St Thomas and the Seaplane

I had a trip not too long ago to St Thomas. It was my 2nd time going since coming here. Overall, it's a lovely island. But, I think that's biased on my part, only by the fact that I get to drive on the left hand side there and it's a lot of fun!! And, very mountainous, which makes the left-hand driving even that much more thrilling. Beyond that, haven't quite figured out what you would do there much past a day, but it's nice to look at. It's a BIG port for cruise ships and shopping. I've never understood that piece of 'cruising'. You're American, you get on a very big and very expensive ship, they sail you very far away only to shop at American stores found at your local mall for the same price, or more. Hmmmm??

I digress. Back to the subject. This trip caused us to not only meet with people in St Thomas, but to also meet with people in St Croix. I don't even know how far away it is, but you have to get there via sea plane or ferry. We chose the plane. Initially, I was not a big fan. I don't like small planes and although I'm fine traveling and flying (a lot!), I like to know it's big and safe.

Here's what it looked like. An 8-seater. Choppy waters, they ask you your weight when you check-in, in order to properly 'balance' the plane. They weighed my barely-a-purse, purse that came in at a whopping 3lbs! If they have to weigh even that, how fine of a line is this balancing act??

This was our lovely pilot, Paul. He was from Russia or maybe Germany. I can't remember any more, as I'm so current in my blogging! Ha! But, he had an accent, I know that. Australian, I think now. :)

There were only 3 of us on this particular flight, so he let me get up front and pretend to fly the plane. Doesn't happen in commercial any more, does it? Nice guy. Guess he didn't suspect I was dangerous! Funny story for all you Dallas friend's reading.....the only other person on the plane....was an attorney from University Park who was about my age and now lived and practiced in St Thomas/St Croix! How strange is that? I didn't learn it until the very end, but of course, started the 'name game' at that time. No luck.

Here's how empty the plane was. We look like tourists, don't we?

Fuzzy picture, but this was a teeny-tiny island right off St Croix that had a resort on it. Looked very relaxing. Again, the pilot was very kind to us and took liberties not allowed on commercial. Knowing it was my first time, he did a fly by of the island to show me the sights. He kept pointing back and telling me to switch side to see certain things and to take pictures.

Here is Paul in action. Shorts, tennis shoes and a baseball cap. Nice uniform for sea flying. Wouldn't anything else seem inappropriate??

Best part.....the take off and the landing. It was a lot of fun and not scary at all!! Much to my surprise! Dad - if there were a sea close to San Antonio, I could really see you doing this in your post-retirement life!

********************************

'Happiness should not be pursued - create it!'......we went to PF Changs's last night for dinner. This was the fortune in Olivia's cookie. Kyle laughed as for some odd reason, this brought tears to my eyes. It was perfect for Olivia. I kept it to put it in her baby book as I truly believe this is my daughter's mantra. She lives by it. So much to learn from this little one. I'm quite lucky.

Surprises for Olivia.....

I'm so excited!! Sara, lovingly named 'Baba' from Olivia, is on her way to visit!!! And, the best part is, we've somehow managed to keep it a surprise from Olivia. She knows that someone is coming to visit, just not sure who. Last night Kyle and I were talking to her about it. And, when asked who she'd like to see, Sara's name (actually Baba) was her response. (No offense for grandparents/aunts/cousins as the countdown to see you all is already in full swing!)

Sara was originally getting in at 845pm, but just texted me that she got off early and is on her way to the airport to try and make an earlier flight. Woo hoo!

And, OU (Sara's team) plays U of Miami tomorrow night at 8pm in Miami, so we'll get to watch it with her and cheer on the 'Canes!! (Sorry Sara!) Sorry Bradford.

Lili - i finally unpacked my USB cord, so pictures are on their way to being posted soon, I promise. And, in the mail so you can have a CD of them. Got a bunch and they all turned out really good.

Have a great weekend!

This was SO yesterday....and I'm Well Aware!

This is Olivia's first day of school at Old Cutler Presbyterian! I forgot to turn the camera the other way and you can't correct once loaded, so my apologies.

Leaving the condo. Very happy girl with her new Tinkerbell backpack as big as her and her Disney princess lunchbox. Big marketing ploy that tricks us every time!! (The funny part....Kyle got suckered into it this time!)

Outside her classroom....

Inside her classroom....

Going for Ice Cream at Swenson's after school to celebrate! The kid picked the biggest sundae on the menu. Couldn't believe they had a Swenson's here. Loved it as a kid and went all the time in Az. Unfortunately, I don't think the one here has been updated since 1982.....first....and last....time for us. Fun, regardless.

Digging Out....

You know you're moving when...

your cute, precious, almost-4yr-old daughter asks after school..'mom, do you think you could not wear your hat (Longhorn baseball cap, that is) tonight?'. yes, 5 days straight of jogging clothes, hat on, no make-up, moving, unpacking and an extremely aching back that is in dire need of a good massage. Make that, great massage! And, we aren't even done yet.

Turns out we had 30,000 LBS of 'stuff' moved all the way from TX. I bet 15,000lbs of it needs to be thrown away. We had two garage sales in the 6 months prior to moving, in addition to really cleaning out a lot of stuff prior to the movers coming in. I did not want to unpack a box of stuff and say to myself 'Why in the world did this get packed?'. But, guess what I've said about a hundred times since Thursday?? It's my first move outside of the one to Dallas with Frito-Lay right after graduation. I think everything would've fit in a U-Haul back then. I guess you don't really know how to move until you become an expert at it. At least that's what I'm telling myself to feel better about it. We also lost 1k sq feet of living space, a lot of built-ins and we've lived for the past two months with very little. Puts it in perspective. You really don't need much when it's all said and done. My other revelation...don't spend a lot of money on built-ins. Surprise - you can't take them with you when you move! I've lost a lot of storage space, space to display pictures, decorative things and am stuck with what to do.

But, the good news. I love the house. The color on the walls made a big difference. It feels a bit more like home. We've eaten outside on the patio every night. No bugs. The screen is genius! I have my kitchen back. Feels great! We've had a lot of neighbors come by and introduce themselves. Two bottles of champagne to drink - one from our loan officer (?) and one from the very kind people we bought the house from. They left a bottle in the fridge. Isn't that extremely sweet?! (I never even thought of that with the people that bought our house). They were very good to us. And, if you remember my story about the nice girl with the young daughter Olivia played with on a house hunting trip a few months ago?....We've seen her a few times between school and a birthday party for a kid in O's school. She's very nice, her husband is a big golfer and Olivia and her daughter, Ann Marie get along GREAT. She brought a bottle of wine over, along with a LONG list of extremely valuable things.....phone numbers - i.e. dentist, pediatrician, pediatric dentist, eye Dr, gymnastics, ballet, dermatologist!! It's obvious she just relocated too!

I still need to post pictures of our wonderful visit from Kenneth and Lili! So behind. Kyle's mom is here now for 10 days and Olivia is in heaven with 'Gogi' around!! After that....a surprise for Olivia. 'Baba' (a.k.a. Sara) is coming!! We're trying to keep it a surprise for her, but it's killing me not to tell her! I know she will be beside herself.

A Place to Call Home......

I think I'm perpetually at least a week behind on blogging. I can't seem to get away from it. Or, rather, ahead of it. I just found my missing USB cord. So, my pictures from Lili and Kenneth's visit are just getting uploaded. I definitely need to get those up before Thursday....because the moving truck is pulling up and FINALLY returning our things.


Whew. We don't even remember what we have anymore, it's been so long. Kyle and I were trying to 'place' things in our mind this weekend as we were walking around the empty house and we kept remembering things. It's weird to think you haven't seen your belongings in over TWO months. I thought at the beginning that I'd set aside a ridiculously large amount of clothes and shoes. However, after 2 1/2 months.....I hope to never see these outfits again!! But, yes....it's also taught us that you really can get by on very little. And, it's probably a pretty good idea to do so.


Enough of that....on to the fun stuff!!! Our house!! The more time I spend in it, the more I really love it. The 'Florida style' definitely took some getting used to. After 6 months of house hunting though, it began to grow on us. And now, the idea of eating on your patio for 9 months out of the year, seems kind of cool. The painters are there now painting every room in the house. I took some pics this weekend and will post those soon. (Translate - at least a week!) Tjhe house looks even better with some color on the walls!!


We even swam in the pool this weekend and brought Sam over to run around in the backyard for a bit. And, our backyard neighbors greeted themselves through the hedges today. They live in the oldest house in the neighboryhood....built in 1921. It's amazing. And big. And, they have three kids, including a 5yr old girl!! yipee!

(I uploaded these backwards and it takes awhile to move them around on my home computer without a mouse, so bare with the weird order).

Had to post this one....Olivia took it. Random group of people, me, Allison, our realtor, their realtor, some random friend of theirs...it was really funny to see the things Olivia thought were 'picture worthy'.

The left side of the yard. It goes pretty deep.

Living/dining room.

The coolest climbing tree ever!! Can't wait for the cousins (Kaitlyn & Josh) to come down and see how far they can climb!

Olivia checking out the patio. The window there is a 'pass thru' window to the kitchen.

Cabana bath/Guest bath/Olivia's bathroom....all in one!! :) I promise if you come to visit, it won't be pink!

The family room with french doors to the pool or 'lanai' as they say here. It's beautiful when the doors are open.

My kitchen!!! And, thankfully, a ton of storage space for my billion entertaining dishes! Just need to find people I can entertain!

Self-explanatory!

It was a 3-car garage and the previous owners converted one bay into an extra room. We're going to make it a playroom/office.

The living/dining again. The converted room is off the dining room. It sounds weird, but it actually works. There are french doors too, so it can be closed off. This will be where the slumber party happens when kids come to visit!

I'm just posting this one in memory of Allison's visit. She was annoyed with me by this point
for taking so many pictures!! We're paiting the shutters....not a fan of the current color.

The Lana Casa! Come visit.

************

Olivia update

************

We met the infamous 'Keiffer' this weekend. It was a pretty funny site!! I had NO idea that a 3yr old could get all giddy and coy. Olivia made faces that I thought were years away from coming out. It was plain scary, cute and really funny all at the same time. Apparently all the girls are in love with Keiffer. He's 4. And, Kyle introduced himself just in case he needed to have a talk with him later. That alone was a funny site to witness. I wish I could'be had it on video. Kyle actually said 'I've heard a lot of good things about you!' Conversations had from a 40 yr old to a 4 yr old. Crazy, I tell you.

This Can't Be Happening....

So, we close on the house today. Hopefully. We are in hell right now and I don't want to think about what we're trying to deal with. I'm praying this is a funny story we can laugh about later with a cold beer in hand.

But, for now, I have to blog about something WAY more important.....my precious little 3 YR OLD's first.Crush!! Yep, you read that right. I'm not talking about a cute little innocent matter. It is actually innocent. Completely. right? She's 3. Yes, almost 4 and she's a rather mature 3 yr old, but still.

You see. Olivia started school last week. Preschool. All has gone well until yesterday. Prior to yesterday, she talked about all the fun kids in her class, recess, chapel, lunch time. Now. It's ALL about Keiffer. Keiffer, Keiffer, Keiffer.

In one day, it all turned around. She wants Keiffer over for a playdate, Keiffer needs to come see our new house, is Keiffer coming to the birthday party she's attending Sat?, Keiffer likes turkey sandwiches for lunch, Keiffer is her new imaginary playmate, Keiffer is the only one she wants to invite to her birthday party and now it's supposed to be a 'Spiderman' theme, not the original 'Ariel' theme she wanted. We drove from the new hosue back to the condo last night and, no exaggeration, I heard his name 100 times!

....and best of all....'I'm going to wear this tomorrow and look pretty for Keiffer' was the last thing out her mouth last night as we were picking out her school clothes for the next day! WHAT?? really? She's learned that. How? I don't walk around the house saying 'boy, I hope Daddy thinks I look pretty in this'....where did she learn this? Is it taught on the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse that she watches on Sat mornings? Dora doesn't ask Boots if she looks pretty, does she?

Isn't this supposed to come MUCH later in my child's life?? I am so not ready for this yet. Can you tell?

Kyle's all ready to scope this kid out at the birthday party tomorrow and have his first 'talk' as a father. That thought just makes me laugh. Can you imagine Kyle talking to a 4yr old about leaving his daughter alone. (After all, we've already been told a thousand times that 'Keiffer is older'). Pretty funny stuff. I'm thinking I should go on my own with Olivia, as to avoid a scene.

The best part. Mr. Keiffer is the son of the teacher's aide in her class.

Please tell me this is a phase.....

Searching all Skyper's.....

We have learned that 'Skyping' is a fabulous way to keep in touch with all of our loved ones far away....

But. We need names and/or addresses. I've tried searching in the database for quite a few people and have found that it's harder than it looks. So, if you're interested, please send me your 'skype' id or email address to find you. I have two I use. My work one (Klane329, Miami) and our home one (klane239, Arlington). I think those are the Skype id's.

So, if you're interested, please send me your name and I'll look you up. Or, send me a request and I'll add you to ours.

Also, some people have inquired about leaving comments on the blog. please do. I feel like I'm writing to myself and I'd much prefer to hear from you all than just myself!!! I'm kind of boring. Just click on the '0 comments' at the end of each blog and you can leave messages. Can't wait to read them!! Write away friends.