It's all uphill from here......

Hello friends. It is pouring rain here this morning, and this is considered a very good thing on Saba as it fills the cisterns thus allowing us to continue showering, washing clothes and dishes etc. But it has been raining for the past few days, which is apparently unusual for this time of year.....and now that I am accustomed to sunshiny days everyday, I must admit that my threshold for tolerating ill weather has gotten much lower.....so I am sick of the rain....I hung my favorite shirt on the line 3 days ago and it has rained everyday so of course it is still wet....and being poured on as I write this....and i mean POURED! I have never seen such rain....it usually only rains for a few minutes each day and then "out comes the sun and dries up all the rain, so that Dawn and the kiddies can go outside again" (my version of the itsy bitsy spider) How will I ever go back to Canadian weather?? Enough complaining about weather...I am fairly certain that I am not getting any sympathy from any of you up there in the north pole....errr PEI!
We had a great week. As you know my mom and Bernie were here visiting and we had an awesome time. We spent the week relaxing and hanging in the sun, doing a little bit of touring and overall just enjoying each others company.....we cooked some fantastic meals together (ok, I watched and provided moral support....ham and scalloped potatoes the pei way...hmmmm) and some great BBQ's. and Mom brought me lots of gluten free products so I have had fresh bread and pizza this week (soooo good...thanks Vandunkerkin...I love you!) We had our friends Joka and Gys and Jim over for supper (well Gys didn't make it as he was delivering a baby) Joe and I got out twice by ourselves (we almost forgot what that feels like!) I did some grocery shopping without chasing those two wild men around the store...I forgot what it felt like to browse everything in the aisles...I am usually focused on getting in and out as fast as possible to get those two out of the store! We didn't do quite as much touring as we could have but my poor aunt Bernie was having a very difficult time with the uphill roads in Saba! It is something that cannot be described, it must be experienced to be believed (ask my mom and Bernie!) Everywhere we went we were on a hill....and Bernie is terrified of heights so she couldn't look out of the car windows or she would feel nauseated....Monty thought this was pretty funny and so inthe car he would say "look out now Bernie it looks so cool, you can see the water about 1000 feet down, it's not that scary Bernie, c'mon, have a look" And poor Bernie would have her eyes tightly squeezed shut and her head down, trying to stay calm! It was pretty funny.....Remember the old stories where people would say things like "in my day we walked to school in 5 feet of snow and it was uphill both ways" and you thought, how can something be uphill both ways?? Well I am here to tell you that in Saba it is uphill BOTH ways....literally....and some of those hills are bigass hills....if a person were to get out and walk some of these hills regularly they would have buns of steel and amazing legs....hmmmm.....wonder if that would be helpful for my goal #2 skinny? Probably....but enough crazy talk......back to the visit.......We went to a big BBQ dinner at Scouts Pub....we went out to the open mic session one evening....and Friday night we went to Sabaoke and it was so much fun...my mother sang "Did I shave my legs for this" by Deanna Carter! And I sang Angel by Sarah McLauglin.....we had a lot of fun! And then it was saturday morning and they had to get on the plane for their long journey home....it went waaaayyyy to fast....and I was really sad to see them go.....made me feel pretty homesick .....and still feeling the effects a little......Christian and Monty were pretty sad too....that is the crappy thing about having visitors...it is so wonderful while they are here but when they leave, the reality sets back in that you are far far away from home and that it could be a very long time before you can see those people again.....I didn't go to the airport to see them off....as most of you know, airports make me hysterical and I bawl like a baby for hours after I have been in one....so it is easier for me to shed a few tears and hug people good bye at home.....Anyway we had a wonderful time....thank you Mom and Bernie for coming down to see us.....we loved it!
Monty had a pretty good week....he joined boxing last week and he is very excited about it.....it is 3 times a week and it is FREE (as most everything is here....well activity wise anyway.....) and there are only about 5 other kids attending so they got alot of 1:1 instruction....he came home pretty pooped! and he has been taking guitar lessons for the past few weeks and really enjoying that....we are going to look at a guitar tonight for him that one of the students leaving the island is selling.....Monty is pumped! I think that despite his challenges settling into school here,he really does like it here in Saba...the lifestyle is very well suited to him, he loves the freedom, he has made a few friends now and he even has a girlfriend apparently.....not sure if i am supposed to tell that?? oops! Anyway he is having some great and fun experiences.....
Christian continues to love Saba and he and Jim are always together....it is a bit like Jim is our other son these days....and we just love him, what a sweet kid...montys friend Helke is a darling too....the other day when Mom and Bernie were here we all went down to the Tropics cafe for a drink and a swim and I took the 4 boys....there was a lady there from Texas and she was amazed that I had 4 boys! I told her that i only technically had 2 and the other 2 were extras! She was very impressed with how polite and well behaved they all were.....we had a blast playing in the pool, laying in the sun and hanging in the hot tub....it was a wonderful day.....
So other than our company, the big excitement of the week is waiting on the birth of our guinea pig babies....the boys are so excited and they check every hour to see if the babies have arrived....the mama pig is about as wide as she is long now so surely they are coming out soon.....the boys are beside themselves with excitement! I must admit that I can't wait to see the cute furry little things either! Now Joe on the other hand is still in denial....the boys keep telling him that we are keeping the girl babies and we will find homes for the boys.....Joe is adamant that we are not keeping anymore.....yeah, ok Joey....sure we won't get any more pets....wink wink nudge nudge......
Anyway I better run...I think that the rain has stopped...woo hoo....maybe it will be an outdoor day after all! I miss all of you.....have a wonderful day and take care......
May you have a week filled with blessings and goodness,
God Bless,
Dawn