home agian, home again

I think my dad use to say that all the time? or was it mom? - "home again, home again"

So I knew when i booked an overnight flight home to TCI that i was in for a treat, I just didn't know how BIG  of a treat it would be!\

It started Saturday night with Dekker waking up with spots that quickly turned into hives a swollen upper lip. The last time he had hives we thought it was an immunization reaction because we were told it couldn't be from his antibiotics for his ear ache. By 3:30 am in the hospital it was pretty clear that dekker is in fact allergic to amoxicillin. He was in the middle of a dose of amox for his strep throat.  Thank goodness for steroids and benedryl! He also now has an epi-pen (for the slim chance that he has only gotten hives each time he is on amox, but coincidentally is allergic to some other random thing)

So then when we left Sunday night at 10:30 for the airport I already had a VERY tired boy on my hands! Long story short - we arrived in TCI 3:30 local time. The flights were pretty uneventful - thanks to a last minute addition of a sheet and a pillow for dekker (he slept on the floor) and a purchase of a blanket on the plane for hazel(she slept on the seats). Dekker was knocked out the whole time(i was sitting up with no room for my feet or body, so no sleep for me)!Hazel slept on both planes, but was wide awake during our 3 hr Toronto layover.  On our flight from toronto to TCI the plane was basically empty - the flight attendant joked that we had a private jet! so i did move to another row of seats and got my first bit of sleep on the trip.

So we got to TCI and had the joy of dealing with a mean immigration lady on a power trip. Kyle and I came in on a 30 day temporary visa which of course had expired. His permanent visa was being processed and we were told it wouldn't be a big deal for me to get back into TCI. Not true. This lady says "Your husband is illegally in the country and is committing fraud by working here. He should be getting a huge fine for this blah blah blah"  So I could tell she was trying to scare and intimidate me. Whatever. I wasn't too worried because I knew that Kyle's company would have to pay for any fine etc. So they brought Kyle back and interrogated him in the other room and tried to scare him as well. Then they had him go buy me and the kids one way tickets to canada. So he went and bought refundable tickets and we were on our way.  Kyle did have to go into immigration the next morning at 9. So his boss (a partner) (who is on the committee running TCI since the government was found corrupt and disbanded) sent his wife (who is a very powerful and rich woman on the island) with kyle. She walked in there, demanded answers and found out Kyle's visa is approved and just needs it's final signature. So all that for nothing. So the Partners wanted to know what this lady's name was so they could make a complaint and get her in trouble haha.

Sorry long story, but it's my blog and I want to remember...

We finally got home around 5 - so it was a long day. Dekker and I slept in till 12 the next day. And I thought that was it for the drama. But the last 2 nights the kids have gone to bed at 9. Then woken up from 11-3am. Yup we are still suffering from our all nighter flight. Today I woke them up at 8:30, so we are hoping tonight will go better!

 In Toronto - Dek passed out and Hazel being an angel coloring!

Vacations in Canada our way cooler than living there!

Well it's true!

So we were planning on not coming to canada this year because basically we are dirt poor, but Keelia and Brody just couldn't wait the whole year to get married, and so the kids and I got to come to Canada for 2 weeks! Yippee!

We had a riot, but I am exhausted!

In a nutshell this is what we did:

1 doctors appiontment in calgary
2 hospital visits (one in Calgary, one in Raymond)
2 emergency room visits (one in Calgary, one in Raymond)
2 Temple trips (session and sealing)
2 Value Village trips
3 Costo trips
2 Walmart trips
2 Superstore trips
1 Old Navy visit
1 Bridal Shower
1 dress alteration
1 Wedding - Sealing, Family Dinner (with mandatory lip sync and dance), Reception
1 swim trip at Raymond Pool (kids got to go twice - thanks Jody)
1 girls night out to "the help"
1 magrath fish pond frog catching extravaganza
1 wiener roast
20 ice cream cones (at least)
2 ears pierced (Hazel)
1 Calaway park visit
1 Calgary Zoo visit
1 Tayla's Birthday Party
6 GIANT bags packed
6 small bags packed
2 flights
14 days

Highlights
- the wedding! it's so nice to see keelia happy with brody! can't wait to get to know him better
- the kids getting to play with their harker and stone cuzins!
- visiting with everyone!

Low lights
-Dekker being sick and miserable for the wedding and with the allergic reaction
-having to buy everything you need on holiday instead of relaxing on holiday (i ran into a lady who has been here 15 yrs on the plane back - she had 12 giant bags filled! she even buys all of the gifts her kids might need for birthday parties over the next year!)
- being sick myself and having hazel sick too!

GET READY FOR PICTURES!


before and after the earrings!

CALAWAY PARK!

THE RIDE THEY HAD TO STOP CUZ IT WAS WAY TOO SCARY FOR DEKKER!

THE ZOO!

 hazel wanted a pic that looked like she was kissing the dinasoar (copying nani, and her aunties)

FISH POND CATCHING FROGS!

OH CANADA!



New tricks at the pool

I thought it would be fun to show what Hazel and Dekker work at while they swim.

Hazel has been trying to master the hand stand. It's been rough for her because she refuses to stop plugging her nose. So she should get extra points for the one handed Hand Stand!

Dekker decided last week to go from life jacket to nothing. This is a couple days later. It scared me at first, but anytime I try to help him I get in big trouble because "I am a BIG BOY!"

THE POOL

So our townhouse backs onto a pool and that backs onto the golf course.  We love it!

 you can see the golf course in the back

these lizards are everywhere, we found one in the house one morning, we found one dead (or did as hazel would say) in the pool one morning - gross. the kids loved "getting rid of it"

hazel with one of the neighbor kids

this is during our first week in TCI

 dekker has graduated from clinging to mom or dad or the stairs, to swimming a couple meters without a life

jacket in just 4 weeks!

i'm not usually into nature shots, but i love these flowers!!!

i feel like my kids are so stickin lucky! they are livin the life!

and don't they look so cute!!!

here are their "model" shots



yay for undies!

I had no intentions of even attempting potty training dekker until he was at least 3. It was a nightmare with hazel because she resisted and i thought i would put it off untill i knew he was ready. well he started  panicking everytime he had to pee, so i showed him how to go on the pot and he basically trained himself! he has been so good about it because he wants to be a big boy - he's even had a lot of nights that's he's kept his pull ups dry! i can count the amount of accidents he's had on one hand!

Taylor Bay Beach

I made my first "online" friend while researching moving to Providenciales, Turks and
CaicosIslands(aka Provo or TCI ). Her name is Gem and she lived here last year before moving back to the UK. I was really trying to figure out what the church was like here, but ended up e-mailing her a million times to find out stuff and also being able to read her blog and find out a bunch of fun places to go to.  Thanks Gem!!

The closest beach to us is Grace Bay Beach. It's amazing! It usually has quite a few tourists, which is fun because the kids usually can find someone to play with. I read about Taylor Bay Beach on Gem's Blog and had to go! It's about 20 min away from us on the other side of the Island, but Kyle has been auditing at the airport over there, so i picked him after work and we went straight to the beach. Well after we drove around for half an hour being lost that is.

 finally found it! no signs of course! it is surrounded by really nice beach homes.

 walking down to the beach

we did see a few other people at the beach. they had found this starfish and took a pic of us all together. they were accountants from San Diego!  they left after about 15 min and then we had the beach to ourselves. 

this is what makes Taylor Bay Beach so great for kids! look how far out they are and its still soo shallow! we walked for 10 min out and it was just up to my knees. dekker was talking about it for days he was so excited to go out far and still touch. 

just like having our own private beach!

 hazel had the best time running around. instead of collecting sea-shells she's collecting coral because we learned all about it!

 

 dekker and i enjoying the beach right before he had an accident that i had to scrape out with twigs and leaves. right infront of the only other people there. a couple on their honeymoon enjoying the sunset! sadly there was no were to hide so they were traumitized and so was i.

love this beach house!

we stayed to watch the sun set! and then got eaten alive because we forgot bug spray...