Friday, December 31, 2010

Aruba

8:53 AM | Posted by Anne | | Edit Post

We have been back from vacation for a week now and I am finally getting around to writing about it. I have been working a little more recently and trying to get back into home mode from being in vacation mode for 2 weeks is a little hard.

Aruba is beautiful. The beaches are gorgeous, the people are so friendly and it has a nice variety of things to do. It may have been the fact there was air conditioning, but it felt nice a hot. Saba has been so cold recently it was nice to be able to swim and tan. We spent some days at the beach, some by the pool, went shopping, a day at sea on a pirate ship, did our own tour of the island, went scuba diving and even did some snorkeling. It was a full vacation but we came back feeling very rested. 

We celebrated Christmas down there and were overwhelmed by all the gifts we received. Since there is not much to buy for Christmas presents on Saba we took everyone out to eat as our gift to them. We found the best place. Amazonia. Meat, meat and more meat. It had a huge and delicious salad bar that had way more then typical salad toppings. That is just the starter, after that the show begins. You flip the switch showing you are ready for the main event and then they swarm your table. And I mean swarm. The first time there were 6 people with meat on huge swords surrounding our table. That was the first round. By the end of it we had something like 15 different cuts of meat. Chicken, pork, beef, lamb, sausage.... Yum! Then they brought out the grilled pineapple. I could have ate the whole thing. We will definitely be making that when we get home and have our BBQ back.

Here are a few of the pictures from the trip. I guess I did not get the pictures of Amazonia from Joel's dad so those are missing. I will do another post in a little while with an update on what is going on around here...

The pirate ship! 

The next two pictures is what we saw when we laid by the pool.

There is that relaxed smile that is missing for about 3.5 months at a time. 

Christmas presents!! Fabric! YAY! 

Family portraits

Scuba diving, and we all made it in the picture. 

Do you like our matching snorkel gear? 

And look even Santa came to visit! 

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Friday, December 10, 2010

One year down, 8 months to go!

11:41 AM | Posted by Anne | | Edit Post

I am sooo darn proud of my hard working husband. He just wrote his last exams for semester 3 yesterday and I don't think I have seen him smile that much in a LONG time. These last couple weeks he has had been studying sooo very hard and is now in desperate need of a vacation. And it just so happens we leave on one tomorrow. All he wants to do is nothing. I think we can arrange that for a few days but there are other things on the list to do as well. Like scuba, snorkelling, shopping, swimming and suntanning; all the important S's.

I have been keeping busy this week with cleaning, organizing. helping friends pack, and sewing. Nothing too interesting but busy. Last night we went out for dinner to celebrate the boys completion of exams and it was really nice. It is this place on the hiking trail with really delicious food. I think Joel ate a steak the size of half a cow. Today we ran around doing some errands and tonight we are going out to celebrate a few friend's birthdays. Dessert at a beautiful local hotel perched on top of a hill.

Then tomorrow we are packing because we don't leave till 3. I am so excited to have a change of scenery. Also I can't wait to do some window shopping. It is not the same online. I don't know that I will find the time to do any blog writing while I am away so this may be the last one for a couple weeks. So I have a few birthday wishes I want to send out...

Happy Birthday Dad!
Happy Birthday Claire Bear!
Happy Birthday Evan!

Wish I could be there to celebrate with you three! And to everyone else...

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

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Saturday, December 4, 2010

Done and Done!

12:25 PM | Posted by Anne | | Edit Post

We finished two things this week. I finished my very first quilt and Joel finished with Movember. He was sooooo glad to be done with it. I got used to it. Mind you it wasn't big and bushy like some so it was easier to deal with. And of course I documented the before and after for you all. 

Before: Orlando Bloom (well that's who my brother-in-law thought he looked like)

After: Babyfaced

Now for the highlight of my week. My very first quilt. I took a few pictures like a proud parent of this baby I have been working on for a while. I show it to everyone I know because I must say I think I did a pretty darn good job since when I started I didn't even know how to thread the machine. Okay here is a barrage of pictures.... 

Are you as in love with it as I am? I hope so! I got an e-mail from Lesley this week and we are starting a sewing group when I get home. Can't wait! Also I moved on to my next quilt for my unborn nephew. He is due next month and this will not be done by then nor will her get it soon because he lives in Italy. I will show you a sneak peak but from this point on I will have to keep it under wraps because my sister reads this. Hi Elle! 

 

Not a lot going on here. Joel is hard at working studying and giving me evil glares every time I try to talk to him. So I have been trying to stay out of his way. But it's hard in this little place. I am getting super excited for Aruba. Next Week! I will have to get started on packing soon I guess. 

I am just going to show you a few more funny things and one yummy.

I was making a few breakfast casseroles last weekend and when I was cracking the eggs it made this cute smiley face. Joel thought I was nuts when I made him come see it. 

 Then I cracked more for the next one and it turned into a side smirk smiley face. 

Not as good but still fun. 

 I drove to sewing last week and saw these goats which are cute enough.

 But the picture is way funnier when you realize they are on Sally's roof. 

Seriously goats are everywhere. 

 And finally the yummy. For the breakfast casserole I had to cut the crusts off 6 loaves of bread so in Christmas tradition in our house we made croutons with those. I have eaten so many of these and given away even more but there is still a lot left. If only you could smell through the computer then you would know how yummy this picture really is. 

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