Picking Food Up Off The Floor

A Week with the Grandparents0

The boys spent a week with their nana’s and papa while we were in Barbados. They shuffled between Mike’s parents and my mom. They had a very busy week and from what I hear were both a delight and a workout. The grandmas got the boys haircuts and had their pictures taken. They visited where their grandmas work, went shopping, went to church, and had an overall active week. Brandon fell in love with his papa. Whenever Mike’s dad got home, all Brandon wanted was his papa. He’s still asking for papa. It’s really neat that the boys are now remembering so much. On our last day back home I asked Drew if he wanted to go see his Nana S. and he got all excited and said “yes”. I’m glad the boys got to spend so much time getting to know their grandparents and one auntie and uncle (Bren and Matt).  They get to spend time with their other auntie and uncle (Holly and Jeffery) at other times.  I’m also glad that they enjoy them so much. It’s hard when we’re so far away, but spending a week together gives them all time to get to know each other better. And it gives us time to get away too! It’s a win-win situation. Yay for the grandparents.

The boys have come back with a blossoming vocabulary as well. Yesterday they were watching the dog eat his dinner and they kept pointing at him and saying, “eating!” over and over. Today, Brandon was sitting on my lap and pointed to my cup of tea and said “hot coffee”, he was close . Their favorite words are car, truck, train and airplane, with a smattering of juice and doggie. You’d never guess they were boys… They’ve started putting two words together and every now and then I think I hear a sentence of three or more words.

Posted: Drew & Bran

Last Full Day in Barbados0

We had hoped to wake up early Saturday morning and have a snorkle at dawn. But when we woke up it was pouring rain. We’ve had little to no rain all week, it seems it was all being saved up for last night and today. I have to pause as I write this to comment on the rooster that is crowing. He lives across the street from us, sometimes I see him walking down the street, or around the houses nearby. I’m also hearing mourning doves, a cricket-like creature, birds, a tennis ball being hit back and forth, and children laughing in the park next door. I’m looking at beautiful fragrant flowers, a mohagany tree, palms, and our beach towels hopefully drying in this overcast day. It’s such a change from home, where we’ve been indoors for 6 months. But I am getting homesick for my boys too. By around 9am we were able to get out for a snorkel. I was having trouble again with my mask, but it wasn’t as bad as yesterday. We saw a few of the more interesting fish that we’ve been seeing lately, like a trumpetfish and lizardfish, and then five new ones. Eventually we had to get out because it had started raining again and it’s not really enjoyable to snorkel when your back is being pelted by little drops of water. We spent the the rest of the day reading, writing in the boys’ journals, and doing nothing! We found another Caribbean buffet we’re planning to try out tonight and will get our last ride on the party bus.

A BIG thanks to our parents for giving us the chance to get away by ourselves. Barbados has been awesome! We miss the boys immensely and are excited to see them again, but it has been good to get away.

Keeping with the tradition of showing other people’s great pics of fish we saw: on the left is a Smooth Trunkfish and on the right is a juvenile Gray Angelfish (obviously a Steelers’ fan).

Here’s our most comprehensive list of fish including the ones we saw yesterday. A total of 47 species of fish (plus a turtle).

Posted: Vacation

Turtles!1

Note: The picture of the hawksbill turtle was removed.  The picture was not mine, I did not have permission to publish it, nor do I know its owner.  If you happen to know its owner (seeing the picture on some cache of this page), please contact me.

Yesterday morning we got up early for a boat tour to swim with turtles and go snorkeling. Another couple were with us and they were from Canada too! We had a great time swimming alongside the Hawkbill turtles. It was really neat to rub your hand across their shells. We also saw 3 new kinds of fish right there with the turtles. They were really cool ones, one was a Ballyhoo which has a nose that looks just like a needle! After the turtles left us, we spent a lot of time just following those fish around. Then they took us to an area where a hundered-year-old ship had been sunk in the 60′s, in order to encourage more marine life, there was also a coral reef nearby. When I dove off of the boat I was surrounded by thousands of fish! It was both awesome and freaky at the same time. I did have a moment of panic and quickly looked for Mike and our other companions just so I didn’t feel so alone with the fish. The wreck was okay, not a cool as I thought it would be. No Dirk Pitt underwater adventures for me. But we spent a lot of time over the coral reef. Our new friends were snorkeling enthusiasts just like us. The water was so clear and there were so many fish to see. We decided that between this morning and our snorkeling back at our beach just before sunset, we saw 15 fish we had never seen before, plus all the ones we’d been seeing all week.We spent the afternoon picking up some souvenirs and relaxing. Then we had a snorkel at dust. I was having lots of trouble with my mask fogging up and it was quite overcast, I wasn’t enjoying myself as much as usual so I quite a little early. We had dinner at Bistro Too. I had a really yummy pineapple daiquiri and fish and chips. Mike had chicken curry. For dessert Mike had some kind of chocolate cheesecake and I had a pancake with brown sugar and ice cream. Mmmm…

Each night on the way to dinner there’s a mixed guy/girl basketball clinic of some sort going on at the basketball courts next to us. When we come home there’s a group of guys (in their 30′s maybe?) playing field hockey. So fun!

Instead of giving you our comprehensive list which gets too long, here’s a list of the new fish we saw Thursday and Friday. But first, some pictures. On the left is a porcupinefish (a kind of puffer fish) and the right is a trumpetfish .

April 13, 2007 (Turtle and Reef Boat Trip)

• Bar Jack
• Ballyhoo
• Yellowhead Wrasse
• Blue Chromis
• Banded Butterflyfish
• Foureye Butterflyfish
• Trumpetfish
• Porcupinefish
• Flying Gurnard
• Hawksbill Turtle

April 13, 2007 (Dusk)

• Yellowtailed Parrotfish
• Squirrelfish
• Brown Chromis
• Lane Snapper
• Bluespotted Cornetfish
• Leopard Searobin

(Note: Once again these pictures are not ours. Even if we had an underwater camera, we would never get these pictures, but they look exactly like what we saw.)

Posted: Vacation

Crane Beach0

Thursday we packed a lunch and our backpack and headed out to Crane Beach by bus. First we took a party bus to Bridgetown. This party bus was all decked out inside with green and black flames and the words “The Fast the Furious Tokyo Drift” written all over it. I’ve determined that the guy collecting money has to be super outgoing since he spends half his time hanging out of the bus either finding out if people want a ride or trying to convince them they need one, another portion of his time collecting money, and the rest chatting with the bus driver or people on the side of the road. Riding the party bus gives us a chance to hear some music that’s popular in Bajan culture these days. The one I’ve heard on every bus ride is African Queen, by 2 Face Ibidia (it’s a guy). This may appeal to some of you and most likely not to many of you, but have a listen if you’re interested. We seem to have it firmly embedded in our heads at the moment.

We took the party bus to town, then hopped on a city bus to head over to the East side of the Island. Two hours after leaving our place, we finally made it to Crane beach. But it was so worth it. Crane beach has been rated one of the top 10 beaches in the world by Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, if you care anything about that. The beach was really beautiful. The picture doesn’t do it justice… We rented chairs and an umbrella, played in the ocean, read, took a nap… It was so relaxing. At the end of the day we were too tired to make the 2 hour bus ride back, so we hailed a taxi and got back in half an hour. It also cost us ALOT more! But it was worth it, and we got to see more of the Island, which I really enjoyed. For dinner we went back to Groots, I had roti and Mike had beef curry. We also ordered appetizers of samosas and spring rolls, but they gave us ketchup as a dipping sauce for both of them! It was so strange!

Posted: Vacation

Snorkeling0

Today was a day of relaxing. We slept in, I wrote in the boys’ journals (haven’t done that since last August!), we walked to the grocery store and looked at souvenirs. Then we came back, made lunch, took a nap, then went snorkeling. After snorkeling we looked up all the fish we saw yesterday and today, then went out to dinner. It was so nice! I was kind of expecting to find more strange things at the grocery, although Mike did find pork tails. I found that it kind of had the feel of a Canadian grocery, so we felt mostly right at home. They even had Ketchup potato chips and Apple Juice in boxes rather than plastic containers. They must have had about 75 different kinds of tea, mostly organic or herbal. If you’re looking for fennel tea, they have about 5 varieties. I did find a mint Aero bar, which was super yummy.

Snorkeling has been really awesome. The first day out I just saw fish. Now I’m actually going out to look for certain kinds of fish. Although we find so many new ones we have trouble remembering what they really looked like when we come in. Unfortunately I have seen a few jellyfish, they haven’t been a problem, but I freak out when I see one (we’ve seen 3 so far). I’m also still having trouble getting scared when I get too close to the coral. Today we were getting buffeted around when we followed the reef too close to the surf and Mike cut his leg (not bad) on some coral, so we had to make a mad dash further out to sea and come back in to shore a different way. Below are pictures of two fish we saw today; a juvenile Yellowtail Damselfish a.k.a. Jewelfish (left) and a Scrawled Filefish (right). As before, these are not our pictures, but look just like what we saw.

Here’s a complete list of what we were able to identify from the past two days.

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

• Blue Tang
• Ocean Surgeonfish
• French Grunt (school)
• Smallmouth Grunt (school)
• Sergeant Major
• Bermuda Chub (5 of them followed us all over the reef)
• Stoplight Parrotfish (male and female)
• Puddingwife (initial phase)
• Bluehead Wrasse
• Yellowtail Damselfish (juvenile aka Jewelfish)
• Angelfish (unknown species)
• Yellow Goatfish

April 11, 2007

• Blue Tang (large school)
• Ocean Surgeonfish (school)
• French Grunt (school)
• Smallmouth Grunt
• Bluestriped Grunt
• Sergeant Major
• Bermuda Chub (5 of them followed us all over the reef, again)
• Stoplight Parrotfish (male, female, and juvenile)
• Redbanded Parrotfish
• Puddingwife (juvenile)
• Bluehead Wrasse
• Yellowtail Damselfish (juvenile aka Jewelfish, intermediate, and adult)
• Bicolor Damselfish
• Cocoa Damselfish (juvenile)
• Yellowtail Snapper
• Fairy Basslet
• Spanish Hogfish
• Dusky Squirrelfish
• Scrawled Filefish
• Spotted Snake Eel (rare to see during the day)
• Moray (unknown species)

On our way to dinner tonight we took our usual route around St. James’ church. There was a beautiful smell in the air (kind of like lilac, but there are no lilac bushes around) and we saw fireflies. They are one of the things I really miss living in Edmonton, no fireflies in the summer. It was so relaxing and sweet! Dinner: Cocunut crusted shrimp and satays for appetizers. Mike had pecan crusted chicken and I had Mahi Mahi in a butter caper sauce. Yummy!

Posted: Vacation

The Party Bus…1

Yesterday was a very busy day. In the morning we hopped a bus to the North part of the Island to the Parish of St. Lucy (the island is divided up into parishes). We got to see the waves crashing against the rocks. It was really beautiful! We also paid to go into the Animal Flower Cave. It was kind of cool, but not worth the money. Apparently there are sea anemones in the tidal pools underground. They are quite abundant in the summer, and not so much in the Spring (we saw 2 of them). But the view out into the ocean was super cool. We also got to see lots of Bajan homes and farms on our bus rides. We saw folks out planting in the fields and passed (while walking from the bus stop) fields of tomatoes and squash (a common veggie here). On the bus we saw horses (polo is a popular sport here and many people raise horses for that reason), and cows and goats which were both tied up like you would tie a dog to a tether and stake it in the ground. There were no fences in these fields, so we’re not quite sure which came first, no need for a fence or tying up the animals because you don’t have a fence.

The bus experience is quite interesting. On our trip up North we took a city bus. You have to give exact change ($1.50 Bajan=$.75US). The bus drives really fast and it’s quite bumpy. Because there are so many bends in the road, the bus has to slow down (i.e., slam on its breaks) and honk so other drivers know it’s coming. Often it will have to slow down for a work vehicle that’s blocking the road, but no one is upset, they just wait. Sometimes the bus driver will beep at someone he knows.

Then there are the Party Buses. These are buses not affiliated with the city bus system. I don’t know if any of the following is true, but this is what it seems like. Some guy either owns or rents a bus (it has to be part of a co-op or bus system because they are all the same color on the outside), he decides when he wants to go to work, he gets a friend to come help (this guy takes the money and gives change as necessary), and out they go looking for passengers. The friend sits up front and calls out to people on the street to see if they want a ride, they also beep at you to let you know they’re coming in case you want to get on. You don’t have to be at a bus stop, just hail them down and if they feel like it, they’ll pick you up (they always pick you up if you’re at a stop). I had a vague feeling I was in some kind of video game about a bus trying and pick up and drop off as many passengers as possible in a given time. Now take this and add thumping Reggae music, some mood lighting, lots of chatting with people on the street, and you’ve got yourself a “party bus”. Some busses are more decked out than others with painted ceilings, a tail fin, and exterior painting (like racing flames; see picture). Sometimes the driver and his buddy haven’t decided what route they’re doing so they start polling the people on the street to find out where they want to go and they go where the majority of them want to go. It’s quite entertaining. I’m looking forward to my next trip on the party bus. We saw so many tourists taking a taxi or using a car service; they’re really missing out!

We took the party bus to and from Bridgetown yesterday, where we ate dinner at the Waterfront Cafe. They had a Bajan buffet and steel drum music. It was pretty funny though because most of their music was contemporary cover songs. The buffet was awesome. We started with a split pea and sweet potato soup and salads, then we had hot pot, corn and okra casserole, corn and sweet potato casserole, local veggies, pork, chicken, cajun barracuda, and deep fried corn and spinach, and corn and salmon fritters. Followed by a dessert of fruit and banana bread and some kind of bread pudding. It was so yummy! Con, you would love it!

On the way back to the bus station, before we got picked up by the party bus, we passed St. Mary’s church. It was a beautiful church, but the coolest thing about it was that it was lit up with purple lights. The entire church was bathed in purple. I thought it was the coolest thing. Unfortunately I was too tired to take a picture and couldn’t convince Mike to do it. So you just have to take my word for it.

If you’re ever in Barbados, don’t forget the party bus!

Posted: Vacation

Having a Lovely Time4

After 10 years of marriage and 2 boys, Mike and I decided we needed a vacation, meaning nothing else to do but sit and relax. No conferences, no travelling, just relaxing. We left the boys with their grandparents, so no crying, no fighting, no getting up in the middle of the night either. Our destination of choice…Barbados. We’re staying in an apartment (bedroom, kitchen, dining area) at the Bellairs Research Centre, owned by McGill University (I’ve included a picture I took of the entrance to the facility, from our apartment). It’s a super neat place with lots of local culture. It’s been wonderful so far. Yesterday we went snorkelling. At first I thought it was just okay, interesting coral (which totally freaked me out at the thought of getting too close and touching it), and some fish. And then a giant school of thousands (no joking) of Bermuda Chubs swam right past us. We actually had to stop and wait for them all to pass! It was so amazing! We also saw what we think is a Sand Diver (a kind of lizardfish), hiding in the reef, a bizarre animal I must say. Then for dinner we walked across the street to Groots. Mike had Chicken Curry and I had Minced Meat Pie. It was really yummy. Sorry Con, I didn’t get any pictures of it! But I did get a picture of our lunch which was pizza with corn on it! It was yummy too.

We planned to sleep in this morning, but I was so tired last night that I went to bed at 10pm. I woke up at 8am. BUT no one woke me up, which is extremely important. The birds were chirping and a few kids were playing at the park next door. I took some pictures, we had a little breakfast from the Bellairs kitchen, then went back out for some more snorkelling. Thanks Dan, for the equipment, it’s so nice to just walk out to the reef whenever we want. Here’s what we saw today that we were able to identify:

• A school of Blue Tang (see picture; This was not taken by us, but looks exactly like what we saw)
• French Grunt
• Stoplight Parrotfish, both male and female (they are different colors)
• Bluehead Wrasse
• Bermuda Chub (this one follows us all over the reef, he’s now my friend)

This afternoon we took a walk, stopped at a bar on the beach for drinks and samosas and walked back along the beach. We took pictures of the oldest church in Barbados and are hoping to go there for church Sunday morning before we leave. For dinner we ate at the Bellairs. They have a cook who cooks Bajan food for the guests during the week (note: there are several students doing research here long-term, and almost every week there is a group of scientist here having workshops, we’re the only ones totally vacationing). We had macaroni pie (liked baked macaroni & cheese), potatoes, rice, salad, vegetables, and some kind of fish. The fish was so good! It tasted a little bit like and had the texture of pork. Yummy! More adventures await us tomorrow!

Posted: Vacation

Violin…lin…lin4

The boys had their first “violin” lesson on Tuesday. Our friend Dan graciously brought his violin over for the boys to have a little lesson. Drew especially is into music and he loves CBC radio. Lately we’ve been talking about what the different instruments are so I thought it would be fun for them to see a violin. Both boys stood fascinated for quite a while as Dan played some music for them. Then they got to try it themselves! Drew was a quick learner and even moved the bow back on forth with Dan guiding his hand. Brandon quickly learned how to pluck the strings, but got a little too agressive in his plucking so we had to find something else for him to do. I think we’ll try him out on the guitar next! I don’t plan on giving them any real lessons any time soon, but based on Drewie’s reaction we may have to let him try it out again in the near future. Anyone up for giving Brandon a guitar lesson?

Mike: If you don’t get the post title then I guess you’re not up on the hip two-year-old music scene.

Posted: Drew & Bran