Batibou Beach!!

FINALLY got to take Chris and the kids here!!  This is one of the BEST beached on island!  This is the first beach I went to when we came here for Chris' job interview.  I got the worst sunburn that day!  I have been back 2 more times and finally talked Chris into going, with the help of our friend Robby and Melinda!  The beach has had a lot of improvements made on it by the Douglas family.  They have tables, a bar, parking and hammocks!

Who wouldn't want to hang out at this beach?  Also, parts of the Pirates of the Caribbean 2 and 3 were filmed right on this beach.

Waitukubuli National Trail Segment 1

So I know it has been a long time but I really feel the need to write about this hike.  In Dominica they have what is known as The Waitukubuli National Trail.  It is 14 trails that cover 115 miles.  Here is a link about it:

http://www.dominica.dm/index.php/waitukubuli-national-trail

So my friend Jennifer has decided that before she leaves the island she wants to complete the trail.  So what better way than to start at the beginning?  So a group of us, including Tyler and Cass, took off.  We did however start at the end of the trail and do it backwards. 

This is all of us at the start.  Now I am not in the best of shape, this trail was hard on the way up!!  Had to stop a lot, drink a lot and almost got sick a few times.  This was a very hot day, yes I know I live in the tropics so should be used to it.  However, in the "jungle" it is usually cooler, well not this day.  We made it to the top, ate some lunch then headed down the mountain.  We got to the old coffee plantation where we met Thomas.  He farms up there and walks up every day!!  He kindly told us we had to turn around because of a landslide that had occurred from TS Chantal the week earlier.  We were all determined to make it so he felt like he had to help us out.  He had built a ladder for one side of the landslide but not the other side.  We had to go down his rickety ladder:

Thomas yelled at each of us as we went down to touch nothing but the ladder and stay to the right.  We were a bunch of crazy white women afterall you know, well except for Tyler.  Here is Thomas....he cleared the path for us:

So to get up the other side we had to use tree roots to pull ourselves up.  Wow, what an adventure that was!  This in total added about an hour to our hike.  We had such a great day!!  We just wish we had time to snorkel at Scott's Head, the water was super calm and clear!

Thanks for such a great day!!

Struggling

I know this is supposed to be a happy blog but I am struggling right now.  Some of my very good friends on island will be leaving soon, as will I, and it is really hard knowing that I may never see them again.  I am also struggling with being away from Dominica and my husband for the summer, well my husband for 5 weeks and Dominica for just over 2 months.  Going to be hard to say goodbye to the awesome friends I have made here that won't be here when I return in September.  I joined Amy, Mitzi and my new friend Liz the other day for a prayer group and it felt really great.  I will have to join them again.  Felt great to talk to them about things going on in my life and know that they are now praying for those people who are struggling in my family.  I truly do love it here in Dominica!  Have made some great friends, who I will always cherish and love!  I can't wait to arrive in NY and then for August to come so Chris is there with us!

Memorial Day Weekend

What a great weekend we had as a family!  Our first Memorial Day not on US soil :( .  On Saturday we had some stuff to do around the house....Chris cleaned the stove giving it a thorough cleaning, and had to fix the ice maker on the fridge, also did some maintenance on the fridge.  I did some laundry and Cass had a friend over all day, Emily.  The girls had fun playing water guns outside.

We did not make it to the ocean today.  Chris had a basketball game at 9:30 pm that the girls went to so Cass had a long night.  On Sunday we went to East Carib Dive beach.  Chris and Tyler did some beach combing and found some really great stuff!  Tyler found the best piece of blue beach glass, a huge piece of potter and a marble!  Here is a picture of our finds:

Cass and I went snorkeling for a bit but the sea was rough can murky.  We all then went into campus where Cass and Chris played a pick up soccer game, where Cass scored 3 goals against college kids, and Tyler and I went snorkeling down by PBH.  Saw some cool stuff too.  Sunday evening before Chris' basketball game he took Cass to the pool and Tyler and I went out to dinner just the 2 of us.  He even got dressed up for me!  We went to Bob's and got delicious Chinese food!  Then on Monday we drove down to Scott's Head the most southern part of the island where the Atlantic and Caribbean meet.  What a gorgeous place!  Took a walk to the top which was the first time for all of us doing that.  Here is a view:

Then we went to Champagne Beach where we finally got Chris to go snorkeling with us!!  This place was amazing!  We saw parrotfish,tangs, angels, Chris saw a squid, boxfish, damsels, pipefish,  a cow fish,  and trigger fish.  So many beautiful things!  Chris also saw a glimpse of a sea horse!  Can't wait to go back there and explore more, it has changed since Cass and I were there in December.  Maybe next time we can leave early enough in the day and snorkel at Scott's Head as well.

So that was our Memorial Day Weeekend, hope all of yours was as great as ours!

40th Birthday

This is right off of the Ross University Campus down by the restaurant Le Flambeau. 

So, this will be my first blog ever!  My mom has been bugging me to do one ever since we moved to Dominica last September.  We arrived here September 29,2011 and what an adventure it has been since then!  So much has been explored but there is still so much more to explore!  We have also had to adapt to what foods are available on island here.  We now make our own bread, even have to make our own brown sugar!!

Dominica is known as the Nature Island, and for good reason.  Much of the island is rainforest.  I will try to tell you in this blog how it is to live here and explore here.  So far my kids are loving it here, the only thing missing is family and friends!