We're Back!

Last Fall I gave up blogging.  After a series of technological challenges (which included losing our internet connection) and a bad case of island fever, I was done.  Unfortunately, once we got the internet back, it was much slower and I was not ready to deal with trying to blog with it.  My island fever also lasted through the New Year.  Then in February, the boys and I went back to California. 

We had a much-needed 4 month break from island living.  I took the time to work on readjusting my attitude and catch up with family and friends.  Unfortunately, I could have used more time to see friends!  While at home, the boys took off the training wheels on their bikes and became expert riders.  (Well, as expert as one can be as a 5 year old!)  Reagan also became a much better swimmer thanks to all of the pool time we had. 

As we were packing up and getting ready to return to Tortola, my mom made one request.  Please bring back the blog.  For her, I hope I am able to keep up better this time around!

Since we have been back we have been busy catching up on things here.  We have spent a few afternoons playing at Nanny Cay and a few boogie boarding at our favorite beach, Long Bay Tortola.  We have been to lunch and celebrated the boys' 6th birthday at our favorite restaurant, Brandywine. The boys have learned to snorkel and Reilly is now swimming on his own!  We’ve had sushi at Origin and been introduced to a new restaurant that Chris likes called Fish ’N Lime Inn.  Overall, we seem to have picked up right where we left off, only with a better attitude this time around!

So, I hope to get at least one post up a week for my mom.  I will do a separate post about the boys' birthday, but for now, here are a few of my favorite shots from our first few weeks back:

Reagan back on his favorite mode of transport, a ferry!

Reilly limin at Watering Hole.

Sunset at West End.

Reagan is right at home at Long Bay Tortola.

Reilly is as well!

June! Photo a Day Challenge

Way back in March, I tried to participate in the fatmumslim photo a day challenge.  I tried again in April and in May, unsuccessfully, until now!  This month, with the exception of one deliberate missed prompt, I finished the challenge. 

The June list

1 - Morning, Reilly picking out his clothes for the day.

2 - Empty

3 - On my plate, chicken, mashed potatoes and curried eggplant.

4 - Close-up, Go Giants!

5 - Sign - :)

6 - Hat

7 - Drink, water, our favorite!



8 - Six O'Clock - Eating gellato with a friend, yum!

 


9 - My view today - Peter Island at dusk.

 

10 - Best bit of my weekend, enjoying a cold beer on a warm beach!

11 - Door, two days later the hedge trimmer came and now we can see water from that view.

12 - From a low angle.

13 - Art, the sweetest kind, in my book!

14 - Time

15 - Yellow

16 - Out and about, driving into town.

17 - In my bag.

18 - missed prompt, Reagan and Reilly, 59 months.

19 - Imperfect

20 - Fave photo ever taken, I added this after the 20th, it is my favorite one so-far!

21 - Where I slept.



22 - From a high angle, the steps that the boys are sitting on in my favorite photo above.



23 - Movement, Chris body surfing at Lambert Beach.

24 - On my mind, getting off the rock......



25 - Something cute, need I say more?



26 - Where I shop, today I had to "shop my stash."

27 - Bathroom, the boys' to be precise.

28 - On the shelf.

29 - Something soft, meet Mr. Froggy, he goes everywhere with us!



30 - A Friend, Rex is our neighbor's dog.  He spends most afternoons sleeping right there on our deck. 

I am looking forward to starting July's challenge tomorrow.  I hope I can be disciplined enough to get through another month.  If you want to play along, you can find the prompt list at the fatmumslim blog, here:  July Photo a Day Challenge. 

Beach Hopping and Other "Adventures," Part 2

The second and third days of our weekend were a lot like the first.

Saturday morning we got up with plans to find Trunk Bay.  Chris ran into an acquaintance at the grocery store the night before who gave him “directions” that we were sure we could not follow, but would try anyway.  These “directions” went like this “turn left just beyond OneMart, turn right at the top of the mountain, left at the tree with a green string tied on it and look out for the road that is partially paved and partially dirt.”  With directions like this, we knew we may not actually get there, but it was early enough in the day that we were going to give it an honest try.  We did a decent job getting to the top of the mountain and found a road that looked promising.  It quickly turned to dirt and we could see a beautiful white sand beach way below.  Unfortunately, it quickly became so vertical, it made the “car elevator” look easy and we decided to turn back.  We put our spare tire into rotation the previous day and without a spare, we did not want to find ourselves stranded.  We decided that we are going to have to find someone that knows the proper way down, as the beach looks amazing. 

Not so good photo of the car "elevator."

Back at the top of the mountain, we decided that we would head back over to Lambert Beach Resort to check out the beach.  Shortly into that drive we came to a detour off of the main road and quickly found ourselves on another partially paved and partially dirt road.  Luckily, this one was not vertical and after a few errors, we found the right turn to take us down into Parham Town. 

When we finally arrived at Lambert we settled into our beach routine.  It was so nice to be the only ones using the beach.  The boys played in the surf, and Chris and I got in a good swim.  Of course, I took a lot of photos!

Left side of Lambert Beach

Playing in the Wake

We started getting hungry and decided to go over to Trellis Bay for a roti at the Roti Hut (by far the best roti we have had here!)  On our way out of Lambert our passenger side mirror was clipped off by another car, which resulted in this:



Yes, it's broken!



After lunch, we decided to call it a day.

Not happy to be sharing!

Sunday morning we decided to make it a full weekend at new (to us) beaches and drove over to Josiah’s Bay.  On our way, we encountered (yet another) road hazard.  This one, however, did not affect our route or damage our Jeep!

We set up camp on the far west side of the beach away from the bar and restaurant.  Josiah’s is known as a surfing beach, so we were pleasantly surprised to find a very calm bay to swim.  The boys enjoyed swimming in the calm water and playing with their sand toys on the beach.  With the exception of a small group of children on the other side of the beach, again we were  the only people using the beach.

Josiah's Bay

After a while we ate lunch and decided to go back to Lambert for the rest of the afternoon.  We found that the waves at Lambert were also calmer than the day before.  We set up on the opposite side of the beach as the day before and Chris quickly went to explore the rocks on the right side of us. 

The boys practiced swimming and we pretended to have a beach “party.”  Unfortunately, the afternoon was interrupted with a large group of tourists that came to the beach and got loud.  Luckily, we were having so much fun, it did not affect us and our “party.”  Chris returned from rock diving and helped Reilly practice swimming.  Shortly after, we called it a day (and weekend), packed up and went home.