Snorkeling Fun!

I went snorkeling for the first time in my life this week! It was A-mazing! This island has so many cool things to do but sometimes it's hard to do fun stuff like that because I don't have someone to watch the kids. There is a Spouse Snorkeling group that goes to the coolest places every week. They always post the coolest pictures online after they've gone and I am always green with envy! I definitely want to go on a few excursions with them before we leave the island. :)

Charlotte and Kasie are awesome moms who are super adventurous. They wanted to go snorkeling so I jumped at the chance. Nenji was at school so it was just Rylan and Spencer with me. I was able to borrow Kasie's snorkeling gear. I am just waiting until it gets closer to the end of the semester, because supposedly people start selling everything, including their snorkeling gear. Hopefully I'll be able to snatch one at a good price! We just met up up at the PBH, a beach close to campus. (OH, this is a whole entire blog entry altogether, but the cottages at the PBH is where the cast and crew of PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN stayed while they were shooting the movie here in Dominica! I promise I will take pictures and post another day). Kasie and Charlotte stayed with all the kids while YoaKim and I swam out. It was so cool! At first it was a little scary having to breath through the snorkel. I'm pretty claustrophobic so it freaked me out a little. But when I got the hang of it, it was so cool! We swam out a little ways.  I had no idea there was a little coral reef just out beyond the shore.

Some of the moms in the branch have decided that we need to go snorkeling more! Yay! So we have plans in the making that might allow us to go every week. Fingers crossed this can happen!

Luckily that morning I bought a underwater camera bag! Such a coincidence. So I was able to capture my first experience at snorkeling. Apparently I'm not a very good underwater photographer. But I am so grateful I have these pictures for memories!

There were a few fishies by the reef, but you can't see them.

COOL!

Sea urchins, yikes!!!

I think this a type of sea urchin too.

Ok, I told you I'm not a very good underwater photographer.

It's a starfish! :)

One day Martial Arts lesson

On Tuesday I took Nenji and Rylan to a Martial arts session. Let's just say they won't be going back. I thought they did a decent job but they're too young and can't listen to the instructions. When it's time to get physical then they can do it, but when the instructor is giving directions they're just all over the place! But they really enjoyed it and now I know for sure that I want to put then in a martial arts class when they are old enough.

I thought Nenji did a really good job at the end when they were doing their forms and he followed a long. By  that time Rylan was laying on the floor saying, "Can we go home now? I'm tired." LOL, it was good for them though because they got a ton of energy out and they were pooped by the time we got out. :)

TRYING to listen to instructions! He actually did pretty good the first 5 minutes. 

They are so little! :)

Practicing some front kicks. 

The other kids were practicing one on one and these two could not listen, so this was their "time out".

 Rylan and Nenji in action.

I thought Nenji had some really good punches. 

My Ry just thought that it was so funny.

Anniversary Dinner

Last week  was a very busy week for the Lo Family! Sunday was Father's Day, Wednesday was Fi Dan's first exam and it was his brithday, Friday we went to see turtles, and then Saturday was our Anniversary!  I always feel so bad because all of these fun events happen in one week for Fi Dan. It's not spaced out through out the year, but he's a good sport about it!

This year we celebrated 6 years of marriage! Crazy, huh? Even though it was our Anniversary, there was no rest for the loving husband who is a med student. He woke up at the crack of dawn and went to study. The boys and I went swimming in the morning and had a blast. Fi Dan came back for lunch and we all took a family nap together. (We love family naps!) When we got up we just hung out for a little bit and then we went to Le Flambeau Restaurant. It's a restaurant that I've been wanting to try. It's right by the beach and it just looks super cool.

Finally got Spencer a floaty! Thanks to our friend Charlotte Tamanaha for making the long journey to Roseau! My boys are getting so good at swimming. :)

He loves the water. 

He kept trying to lick the water.

So we got there and there tons of high school kids all dressed up...ready for prom. It was nice to see all the kids dressed up, but the restaurant was setting up for prom and they had to move us around a few times. When we finally got settled down and the food came out, it was all good. The food was sooooooooo yummy! I really enjoyed it and the boys did a good job. I would have liked a romantic dinner with Fi Dan, but a little family dinner was great too. I am super grateful that Fi Dan took some time of almost every single day to spend time with me and the boys! Happy 6 years love! 

We love our baby Spencer!

The boys are never happy when we have to take a picture. 

Such a cutie!

Sweet boy!

So blessed to have them in my life!

Sea Turtles!

We've been here in Dominica for about 7 1/2 weeks now. But it sure feels a lot longer than that! We haven't really gotten to do anything too spectacular until just last week! One of the girls in our branch is totally awesome and invited us and some other families to go with her and her hubby to go see the sea turtles. I was so excited when Fi Dan asked me if I wanted to go. We left around 4:30 and had to drive through the curvy roads to get to Rosalie Bay Resort. The drive there was okay. Before we left I put some herbal medicine that's supposed to help with nausea on Nenji, Ry, and Spencer.  I was mostly worried about Nenji because he'll usually throw up on the ride from Sacramento to Fresno, and the roads in California are paved and straight! So I was a little worried about him. But I totally forgot about Fi Dan. He ended up being the one that got super car sick. I felt so bad.

Nenji and his fro. We haven't cut their hair since we got here. Here he is just enjoying the scenery!

Mommy and Ry.

Daddy and Spencer. 

Rosalie Bay Resort. I am in love with this place. :)

The ride took about 1 hourish. The resort was so beautiful! I have convinced Fi Dan that we need to go and stay there. There was a really big group that went to see the sea turtles. It was so cool. The turtle guy, Simon, explained to us that they dug up a bunch of sea turtle nests and relocated them because the tides are so strong and it would just wash all of the babies away. He told us that there was good news because there was some movement in the sand and that probably means that there are babies trying to get out. He started digging and the anticipation was too much! I was probably as excited as the kids. He pulled up a bunch of baby turtles and they were so CUTE! But it was so super sad too because a lot of the turtles were deformed or they were dead. The majority of the eggs and babies didn't make it, but I was so happy for the ones that did.

On the beach right by the sea turtle nests. 

I just love Spencer. He's so sweet. 

Fi Dan capturing the moment.

Ry loves the beach!

Simon, the turtle guy. 

Look at all them turtles eggs!

Yay! These are the ones that made it!

Then we got a chance to hold the babies. They were kinda stinky but so cute! The one I got was super wiggly and I was so afraid I was going to drop him. We eventually set them down and they headed on their journey to the ocean. It was such an AMAZING experience. Another couple and their kiddos were staying at the resort and they actually go to see a mother sea turtle! Mother sea turtles are crazy big! I really want to go back and try to see a mommy sea turtle too! But I am happy about the getting to see the babies! :) The boys loved it and talked about it for days afterwards! I am so glad that we had the opportunity!

Ry's face is so cute. I'm handing him a baby turtle.

Nenji holding a baby turtle! :)

Amazing little creature! 

Things I'll want to remember

This post is mostly just cute things that I know I will want to remember and smile about someday.

Here is a picture of the Dreaded Stairs. I call it that because I just dread stairs. And I hate these stairs even more because I always have a 20 lbs.baby strapped onto me while making this climb. If you ask me, I think they should just build an escalator. I also don't like these stairs because Ry takes forever to go up and down them. Nenji is a lot more coordinated and just flies up and down these stairs. My little Ry just takes his sweet time. What normally takes 30 seconds takes Ry 3-5 minutes, depending on what kind of mood he is in.
Can you see him?

He's coming.....

A minute later and he's still coming.....

First time on the swing and he's all smiles!

Ry wanted some swinging action too. He's so silly. 

My big baby and my little baby. 

My kiddos must take after me when it comes to having a baby blanket. My parents told me that when I was little I had a favorite little blanket and dragged it around with me everywhere. Well, all three of my boys are blanket lovers too! Fi Dan hates it and is so embarrassed when the boys cry for their blankets. I think it's kinda cute, but now that they are getting older, I can see why Fi Dan doesn't really like it. But, oh well!

This is Nenji's blanket. He actually has 3 blankets all with the same blue silk trimming. Ever since he was a baby he would just stroke the silky part until he fell asleep. When he's upset or when he's having a hard time sleeping I still see him doing that. :)

This is Ry's blanket. He just loves it and snuggles it to sleep. And he's always smelling it too. If any of you know Ry, he has an unusually strong sense of smell. Funny story. Sometimes at night he'll wake up looking for his blanket. And he will not go to sleep until he finds it. One night he woke up and was calling me to help him look for it. I said I would help so he laid back down. I picked up a blanket that felt like his and gave it to him. He took it and said, "This is not my blanket. It smells like Spencer." I smelled it and it just smelled like little boys. So I searched the bed and found another blanket under Nenji and gave that one to him. I asked, "Is this it?" He smelled it and said, "yeah, that smells like me." I just sat there with my eyebrows raised. This all happened in the dark with him half a sleep. I smelled his blanket and it smelled just like Spencer's. Crazy, hiuh? And not only that but he is always smelling his food. He can tell me what's in it, especially if it's like fruity snacks!

Spencer doesn't have a favorite blanket yet, but he needs one to sleep with. At night he'll just roll around and yell until you give him a blanket and then he'll calm down, hug it, eat it, and then yell some more until you give him his bottle. Sometimes when I wake up I will just see him throwing his blanket from side to side, or just playing with it. Such a sweet baby. :)

Daddy's Birthday!

Fi Dan turned 30 on the 19th! WEIRD. I cannot believe my love and I are already this old. Can you believe we've known eaach other for 12 years and have been married for 6 years???? AND we have 3 boys. Crazy to think about!
Anyway, our daddy turned 30. The boys and I made homemade cards. He had a test in the morning (yeah, what a great way to start off his birthday, right?), then we took a family nap, ordered some food, and just relaxed. :) It wasn't anything fancy, but I am glad that Fi Dan enjoyed his day and was able to take a break. Happy 30th, love!

Ry's cover to his card. 

Dear Daddy, 

Thank you for giving me presents and cupcakes and birthday party.

Happy Birthday Daddy.

Love Rylan.

Nenji's Cover

Dear Daddy, 

Thank you for taking me to school. I love you. Thank for giving me presents and sleeping with me.

Happy Birthday Daddy.

Love Nenji

Happy Birthday...take 1. 

We've given up on trying to take a nice picture. 

Food Adventures

Being here in Dominica presents new adventures everyday! Sometimes it's the walk to the swimming pool, looking at the HUGE caterpillars that I personally think turns into bats, walking to the grocery store, trying to find ways to save money, and my favorite adventure so far is making food from scratch! Going back go the 17 year old Kalia, I could whip up some mean noodles, spaghetti...and that was about it. When I married Fi Dan people always told him that he was probably going to starve or get food poisoned everyday. For the record, we got food poisoned only once from my cooking. :)

As you can see Fi Dan, the kiddos, and I are pretty "healthy" people...and I like to credit my cooking. Because it gets pretty expensive here to buy pizza, hamburgers, or any kind of goodies, I've been experimenting a lot. A few weeks ago we bought a pizza for $50 EC ($18 US), and let me just say I was less than impressed. It was small and greasy. The boys finished most of it. So I decided then and there that I would make my own pizza. We've had homemade pizza every week since then! And it's not too bad either.

I've also made some doughnuts and my most recent food adventure, hamburger. I've been craving a good hamburger and so I decided I'd just make it. I made the buns from scratch, made the patties, and the fries. I have to credit all the great ideas to the pins on pinterest...when I was in the states I pinned a lot, but never actually did anything. Now I pin a lot and I actually do a lot of it too! So thanks to pinterest and all the people sharing their wonderful recipies and ideas, we had a good meal. :) The only complaint I have is the time! It takes up a lot of time, but I'm glad that my family is being fed well...and it proves that I can cook! I still am amazed when I make a good meal, who would have thought! Not too shabby for someone like me.

Pizza dough! I tried doing "stuffed crust". :)

Ooops...it was only after we ate most of it that I remembered to take a picture.

Doughnuts for Father's Day.

Making Hamburger buns....Ry is helping me. You see his tiny little hamburger buns on the side?LOL

When I took the buns out of the oven, he was super mad his little buns weren't there too. I told him they were so small that they disappeared in the oven. 

Not too bad.

This is a really bad picture. The mustard makes it look gross, but I promise you, it wasn't too bad. :)

Happy cooking!