bear) were being babysat elsewhere. We instituted that rule recently because at the last girl's outing, the toddlers were being completely coo-koo including Mia pulling Damon's chair (with him on it) over on top of her. I think one of the girls that doesn't have kids went home and told her hubbie that she's fine not having kids for a while after that one.

Anywho...the day was beautiful...the weather was perfect...and this angel...

took Kainoa during the whole time, so I really got a break!!! Lunch was yummy, and Beth was the perfect birthday girl. She was happy and fun, and didn't even flash me a dirty look when my tres leches cake looked more like soup with chocolate glaze on it. It was good...but man did it look terrible. We'll have to do a part II post when I get pics of the rest of the day...because you KNOW it didn't stop there!!! :)

Hunting with Mimi!

[Morning walk]

Today we went rock collecting and caterpillar hunting. That's about as crazy and exciting as it got today in the Caribbean.

Better than skype

[Daddy and Mimi after school]

Glad we came back...

Buy-na-nos!

[The Post-Church Snooze]

For the last couple of months, Mia has been walking around the house shouting "Buy-na-nos!" I haven't been able to figure out what the heck she's talking about. I've tried to give her bananas to eat, blue clothes to wear, and even thought she might be turning from her liquid-diet ways and was asking for pineapple.

It all clicked the other day when she finished the phrase..."Buy-na-nos, Mommie! Everybody, let's go!" Spanish..."Vamanos!" (Let's go!).

Thanks, Dora.

[take a look at that little paw above. toooo cute]

Mia and Purple Magic

Mia has a sweatshirt that she has affectionately named "Purple Magic." She loves to wear it, all the time, everywhere (Kind of like Becky and her black sweatshirt she wears at Christmas time). She loves to wear it so much, that when she was in the bath tonight, actually in the tub playing, she asked for Purple Magic. Of course we said no, and tried to explain that Purple Magic would get wet, but Mia persisted. So, we thought, why not?? She is thinking outside of the box!


We think she had fun! Good move Mommie!!

Thanksgiving 2010

[A new Filhart Thanksgiving tradition...brownies for breakfast]

[Mia liked it a little toooooo much]

Thanksgiving started off awesome. We had a regular breakfast, and then Dave asked for a glass of milk and some brownies. Mia saw them and said "CHO-CO-LATE!!!" I think this will be a new Thanksgiving tradition for us.

Unfortunately, Dave had school. I was really bummed. I really love holidays. So we sent him off to school and turned on the Macy's Day Parade and opened the windows and sliding doors and enjoyed the tropical views and ocean breezes while we baked. It was a beautiful, relaxing day.

For dinner, we headed off to the Allred's for a big gathering that was the perfect way to end the day. We had dinner out on the balcony while the breezes kept the bugs away and we listened to the sounds of the waves crashing. It was a very unique, special Thanksgiving that we will surely remember. In a place where good friends become your family, we are very thankful to be blessed with a great support system here. We love our St. Kitts family!!

[The only bad part about big Thanksgivings like this is you only get the left overs of what you brought. I can't just sneak in the fridge today to get little bites of all the left overs today. I'm missing a lot of yummy food that we had last night!!]

[Dave taking the "stance" to get the ham going]

Pre-show warmup

[Post dinner chat at my house 7:00 pm ]

Dinner tonight was spagetti with homemade sauce. Yum. Feeling full...but not too full for some good eats for Thanksgiving tomorrow. You know it.

19 Months Down...1 to go

Remember this post? Switch that around, and now we're really almost DONE with what I like to call the" Island Phase" of Dave's nightmare...I mean dream.

I read that post now and just laugh. Laugh at my ignorance, laugh at my optimism for island life, and I am amazed at just how far we've made it. We've moved past the "scary oven," we both now kill bugs with our bare hands (no joke), and we have no problem filling up our time with school, kids, beach, and friends.

Dave said the other day that this is nothing short of a miracle. And he's right. Not that we haven't done some creative moves and shakes in the last 19 months to keep things rollin', but I am impressed that Dave hasn't given up on becoming a doctor. He wants it. Really bad. And the road to MD is really really hard..for both of us.

So a month from today, on December 23rd we'll fly outta here for the last time. We're excited and anxious about our next adventure, and after all these 19 months, we find ourselves strangely sad too. Sad to leave our good good friends, and sad to leave the pristine secluded beaches we've looked out our windows and viewed for 19 months straight.

Holy crap I have a lot to do to get off this island in a month. Later.

p.s. did you notice that Mia has doubled in size between these posts? Boo-hoo.

So Much For That

(A Little Piece of Heaven...a.k.a. My Bed)

Taking a nap here for SEVERAL hours would have been fantastic today. It was rainy and stormy and windy and purrrrrfect napping weather. Ho-hum.

Boo-ya

[The Sunday Fake-Out]

Guess I won't be enjoying the last piece of cake I thought was in the fridge.

Good Things Come in Three's

(The Pier at The Beach House Restaurant

with Nevis in the background)

I cheated big time today. We had an awesome day with three phases, so naturally...I couldn't pick just one picture. The day started out as a family at our fav St. Kitts beach...Banana Bay, which as usual...we had all to ourselves. We floated and looked for shells, and talked about how in a few short months we would probably be sitting in snow wishing we could be here. It was Kai's debut at the beach. He slept through the whole thing.

[Banana Bay, St. Kitts, West Indies]

Then phase 2 and 3 began...like we hadn't already had enough fun for one day. Dave and I headed back down the Peninsula [sans babies] for a date at the Spice Mill Restaurant for Lunch, and then to The Beach House Restaurant for some Dessert. Wicked Awesome.

Blow a Kiss...or not

[Bath time]

19 November

Be careful when blowing kisses. Some are innocent and cute, but some are flirty and can incite husbands looking on. As we passed a few kittian construction workers today, they learned to not do that to me...especially with Dave right there. He got a little mad. I got a little panicky. Even though it wasn't a big deal and only words were exchanged...somehow by the end of the day, according to Dave...ninja kicks happened, punches were thrown, and at one point, "the dust settled." I'm sure more embellishments will be added with time.

33 Days and counting til we're back to the U S of A.

Goodness

18 November...Good Day

Goodness is Dave loving our children. Kainoa is holding his head up like a pro. Time is flying. We are both clinging to any baby time we get with him. Mimi constantly sings her ABC's, and now practices all the sounds each letter makes. Flying.

Goodness was the bagger at the grocery store offering extra change to me when I was paying and I was having a hard time trying to dig out EC change that was mixed in my US change while struggling with two kids. Living in a different culture comes with it's set of challenges, and sometimes it's just refreshing to see the good in people that you often have differences with.

Goodness was both kids taking a 3 hour nap at the same time today. I even got to lay down for a little bit too.

Goodness was Dave making his "crazy" chow mein for dinner. Not only was it delish...but it meant I got the night off from cooking.

Good Day.

A Picture A Day

So my darling friend Abby is doing something I love on her blog. For the rest of the year, she's doing a picture a day. As I was checking out her blog...I thought, I should totally do that. I am horrible at documenting all the memories I want to, and this would be a manageable, nice way to finish out the year. Plus Abby is just cool and I want to be like her, so I'm being a big copy-cat basically.

[Our good friends at church]

I didn't take a picture today...but wanted to start it anyway, so I just chose a recent pic that I liked.

I will be amazed if I actually pull it off. Here's to goal setting!

Went Deep Sea Fishing with the Boys!!!

November 13, 2010 - Went Deep Sea Fishing with the Boys!!! This was an awesome trip, definitly worth blogging about!  My buddy Adrian set it all up and it was a great time (Thanks man)! Elder Case was there, Brandon Prince, Jimmy Avance, and Shane Brauchie were there.  We had a blast!  St. Kitts man!!! Here are some action pics! (Beth, I stole some pics from your guys' blog...hope you don't mind....thx!)
p.s. I would especially like to thank the boys for being so gracious as to let me reel one in! Thanks guys!