Some More Pictures from the Trip

The Bride and Groom just hours before the wedding.

The view from the beach at our resort.


My usual attire for most of the day on St Lucia, quite the change from the three plus layers of warmth that I had to wear when we got to Wyoming.



Here is my money and time saving tip for when you travel, bring a crock pot. You can easily throw something in in the morning and have a hot and nutritious meal when you get back to your room in the evening. We will even bring the crock pot with us when we camp in the trailer if we have hookups.

We're home

We left Jackson Hole at 10 am on the 27th and drove with only short potty, gas and food breaks and got home to Arizona at 4am on the 28th. This made for a very long day and a very exhausted Joe and Becky but we were all so very glad to get home. I think that the thing I missed the most on this trip was having space of my own. I am very luck to have a nice size house and it was so very hard to live in a hotel room smaller than the size of our master bedroom.

After we got home I went to the post office to collect the mail that had been on hold for us and it was a huge pile! I had some cool packages in the mail though. One was a set of bows from the Fairy Princess Bow Boutique. I also got two onesies from Happy Panda from a $40 gift certificate that I won. I also got a couple packages of trim from Michael Miller that I won from their blog. Lastly I got an emergency flashlight/radio/cell phone charger that I got free from buy.com from a deal that I found out about on imommies. I just love getting free stuff. We also got a ton of Christmas cards, which makes me feel guilty since I didn't manage to send out cards before I left town. I think that I am going to send out Happy New Years cards instead.

Merry Christmas All

Okay, I know that this is a day late, but I don't have easy internet access here. I hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas day. We had a nice drive with the kids and just hung out for the afternoon and then in the evening (after some searching to find a place open that wasn't totally packed) went to a nice Italian food restaurant for dinner. We leave Jackson Hole tomorrow and will be back home in a couple of days.

Today we took the kids for a sleigh ride on the National Elk Refuge. It would have been great except Abbie screamed like she was being murdered the whole time. Joe should have gotten some good elk pictures though.

Long time no update

Well it's been a bit busy over the last few days as I am sure you can tell by the lack of posts. There was playing with the kids and hanging out with Suzy and then on Thursday Joe and I watched Suzy's kids while she and her husband took the day to drive into Salt Lake to have some alone time and do some shopping (they live in a pretty small town). I was glad to help them out, but unfortunately about midmorning on Thursday I started to have a bit of a sore throat and it kept getting worse and worse. Fortunately I have experience with Strep so I called and made an appointment at a local clinic for Friday morning before the end of business on Thursday. By that doctors appointment on Friday I was pretty miserable but they gave me some good drugs and I am feeling much better today. We are now in Jackson Hole, WY and it is cold (12 degrees) but pretty here. Today we went for a drive in the Tetons and saw a moose and a wolf (we think, it was pretty far away). Here are some pictures from my husband again, all but the moose are from the Seedskadee wildlife refuge that we went to Thursday.

I got my babies back

It was nice to have some time away to relax without the kids, but I was sure missing them. We got back into Rock Springs about 8:30 on Monday night and there were many hugs, kisses and I love yous going around. We spent the night at Suzy's house and then moved into a hotel on Tuesday afternoon. I am very grateful to Suzy and Tom for their hospitality, but it was really nice to have some space for our family to be alone together again. This morning Joe took some family pictures for Suzy and Tom and now the kids are laying down for naps and I am going to run to the store to pick up a few items. We will be leaving for the Tetons on Friday.

Back in the USA

We got back into Miami at about 7:30 Arizona time last night. It feels good to be back where we can call the kids whenever we want. I have seen a pattern developing though, last night the smoke detector in the hotel went off TWICE! I am not sure what this is about but it woke both of us up both times. I hope this is the last time it happens on this trip. Today we fly to Salt Lake and then Drive back to Wyoming to pick up the kids. We will stay with Suzy tonight and then in a hotel for a couple of days so Suzy and I can visit.

Another Brown Joins the Old Married People Club

Today my brother got married to his lovely girlfriend of 3 (I think) years. The ceremony was on the beach at their resort with my parents his bride's parents, me and Joe and my sister and her husband. Joe took the wedding photos and I am sure that they are going to turn out great. It has turned out to be a very long day though. The girls got together this morning to have a spa day and the guys went golfing so we had to take a taxi to their resort at 9am this morning and we just got back at 10:30. The massage and pedicure at the spa was lovely and it was nice to have that time to hang out together.

I am really missing my kids now and am looking forward to getting back to Rock Springs to collect them from Suzy. I have been in contact with Suzy by email pretty much every day, but since it costs $3.25 a minute to call there we have only been calling to talk to the kids every other day. Today was that every other day, but with the 3 hour time difference we got back to the hotel just at bedtime so I hurried to the room to call and luckily they were not asleep yet and we got to talk to them. Suzy assures me that they are doing fine, but I will be so glad to hold and kiss them again Monday night.

Tomorrow is our last full day at the resort and I am planning on just being lazy and relaxing all day. Joe and my dad want to go snorkeling and I am going to let them do that together, all I want to do tomorrow is sleep, eat and maybe I'll work up enough energy to go for a swim.

A Calypso Christmas

When we got here one of the first things that I saw was a Christmas tree in the hotel lobby. Yesterday on the catamaran cruise they were playing Calypso Christmas music on the radio, and this afternoon when I walked out of the hotel after changing into my swimsuit for lunch there was a steel drum band playing a Christmas song. It took me a second to realize that was what they were playing, I am so used to the way I normally hear the songs that they sound like a completely different song. It is hard to think that it is December and getting closer and closer to Christmas when we are down here in this humid 80+ degree weather. In Phoenix it is often in the 70’s and 80’s all the way into December but it is never humid like this, plus I just don’t associate beaches and sand with Christmas.

Today the family took a cab to the marketplace and duty free shops (right next to where they dock the cruise ships). I wanted to find some fabric to bring back to my quilting friends but didn’t see anything good. I did find a nice t-shirt for me and then one for Alex and his two Wyoming friends and a beach wrap for me.

The internet here can't really handle the upload of pictures so they are going to have to wait until we are back in the states. Joe has been getting some good ones.

A Boat Trip

Today Joe and I, my parents, my sister and brother in law and my future SIL’s parents all went on a Catamaran tour of the island. We left in a bus at 8am to go to the dock and then took the boat for about an hour and then docked and got into another bus to tour the volcano and the botanical gardens. The garden was really cool because it had all kinds of great tropical flowers plus cocoa and nutmeg trees. I have never seen nutmeg fresh off the trees. After those two stops we went to a local restaurant for lunch and then back on the boat for a short trip to a snorkeling and swimming area. We are now back at the resort and I am desperately trying to get on the internet but it doesn’t seem to be working and I am very frustrated. Oh well as they say here no pressures, no problem. Here are some great pictures that my husband took last night. I have a couple more pictures but they are going to have to wait since the internet here is too slow.

On Island Time Now

December 9, 2007

On Island time now

Wow what a whole different world this is. The airport here is something that you would see on a TV show and not really believe that it existed. We landed at this tiny little airport with probably the shortest runway that I have ever seen and then we used stairs to get off the plane right on the tarmac. There were a grand total of two other planes there. Then we were herded into customs were we waited in line to show our passports. The inside of the airport was very rustic but the outside was even more so, you walk out the double doors of the airport into an open air patio where the resorts just back their shuttle busses right up to the curb. There were all kinds of people waiting at their cars presumably to pick up people that had just landed. It was so very different than the airports that I am used to. After boarding the bus we took a 2 hour drive around the outside of the island (the only main road I suspect) to our hotel. The road was one lane in each direction and motorcyclists and other cars routinely passed us at breakneck speeds. I was sure that we were going to witness an accident, but luckily that was not the case. I am sure that they are used to this type of driving and have learned to be more defensive than I am used to. After getting into our rooms we (my parents, my sister and BIL and my brothers future in-laws) went to dinner in the English themed pub here. The food was good and plentiful but the service was on island time, luckily the drinks are free and plentiful. I suspect that there will be more than one person in our group with a headache tomorrow. We have now come back to our room in hopes of catching up on the sleep that has been so sadly lacking over the last week, but no such luck as of yet. The air conditioner is not cooling and we have a very nice man from maintenance in here trying to fix it for us so that we can cool and dehumidify the room for more comfortable sleeping.

Joe wants me to mention the fact that there is a bird or some such other creature outside of our room that is making a rhythmic squeaking noise and that his preferred activity for tomorrow is bird hunting. I suspect though, that as soon as the air is fixed we will be so ready to sleep that the noise won’t be an issue.

Another tidbit from the trip that I forgot to mention earlier is that when we were driving through Wyoming to get back to the airport in Salt Lake we passed the first JC Penny’s store in a little Wyoming town. It was super small and unimpressive, funny to think that such a big chain grew out of something so small. Also, last Friday morning I won another prize from Prizey, a cool set of bows for my Abbie girl.

December 10, 2007

Well the air conditioner took 2 hours to fix last night and it is not completely fixed, they told us that they were going to have to completely replace the unit some time today. After the air was finally fixed we went to bed only to have the smoke detector go off at 2:45. We called the front desk and their solution was to come and take the detector out of the room (they still haven't replaced it). This morning we woke up about 9 and went and took the tour of the grounds. After that Joe went and took a nap while I went out with everyone else on the small sail boats that they have for the guests to use. It was very fun and nice and cool on the boat. Tomorrow we are going on an all day catamaran trip around the island.
I miss the kids greatly but I am hopefull that this break will allow me to be a more patient mom when we get back. If you want to read about what they are up to go to Suzy's blog and read all about it. Suzy is my saintly friend that agreed to watch my kids so that my husband and I could attend my brother's wedding.

Now I need to go to the room to cool off for a while. Well maybe not, Joe just came out and said that they were cleaning the room.

A Quick Update

Just a quick update since it is almost 1 am here and we have to be up at 6. Got up this morning in Salt Lake at 6am (we could have slept until 10 if we could have slept). It was still snowing and we were both worried that our flight would be canceled. We managed to get out of Utah just fine and everything else went smoothly (if you count numerous hours in too close contact with strangers) and we are now at our hotel in Miami. The kids are well with Suzy but I miss them fiercely. Joe and I have been looking at the pictures she is sending us when we feel lonely for them.

Some Great Pictures

Suzy sent along some great pictures of Abbie girl in the bath last night. She just LOVES water.

Apparently the kids have not been on their best behavior since we left yesterday. I really hope that they will settle down into the Sholar's routine and things will get easier from here on out.

A Change of Plans

We were originally planning on getting up Saturday morning and driving to Salt Lake to catch our 3pm flight but that plan changed this morning when we woke up to falling snow. As the morning wore on it became more and more clear that we needed to get into Salt Lake today or risk missing our flight tomorrow. So after some hurried last minute packing, laundry and errand running we kissed the kids goodbye and got on the road. The pass that we took from Salt Lake to Rock Springs was already closed so we had to take an alternate route. It pretty much snowed the whole way here and we had to be in 4 wheel drive most of the way, but we made it here safely (in about twice as much time as it took to get from Salt Lake to Rock Springs). We are staying at a hotel near the airport tonight and have just enjoyed a pretty decent meal that a local restaurant delivered to our room. I miss the babies already, but I am extremely grateful to be given this opportunity to have a much needed break from the constant work of having two small children. I have pictures from the drive today but the camera is in the car and I'll have to post them the next time I get on the internet.

A slow day

Last night we all didn't go to bed until about midnight and then Abbie wouldn't sleep so I ended up with her on the couch with me for most of the night (nursing a lot for comfort). Then this morning the boys were up by 7:30. After breakfast we took the boys to gymnastics class and Joe stayed at the apartment with Abbie while Tom went to work. After gym class we went to a cute little quilt store in Green River and I bought 3 yards of fabric, a really cute monster panel and a book on making aprons. We then came home and made lunch fed the kids and I tried to get Abbie to take a nap while Joe took Alex on an adventure to the local wildlife preserve in hopes of taking some pictures of wildlife. Abbie didn't ever take a nap but I was able to rest a while. This evening Suzy made some yummy chicken enchiladas and I made Spanish rice, everyone enjoyed it except Alex who refused to even try anything (although he has eaten and liked my Spanish rice before). After dinner we put the kids down and the adults had a bit of computer time and then we played two fun games, toss up and pick picnic. It's now about 9:45 and the Sholars are getting ready for bed and and as soon as I am done with this I will be too.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot I was notified that I won another giveaway that I found on prizey. I won a $45 gift certificate to flattenme.

The Adventure Begins

I have been writing this as we go and will be uploading as I have internet access.

December 4, 2007

The adventure begins

We left town about 10:30 this morning after a pretty sleepless night. Last night we put Alex to bed at his usual time and we could not get him to stay in his room or settle down long enough to go to sleep. We even at one time tried letting him sleep in bed with us. There was some difficulty in getting the roof bag onto the roof, packed and tied down but it holds so much stuff that it is truly worth the hassle. The only other way we would have been able to bring enough stuff for this trip would have been to rent a trailer and we didn’t want to deal with that in the snow. I bought the duffle bags that fit into our roof bag and that made it much easier to gauge how much would fit and to contain all of the small clothing items that needed to be packed in it. We stopped at Cracker barrel (my favorite road, especially since they have Swedish fish) in Flagstaff for lunch about 1:30. From there we took highway 89 north and then took 89A to Kanab. 89A which goes close to the north rim of the Grand Canyon was so pretty with a covering of snow and very peaceful since there were not too many people on the road. We got into Kanab, Utah about 6:30 and stopped at Pizza Hut for dinner. After dinner we decided that it was too early to stop for the day so drove for another 50 miles to a town call Panguich (sp?) and got a room at a small motel (cheap, clean but for $44 most assuredly not luxury). Now Joe and I are both on the computer, Abbie is in her pack and play and Alex is running around the room out of control. I guess it’s a good thing that this motel doesn’t look too busy. Tomorrow we will drive to Salt Lake and pick up some cold weather gear and then head onto Rock Springs.

December 5, 2007

In Wyoming now

This morning the kids woke up about 6:30 and we decided to just get going and were on the road by 7:30. At 10 when the kids were starting to get stir crazy we just happened to be driving past a McDonalds with a play area so I had Joe stop so we could let the kids out for a while. We ended up staying for nearly an hour and the kids were much happier after that. We got into the Salt Lake area around 1 and went to a Walmart to get some of the cold weather gear that we couldn’t get in Phoenix. After lunch and shopping we headed out for Rock Springs and arrived at Sholar Siding around 6:30 just in time for dinner. After dinner the kids were going nuts and Suzy had the brilliant idea of taking them to the local rec center so they could burn off some energy. The boys ended up practically running for a half mile on the running track before going to the play area and letting them play for over a half an hour. We then took them home and put them to bed. Now all the adults are sitting in the Sholar’s living room working on the computers (3 laptops and 1 blackberry).