How I Went to the Bahamas and Didn't get Sunburned

One word-
The weather.

The water in the ocean is supposed to be gently rolling. The palms are supposed to be gently wafting in the breeze.
Nope-not this time.
We had near gale force winds for the first three days we were there. I tried to wear some of my beachie skirts but in the best interest of preserving my modesty, I decided to forgo wearing them. Watching my skirt fly over my head is not a fun spectator sport. We got rained on a lot too.

But even though the weather was nasty, the place is GORGEOUS!

We stayed at the Atlantis Resort-yep, it looks just like in the commercials. We didn't stay in this building. We spent a day wandering around the resort.  We spent over 5 hours just walking the trails and we didn't even see all of it! They have shuttle buses taxiing people all over the resort. The whole place is over 400 acres!

They have an AMAZING salt water aquarium with sharks, stingrays, sea turtles and all sorts of assorted fishies. I don't know if you can tell, but the sting ray was HUGE and that grouper is one giant fish!

And uh yea.....there's lots and lots of money. This was one of the yachts "parked" in the marina. How 'bout your own private helicopter to take you to shore if you are bored out at sea?

We spent one day touring Nassau. It is definitely a third world country. This photo is a water pump where the locals in the "hood" can get their drinking water, cleaning water, etc. They may have no indoor plumbing in this neighborhood, but somebody sure drives a nice car!

But the people are all warm and friendly and I loved how sharp the police officers looked in their uniforms. This guy was directing traffic, and believe me, traffic was crazy. The use of the car horn is a requirement to get around I think. It is a warning, a greeting and a general, get out of the way sound. And because the country was under the jurisdiction of the UK, they all drive on the left side of the road.  A little disconcerting, the saying goes, "left side is right side, right side-suicide....." All the government buildings were painted pink and white, the police station was green and white and if it was another color, well it was a home or some other type of business.

 No words for this one.On the side of the Ministry of Health building.

We toured Fort Charlotte, a fort that took two years to build in preparation for an invasion and war with the French, which never happened.  The bottom photo is some graffiti that was scratched into the rock in 1850, something I thought was VERY cool.

 We saw the Queen's Staircase, built by slaves by hand in honor of Queen Victoria. There are 64 steps, one for each year of her reign.

 We went back to Nassau another day to buy souvenirs at the "Straw Market." The only way I can describe this is to compare it to going to Nogales or Tiajuana......nuff said.  This crazy guy was dressed up in a "Junkanoo" costume. Junkanoo is a celebratory parade they have every Christmas, New Year's and Mardi Gras time. This guy kept saying, "yeah baby" and assorted rubbish like that in my ear. Not sure he was all there in the head.

This one is for Amy. Queen Elizabeth's Jubilee year is being celebrated and there were photos of her life all around the Parliament building.

Another Junkanoo parade our last night. These people know how to Party Hearty.....

The original Bahama Mama......we were getting ready to go hit the "lazy river."  Ummmm not so lazy but really really fun.  It had finally warmed up by now.

Gorgeous view from our balcony. This is what it is SUPPOSED to be like....clear skies, clear waters, crazy turquoise blue and a gentle breeze.....

The End.
Perfectly lovely place.
Nice place to visit.
But home is best.

Fresh from Heaven

Sweet little EGB officially received her name and a special blessing today. Her big brother was off somewhere playing in the dirt with all his cousins. In church he was so funny. He kept saying, "Dats my cousin,"  while pointing to one of them.

You can't see the detail but her Grandma B. hand crocheted her beautiful dress. It was an amazing creation of love and much time! It was so fun to spend time with family and love on ALL the grandkids!

So we are off tomorrow for a little trip.......
I hope to have much more time to blog, although there may be no pictures.
I'm SO looking forward to a little break.......
If anyone still reads this blog-I'd love to hear your guesses.
Although if you are related to me, or are my friend on FB, you probably already know....

Currently on my Sewing Table.....

Helicopters, choo-choo trains, planes and fire engines.
I'm going to attempt to make a quilt my cyber friend, Lacie, posted on her facebook page.
The quilt top is supposed to be completed in less than one hour.
I say yay for that!

But why choo-choo, vroom and wheeee?

Cuz we're getting a baby BOY!

Our angel baby, Ella, is getting a little brother this summer!
He's perfect and healthy and we are SOOOO blessed.

So this grandma is busy making baby quilts again.
Baby Boy quilts to be exact......

Spring Cleaning

It sure feels a lot like spring around here. We have had the mildest weather this past winter. I am kind of wondering how terrible the summer will be tho.....

For the past three weeks we have been having the interior of our house repainted and although I'm loving the fresh, crisp look, it is playing havoc on my mental, physical and spiritual peace!

On this day, I had to empty out all the food in the pantry, including the shelves, so that the painter could get access to the walls.  The day before we had pulled everything out from the walls so he could paint the family room and I was waiting for the okay to start putting everything back.  It was better to wait overnight so that the paint could "harden" (that's how I interpreted his Spanish)

But it has been nice, in a way, to have a good excuse to do some really deep cleaning, which hasn't been done since the original remodel seven years ago. (maybe not even then......)

Still in the process of putting things back together and this week he is taking off all the doors on the kitchen cabinets and restaining them.  Oy vey----another mess.......

I should probably do a before and after pic......
Wish me luck.

P.S. For any of the locals, I have the painter's card.  He is FABULOSO! I highly recommend him. Plus he speaks perfect English, but I speak Spanish to him. I need all the help I can get... The other day, instead of telling him that his check was on top of the desk.....I told him that the check was impregnated, as in well,you know what I mean.....sheesh....he very kindly corrected me.......

Meet Larry

Larry is the latest addition to our family.
We have this type of person living at our house when your daughter is studying anatomy & physiology.
Poor Larry lost his head to another student, in the throes of intense skull study.
I put a winter hat from Alaska on his poor headless body.
Don't know how long he will be with us.
-
Do you think he could scare a criminal?
Not sure, tho he sure scares the grandkids.

P.S. I have been assured by the above-mentioned daughter that this is not a real person-rather a plastic reproduction of a real person.......

Right This Moment...

I'm sitting in front of the computer, preparing for a presidency meeting tonight. My house is in shambles because we are painting the entire inside and although I am loving the fresh paint (not so much the odor) my house and mind are in shambles. It's very difficult to live in disorder.  I guess that could be a whole blog post in itself!

However, the thing that is most on my mind at this moment, other than my presidency meeting, is studying the scriptures.  I have found the most amazing web site called, the redheaded hostess. She is a former seminary teacher, about to be a new mom, and she has created some fabulous scripture journals, which are hopefully headed my way ASAP! She has some amazing suggestions for studying and recording what you learn.

This leads me to share, over six weeks late to be sure, my WORD[S] for the year 2012.

They are:  Listen and Document.

I guess I was kind of testing the waters, so to speak, to see if my words/goals would still be in effect by the time six weeks into the new year had passed.
So far, so good.

Last year my word for the year sort of went by the wayside. I think to sum it all up, the word was Grief. We had just lost our grandbaby and I had some other personal sorrows that found me often curled up in a fetal position, sobbing my eyes out.  But I learned more than I ever thought about the Atonement of Jesus Christ and patience and faith, so I suppose those could have been my WORD[S] for 2011.

But I digress......I had been thinking so much about how important it is to document the things you learn while studying the scriptures, insights received and inspiration that I felt strongly impressed that I needed to work on that this year. I can't believe how much I am learning just by stopping, slowing down and recording my thoughts as I read. It has opened up a whole new world, and I feel like I am "feasting" finally, rather than "picking" at the scriptures.

My other word I came up with just at the end of 2011, was listen. I  have determined that I finally need to LISTEN, especially listen to my body as time passes and it is not cooperating with me as easily as it did ten years ago.  I need to LISTEN to the Spirit, LISTEN to my kids, just plain LISTEN.

So though this is a rambling sort of post, I'm hoping that the objective is clear.....

And go check out the redheaded hostess!

Hi! Just checking in! We are headed this morning to do this:

http://marilynmomof7.blogspot.com/2011/01/ethans-run.html