Tropical Storm HANNA

Here I am! I am a Tropical Storm! Luckily, I am not going to affect St Maarten...so yay for me! I hope I behave myself and just rain on the ocean...but I guess you never know what I'm going to do. I tend to be a little unpredictable at times. Looks like I might want to head home to Georgia. I hope I don't turn into a hurricane...I don't want to be remembered for making trouble...

Extreme Zipline!

Daniel and I finally had a chance to do something with just the two of us! We dropped JT off at school and dropped Nate off at a friend's house (thanks a bunch, Ash!) and took off for an adventure! This is something that I've always wanted to try but never had time to do...and I've always been a little nervous about it too. Many of our friends have tried it and I was assured we would love it and that it wasn't scary. It was pretty awesome! I am so happy that I got to experience it. The pictures and even the video don't do the zipping sensation any justice. You'll have to try it for yourself!

All geared up and ready to go! Nervous and wondering what I had gotten us into, we followed our guide to a truck. He drove us high up into the mountain where there were some beautiful views of the surrounding area.

Our first few zips were short and good for practice. It helped us get comfortable with the sensation of hanging from a cable high off the ground. In between ziplines, there is a ropes course that you have to cross to get to the next zip. You are still suspended in between trees and high off the ground...so it was a little unsettling at first. A girl in our group started to cry...(it wasn't me!) but you quickly get used to it and it is super safe since you are always tethered by at least one safety harness. (Don't worry, Mom!)

The next picture is Daniel before a long zip...it is still pretty high up and the view is amazing...

As you go along the course, the zips get progressively longer until...you are doing 700, 800, and finally a 950 ft long zip. The last few zips were super fast and exciting! I wish we had succeeded in filming while we were zipping...but after multiple tries, we gave up. All you can see in those videos are green blurs and our arms or the gear. But, we did get some good footage of each other doing the ziplines...I uploaded to facebook but can't seem to upload here...darn! Once I get it figured out, I'll post it here, too!

Our 1st Week of School and Our Awesome Vacation So Far

We did it! JT finished his 1st week of school and he loved every minute of it. His teacher gave them an 'award' for finishing the 1st week and he couldn't have been prouder of himself. He randomly talks about how much he loves school, his classmates, and most of all his teachers. I am so relieved that he is enjoying himself...I don't know what I would've done if he had come home unhappy (probably cried). It definitely lookes like Hanna worried for nothing as usual!
Where has the time gone?! The 1st week of vacation has come and gone and we are nearing the end of break. It has been relaxing yet eventful for the past week. Daniel has really tried his hardest to spend as much quality time with the kids as he can. He has taken them swimming, to play basketball, they have washed the car, done crafts, played with every toy in the house...hehe...
Friday, Danny treated us to mini-golf followed by an awesome dinner at Skip Jack's. I have to be honest...I wasn't too thrilled with the mini-golf idea. We went at 3:30 and I was so sure we would be miserably hot! But it was a lot more fun than I thought it would be and the boys loved spending time with their Daddy. Dinner at Skip Jack's was a real treat. We went early enough to get the 2 for 1 happy hour special, so we all treated ourselves to Daquiris and Pina Coladas...the boys' were virgin of course! The boys got to watch tons (thousands...maybe hundreds of thousands) of these tiny little fish swimming off the dock...there were so many the water looked inky. The highlight of the day was when the boys got to pick which lobster we were going to have for dinner. They pointed one out in the tank and then the server, snatched it up, weighed it, and put it on the floor for the boys to play with before they took it back to the kitchen. Ok...so here is the problem...I don't think Nate quite got it that we were going to EAT the little guy. When they brought out the lobster dinner, he was clearly disgusted and would NOT touch it, let alone eat it. He was really disturbed and kept saying how the mean men 'broke' his lobster. By 'broke' he means they had split it in half before putting it on the grill...I guess that is pretty gross when you were playing with the little guy just a short time ago! JT made no comment but quietly declined to taste the lobster. Daniel and I enjoyed the lobster just fine! The boys stuck to their shrimp and pasta. Haha!

This weekend, we hit Orient Beach and Le Galion...

Daniel took the boys out to ride some waves at Orient but the wind was really kicking up and the waves were pretty harsh (Hurricane Gustav was passing by far enough away not to really affect us except for some wind and huge waves). Well...the boys were anxious about going out in the big waves because they are pretty seasoned beach-goers and they have been rolled in big waves plenty of times. Silly mom told both of them that it would be fine since they were going with Daddy...I was pretty wrong. They were tumbled around enough where Nate left the water crying and that was enough of Orient for the Oh Brothers! Moms are not always right! Le Galion is just down the street and we spent the rest of the day there. It is much more fun not being out-numbered by your children! Daniel and I were able to take turns lounging around and playing with the kids. I haven't had such a relaxing day at the beach in the looongest time.

The boys swam out to the dock to jump off...it is actually pretty far away but I zoomed in for a picture.

Building Nate a 'bathtub' out of sand...it was quite a construction project...haha

Nate taking a 'bath'