Abbey's visit so far...

Abbey came to visit us on January 20th for two weeks. We are half way through her trip, and having a great time. In the last week, we brought her to Reggae Beach, Shipwreck, the Marriott and of course, the Atlantic in our backyard. We went out to Mr. X's Shiggidy Shack on Saturday night, and were fortunate enough to hear our neighbor, Bob doing karaoke. She met Beau's buddies and got to go on the crater hike, where you hike to the top of the volcano. Here's Abbey drinking a pistachio snow cone served up by Sweet Elroy.

This is the view into the volcano from the top of the 5 hour crater hike.

Abbey has been touring around and seeing the amazing sights of St. Kitts.

Today we all ate at Kittitian Roti. Rotis are delicious, incredible, hot, curry Indian wraps. Abbey is IN with Beau because she lets him sample everything she's eating/drinking/touching.

Two new teeth and two new friends

Beau's two bottom teeth are officially here! Their emergence was accompanied by a lot of crying, whining, running nose, sore throat and even fever, so I think it's only right to make a big deal out of them. Andrew and I laugh about how cute he looks now when he smiles with his new teeth sticking out now.

We have also started playing regularly with two of the babies here-- Isaiah and Damon. The boys go swimming together, they eat sand together, and generally have a good time. Beau is the youngest, so he's fascinated by the way they run around and do so much.

End of orientation and White Coat Ceremony

We finished orientation week with a trip around St. Kitts to see the island's various sites. We visited a batik shop in the rainforest, Brimstone Hill which is an old fort, and Blackrock where the beach was created by a volcanic explosion, making the sand and rocks black. Along the way we got to see the island's many free-roaming goats. They're pretty cute, as long as you don't hit one of them as they run across the road.

The White Coat Ceremony was held at the end of the week, acknowledging the students' entry into the veterinary field. I was very proud to see Andrew and all of his orientation group buddies in their coats.

Catamaran trip to Nevis

As part of orientation week, we took a catamaran ride to Nevis. Some of the other students took advantage of one of the last opportunities to get a tan before classes started. We hung out in the shade with the other families and soaked up the scenery. Nevis was also a beautiful island. We got off of the boat for a bit and hung out just down the shore from the Four Seasons.


On the way back to St. Kitts, we saw the volcano on Montserrat erupting for the second time in three weeks. This means more ash and dust blowing over to St. Kitts in the next few weeks.

Live de Life

"Live de life" was the name of a boat I saw at Reggae Beach, on the southern peninsula of St. Kitts the other day. It's also a sort of slogan down here. We have been in St. Kitts since January 1st, and we are just beginning to figure out what that will mean for us over the next 2 years. So far, it means that we sleep to the sound of the ocean about 200 feet from our house, take a dunk in the pool or ocean in the morning, and then again in the evening to cool off from the 80+ degree weather, and leave Beau barefoot all of the time. It also means that anything promised in a few days will take a few weeks, taxi rides will feel more like a roller coaster, and we will, on occasion, lose power (and thankfully recover it a little bit later).

This week has been filled with Andrew's orientation events at Ross. So far we are pretty impressed with how well the school treats its students-- organizing a taxi to drive us everywhere until we get a car, welcoming spouses and kids, helping us with our first grocery shopping and bringing us to recreational sights on the island in addition to practical places. We were also impressed by the modern campus. It made me really excited for Andrew to get in there and start all of his nerdy medical work!

We are learning our way around the island, which will be important when we get our car in the next few days (and have to drive on the left side, with a steering wheel on the right side)... eek. There are lush mountains everywhere, with rain clouds at the top and long slopes that lead out to the ocean. Small beaches-- rougher on the Atlantic and softer on the Caribbean-- are everywhere you look. The beauty of St. Kitts far exceeded my expectations!

All things considered, not a bad first few days.

COUNTDOWN

52 days until my husband--Andrew, son--Beau and I move to St. Kitts in the Eastern Caribbean for two years and four months so that Andrew can attend veterinary school. When I tell people, I hear a lot of "life-long dream" and "fantasy" talk. Yes--this is a dream of ours in a lot of ways, but it's not without its share of nightmarish planning and hurdles. For example, I need to figure out how to move our lives down there in four 50 pound suitcases (thanks American Airlines). And lately, my "to do" lists look more like the 14 page closing checklists I used when I was working as a corporate attorney on mergers and acquisitions. When I'm not waking up at 4 AM to nurse Beau, I'm waking up wondering if I should take our kosher salt down to St. Kitts in a plastic bag, or if Glad makes some kind of multi-compartment plastic bag to haul my spices (I like to cook). But I calm my sweat-inducing nerves by remembering that in a few short weeks, I am going to be living out a dream. Sometimes when I'm pushing Beau around in his stroller on the streets of New York City, filling the long, unscheduled days before we leave, I try relaxing my eyes and picturing the blue, tropical scene that will become my day-to-day life. It's so far out of the range of my current reality, that I have to picture it like a digital image, where I see each square of Manhattan's steel and gray horizon flip over to a turquoise and green pixel. Flip-- a palm tree, flip, flip, flip, the ocean and sky spread out before me. Usually, the high pitched squeal of a taxi's brakes or the earth quaking rumble of a semi truck bouncing over a metal panel interrupt my daydream and I'm right back on the sidewalk. But I know there's only so much I can plan and imagine anyway. Like everything in life, as time passes, this adventure will suddenly be right in front of me, and I'll have to experience it then, like it or not.