A Pretty Day

Today was a beautiful day on the island. We woke up to turquoise waters and clear, sunny skies. There are times when the views take my breath away. Those moments are random. Like during a long drive back from grocery shopping...when you look down from the big hill coming back from the city, you see the lagoon, the rest of the island, and the ocean beyond. It's gorgeous and then, I realize that I am really living on a beautiful island where people come for their honeymoons. If only, living here was really like that everyday! Now, if only the power/water outages and monster bugs wouldn't interrupt those nice blissful thoughts!!

But this past week, with the 2nd round of exams over and my husband returning from the medical school living dead...life has been nice. Daniel looks happier therefore we are happier. I actually had a whole conversation with him yesterday over lunch. I was in heaven. I almost felt like I was on a date (almost because we had 2 kids there, too!) and I could feel myself grinning like a fool. Even the food tasted better. haha.

The picture above is of my boys at Mullet Bay. In the background, you can see our condo (the building still under construction) and the pretty ocean. JT had a great time riding the waves on his boogey board. The boys have come a long way since moving here...when they were afraid of the waves and refused to swim. We were exhausted when we got home, but it was nice to get out. We saw schools of big angelfish swim right by us a few times and JT, of course, wanted to bring one home. BUT, we won't be bringing home any animals anytime soon...the crab incident scarred me!

Last Backlog!

Ok...This is the last one of my update blogs. It has been hard trying to fit 2 months into a few posts. I hit on the big things so I'm moving onto the little things. We try to keep ourselves busy, day to day. We go swimming, walk to the park, paint on the terrace, or hunt for sand crabs on the beach in front of our house.

*Funny Story* Cupecoy Beach has a colony of sand crabs which never cease to entertain my kids. We never bring them home because they kind of gross me out...BUT, last week, we caught a big one and JT insisted on bringing it home to show his dad. SO, smart Hanna agreed. We brought it home in a bucket and left it there until dinner to show daddy. Daddy saw it and thought it was neat and that was that...or so i thought.

After dinner, we turned on the webcam so the kids could see my parents. JT, of course, wanted to show them the crab he had caught that day. While, he walked the bucket over to the computer...the bucket tipped, and the crab escaped!! It scurried around the house until it settled under our sofa. Well, then it was chaos in the house. Nate jumped up on the sofa farthest from the crab and sobbed that he was afraid. JT kept screaming, "My crab!! Save my crab!!" And Daniel and I started running around like chickens with our heads cut off trying to find the little sucker. Everytime we got close, it scurried away!! Those little suckers are super fast!!

Finally, after rearranging our whole living room, we had it cornered in the crack of the sliding door to the patio. Well, I couldn't fit the net into the crack to catch him and I didn't want him loose in the house again, so I opened the door. Daniel was yelling, "Close the door, he'll escape!!" but I thought if I could get him our of the house, I would get him on the patio. I had no idea that crabs were THAT stupid. Well, they are...stupid, that is. I watched in horror as the crab scurried at super high speed out to our terrace and off the side where he plummeted 5 stories to his death. In slow motion, JT screamed, "NOOOOOO!!!! MY POOOOOR CRAAAAB!!!!"

Yup. Our crab committed suicide off our patio in front of my 4 yr old son, who was inconsolable. Daniel flashed me this look, like, you murderer. Wow, I felt terrible. All this time, my parents were watching us running around like complete morons. JT cried, for what seemed like, an hour. Not quiet sniffling but full blown heartbreak sobbing. To make him feel better, I told JT that the crab's hard shell protected him and he was on his way to the beach to be with his family. That story calmed him down, somewhat. But I am pretty sure that stupid little sucker died a quick death.

Moral of the story: Never bring home a crab! I definitely never will!

Happy Birthday, Grandpa!!

Today is my Daddy's Birthday.

This is probably the first time I have missed his birthday dinner and it breaks my heart.

We will make it up during Christmas break!!

Daniel's Parents Visit

My wonderful in-laws came to visit us!! They are always so great to be with and the kids thrive in their presence. They are very busy people, so we felt very loved that they decided to fly around the world to come see us for three days. Now, that's devotion!! A 15 hour flight from Korea to New York, a layover, and then another flight to St. Maarten. They have been here before, so there wasn't really a need to go crazy with the tourist stuff. Just a nice visit from the grandparents. They hardly saw their son (but I know they were more interested in the kids, anyway) except at meal times. They came with a suitcase full of korean food which made me giddy!! haha. We went to Fort Louis in Marigot (again...it is becoming a must see for visitors) and walked around Phillipsburg. Aside from that, the kids and grandparents just doted on each other.

When they left, I was sooo worried because they had a layover in San Juan and I have heard the most horrible stories about that airport...but luckily, they were ok. After another looooong layover in New York, they flew the 15 hours back to Korea. Whew! They must really love us. We sure do love them!

Happy Birthday, Nathaniel!!

Sept 17th 2007

Nate started the day waking up to a bed full of balloons with JT and I singing 'Happy Birthday.' He practiced blowing out candles on a pretend cake (a pillow) after each song. Of course, we did it about 20 times, each one just as enthusiastic as the last.

We spent the rest of the morning with both kids eyeing the presents lined up on the coffee table. Oh, the anticipation. I made them wait for Daddy to come home from his block exam and it was driving them crazy. Daniel's test ended later than we thought so we actually had to start the countdown over again...that didn't go over so well for JT!!

Oh, and the presents were wrapped in torn out pages from a magazine...because I am such a dork and forgot wrapping paper. A friend of ours was nice enough to loan me some (thanks, Nicole!), but then I realized, half of the gifts were too hard to wrap anyway. Didn't matter in the end because, once Daddy came home after his exam (exhausted) the paper was on the floor in about 5 minutes.

After a quick lunch, Nate and Daniel lied down for a nap while JT and I went down to decorate for the Pool Party!! The decorations were a Backyardigans theme since Nate loves them. We had hats, blowers, masks, balloons and hanging decorations. Not a lot of them made it through the party, what with the wind and rain, kids, and pool water! In hindsight, I wish I had taken a picture! Live and learn. The turnout was great considering the weather wasn't cooperating. It poured on us at one point. People were clustered under the umbrellas until, like most island showers, the rain stopped after 15 minutes. At some point, it occured to me that the birthday boy and daddy should probably make an appearance! Ryan took a trip to the house to wake them up...and still no birthday boy. When Kelly, Ryan, and I marched up to get the cakes out of the fridge, they were changing into their suits. (this is when it started to pour)

Once the boys came down, we cut the cake and had a blast. Oh, funny story!! We have an adorable friend, Peyton, who is also two. After the birthday song, Peyton ran up and blew out a candle. (there was still one left) It was hilarious to see Laura's (his mom) expression, though. Nate could have cared less because JT had been making him practice on my Glade candles all week. It was a classic child's birthday party issue. I wish I had a picture of that, too. We got it on video, though!

Ryan was our unofficial photographer and managed to somehow get everybody still left at the party into a group picture. Thank you, Ryan!!

Thank you for coming to our party, everyone!!

We ended the day relaxing with the Daddy we hadn't seen in 3 weeks. It was great luck that Nate's birthday was the same day as Daniel's block exam. He was exhausted but at least he got to spend time with us. We got ready for bed, threw on our Backyardigans masks and played until we were pooped.

**Sigh** Can he really be two?! I feel like somebody is playing a cruel joke on me since I swear that I JUST had him!!

My Parents and Grandparents Visit!!

Lucky Me!! Seriously. Just when I started to panic about not having my husband around...my family swooped in to rescue us. They came for a week to 'vacation' but really, my mom and grandma came to see if we were starving or not. haha. My poor mom cooked the entire time she was here. I really appreciate it, Mommy!! My kids were spoiled rotten with lots of attention and junk food/candy (thanks to their Great-Grandma).
We enjoyed our week together by swimming at the pool. We visited Orient Beach and Le Gallion, Phillipsburg and Marigot.
We miss you all SOOOO much!! Can't wait to see you!!

August 2007

The only time we spent time with Daddy...

By the time we settled in, we had a couple weeks left before school started.
We tried to make the most of it by using it like 'vacation' time.
We went to swim with dolphins in Anguilla, Marigot, Phillipsburg, the butterfly farm, the zoo, Pinel Island and various other beaches and swam at the pool practically every day.
Looking back, though, I wish we had done more with Daniel while we had him...hindsight is 20/20.

1st Post

OK....So, I was writing MASSIVE emails....trying to explain my life to everyone. Instead, I have decided to try this. This blog will chronicle our adventures in St. Maarten...where it can be paradise or it can be hell, depending on the day. I will try to sum up the high points of the past 2 months, so bear with me...Happy Reading!!

The above is a pic of the view from our house. Now, that's a perk of living here!!