Rainy days...

Today is a rainy, lazy, I don't want to do anything kind of day. A tropical wave is moving across the island, so watch out!!! Those waves develop into storms and hurricanes!!!! It's been so hot down here, the rain and wind is a nice break.
The kids are doing great.  This is their last week of school and then summer camp starts.  I have volunteered to help at camp and we are going on field trips every Wednesday to different parts of the island.  I am excited because I get to be a tourist and be with the kids at the same time.
Last week, I fell down the hill that leads up to our house.  It is a gravel road and my foot slipped and I did a split!! It was not graceful at all and it really hurt for about four days, but I am much better now.  We rented a Jeep for 4 days because I couldn't walk up and down the hill and we took advantage of the Jeep and went out last weekend. We went to Cabrit's National Park and to Purple Turtle Beach.  It was so much fun and we all wish now that we had a car!!
Cabrit's National Park sits at the bottom of Fort Shirley, which is a fort that sits on the corner of the island.  We only went to Cabrit's because Fort Shirley required climbing a hill. We will return later to do that.  Here are some pictures from Cabrit's.

We also went to Purple Turtle, which is a beach nearby. It was so much fun!! The kids had a blast and played with a family of little girls that were amazed by our water guns and the fact that I could take their picture and they could immediately see it.  They kept begging me to take their picture so they could see it, then they wanted to take my camera home with them!
The girls taught Grace how to climb a coconut tree where  rope swing had been tied.  She would swing out and drop in the ocean.  She was exhausted!!

Just a few pictures of us and the kids......

Week 2

We are getting settled into a daily routine here on the island and things are good!!  The kids are in school and enjoying it.  Warren and I walk the kids to school in the morning and he goes to work.  I meet with a fabulous group of spouses for various activities that includes yoga on Mondays, gym Tues, Wed and Thurs then snorkeling on Friday.
This is a picture of the kids school with the playground.  It's as big as the school itself.  This is new and one of the MAJOR improvements since last time.

We meet everyday at 12 noon at the school to feed the kids lunch.  The parents are responsible for providing lunch and the lunch break is from 12 to 1 and then the kids go back to school.  I usually make my daily grocery store trip after lunch and then head back to get the kids at 3.  We go to the pool or play on the playground almost every afternoon.

It is so nice being able to spend the weekends together and actually do things in the island.  We went to the beach this past Saturday and it was gorgeous.  This is the closest beach to us.  The sand is black sand on this particular beach, as is most beaches on the island.

This is the pier at the beach.  If you look closely, you can see Warren, Grace and Ayden on the end of the pier....

The flowers are absolutely beautiful on the island and are always in bloom.  Here are a few of my favorites (not sure what they are exactly)

This is the open air restaurant next to the beach.

A few pics of the family

And lastly, the gorgeous sunsets from our living room window

We have arrived!!!

Grace, Ayden and I arrived in Dominica on Saturday.  It is so different than when we left. It is much more up to date, for lack of a better way to describe it.  We have a grocery store that is amazing and there are many improvements to the school.
Warren did an amazing job finding our house. It sits at the top of banana trail and is quite a hike from the school, which is good.  We are only going to live here for 2 months, until a faculty house opens up next to campus in August.  This is our house.....

We live upstairs and it is a two bedroom house.  We have mango trees in our yard and Grace has LOVED picking them. The owner of the house installed two make-shift swings in the trees and Grace spends her time swinging in the mango trees.

This is banana trail.......



This is directly behind our house.  Banana trees as far as you can see.  The blue bags the trees are around the bananas to protect them from bugs. 

Banana trail leads straight up the mountain side.  The walk is killer and I should be a size 6 by now :)

This is my reward for climibing the hill up to our house....

This island is beautiful and I am humbled at how God has provided for us.  I registered the kids for school at the prepatory school on campus yesterday.  As most of you know, Ayden has a developmental delay and has been in a special needs pre-k for the past two years.  I was very nervous about brining him down to the island, but felt a peace about it.  Now I know why.  There is a spouse of a faculty member that has just arrived on the island as well.  She is going to work at the prepatory school, and guess what.....she is a special edcuation teacher.   I about cried when I heard that yesterday.  I am amazed at God's work in my life.

This was what greeted us as we walked down to take the kids to school for the first time today.  God's promise.....