It has been a while since our last blog and quite a bit has
gone on! On our last update, we
had just rescued some puppies from Nevis after doing the channel swim…now all
of those puppies are adopted out and growing big and strong! The puppy we kept, Nevi, is doing great
and we feel really blessed to have gotten such a great Island Dog to keep as
our own! We also have our crazy,
manic, kitten Koala who thinks she rules the world…but she’s a cat..don’t they
all?!
Brayton’s second semester ended well and he moved on up to 3rd
ready and eager to learn! He did
well and was glad for 2nd to be over! It was a long, tough semester and he worked really hard, I
am very impressed by his diligence and hard work! On April 22nd, we headed back to the States for
the first time since arriving on the island in August. I know 8 months doesn’t seem like a
long time, but we were SOO ready to be back in America! Upon arriving and renting our car, we
ventured out of NYC and hit up a FAST food restaurant. After living in St. Kitts, FAST food
had a whole new meaning! It was
actually FAST! Talk about
amazing! Our drive from New York
City to Syracuse was long and boring, but we made it to Aunt Lo’s and were so
happy to be HOME, drive a NICE car, travel on SMOOTH roads and drive OVER 35-40
mph! The simple things we missed
so much!!
Our time at home was short, but great! We had many appointments to make,
friends and family to see and restaurants we were dying to eat at (Jreck’s,
anywhere with a REAL, GOOD hamburger, anywhere with DRAFT beer – the simple
things!) It was really great to
see our family and friends and I was sad to leave them but coming back to my SK
family was also really nice too!
One thing that makes leaving home and coming to this island a BIT easier
is knowing I will have my family and friends at home forever…the family I have
made in SK is one of the best groups of friends I could ask for, and knowing I
only have 2 more years with them, makes me want to really cherish our time!
Anyways, we arrived back in St Kitts on Brayton’s 33rd
birthday (he IS getting old) and moved into our ‘new’ house. Things were going great, we had our
puppy and our kitten with us, we were unpacking and settling in and loving the
new place…..then we found a centipede crawling under our bed…that is where the
hell all started. A couple days
later, our amazing roommates Emily and Andrew returned to the island and the 4
of us were settling in and enjoying our new house…little did we know, our new
house would lead us to live a life of pure hell for the next 4 weeks. Over that time, we tried to get settled
and relax as our next semester started, but as we were killing 1-6 centipedes a
night (and I mean B I G centipedes) there was no time for anything but
centipede hunting and fearing what might be in our beds, on our floors, or
dangling on the ceilings above us (we watching a 8-10” centipede crawl from the
outside wall into a bedroom via the grooves in our ceiling – AHH!). Our first 4 weeks were spent with
sleepless night, centipede slaying evenings, and many appointments and email
with the realtors, Terminix and any other potential ‘fixer of the problem’ (FYI
– In St Kitts, not much actually GETS fixed FAST or CORRECTLY…if at all!) Finally, we had had enough and began
looking for yet another (the 4th place for us since August) house to
live in. Thank goodness for Jo,
our past realtor, who found us an AMAZING 4 bedroom, 4 ½ bathroom home that we
will be living in with Emily and Andrew and Kate and Trevor for the remainder
of our time here (I don’t want to move again!). The pictures explain the beauty and amazing-ness of this
house!!! We are SO happy AND
centipede free!
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| a SMALLLL view of the centipedes we found... |
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| Crawling on the bedroom ceiling after entering from outside the through the groove |
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Our NEW kitchen
|
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| New Bedroom (view of the ocean outside the glass doors! |
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| New LR/Dining Room with WIDE open wall! It has glass doors that shut! |
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| The open wall, pool, porch and view |
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| The view! |
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| LR/ Dining Room/Kitchen from the other angle |
Aside from all that drama with our house – our car – or should
I say Islandmobile - has also been
in the shop because the radiator is not working and pipes and seals are blown
and missing and honestly, who really knows – certainly not half the people
actually working on the car!
OISK!!!!
Since we have returned to the island, Brayton has been
spending Wednesday nights from 8-12 and Friday nights from 8-4 walking the
beaches of St Kitts looking for nesting female leatherback turtles. We has had the opportunity to see some
leatherbacks, relocate nests, assisting in the excavating of babies from a nest
and learn a great deal about something he has a lot of passion for! It has been hard on him being up so
late/all night long, but he is learning a lot and having an amazing experience!
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| Baby Leatherbacks after an excavation! |
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| Female leatherback |
At the Prep School, we are approaching our last week of our ‘normal
school year’. We will then have a
3 day weekend and Summer Camp starts on Tuesday! Summer Camp is for any students who are on the island still
because their parents are working, in school or other reasons. It is a fun, laid back time with some
learning and great interactions and social fun with peers and teachers. I am working with grades 4-6 this
summer and am really excited for the change in age group, although I will miss
my kiddos! Luckily, I will have
all of my 1st graders again next year in 2nd grade and am
only losing 4 2nd graders!
I am getting excited for another year in 1st and 2nd
grade although I am nervous as I will have a new group of student, new
challenges and a whole new years worth of curriculum – you can’t teach the same
thing to the same kids twice! Lots
of planning to do this summer!
I am sure this is only a small fraction of the things that
have been going on in our lives since my last blog and now that I have done an
update, I will TRY to be better! I
am now counting down the days (although I don’t want ‘summer’ to go too fast)
until my family comes to St Kitts.
I am so excited for them to see the good and bad of this amazing and
awful place that we call home <3
PS - i am really bummed that I am missing all my friends and family who are having babies and getting married and falling in love and blah blah while we are away! It is so hard to see these precious babies in pictures and know I won't meet them until they are almost 2!! Although, I am VERY happy for them all!!
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