The New Addition to Our Family

NO- I am not pregnant!!

Kyler has his first imaginary friend!  Yesterday was the first day I met him.  I was playing tennis with Kyler and he hit the ball way over my head- yes he can really hit it over my head.  So I went to chase the ball.  When I came back he was swinging his racket in the air, and doing his little grunt noise that means you are a REAL tennis player (according to Kyler), and I just said to him, "are you ready?"  He turned around and said, "yes, I was just playing with my friend."  This is how the rest of the conversation went:

Me: "oh, what's your friend's name?"

Kyler: "Joseph Smith."

Me:  "Joseph Smith?"

Kyler: "Yes, Joseph Smith."

A few minutes later, he went to the door and was talking through the screen and when I asked him who he was talking to he said:

Kyler: "Joseph Smith!"(said with disgust that I had already forgotten his friends name)

Me: "what's he doing?"

Kyler: "He just hit that girl."

Me: "tell him that is not very nice."

Kyler:  "I can't, he is in time out now.  I will tell him when he gets out of time out."

So I thought it might be a one time things, but nope.  This morning Kyler ordered a waffle for breakfast and Joseph Smith ordered a bowl of cereal!  

Where we live

A few days ago, the kids and I decided to go check out the golf course that we live on.  We actually live on Hole #5, but we went on the course and took pictures from all the angles.  It is very pretty, and there are always people golfing on the course.  Erick is hoping to get in a round before we leave, and Kyler is sure he is going to get in on that as well!!

The Church

When we first got to the island, we were not sure where the church was.  We had looked up the address on the internet and so we thought we knew where it was.  On Friday we rented a car for a couple days to get some groceries and do a few things to get ready for school for Erick.  We got the car and had been to costco and a few other places and we were driving down a road actually looking for another store and we saw the church.  We were so excited to have found it for a couple of reasons, first we didn't know where it was and we needed to find it, that was the next thing on our list to do was find the church, and second it ended up being closer to our house than the original address that we found on the internet would have been.  It is still about 2 miles from our home.  We had the rented car this week, so I will let you all know next week how long it takes us to walk there!

The church is still green, but not as green as Dominica!  It was a really nice building about a year old.  The branch is small, all the LDS Ross Students about doubled the size, but it was really nice.

Here are a few pictures of the building:

Our house

We took a few pictures of the house, I don't have one of the outside front YET!  And things are very messy, but I was thinking about it right in the middle of unpacking that I should take a few pictures of the house for everyone, so excuse the mess!!!

This is the kitchen (the view with the DISHWASHER!!)

Our lovely Kitchen Table.

Our backyard.

Our Pool.

This is standing at the pool looking at our patio.

Another view of the kitchen

And the front room, taken from half way up the stairs.(ariel view)

The kids room.

They have been so excited to have their own beds, they both wake up first thing and make their own bed.  It is so nice, we used to have to let one make it and then when they were not looking the other one could go pull the covers down and make it again!!!  Problem solved.  Plus they have two closets in their room which is wonderful for toys and clothes.

Our first trip to the beach

Of course when you get to someplace new, you can't see that you will be there for 8 months, you just want to do everything today!!  When we first got here, the kids were so excited and just really wanted to go to the beach.  However that first day was a little crazy so Erick got in the pool with them and we told them we would take them to the beach tomorrow.  So from the moment we woke up they were asking when we were going to the beach.  We had a long list of things that we needed to get done, but the beach was top on the list.  Once we got there the kids did not want to leave.  They had so much fun.  The beaches here are very nice, they are really busy which we are not used to on Dominica, but the sand it amazing and the view is unbelievable.  Since we left all they talk about is going back!!!

 

WE HAVE ARRIVED

It has been a long time since I last posted.  The kids and I spent the last month in Utah for Christmas.  Erick joined us for the last two weeks after he finished all his exams in Dominica.  We had a wonderful Christmas and enjoyed seeing all the family and friends we were able to see.  We missed all of you that we were unable to see this trip and look forward to next time.

Our trip to the Bahamas was great.  We went as far as Atlanta the first day, Kyler kept asking if that was the Bahamas.  They were both very excited to get there.  We had a good night in Atlanta which helped for the next day.  The flight to the Bahamas seemed very short and was a very smooth flight.  We landed and was greeted by a lady from Ross who helped us through customs and getting our luggage (which ALL arrived!!).  They had a van waiting for us and took us to our new home.  Our landlords father was there to meet us with the keys and help us get settled.  He and his wife were very nice and helpful.  He came back in about an hour and took us to the grocery store, showed us how to get to the beach, where the tennis courts are, and a few other things around the area we live.

The grocery store was amazing.  It was a grocery store (enough said)!!!

We will not have our vonage phone up and working for a few days.  When we thought Erick had lost his luggage that had our vonage box in, we ordered a new one and they locked our old one.  However the new one did not arrive before he left.  When I called to reactivate the old one, they told me they can't do that after it has been locked.  So when the new one arrives at my parents, they are going to send it to us, and then we will be up and running.

The house is great.  We love it.  The kids slept pretty well, as did Erick and I.  It is not huge, but plenty big for us.  Erick and the kids went swimming yesterday while I unpacked and they said the water was cold, but they had a great time.  They are looking forward to going back toady when they sun in up and the water is a little warmer.

We have lots of plans today to get things organized and a few errands to go check out.  Our barrels should arrive at our house on the 8th.  Which means more unpacking and organizing.

I will post pictures soon!  

One of Bryn's friends has been taking horse back riding lessons while on Dominica and asked us if we would like to go one day and just ride a horse during the lesson.  The kids were so excited about it and couldn't wait to go.  When we got there, Bryn was a little unsure until Kyler went first and then she was all about going.  The kids had a great time and enjoyed the evening.  The lady who owns the horses will do guided tours on the beach, or up in the mountains.  This is what she does for a living and then she does the lessons on the side as well.  It was a really fun day.