Memorial Day Weekend from Antigua

Hello all,


This one is not actually Memorial Day weekend...it was from last weekend, but I wanted to share. The first one is of me with Barbuda in the Background (it is a pretty flat island)...This was just after we ran over the reef and broke one of the propellers. This turned our 1.5 hour ride into a "3-hour tour!" Does that sound familiar?? Fortunately Gilligan (me) did not puke, and the Skipper (John) got us all home safely...

The next one is of me shopping for the some gifts for the boys. I wanted to take some more, but didn't want to offend the ladies I was haggling with and trying to take food out of their mouths. As it turns out, I could have gotten better deals, but I did get some pretty nice shirts for the boys and Vonnie! I also ended up playing Warri for almost two hours in the store where I picked up my own Warri Board!! He taught me all sorts of new tricks and things to think about...watch out DION! :)

Lastly this is a picture of some sheep just crossing the road on the way home from the Dockyard. I thought the boys might like this picture as we always pointed them out to the boys and they always got a kick out of it. Love to you all and Haby Memorial DAY!

Memorial Day Weekend - Saturday

We are starting off our Memorial Day Weekend with some fun...We have been cooped up at home for the last 3 days potty training, so we are ready to get out and have some fun. The boys are headed on their own to a friends mini golfing birthday party - and mom and Eli are headed out shopping!!



It isn't easy taking normal pictures with these boys. Either I have a cheesey smile, or the boys have their token funny faces!! We miss you Justin and can't wait to see you next week, even if it is for just 3 short days!!

Bath Time Ritual...

Every night after Eli makes a disaster of himself at dinner, I take him out of his chair and say "You want a bath?" I think he really knows what I am saying! He gets all excited, crawls into the bathroom and immediately pulls himself up to the tub, and starts playing with the faucet!!

At least it's cute to be so chubby when you are a baby. I was trying to decide it this picture was disproportioned, or if his bum and legs really were this big...I think they really are!! But at least he is trying to impress you by sucking his tummy in!! No "Dixon" legs here!!

He still can't really figure out why he can't catch and grab the water. He often gets a little frustrated with the whole situation!!

He would probably stay in for a very long time if he was able to. Unfortunately, while I am in the bathroom with him, there are two unsupervised troublemakers running around!! So our fun in the bathtub is short lived!!

Blog -- #200

Stephen, Tom, Larry, and Tim all getting ready for the daunting task of cleaning up shell beach. This is a stretch of land that base folks travel all the time. It is about 3/4 of a mile of beach, cassia bush, rocks, and TRASH! The key is that people have been throwing their trash out here for YEARS and YEARS. Larry decided we should reach out to the community and try and clean up. We had about 10 folks here to do the cleaning...after about 2 hours and a LOT of trash we called it a day. We will regroup in a couple of weeks and clean up some more!

Stephen, Will, Tim, JoAnn, and George...this was the motherload. As you can see, out past Stephen is beautiful beach water and beach. The problem is that between myself and him there are endless amounts of trash. This particular spot looked like it had been designated as a temporary land-fill by many of the locals. This was about 2-hours in, and after just scratching the surface, we called it a day...we will come back again.

Will!!

Stephen, Larry, Will, George, and Me in front. We took this picture next to the dumpster we pretty much filled. WOW...a LOT of TRASH. We are just hopeful that the locals will see the difference and start taking care of the beautiful beaches they have. I am not overly optomistic, but we can hope...right??

Garage Sale Day...

Who knows how many times I will be posting about garage sales this summer. You all know that I have a love (maybe a weakness) for garage saling, but what you might not know is that I inherited this love from my mother, who would stop and turn on a dime to go to a garage sale, no matter how small; and somehow she can spend an immense amount of time at just one sale, looking over each item - miss you mom!! Today my friend Amy had her garage sale. I put in several things also, and then volunteered to be on "kid duty" so she could run the sale. It was a crummy day and we drug the stuff in and out of the garage more than once because of the weather; but this certainly didn't keep any die hards away. I sold almost everything I put out, and Amy made several hundred dollars and is planning her sale tomorrow also!! Fun fun!!!




This is about 8:30a.m., Amy is helping her friend look through a few boy clothes. Does this look like a crazy unorganized sale or what, unfortunately we had only a couple of tables to put things on so we had to resort to sheets!! People didn't seem to mind...they just kept coming!!




The kids were doing what kids do best...being silly, and watching cartoons!!




I almost grabbed this hat from Amy...but I decided with summer coming that a picture would have to do.

A busy week!!

This has been a very busy week...especially for me, not to mention we have all been a sick with colds (Eli and Seth's noses are still faucets!) Justin reminded me that I haven't taken any pictures or posted pictures in a few days...I can't imagine why he is lonely?? Can you?? Sorry honey, no pictures of me today!!

Green Island

After John suckered me into playing another 18 holes of golf on Saturday he invited me to go to Green Island with he an the crew. In the picture we look happy, but we were both a little bit blue. Me because I have been away from my family since March 16th, and John because he had been away from Patricia for 22 hours! :) I miss you greatly Vonnie and boys!


We let Dennis anchor his boat closer to shore, we put out our anchor and tied off a rope to Dennis' boat. It was a pretty nice set up...


Prudent sure looks nice in the water and John and I will both really miss her...he leaves on July 18th...(2 days after Vonnie and I go home to make sure the boys haven't run Grandma and Grandpa into the ground!) :)

Here is a picture of the "boys". Dennis (French, wife British), John (UK, wife Canadian), Andy (Antiguan/UK, wife Spanish), Me (US), and Adam (US, wife Montseratt). Vonnie and I almost didn't get let into the group as we are both from the US...no diversity there! :)


John and Dennis making sure things on shore were secure. Andy is setting up the grill over the fire.


Little Emily (2 yrs old) was tuckered out from all of the fun...
Dennis (almost 60) was also tuckered out from all of the fun...everyone needs a nap occasionally!!

Happy Mother's Day!!

"Think of Augustine, John Newton, and the zealous Wesleys; their names may never have lighted the pages of history had it not been for the blessed influence of godly mothers! The simple prayers from our infant lips were but echoes from our Mother's heart. Can we ever forget the soft caresses of those hands of blessing on our heads as we knelt by our beds? Can we fail to remember her night vigils, her seasons of intercession, her well-marked Bible, and her words of admonition? Her actions spoke eloquently of Him who taught us of the greater love of God." - - Henry G. Bosch

Happy Mother's Day...to all of you...Moms...Sisters...friends. I hope today you felt fufilled in the role you are playing, and have found some satisfaction in everything you do, even the little things!!

Nothing could make my Mother's Day happier then to spend time with my boys (except for having Justin here too)!! Although the day started a little off (very little sleep)...it ended up being a great day. Here are a few pictures of the boys at the park!!




I was trying to get a fun picture of all three boys in the little tunnel, but Eli just wouldn't follow directions!! What a stinker!!

This is really the park the boys have grown up in...Eli is getting a good start. He was crawling thru the tunnel and was so excited when he realized he could peek out at me!

Park Adventures!

I love "park season." My goal last Spring and Summer was to go to a different park each week, unfortunately I didn't meet that goal (I blamed it on pregnancy). This year I don't think I will set a goal, but just TRY to get out to as many new parks as possible. I didn't take any pictures of the actual park, but this one is called "Alice in Wonderland" park - there is big and little of everything, even the picnic tables and the benches.


Eli basically hung out in the swing the whole time...

I really need to try to get nice candid pictures of Zach...his poses are always pretty cheesy..but this one is for you Dad!

Just some Friday Pictures from Antigua

This first one shows you a couple of things...it shows that the boys miss their daddy and will continually put things in the mail for him to have and remember them by. It also shows how much their daddy misses them and how he has them all taped to the office window so they are there to look at ALL the TIME! I love you boys...



Phil has been asking if Will and I wanted to go out and play with him on his boat for some time...we were finally able to make it happen this afternoon. I told Vonnie I would be "out" and didn't tell her what we were doing because I didn't want her to be jealous. As it turns out, it was a good day for her not to know I was out having fun...

We went out behind Jumby Island and found about 3 different reefs to swim around.

These two pictures were taken at the last reef, as we the rest of the time we were a little bit afraid to pull out our cameras because they would get wet...here are Will and Phil, an then me getting ready to get in the water. The last reef was much deeper and had some pretty nice coral growth...the thing that freaked me out a little bit were the THOUSANDS of tiny jellyfish to swim through...I ran from them a couple of times, until Phil swam right through them and didn't die...I think I got stung a couple of times on the legs, but unlike in NEMO I didn't pass out! I might have swallowed a couple, but I am still here!!

This last picture is of Will's and My Queen Conch shells. Will's is on the right and was found at the first reef...it is much larger. Mine was found at the 3rd reef and it was smaller, but had a very nice color and the flap was much thicker...It will look nice on the mantel in Alabama and help us to remember our times here in Antigua!

Silliness!!

I'm grasping at straws tonight...there are dozens of projects looming over my head...my bathrooms are filthy...Seth is itching himself crazy...Eli is drooling like a faucet...we had lunchables for dinner...Zach is, as usual - wired...I was summoned for jury duty...I have given up on my project 365 (please don't be disappointed in me Susie)...7 loads of laundry were done today, half of which are still sitting on the kitchen table...but...these silly boys make it all o.k.!!

Silly silly boys...they love making funny faces!!

First Trip to the Dentist!!

Part of being three is the inaugural trip to the dentist! Our dentist sends you a personalized book in the mail a few days prior to your first visit, so with book in hand Seth bounced in to the dentist's office! He had been forewarned by Zach that the dentist was "WAAAAYYY more fun than the regular doctor," so he was very excited.

Ms. Lori let him play with every instrument prior to using it. He was thrilled. I'm pretty sure he would have some fun with those toys at home!

He couldn't open his mouth wide enough, or smile big enough!

Relaxing in the rays of the light...sunglasses and all!

We had a great visit - his teeth look great, minus his overbite...the Dentist asked me if he was a big thumb sucker, I'm not sure he believed me when I said "no" to both that and the pacifier!

Proof!

Dear Daddy,

I don't think you believe Mommy when she says how much I am getting around. I think you might have even said that you didn't have any "proof" that I was crawling...so I asked Mom to send you these pictures of me...

If only I could figure out how to get my feet under me...then I would have it made!

Do you remember when you bought this little slide for Zach...it's ALL MINE now!!

I haven't figured out how to get up on the slide yet...but crawling through the holes is pretty fun!

Can anyone say TROUBLE!! I actually figured out how to get my knees up on to the first step today! Someone has to keep Mommy on her toes.

This is just a bonus picture for Grandma Shirley...do you think I could have used a bib for this meal??

Justin's Sailing week!

On the opening Sunday of the racing week, I got to go out on the T.S. Prudent. I was "crew" to help John spot the boats that might be bearing down on us...turns out this tri-marran was actually as fast as our boat. I was a little slow letting John know he was coming and at 24 knots, we were barely able to pull away in time to not get schwacked! Quite a Rush!

Just a nice picture of three ships pretty close together after clearing the buoy...

Me with a lot of boats coming downwind. They have their spinakers out and are heading to the boy we are sitting at. It was great to watch them race around the buoy. As it turns out, most captains don't like to give an inch. We didn't see any wrecks on Sunday, but on Monday when John went out they saw a good one that broke the spinaker pole and everything...pretty cool!


On Wednesday my boss, Col Gruber, Lt Col Narum and 3 others came down to see the Air Station and get a feel for some of the future capabilities. I firmly believe that if I hadn't showed them around the island, I would have failed as a host. Here we are at Jolly Harbor Beach.

Col Gruber and I at the Moravian church overlooking Carlisle Bay...a pretty amazing view.

As it was still sail week, we made it up to the Wednesday night party at Shirley Heights. We pulled in just in time to miss sunset, but we had enough light to get a good view of English Harbor and the areas around.

I foolishly thought we were done after Shirley Heights, but Sheryl had not seen St Johns yet, so we headed in for a glass of wine at C&C Wine Bar. As you can see, I had many Diet Cokes that day...everyone was a little freaked out by the driving down here, and would have been more freaked out if I had been drinking! :)

Saturday morning we headed off with Jimmy again for a nice hike up Monk's Hill...(Will, Patti Gordon, Jimmy Gordon, Patti Gibbs, Bill LaMay (new station manager), and me in my new sexy sleeveless shirt...Thanks baby!)

And a picture closer to the top. It is amazing to see the architecture of buildings built 200+ years ago...still standing!