Snorkeling

The snorkeling in the waters of St Kitts is generally good, no matter how clear the water, how high the wind, or no matter the weather!  Even when the waves are rolling and the water is cloudy there is a good chance of seeing something cool!  Today we ventured towards the bottom of the island to Banana Bay (check out the bottom tip for location).  Unfortunately the waters were a bit rough and we were not able to see a lot.  We did come across some star fish and a beautiful Spotted Eagle Ray swimming around though!

We do not have an underwater camera yet - so no ACTUAL water pictures, but here is what the ray looks like:

Here are some cool shots of the beach at Banana Bay - it is directly across from Nevis, so the island you see in front is Nevis!

Nevis across the channel

Brayton and a tree

view to the left

Since the water was choppy and cloudy at Banana Bay, we decided to head over to Shipwreck...We snorkel there often but were hoping for some good sightings!  There are always lots of schools of beautiful fish there and today we were lucky enough to see a gorgeous Hawksbill Sea Turtle!  He was tagged, so he has probably been here for a while!  Brayton was able to get close enough to touch him as we were trying to read the tag so we could track down his details...we failed at that mission!

Not the one we saw - but pretty much a replica!

We also saw another Spotted Eagle Ray while swimming and also saw a lion fish and a puffer fish.

Lion Fish - the one we saw was hiding under rocks!

This is a puffer fish, not puffed up!  The one we saw was also hiding!

This is what the puffer fish looks like puffed up! 

I also, somehow, spotted a stingray hiding under the sand...again no underwater camera so these are all internet pictures but they are close as I can get to the actual! 

Brayton and I call this a great end to 2011!  We then got to come home and watch Bit's basketball game online and relax for a while before heading out with some friends for the evening!

Happy New Year everyone! <3

J'Ouvert

During the Christmas season in St Kitts they have what is called 'Carnival' and part of carnival is J'Ouvert.

J'ouvert is an overnight party celebrated in many Caribbean countries and consistes of drinking, dancing, paint, loud music and partying for late into the night until a few hours after sunrise.  This year, Brayton and I along with some of our friends got to experience J'Ouvert.  Most people join a Troupe, which is just a big group to party with.  We joined the Xtreme troupe which was in its 10th year this year so they had a 'pre-game' party that began at midnight!  At about 4-5 AM, we all began 'dancing' our way to town!  What a riot!  The party continued into downtown and into the early hours of the morning.  Brayton and I did not make it that long, but we did have a fabulous time and were glad to be able to experience the holiday tradition of St Kitts!

Here are some photos of the morning in the city

Here are some photos that recollect the night!

This was the 'Ross' part of our Xtreme troupe early in the night! 

Catherine and I towards the middle of the night!
As you can see, painting yourself, each other and everyone around you
is a big part of J'ouvert

Bobby and I . . Closer to the morning!

Needless to say - its a wild party - and we had a LOT of fun!  Maybe next year we can get some Upstate NY friends down here for a good time =)

A Year In Review . . .

2011 has been an exciting year for Brayton and I with many big adventures, many life changes and a whole lot of exciting times.  Most of our year was spent working, saving money, wedding planning and eventually, St Kitts planning!  It was a super exciting year for us, and I am so blessed for the friends and family that helped us through it all!

January - My 2011 began with my first car accident - nothing major luckily!  Just a deer to the front end!

February - Brayton's venture towards Vet School got one step closer as he, Travis and I took a three day road trip to University of Prince Edward Island for his first Vet School interview...The view was nice, he did a great job - luckily we didn't end up there!  And...I'd rather not talk about the trip...

I also was able to finish up my Master's Degree in Curriculum and Instruction during February!  What a great feeling!

March - Brayton found out that he was accepted into Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine and that we would be moving to St. Kitts in the Caribbean for two and a half years!  Big news!

While we were excited for moving to St Kitts, March also brought LOTS of snow, LOTS of shoveling and  a long tough winter!

April - I do not think there was much eventfulness in our lives in April - other than the continual loads of wedding planning!  Since Brayton found out he got into Ross, I had been working hard to try and get a teaching job there.  I spent a lot of time making my portfolio Electronic and working on Jane!  No time for events!

May - In May, my middle sister graduated from St John Fisher College in Rochester, a year early!  I couldn't be more proud of her!

http://www.mywedding.com/braytonandleann/index.html - just found this!  Totally forgot we even had that!  Times goes by so fast!

I had my first wedding dress fitting in May....I soo LOVED my dress..It was perfect <3

Also in May, our good friends Jessie and Graeme got married, two months before us!  We had a great time celebrating with them!

Jessie and Graeme <3

Us at the wedding!

May also led me to do one of the hardest things I have done in a long time....I gave my horse away.  There is nothing worse than taking an animal that has been your best friend, in your back yard, for 6 years, and dropping her off and walking away...I cried every day that week...I do have to say though, I am happy that she has a friend again, and is getting lots of love!

June - The end of June brought the end of my career at Indian River Middle School as a Middle School Special Education teacher...I had been there for 2 1/2 years and it was hard to leave, but I was very excited for the new things ahead of me which made it a bit easier!  I do miss my friends and my students from there often though!

I was also able to celebrate a GREAT friends future baby girl, Mya, at her baby shower in June!  I am so  happy for Nikki and her beautiful little girl!

I also found out in June that I was offered an interview to the Ross Prep School in St Kitts and was asked to fly to Portland Oregon for an interview July 9th....5 days before my wedding!  Of course, I couldn't say no, so I booked a plane ticket from Syracuse to Oregon and then from Oregon to Virginia and Brayton picked me up there to drive to NC to get married in 4 days!

July - WEDDING MONTH!!  In addition to our wedding, our friend Jen got married at the end of the month!  She had a beautiful wedding!

We were also lucky enough to do a maternity photo shoot with Nikki a few days before Mya was born!  It was fun to play with our camera, experiment with our photo taking skills and see her look SO awesome in the last steps of her pregnancy!

Gorgeous pregnant girl! 

My favorite pic! 

And then there was OUR wedding.....I never thought it would come so fast!  There was so much last minute planning - for the wedding and job interview and upcoming move to St Kitts a month later - that before we knew it we were dropping me at the airport to fly to Portland and Brayton and all our friends and family were piling into cars for the week in Outer Banks, NC!

The interview went really well - even though it was a very LONG two days of traveling!  I even ended up getting the job and found out I would be teaching first and second grades!  Yikes!

The week in the Outer Banks was one of the best times I could have asked for.  We had an 8 bedroom house with all of our friends (and more friends and family close by) and played insane amounts of pool volleyball, drank lots of Margarita's, had a bachelor/bachelorette party...Rehearsal dinner, wedding on the beach (beyond perfect!) and a flawless reception.  I can not thank my friends and family enough for making it the most PERFECT day of my life!  ( And I guess my husband too =) )

If you haven't seen pictures, or want to look again - here is our photographers website:
http://www.alcweddingphotography.com/outer-banks/
Once there, Log in - Username: hillwedding
                                 Password: braytonandleann

Once you are logged in there will either be two links on the bottom for Hall-Hill wedding and engagement session - click and view!  If you need to enter a code it is: obx14711    =)

Following the NC vaca we headed back to NY and spent the remainder of our summer not working, boating, swimming, camping, drinking, relaxing and packing for St Kitts.  It was BY FAR the best, most perfect summer of my life!  I feel so blessed to have such amazing friends and family members and  leaving them in August was terribly hard!

August - River...river...river...river...that is about it!

Aside from the shopping trips, to do lists, and packing involved in moving to St Kitts for two and a half years and having to find a way to get EVERYTHING into 7 suitcases!

4 of the 7!  

 It was another perfect summer month that came and went far too fast.  Saying goodbye to everyone was really tough and involved a lot of tears!  On August 22nd we left upstate NY for a while and headed to the big NYC (6 hours from OUR upstate!) and spent the night with Travis, Lyndi, Bit, Tim, Brayton and myself.  We explored the city, ate lots of good food, had many good laughs and great times together before Brayton and I headed out!

Our last group shot before parting =(

Yup we sure did push the two beds together and sleep 6 wide <3

August 25th came and we said our last 'see you laters' to our siblings...Far harder than ANYONE else to leave...I cried, a lot!  And it lasted about 3 months!  And off we went.  We had an overnight layover in Miami and arrived in St Kitts the next day to begin our new adventure!

View from the plane...here we go! 

September - December -  we were in full swing with school and teaching and quite busy!   For full details on those 4 months, check back to the beginning of the blog =)

Our Christmas Card

The card - bad photo

The photo on the card

I guess looking back and recollecting - we had a pretty amazing year!  I hope that 2012 can bring us more excitement while living for the next two years on St Kitts - but I really look forward to 2013 when we move back to the States and can hopefully add even more to our lives <3

Thank you again to my friends, new and old, and family, new and old, for all the love, support and great times you have given Brayton and I in the past year and all our lives!  We love you all!  Happy New Year and good wishes to everyone!

Islandmobiles

One thing that we have learned while living on the island is that nice cars are no longer a part of your life....and neither are mechanics and shops and normal/reliable fix jobs (for the most part!).  To accompany that, we have also become very accustomed to a LOUD, squeaky car each morning, bald tires, overheating engines, using abnormal amounts of coolant, and relying heavily on duct tape and zip ties to hold your car together - in emergency situations - nope! - all the time!  Unfortunately, it is not just Brayton and I (both very inadequate mechanics) who use zip ties and duct tape, the mechanics and other people who have owned our car also do too!  Must be something to do with the island life!  

Today we decided to fix up the islandmobile and do some 'island repairs'.

Mission # 1: the drivers side window only went about half way down...when we took the door apart we soon realized it was hitting the window motor, which was in the wrong place, and stopping the window!  The solution: Move the motor and zip tie it out of the way!  Window works like a champ now!


Mission #2: Clean the brown water that has been squirting out of our windshield washer fluid lines and replace it with actual windshield washer fluid - that actually squirts out and hits the windshield...Seem simple right?  Nope!  Not when half of the parts are broken off, the lines are too short and the squirters don't squirt!
The solution: cut out the broken pieces, reconfigure the tubes, duct tape them together in the proper places, stick a needle in the squirter holes to clean them out and squirt washer fluid and readust until it squirts straight...No big deal!

Mission # 3 - A while ago, I thought it would be a good idea to LOCK the glovebox, to see if it locked, for safety precautions.. . It locked like a champ - but unlocking, not so much!  All of our paperwork for the car was in that locked glovebox and there was no hopes of unlocking it.  Luckily, a few weeks before, we had twist-tied the bottom of the glove box closed because it continually fell out so we were able to pull those out and go in from behind to get our paperwork out!
The Solution: Brayton was able to pick the lock with a safety pin and open the glove box! We were then able to zip-tie it in the proper places to keep it securely closed and will never lock it again!

Mission #4 - Vacuum out the sand...without a vacuum!
The Solution: Take the head of a broom that had broke, and sweep all the sand out!  Worked for me!

Looks good to me! 

clean as the islandmobile has ever been!

Mission #5 - Give the islandmobile a bath....without car soap
The Solution - Nothing works better than the broom head we had previously used as a vacuum, some windex and a hose!

Look at that - the islandmobile sparkles in the sun!

Mission # 6 - Zip-tie some more 'loose' things in the engine!
The Solution - Hopefully our car doesn't break down in the next two years =)

Zip-tie number 1 - NOT installed by us!

Zip ties two and three- NOT installed by us!

Game: Who can identify the most zip ties and/or things wrong with the engine!

Or maybe some wire type staples to hold the mud flap together - also NOT installed by us!

To many of you living in America - this may make you laugh out loud at the ridiculousness you have just witnessed - to Brayton and I (and I am sure many other ppl who drive islandmobiles) THIS is a work of art, part of our lives, and our mode of transportation that allows us to avoid the fearful local 'taxi' drivers!  I hope each and everyone of you has a chance to come visit and experience some true love of the ISLANDMOBILES <3

Gong!

Luckily we have found some great people to hang out with while on the island for Christmas!  Catherine and Matt took us out to Gong beach last week (a beach on the Atlantic side of the island - real name Sandy Bank Bay ) that we had not been to yet!  It was fun to venture over to the Atlantic side again as most of our 'beach time' is on the Caribbean side (which has waves comparable to the River on a dead calm day!).  We spent our time there playing like kids in the waves and chasing the dogs around the beach!  It felt so great and reminded me so much of North Carolina and our fun there!  It also made me miss everyone from home too!



Here are some photos to help you better understand the rough life we have had over this Christmas Break!

Some buggie - boarding!

The view to the left

The view to the right

Its always a good day for snorkeling in St Kitts!

Phew!

And he makes it back to shore!

What happened?!?!

Hold your breath!

Who says a cute little dog can't surf?!

My favorite photo of the day!  Catherine's dog liked to dig! 

the view again

Ahh the beach!

Needless to say - we have done a lot of THIS over break!  It has been very relaxing and much needed for both of us!  I have missed home a lot though, and look forward to being home in April!