July! Photo a Day Challenge



For the second month in a row I have completed the Fat Mum Slim photo a day challenge.  I believe the challenge was originally for Instagram users, however, as a non iPhone/iPad owner, I decided to just use the cameras I have (a Canon point and shoot and a Canon Rebel T2i.  Some days it is hard for me to remember to check the prompt, but for the most part, I have been enjoying the challenge and have been able to keep up!  Here is the list for July and my daily shot.  Thanks for looking!

Chantelle's July list!

1. Self-portrait

2. busy - building a house on the beach.

3.  Best part of the day - scrapbooking and watching a little NCIS.

4. fun - playing firefighters.

5. On the floor.

6. Chair

7. Garden

8. Lunch - Reilly & Reagan's

9. big - Big rain cloud over Peter Island.

10.  Favorite color

11. Letter

11.  Texture

13.  Open - open book and open mind!

14.  Building - Post Office in Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas.

15.  Finger

16.  Sign



17.  Addiction



18.  Plate - With a heart shaped egg-in-a-frame for the boys' birthday!

19.  Animal

20.  Eyes



21. 9 O'Clock

 

22.  Upside down

 

23.  Mirror

24.  A stranger

25.  Heart

26.  Sunshine

27.  On the road

28. Cup - Rum punch at Peg Legs.



29.  Recent purchase - Recommended twice in the same day, had to pick it up!

30.  Calm - before it rained for the rest of the day!

31.  Toothbrush - in this case, all of our toothbrushes!

I am really looking forward to the August challenge!  If you want to play along you can find it here.

The Boys' Birthday Week Recap - Part 2

Earlier this week I mentioned that we started and ended last week at Long Bay Beach.  The water was rougher than in previous weeks so we did a lot more playing on the beach.  My favorite parts of these two days are some of the photos I took of the boys.  Some of my favorites in the BVI so far!

We had intended to take the boys to Pirate’s Bight for their actual birthday lunch.  We live opposite Norman Island and see their “ferry” often on the water between Tortola and the Bight.  When we called on Wednesday morning to ask about the schedule, we were told that the ferry is only for employees.  Since the ferry is mentioned in the BVI Welcome Magazine, we assumed it was for transporting restaurant guests as well. 

Since the boys were looking forward to a ferry ride, I suggested we go to Marina Cay for lunch.  We already knew that the ferry was free and just had to call to confirm the current schedule.  Once confirmed, we drove out to Beef Island.  Marina Cay is an island owned by Pusser’s located roughly between Trellis Bay and Scrub Island.  We had an ok lunch at the restaurant.  I thought my lobster roll was lacking a little bit of lobster, otherwise, the boys and I loved the French fries. 

We had a little bit of time after we finished lunch to wander around (and of course take photos.)  I got some cute shots of the boys in different spots, including the red telephone box from the UK! 

We finished off the day with dinner at home followed by birthday cake.  It was the boys' biggest cake yet, for our smallest party yet.  Sometimes, even though we all speak “English” on island, things are not always translated properly.  Chris’ order of a quarter sheet cake, became a full sheet that weighed at least 5 pounds, no kidding......we ended up throwing away more than half of it after eating more sugar in 4 days than we’ve eaten the 5 months we have been here!

Blowing out the "5" candle on their rescue vehicle cake!

After a few days of bad weather, we finished the week having lunch at Mulligan’s before going to Long Bay.  The boys had been asking to go to Mulligan’s for a few weeks.  We were able to catch the end of the golf tournament and the boys spent a good hour playing.  The new pizza was the perfect lunch before the beach!

I still can’t believe these boys are already 5!!

The Boys' Birthday Week Recap - Part 1: Jost Van Dyke

Yesterday was the end of the boys’ birthday week.  We ended the week as it started, at Long Bay Beach.  In between, we had a few adventures and a few rainy days where we stayed home, played board games, card games and watched (a lot) of movies!

White Bay, Jost Van Dyke

 On Tuesday, we decided to head over to Jost Van Dyke.  On the ferry, children aged 4 and under are free and since it was the last day the boys were 4, it was a perfect option.  Once on Jost, we taxied over to White Bay, home of the Soggy Dollar Bar!  Our taxi driver, Greg from Perfect Pineapple Taxi, informed us that his mom was the owner of Gertrude’s, the restaurant and bar we spent the afternoon at on our last trip.  We saw this as a sign that we would make Gertrude’s our “home” base on this trip.  Chris especially likes the make-our-own painkillers at Gertrude’s!

Gertrude's, Jost Van Dyke

Once on the beach, it was too early for lunch so we decided to hike over to the other side of the beach.  Reilly, Chris and I had fun.  Reagan, decided that we should never ask him to do that again as he was tired and just did not like it. 

Back on the other side of the beach we ordered lunch at Gertrude’s.  We ate roti the last time we were there and the boys wanted it again.  Chris and I shared an order of conch fritters.  The food was good, however, there were a lot of flies.  We later learned that an issue with trash pick up on the island was the cause of a fly outbreak and a lot of the restaurants were experiencing the same thing. 

This did not dampen our spirits, right after lunch, the boys jumped into the water and started playing.  They met a lot of people and invited everyone they met to their beach party!  I would say there were at least 50 women invited before the day was done.  Many we met were on party boats and were staying in St. John.  It was fun to spend the day talking to people from the States.  The boys were a big hit with everyone. 

Once it was time to head back to the ferry, we walked over to Perfect Pineapple Guest Houses and Greg was there to drive us back.  Great customer service, next time, we may stay overnight at Perfect Pineapple!

When we got back to Tortola, we were all starving and decided that after we cleaned up we would head out to dinner.  We have been hearing about a Chinese restaurant next to one of the bodegas in Sea Cow’s Bay.  We decided we would check the menu and if there were items we liked, we would give it a try.  We were all tired and Chris and I were worried about going “out” with tired boys.  Luckily, they had good choices and we came home with three bags of Chinese.  Our first since leaving the Bay Area!  It was not the best we’ve eaten, but it hit the spot and was the perfect way to end the day.