Thursday, May 30, 2013
Baptism in a River
Last Saturday we went to a baptism. It was such a cool and neat experience. Jenny, a woman from China, got baptized. I loves it because it wasn't a regular baptismal font, it was a river! It was such an amazing experience and I am so glad to have had the opportunity to be apart of it! Here's a few shots of the baptism site. So cool!
Monday, May 27, 2013
Daddy's playing Street Hockey
So Fi Dan has decided to join an intramural street hockey team. It consists of him and and some of his good buddies from last semester. It was fun to get out and spend time as a family. The boys absolutely loved watching their dad play hockey. They were cheering and yelling and making a big scene....but it was so cute.
Here at Ross, I feel like people like to stare at me and the boys. There are a handful of families...but I think there are only about 3 families that have more than 2 kids all under the age if 5. So that makes us a rare site to see.
Here are some random pictures of the boys and then some are of us at the hockey game. Good times!
Here at Ross, I feel like people like to stare at me and the boys. There are a handful of families...but I think there are only about 3 families that have more than 2 kids all under the age if 5. So that makes us a rare site to see.
Here are some random pictures of the boys and then some are of us at the hockey game. Good times!
Saturday, May 18, 2013
Nice Weather!
The weather here has gotten a lot better this past week. It's been cloudy with a little bit of a breeze! Yesterday we went to a cook out and got some free dinner! Yay! We love free stuff. :) And the scenery was beautiful!
Today, the boys and I went swimming. This is Nenji's second time swimming and he's alreadyswimming floating like a pro! He loves to put on his little floaters and just "swim" around the pool. He's so cute. I can tell he's a little scared sometimes when he's tired, but I'll hear him singing Dori's song (from Finding Nemo), "Just keep swimming, just keeping swimming, swimming, swimming, swimming, swimming". Even when I ask if he needs me to help pull him in, he'll just say, "Nope, I got it. I'm brave and I can swim".
Ry on the other hand is hilarious! The first day that we went to the pool he had his floaters on and he just jumped in! Very typical Rylan. He freaked out and now he refuses to let me go when he's in the pool. He'll just sit by the steps until I can help him. And he'll only sit on the steps where the water goes up to his ankles. If you ask him to sit on the step where the water goes up to waist he'll just yell and tell you no. But today one of the girls from church brought her baby flotation device today, and he thought was the bomb. He was floating in it and was telling Nenji and he's braver than Nenji. It was so funny!
My little Spencer loves the water! He'll go in and he's super calm. He'll splash around and he has so much fun! He goes in for about 10 minutes and then he's pooped. That's all he can handle for now. But I'm grateful that the weather has been so nice to us! :)
Today, the boys and I went swimming. This is Nenji's second time swimming and he's already
Ry on the other hand is hilarious! The first day that we went to the pool he had his floaters on and he just jumped in! Very typical Rylan. He freaked out and now he refuses to let me go when he's in the pool. He'll just sit by the steps until I can help him. And he'll only sit on the steps where the water goes up to his ankles. If you ask him to sit on the step where the water goes up to waist he'll just yell and tell you no. But today one of the girls from church brought her baby flotation device today, and he thought was the bomb. He was floating in it and was telling Nenji and he's braver than Nenji. It was so funny!
My little Spencer loves the water! He'll go in and he's super calm. He'll splash around and he has so much fun! He goes in for about 10 minutes and then he's pooped. That's all he can handle for now. But I'm grateful that the weather has been so nice to us! :)
Friday, May 17, 2013
Supermarket Sweep in Roseau!
So every semester here at Ross University the Spouse Organization (an awesome group that consists of spouses of med students) goes to Roseau to shop-till-you-drop! Well, it's not really meant for that but that's what it felt like to me! The prices here in Picard/Portsmouth are c-r-a-z-y sometimes, so this is a really good opportunity for people to stock up on things.
On Tuesday morning, Rylan, Spencer, and I set out to go to Roseau. Nenji started school that day (thank goodness because I couldn't imagine lugging around 3 kids). We spouses left around 8 AM in 3 transport vans and got there around 9:15 AM. Can I just say Roseau reminded me of San Francisco...Chinatown...but squish the roads and take the sidewalks away. Then turn all the buildings into wooden and cement shacks. That's Roseau for you. I couldn't believe how the vans were even making it through the streets. I can't count how many times I had to close my eyes because I thought we were going to scratch another car. But can I just say that the drivers here have such an amazing 6th sense and are able to somehow come within centimeters of other cars without even flinching. But it's super scary to be a passenger.
The first store we went to was J. Astaphan & Co. This is where you can stock up on tupperware, dishes, clothes, cleaning sponges, huge bags of cheetos snacks, and milk. Let's just say I may have gone a little crazy. It was just a little overwhelming because you think you need everything and you end up getting almost everything you need. And you see all the other spouses going crazy too so that just adds to the fire! I seriously felt like I was on that show I used to watch as a kid..."Supermarket Sweep". After 45 minutes of walking around and doing some damage to the bank account we were on our way to the 2nd store.
We then went to another store... I forgot the name...something like "Brighter Days" but here you can stock up on huge cans of peanut butter, cleaning supplies, apple sauce, bigger than you can imagine bags of gummie bears, lots of American brand name foods.
Next we went to the grocery store Save-A-Lot...they should rename it Spend-A-Lot. I mean, I guess you save a lot compared to the grocery store here in Portsmouth, but you also spend a lot too! At this store they have yogurt, margarine, canned foods for cheaper, juice for way cheap, just a regular grocery store, but I was really excited because the prices weren't jaw dropping expensive.
Now, the van I came in sat 13 people. There were only 9 grown ups plus my 2 kiddos and we had to squeeze EVERYBODY and their treasures into the van. Let me just say our little van did not have an inch to spare by the time we were all done shopping!
After about almost 3 hours of shopping we headed back to Portsmouth! I am just so grateful that we made there and back safely. The roads are pretty curvy and it was rainy that day. But now that I've experience Roseau, I am soooooooo ready for next time! Now I'll actually know what to get! :)
**I forgot to take pictures so I borrowed some from google. Not that great but you'll get an idea!
On Tuesday morning, Rylan, Spencer, and I set out to go to Roseau. Nenji started school that day (thank goodness because I couldn't imagine lugging around 3 kids). We spouses left around 8 AM in 3 transport vans and got there around 9:15 AM. Can I just say Roseau reminded me of San Francisco...Chinatown...but squish the roads and take the sidewalks away. Then turn all the buildings into wooden and cement shacks. That's Roseau for you. I couldn't believe how the vans were even making it through the streets. I can't count how many times I had to close my eyes because I thought we were going to scratch another car. But can I just say that the drivers here have such an amazing 6th sense and are able to somehow come within centimeters of other cars without even flinching. But it's super scary to be a passenger.
The first store we went to was J. Astaphan & Co. This is where you can stock up on tupperware, dishes, clothes, cleaning sponges, huge bags of cheetos snacks, and milk. Let's just say I may have gone a little crazy. It was just a little overwhelming because you think you need everything and you end up getting almost everything you need. And you see all the other spouses going crazy too so that just adds to the fire! I seriously felt like I was on that show I used to watch as a kid..."Supermarket Sweep". After 45 minutes of walking around and doing some damage to the bank account we were on our way to the 2nd store.
We then went to another store... I forgot the name...something like "Brighter Days" but here you can stock up on huge cans of peanut butter, cleaning supplies, apple sauce, bigger than you can imagine bags of gummie bears, lots of American brand name foods.
Next we went to the grocery store Save-A-Lot...they should rename it Spend-A-Lot. I mean, I guess you save a lot compared to the grocery store here in Portsmouth, but you also spend a lot too! At this store they have yogurt, margarine, canned foods for cheaper, juice for way cheap, just a regular grocery store, but I was really excited because the prices weren't jaw dropping expensive.
Now, the van I came in sat 13 people. There were only 9 grown ups plus my 2 kiddos and we had to squeeze EVERYBODY and their treasures into the van. Let me just say our little van did not have an inch to spare by the time we were all done shopping!
After about almost 3 hours of shopping we headed back to Portsmouth! I am just so grateful that we made there and back safely. The roads are pretty curvy and it was rainy that day. But now that I've experience Roseau, I am soooooooo ready for next time! Now I'll actually know what to get! :)
**I forgot to take pictures so I borrowed some from google. Not that great but you'll get an idea!
All the roads are curvy like this.
These are okay pictures, but I WISH I had my phone to take pictures so ya'll could see what I meant! Next time, for sure!
Sunday, May 12, 2013
Mother's Day
Happy Mother's day to all you wonderful mothers!!! :)
Today was a crazy mother's day for me! We woke up early to go to church because we were walking today and plus Fi Dan is the 2nd Counselor in the Bishopric and he had a meeting. The church is about 1.5-2 miles away so about a 30 minute walk. Fi Dan wanted us to walk to church with a family that lives nearby, but I really wanted to walk with him so that he knows how it feels to push 3 heavy boys. I try to explain it to him how crazy it is sometimes and he just laughs and thinks my stories are funny. Sometimes they are, but mostly it's frustrating! Plus a lot of the church members who live around us take a transport to church but you have to pay like $1.50 EC per person...that's like $0.56 US. Every time I tell him that I want to take a transport to church he just laughs and says we should walk.
So we set out walking to church and took the "back route" where not many cars travel. I WISH I had my camera so that I could take pictures to show you all what it looked like. First you walk on an unpaved road, then you get to a jungle like area with paved road in the middle of it with HUGE potholes the size of a small swimming pool. After that you come to the main road. And here, cars have the right of way, so if you're in they're way they'll honk at you or come really close to running you over! They have sidewalks, but the side walks are super small and our stroller is really big so we can barely fit our stroller onto the sidewalks...and then sometimes the sidewalks just disappear under huge bushes that have overgrown! Yeah...to say the least, Fi Dan has decided that the boys and I will NEVER walk to church again. ;)
But that's not the end of this crazy Mother's Day! On the way home from church we walked back the same wild road...BUT then we were caught in the middle of a rainstorm! It started pouring. We had 2 umbrellas but Nenji and Rylan wanted to walk and took the 2 umbrellas. So Fi Dan and I just walked in the ran. Fi Dan ran ahead with the stroller and Spencer and I stayed behind to walk with the boys. In the midst of the craziness, I spotted a Plumeria Tree! I picked a flower and the beauty of this flower made me forget the craziness.
After church we took our afternoon naps and then woke up and had dinner. Overall it was a crazy but very memorable mother's day. :) I'm just grateful I have my little crazies to spend this wild day with!
My little chubbster!
Today was a crazy mother's day for me! We woke up early to go to church because we were walking today and plus Fi Dan is the 2nd Counselor in the Bishopric and he had a meeting. The church is about 1.5-2 miles away so about a 30 minute walk. Fi Dan wanted us to walk to church with a family that lives nearby, but I really wanted to walk with him so that he knows how it feels to push 3 heavy boys. I try to explain it to him how crazy it is sometimes and he just laughs and thinks my stories are funny. Sometimes they are, but mostly it's frustrating! Plus a lot of the church members who live around us take a transport to church but you have to pay like $1.50 EC per person...that's like $0.56 US. Every time I tell him that I want to take a transport to church he just laughs and says we should walk.
So we set out walking to church and took the "back route" where not many cars travel. I WISH I had my camera so that I could take pictures to show you all what it looked like. First you walk on an unpaved road, then you get to a jungle like area with paved road in the middle of it with HUGE potholes the size of a small swimming pool. After that you come to the main road. And here, cars have the right of way, so if you're in they're way they'll honk at you or come really close to running you over! They have sidewalks, but the side walks are super small and our stroller is really big so we can barely fit our stroller onto the sidewalks...and then sometimes the sidewalks just disappear under huge bushes that have overgrown! Yeah...to say the least, Fi Dan has decided that the boys and I will NEVER walk to church again. ;)
But that's not the end of this crazy Mother's Day! On the way home from church we walked back the same wild road...BUT then we were caught in the middle of a rainstorm! It started pouring. We had 2 umbrellas but Nenji and Rylan wanted to walk and took the 2 umbrellas. So Fi Dan and I just walked in the ran. Fi Dan ran ahead with the stroller and Spencer and I stayed behind to walk with the boys. In the midst of the craziness, I spotted a Plumeria Tree! I picked a flower and the beauty of this flower made me forget the craziness.
After church we took our afternoon naps and then woke up and had dinner. Overall it was a crazy but very memorable mother's day. :) I'm just grateful I have my little crazies to spend this wild day with!
LOL, I forgot to mention...this is my mother's day gift from my Rylan!!! He went outside and picked them out for me. He's so sweet. :)
So perfect, right?! I know where I'll be picking my flowers
Me and my boys!
My little chubbster!
Saturday, May 11, 2013
Island life
Adjusting to the island life has been a lot more difficult than I thought. I think being born and raised in America, I've taken a lot of things for granted. And I've become accustomed to certain things...like buying a lot of groceries, a nice AC room, driving a car....just to name a few. So I miss those luxuries.
The locals here are really nice to me because the see me lugging 3 babies around. I mostly get smiles from people, but occasionally, people will just stare!
It's been pretty difficult trying to transport 3 babies on foot. But I look at the other moms with babies and they do it with ease, so I'm guessing I just need to get used to that too!
But island life so far has been good. It's really laid back and you have to find things to fill your day up! We've been to the beach...which I am finding out that I do not like with the 3 kiddos. We've gone swimming and soon we will be starting a little preschool group too! We'll keep you all posted. :)
The locals here are really nice to me because the see me lugging 3 babies around. I mostly get smiles from people, but occasionally, people will just stare!
It's been pretty difficult trying to transport 3 babies on foot. But I look at the other moms with babies and they do it with ease, so I'm guessing I just need to get used to that too!
But island life so far has been good. It's really laid back and you have to find things to fill your day up! We've been to the beach...which I am finding out that I do not like with the 3 kiddos. We've gone swimming and soon we will be starting a little preschool group too! We'll keep you all posted. :)
Tuesday, May 7, 2013
Great people and Farewell to Minion
Since we've been here in Dominica, we've already made some really good friends! Most of them go to the LDS Branch that we attend. The transition has been a lot easier because of their kindness! Today I attended an orientation for Spouses. Let me just say, if it were just Fi Dan and I here on the island and we didn't have kids yet, I seriously would just be on vacation for 16 months! The spouses here do amazing things like snorkel, hike, volunteer to do services for the needy, fund raise, and go on fiend trips all the time! None the less, I am grateful to have my kiddos and to be here for this crazy adventure.
The latest adventure we had was just tonight! You know Minion...the little lizard that lived in our room? Well, we finally threw him out. He's been a pretty good little lizard, and stayed in his little corner by the window, trying to eat bugs...which I really appreciated. But I noticed that he was getting skinnier. Probably from lack of eating. Well, we were putting our mosquito nets up and Minion starting acting like Spiderman! He came out of his little corner and started crawling all over the walls and towards the ceiling. I think that poor thing was just starving and was trying to look for a bug or two to eat. Nenji was freaking out with me and telling Fi Dan to throw him out. Nenji said, "Daddy, squish him! It's time to just squish him! He's going crazy!" And then there was Ry, "No, daddy! Don't squish him, he's my pet!" Well, after about 5 minutes of watching Minion jump around, Fi Dan finally caught him and threw him outside! All I can say is that I wish him the best! I know...weird, but I kinda liked him. He was a really nice lizard. I just wish I had a picture of video to share though! :)
The latest adventure we had was just tonight! You know Minion...the little lizard that lived in our room? Well, we finally threw him out. He's been a pretty good little lizard, and stayed in his little corner by the window, trying to eat bugs...which I really appreciated. But I noticed that he was getting skinnier. Probably from lack of eating. Well, we were putting our mosquito nets up and Minion starting acting like Spiderman! He came out of his little corner and started crawling all over the walls and towards the ceiling. I think that poor thing was just starving and was trying to look for a bug or two to eat. Nenji was freaking out with me and telling Fi Dan to throw him out. Nenji said, "Daddy, squish him! It's time to just squish him! He's going crazy!" And then there was Ry, "No, daddy! Don't squish him, he's my pet!" Well, after about 5 minutes of watching Minion jump around, Fi Dan finally caught him and threw him outside! All I can say is that I wish him the best! I know...weird, but I kinda liked him. He was a really nice lizard. I just wish I had a picture of video to share though! :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
