Wednesday, February 28, 2018

It is another beautiful day in paradise!  I haven't had a chance to type on my blog since the kids arrived.  We have been busy every second having fun! 

Sunday morning Sheldon and Richard went out fishing and Emily and I rode our bikes to SCC and then did a fun beach walk.  She caught Sheldon's cold so we needed to take it easy.  I fixed tacos for lunch and after lunch the four of us went to the north side (Bloody Bay) and went snorkeling.  It was fabulous!  The water was clear and the conditions were great!  We ate dinner at the Hungry Iguana and sat outside to enjoy the beautiful view.  Boy, did we sleep good that night!

Monday morning Richard and Sheldon went fishing and they caught fish!  Boy, was that exciting! That night we had fish for dinner and loved every bite!  We went snorkeling to Point of Sand in the afternoon.  It was so calm and perfect.  We had so much fun!  Emily was a trooper, as she still had a cold.  She napped every chance she got. 

Tuesday Emily was feeling better so the morning was spent diving with Southern Cross Clubs dive crew.  Many a nap was taken in the early afternoon.  Emily and Sheldon took the double kayak out and enjoyed themselves.  I prepared potato salad in the afternoon.  It was pretty tasty with our fish that night for dinner.  The guys had caught enough fish for two meals! 

Tonight the kids want to eat at Southern Cross Club.  They will be hungry as bright and early today they took the plane to Brac.  They are going rock climbing and rappelling on Brac.  The Rock Iguana Ltd.  has a customized tour for the day.  They pick them up at the Brac airport and their adventure begins.  The Brac has bluffs that are 150 feet tall and drop right into the sea.  They will climb up and rappel into a cave and go hiking.  Should be fun.

 We are really enjoying having the kids here.  In the evenings we have been playing Euchre.  We have been eating dinner on the porch under the Tiki lights and the full moon.  On the beach, we play bean bag toss and just relax.  So far, we are not wasting a minute of our special time together.

On the North side.  Emily and Sheldon

Couple of cuties!

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Getting ready to snorkel at point of sand.

Sheldon the fisherman!

Emily and Sheldon arriving!

Saturday, February 24, 2018

It was a happy day in Paradise!  Emily and Sheldon arrived at 2:00 and we met them at the airport with coconuts decked out in flowers and straws!  We started having fun immediately.  Our conversation was non-stop and after an iced tea we headed for the beach.  Emily and I took "floaties" out and enjoyed the water.  Richard and Sheldon and waded on the edge and enjoyed the view. 

I fixed stir-fry for dinner and we ate on the porch to enjoy the sunset.  The kids were tired as they had about two hours of sleep so they went to bed super early.  They were snoring away as I cleaned up the kitchen.  So here I am at 8:00 PM typing on my blog and ready for bed too!  Crazy!  Maybe I can get Richard to play cards here on the bedroom floor.  We will have to be quiet.  Tomorrow will be busy for sure.  I will get some pictures posted soon too. 

Thursday, February 22, 2018

I had a beautiful bike ride and beach walk this morning.  That is one of my favorite things to do on our paradise island.  The wind was against me on the ride home, so I had some exercise.  Boy, do I sweat when finished!  I sat on the beach to cool off. 

Richard and I went to the north side to check out the snorkel conditions and then headed to the grocery store.  I wanted to get supplies for the arrival of Emily and Sheldon.  The store shelves were empty!  Our store has been disappointing this year.  Normally, I would be planning my menu and getting things bought.  I just have to wing it!  A barge comes in tomorrow.  I'm crossing my fingers.  Kevin said he doesn't know what will be on it.  Good grief! 

This afternoon, we hung our new mirror in the master bathroom.  It is huge!  Very nice.  Now we hope to find a nice new light for above it while on Grand.  We could keep our old one, but no!

Today I was in the water at the house and a huge stingray came right up to me to check me out.  At the last minute he turned!  I worried his tail would get me!  That was some excitement! 

After dinner tonight, Richard and I sat down on the beach.  The moon is almost half now.  It is so pretty.  There was just a light breeze and I could have stayed there forever! 

Wednesday, February 21, 2018

Another beautiful day in paradise!  We are so happy to be in the sunny, warm/hot weather and not the frigid cold of Iowa.  I did not type on my blog for awhile again!  Monday we had friends over for dinner, so I didn't have time to type.  We played Sequence after we ate and it was a lot of fun.  Tuesday, last night, was ladies night and I didn't get home until 10:00.  We had a lot of fun.   So here I am on Wednesday and finally typing!

This morning I saw Cutie Pie. He was stalking a crab and it is so fun to watch him hard at work.  All our critters keep us entertained.  Richard has a Mocking Bird that stays close to him while he works cutting jungle.  He is gobbling up bugs that get disturbed.  Our cute, tiniest iguana visited us today. Yesterday, Mr big boy, Lionel, came up to visit us while we were sitting on the porch eating lunch!  What fun! 

Yesterday, the manager from Beach Resort brought his bobcat to our property and pushed our jungle across the road back.  What would have taken us weeks to do was finished in about a half hour!  We are going to plant coconut trees there and make it look nice.  It will probably take awhile to get it groomed to how we want it to look.  Another project!

Today we had some wind, so it was a work day.  We cleared out some jungle and got rid of tons of Sea Grape leaves.  The area looks fabulous now. 

Here is a picture of our hard work!

Sunday, February 18, 2018

I am still in paradise!  It is a very busy paradise this year!  Last I posted was Tuesday, so here goes.  I'm sure I will forget a lot of what is happening when I skip so many posting days.  Wednesday we went out with friends for Valentines Day.  It was tons of fun!  We have met so many fun, nice couples here on the island.  I had fish tacos.  One of my favorites!  I had to cook supper on Thursday.  Luckily I remembered how to cook! 

Friday, we went to friends for a super delicious dinner.  There was nine of us and we ate outside on their patio.  It is on the water, of course!  Afterward, we walked down on their dock and lay down to better stare up at the stars.  Joe had his laser pointer with so we could find all the constellations.  Their beach furniture is so comfy, we all lingered down on the beach until after 10:00!  The serious fishermen still got up early the next morning to get after those tuna! 

Saturday there was a fundraiser at the LC Museum.  A couple years ago they built a brand new museum on the island.  I liked the old one, but this one is pretty fancy.  They had a silent and live auction.  Hors d'oeuvres and wine were served and boy were they fancy!  There was even an ice sculpture.  Everyone was dressed up too. 

Saturday was a pretty monumental day!  Richard finally got his new motor installed on the boat!  The technician arrived from Grand and Robin brought his backhoe to lift the motor on.  They finished just in time for the tech to make his flight back to Grand.  Last night, Richard and I took it for a sunset cruise before rushing off to the Museum event.  The motor needs to be "broke in"  before he can take it to a high speed to go through the cut.  Tomorrow morning it will be ready.  Ian is going with him on the maiden voyage.  Hopefully, they will return with tons of fish, (or at least one)!! 

I made some bean bags and we filled them with sand from Point of Sand.  Richard constructed  platforms using our old countertops.  Now we have a bean bag toss game to use on our beach.  We are ready for some fun! 

Our fun group for Valentines Day dinner.

Here is cute Marcia showing off the ice sculpture!

Here are my bean bags being filled and sewn up.

Our beautiful sunset on our sunset cruise using our brand new motor.

Richard driving his boat with the brand new motor.  

Tuesday, February 13, 2018

Here we go!  Finally a blog post!  I have been gone too much lately, I guess.  Tonight I go again...it is ladies night on the island.   Don't feel sorry for Richard while I am off with the ladies.  He is going lobstering with Mike.  Last night Richard and I went to get lobsters.  We started just as it was getting dark.  We had a flash light and walked out from shore to the reef and walked the reef.  They must have seen us coming as we didn't see a single lobster.   We didn't see any sharks either.  Thank goodness!  It was weird being in the water when it was dark out with the stars up above! The waves were crashing, so it was quite an adventure.  Why can't we get a lobster!  It is so annoying! 

Tomorrow is Valentines Day.  There are ten of us going out for dinner together (five couples).  I guess that's romantic!  We are going to Beach Resort and will sit outside under the stars.  Yes!

Sunday night we had a huge surprise birthday party for Linda.  I think she was surprised.  There were at least 20-25 people.  I was fixing food and had the oven and micro and dishwasher going just one hour before when the power suddenly went out!  Bujoe's wife was coming to the party so I was sure he would get the power started.  Luckily, it was only off for about 10 minutes.  What a scare!  Everyone had a great time celebrating Linda!

Today, we worked outside for the morning.  It was hot.  We wanted to spiff things up a little as Emily and Sheldon will be arriving on the 24th.  Then the good times will roll!

Friday, February 9,2018

Today is my big reveal of the new kitchen.  It is finally finished.  I think I was the "squeaky wheel" and got some attention to finish my project.  They did a great job on the project and I am happy.

We have been enjoying fabulous weather here on the island.  Back home in Iowa it is entirely the opposite.  There it has been very cold, snowing and windy.  I sure am lucky to be here.  My bike ride and beach walk was so enjoyable.  I relaxed on the beach afterward.  We went to the north side after lunch today.  What a life! 

The new motor has arrived on island and is waiting to be unloaded from the barge.  Now the trick is to get it off the barge container.  The thing weighs like 500 pounds!  Another adventure!

Here it is!  Notice the dishwasher!

Love, love, love it!!!

We rearranged the living, dining area.

Another shot!

Thursday, February 8, 2018

My last post on this blog was  Monday and now it is already Thursday.  Time is just speeding by on this beautiful island paradise!  A lot has been happening. 

Today my kitchen is finally complete.  I can't even believe it!  They came and fixed my missing cabinet door today.  I will take pictures tomorrow and post them.  I don't think I would change a thing about it.  Now that all is said and done, I'm glad we took on this project. 

My morning today was just wonderful.  I did my bike ride and beach walk and relaxed on our beach for awhile after I got back.  I hung out a load of laundry, which dried super fast in the hot sunny day.
The really exciting, fun thing about today was going sailing with friends on their Hobie catamaran.  Wow!  Now I want to buy one too!  This evening our group had a delicious dinner together.  I thought they would be sick of me by now as we have been "hanging out together" a lot.  Susan fixed the most tasty meal and Joe can really make a knock your socks off rum punch!  I will sleep good tonight.

Last night everyone was here for dinner.  I made BBQ pork, potato salad, baked beans and Joe made a to die for coleslaw.  He has a secret ingredient that he won't share.  Darn!  We closed up the house and ran the air conditioner as there were a lot of people.  We left it on overnight for sleeping.  Tonight the windows are open again. 

I saved over $20.00 on groceries with the 15% off super Tuesdays sale.  The barge had just been in and our store shelves were well stocked.

Tomorrow is another adventure so, here's to living on an island paradise!

Here I am on the boat.  You get very wet and it is active and tons of fun! Let's sail!

Monday, February 5, 2018

Wow!  I woke up on this beautiful island paradise again today!  This is so great!  Yesterday and today were so warm and just perfect.  I just love it. 

We went to watch the Super Bowl LII (52) last night at the Hungry Iguana again this year.  They had a crowd.  I went for the free popcorn and their fish and chips dinner.  They fix the best french fries on the face of the earth and they prepare their fish with Wahoo or Mahi Mahi, whichever is fresh that day.  Need I say more!!  When we got home, a really huge white snow crab was in the middle of our driveway.  He was so slow!  We sat there forever waiting for him to mosey along to the other side!  What a character! 

I have been going on my bike ride and beach walk early in the morning.  I have decided this is the best therapy on earth.  It is just so enjoyable! 

Today I was in the kitchen and turned around and there was Lionel, the huge iguana, staring at me in the screen door on the porch!  What a surprise!  He wanted to see what I was up to, I guess.  The birds water was almost dry so I imagine he drank it up.  I am not feeding him or any of our iguanas as there is plenty of greenery on the island.  If I feed him, he will come every day and bug me for yummies. 

Saturday evening we had friends over for dinner.  They brought me a beautiful bouquet of flowers.  What a surprise!  They are so pretty. 

Today I snorkeled at the house and saw the cutest fish.  He was a good size and almost rounded.  His color was yellow stripes. 

Tomorrow is Super Tuesday at the tiny island grocery store.  That is where I will be bright and early.
They offer a 15% discount the first Tuesday of every month and I will take full advantage.  I am having a "couple of couples" over Wednesday for dinner so this is perfect timing!

Richard installed my under counter lights today in the kitchen.  Talk about bright!  It is great!  Everything is finished in my kitchen now except the broken cabinet door.  I wish they would fix it so I could take my pictures of the finished product.  Maybe I'll just have to take photos with the missing door.  Darn!

Pretty flowers!  I put them in this adorable little cream pitcher.

Here goes Lionel starting down the steps.  What a character!

 

Friday, February 2, 2018

Today is so beautiful!  We had a downpour in the middle of the night.  Paradise is like this, get some rain and it is still a beautiful day!

My grocery order did not show up again today on the 3:00 flight they said it would be on.  It messed up my afternoon to be there to get it.  They said maybe tomorrow!  Suddenly the phone rang at almost 6:30.  It was the airport calling me that my order was here.  Surprise!  I had called and talked to Cargo and suggested they try a different time of day.  So many people are coming on afternoon flights.  It worked.  Such excitement!  How nice of our tiny airport to wait for us to get our order.  This place is great!

In the meantime, I had stopped at the store and bought a bread mix and improvised with my bread machine.  I have a loaf of bread baking as I type!  I have no idea if it will be tasty.  Now my GF bread has arrived and I have bread coming out of my ears!  This is still a learning experience on this island.  Food and supplies are always a challenge. 

Richard managed to go diving today with the guys.  This is the first time he was able to use the new BCD he bought last year from friends who were leaving the island.  Turned out it leaked really bad.  How disappointing!  One of the guys gave him his to use so he still got to dive.  What a super guy!

Had a fun phone call this evening from Mother and my niece, Amanda.  We did Face Time.  I showed off my new kitchen and we talked a long time.  Modern technology is fabulous!