Pumpkin Lovin'

This afternoon Miss Julie gathered as many friends as she could and told us to meet her at the Limes field. You see, her Mama had sent over a package of goodies that we could not wait to distribute, and of course get a little messy with some of the littles on the Island.

Miss Julie's Mama, Phyllis, put together a package of Halloween Fun! She sent goodie bags: candy, rings, lollies and stickers. And included "pin the nose on the Jack O'Lantern" and of course other gifts that were previously handed out to the littles. Really, Miss Julie and Miss Phyllis spoil these babies, but who wouldn't after seeing those little smiles!!

Although Halloween is not a celebrated holiday in Grenada, as it is in North America, we thought it would be fun to do some crafts, games and face painting and just love on our littles.  Honestly, I think it was just another excuse for us to spend as much time with these babies as possible!!!

So, over to the limes field we headed.  And what a fun morning spending time with some of the sweetest babies!

First we painted 'Pumpkins'

Then we 'Pinned the nose on the Jack O'Lantern'

Miss Nicci: "Jivy, are you excited for your treat bag"? This is the face I got!

Such a sweet face!

Kyla and I!!!

Sweet baby Kylie

Then we added the faces to our Pumpkins!

Kylie hard at work

Kyla adding her 'face' to her Pumpkin

BJ with his bat rings...he stole most of them from his sister.

Painting their Pumpkins!

 

 

Then we did some face painting!
(Photos by Miss Julie)

Then they all got their goodie bags!
(Photos by Miss Julie)

Just a sample of what was inside!!!

She loved her rings!

And wanted me to wear them too!

Thank you Miss Julie and Miss Phyllis for loving these babies so much!

Anniversary Book: 5 Years in the Making.

I recently posted that Dave and I just celebrated our 5th Anniversary...crazy, I know.
One of the things that I didn't share was a tradition we started on our first anniversary (back in 2008).

On our honeymoon, in Cuba, while shopping at the markets for souvenirs and gifts, one item we came across was a small notebook that I couldn't resist.

Purchased in Cuba, August 2007.

To be honest, at the time of the purchase, I wasn't entirely sure what we would use this book for. I orginally thought perhaps we could put some photos from our honeymoon into the book, but decided against that...there simply weren't enough pages for all our photos lol.

So for almost a year, this notebook sat empty and untouched on our shelf....then as our 1st anniversary approached we started discussing ways in which we could incorporate this book into our anniversary every year.

And so, the idea we came up with was to document and record all of the events, life-hurdles and struggles, lessons and moments that had occurred during that year.  Throughout the pages there are also receipts, notes, stickers etc. from various events and special occasions that took place during that specific year.

Basically our book is broken up into four categories:

1. What we did that year for our anniversary: How we celebrated, where we were, where we went.
2. What we did/Events that happened through the year: travelling, getting into medical school, graduating from Teacher's College etc.
3. What Nicci learned about her husband.
4. What Dave learned about his wife.

This year, as we wrote in our book and reflected on all of the events that have taken place in the last 5 years, both good and bad, we could not help but be so thankful for our journey. In five years we have truly accomplished, and have grown, so much as a married couple.

I believe that it is our life events thus far that have brought us closer as a couple and because of this book, we are reminded of the dreams we have already accomplished and the ones that we know are still yet to come.

* Note: I cannot find a picture from our second anniversary!!!!

Honeymoon, in Cuba. 2007

First Anniversary, 2008. We both were in University...our dinner was a Pizza Picnic!

Third Anniversary 2010. Pizza Picnic. Weekend before we went away to St.Catharines, Ontario for the weekend.

Fourth Anniversary 2011. Our first flat in Newcastle Upon Tyne, England. Went and toured Alnwick Castle.

Our Anniversary Book: 2012 Grand Anse Beach, Grenada.

Fifth Anniversary, 2012.

And just because I love this photo!!!

Pizza and Ice Cream Adventure and week 5 at Limes!

A few weeks ago at Limes, the after school program that I have been volunteering at, a few of the kids that I have come to adore were telling me that we all live close to one another. 

"You know where the big mango tree is Miss, that is where we live", were the directions I got. Only in Grenada would this suffice as good directions; google maps has nothing on the mango tree directions. 

After realizing that these kids did live really close, I decided that an ice cream and pizza date were in order.  There is a local Pizza shop, close to our house, that I thought would be a fun outing.

I told the kids that I would meet them at the top of the hill, not wanting to give our address away just in case,  at 3:30pm.

At 3:25pm I left our apartment to walk up the said hill. As I am walking down my driveway I hear voices shouting "Miss". 

These cuties remembered our apartment complex and decided to leave early (2:30pm) just to make sure they weren't late.  I know, cute right. And to think that I had actually wondered if the kids would even make it to our pizza date because of the rain...I realized a little rain was not stopping them.

Waiting for the pizza shop to open!

Mr. Davis being a goof!

Feeding the fish!

Nathaniel loving the pizza

Davis and his ice cream!

The kiddos..and of course Davis being a goof!

My cuties!

Enjoying our date!

And just some photos of the sweet littles from limes and what we did this week!

Jada and Shane!

My two littles: Kush and Anishka

Miss Ezra striking a pose

Davis and I

Christian

Kush taking a break from Football!

Kevon and I

Cuckoo for Coconuts!

Let me set the scene....

It's saturday morning and I have headed out to do our grocery shopping for the week.  Now groceries here are not a one stop shop, there are two main grocery stores on the island (IGA and Foodfair) and every week I find myself going back and forth trying to see whether the ingredients that I need will be at either store; picture some what of a scavenger hunt...but just not as fun lol.

Here is photo evidence from this week at store number one:

Trying to find Ricotta cheese. Was informed that the 'dairy' shipment wouldn't be in for another 4 days. TIG (This is Grenada).

So I get the items I can find at store number one and make my way back to store number two. (Store number two is right at the end of our driveway, but I always go to the farthest store first so I don't have to carry everything back and forth...I know, I have this down to science lol).

Now here lies the 'coconut issue'.

Being on the island has it's perks. One of those said perks is that at almost any corner, at almost any time of day, you can find almost any fruit or spice of your pleasure.

However,  here is the not so good equation:

Nicci + Cute Kid = Disaster.

On these said corners, are the cutest kids selling all kinds of goods.  It is nearly impossible to say no to them. I truly find it heart-wrenching knowing, that in some cases, these children cannot go home until they have sold all their product.  I look at these little faces and just cannot image the position they are in. 

The truth of the matter is, I think I did show some restraint on Saturday....Dave is lucky we aren't eating coconuts for the rest of the week!!!

I will try to remember that I cannot buy every piece of fruit, from every child that I see. But the fun part, we're trying new fruit and spices that I otherwise wouldn't have purchased at the store.

So really, we should be thanking these cute children, with their buckets of fruit, because in my mind they are just expanding our palate.

You cannot see it, but Dave has a large knife in his hand...after the purchase Dave said  "how are we going to get this opened?"

Knife attempt....it didn't go so well. 

Hammer attempt! And we were successful.

Cracking open the coconut

I have always wanted to drink, from a straw, coconut milk. It wasn't that great lol.

Dave was thinking..."Do you know how much bacteria is probably in this thing". This is what Medical School has done!

 

So fresh!

So proud of himself for not losing a finger in the process!