Farewell Friday Island Cruise

As part of our Christmas we decided to go on the Eagle Tours Friday Farewell cruise. Can I say.... IT WAS AWESOME!!!! 100 Thanks to Rachel for watching little Holdyn ALL DAY so we could go on this cruise.

Here I am as we are just leaving Great Bay. We got to go right by the cruise ships.

Then Ben was roped in, by the crew, to help hoist the sails. Our first stop was a little island called Tintimarre. It has some kind of fancy mud that you put all over to "exfoilate".... I don't know how to spell.... anyway, I rubbed it all over... obviously... I then was silky smooth after I rinsed it off. (Actually, I didn't notice much of a difference, but it was fun to do anyway)Here is a shot from the shore of our Catamaran... again... not sure of the spelling. It was SOO fun to ride completely around the island on this thing!!

We sat on this webbing stuff... it was great to be in the front and catch some of the waves splashing. After our stop at Tintimarre we went to Creole Rock... a GREAT snorkeling spot. Ben and I saw a baracuda swim right in front of us and loads of other fish.... we've got some pictures but I need to touch them up still.After snorkeling we went to Grande Case. It is on the French side and we stopped there for lunch. It was DELICIOUS!!! We also had a beautiful view of the blue waters!Here is Ben on our way around the island.

Here we are with Pelican Key in the back ground... we live in an apt that is just above my head.

Here are 3 members of our crew doing the dance to YMCA! They were great and hillarious the entire day!! They really made the trip a great one! Anyway... it was a beautiful day to be at sea! I LOVED being able to spend the entire day with Ben.. it is SOOO great for him to be on break... we are really enjoying all the extra time together!

I don't know where she gets it?!

All I can say is we had to move the markers to a higher place!!
I'm not sure how that marker tasted, but Holdyn seemed to like it.

I didn't get the camera until after we'd cleaned up the Marker all over the floors.....

I didn't find the humor until a few minutes after I found her.

Here is Holdyn being a cutie.

Obviously she gets her smile... and the rest of the

mischieveousness from her daddy!

The last few days

Okay, to start off, today, Ben and I went to the highly recommended, Good Life Spa, in Maho, for a couples massage. I still feel completely relaxed! It was GREAT!!!

Holdyn has also been giving herself driving lessons. She's getting pretty good. She is probably as good of a driver as most of the St. Maarten drivers, and is MUCH cuter!!
We went for a nice walk last night to watch the sunset, and gather seashells. Holdyn has this thing about eating sand... and as much of it as she can shovel in before her dad or I stop her! Maybe she is low on iron.... I craved dirt when I was pregnant with her, or maybe it really just tastes good. I'll have to try it next time.
The sunset was much prettier than it shows in this picture, but at least you get a little taste. It sure is beautiful here. I'm glad we are having soo much time to enjoy the island as a family with Ben having a 3 week break!

Ben and Holdyn also got one Christmas present a bit early.... a fishing rod. Here is Ben our first evening out. We went near the bridge and we were able to watch some of the mega yaghts come in and out of the bay. They are pretty amazing!
Here is Holdyn helping her daddy reel in a weed. We didn't have much luck that night... BUT, Ben caught a baracuda this morning and has had lots of fish action the last couple of mornings. We are going to go get some tarpon in the next day or two :)
Here is the shot of the boats waiting to enter the bay. It is a pretty amazing sight to see them all lined up. There are a few mega yaghts in the back that you can't really see.

Anyway, we're sure enjoying our time with Ben home! We've got lots more fun to have in the next couple of weeks!!!!

Way to go Ben!!!!

Ben passed his 3rd semester of Medical School with flying colors!! This is supposed to be "the hardest semester" from what we hear, and he did the BEST he's done soo far!!
WE LOVE YOU BEN and we are soo proud of all that you are accomplishing!!!

A Quick update

Holdyn has been sicker than sick! She started out with a very nasty headcold.... she produced more mucus than I've seen in awhile... Then she started vomiting... she even vomited at the Dr's office, and on the way there and on the way home. It was an interesting few days. One thing that we finally tried that calmed her down was for Ben to take her on scooter rides.
She absolutely loved it! She'd cry and cry and cry and we'd just about tried everything we could think of... but the scooter worked every time. Anyway, she is back to feeling somewhat normal... which we are VERY thankful for.

We also put up a few decorations. I'll have to take some more pictures to give you the full effect. We can't find a lot of decorations... the ones we do find are expensive SO we bought two packs of construction paper and went to town! Anyway, here is out "charlie Brown" Christmas tree. It is small, simple and will work out perfectly for the Holiday's. Holdyn is still in her PJ's in this picture... and she came out and saw the lights and wasn't sure what to think... she was soo fun to watch. Her face was filled with excitement.

Anyway, other than that things are good. A few more details on the pregnancy, we are due sometime the middle of June, which puts me at 11 weeks along. I've been pretty lucky and haven't been too sick... up and down, but not too bad. We've also been doing research on the Dr's/midwives in the area. Most of the girls we know who've had babies here have had C-sections. We recently found out why the Dr's are soo aggressive with them. There is no infant ICU...if the infant has any problems they have to life flight them to South America. So if the delivery is going longer than normal, the Dr's don't want to put any stress on the infant, so they take it C-section. We REALLY don't want to be forced into taking that route, so we are lookig into the midwife at the hospital. We will see. There is also the other stuff like getting this kid a passport to come back to the good old USA. Since we are due about 1 month before we are finished on this island we've got some paperwork to get ready AKA getting the birth certificate translated into English and meeting with the US consolate for the passport, when they are on the island. We're going to be busy that last month! Anyway, that's about it for now!

Oh, one more thing! We have 2 Elders/ missionaries missing on Martinique. They've been gone since Monday... they went out for a hike and never returned. We know one of them very well since he's been to our place a few times for dinner before he was transferred. Anyway, keep them in your prayers!!!

Quick overview

We are still alive and doing well, the water situation is still "being worked on" but at least our landlord has a cystern water back up. So we've had running water! YIPPEE!! We've also had a LONG week. Holdyn has been very sick.... she started out with a very bad headcold.... more mucus than I've seen in awhile... and then she started vomiting mucus. It was awful. We took her to the Dr. where she continued to vomit in the car on the way there AND while we were waiting at the Dr's office... luckily I got her outside before she lost it! Anyway, enough about that... she is doing much better!!

We also purchased our humble Christmas tree and put it up. Holdyn was asleep when we got it put together and when she woke up she was soo excited to see the lights.