Getting Back to Island Life

I had a very restless night due to a nagging headache. I think it is probably due to reading most of the day yesterday. I finally bit the bullet and got up at 6:30am (I know..too early for Grenada), and took some Excedrin. For those of you that don't know, medicine has the tendency to wire me completely. Almost all of it does..even sleeping pills, which I found out the hard way on an extremely long flight to the UK. So after I popped 2 Excedrin, I had to eat something..which I also found out the hard way that if I don't eat after taking medicine, then I puke. So by 6:35am, I had already taken medicine, ate some pop-tarts, and drank some juice. I tried to go back to bed, but knew that I wouldn't be able to go back to sleep. So I just layed there thinking of the things that I needed to get accomplished today. I finally got up when Cody's alarm went off and decided to take Macy for an early morning walk, which she's been getting almost every day (walks..not early morning walks). Then I had to run some errands, so I've actually had a pretty busy day. Now my headache is trying to come back, so I guess I better go take some more medicine, so that it has time to wear off before bedtime, so that I can actually sleep tonight.

On a side note, we had a pretty busy weekend. Friday night we went out to eat with some friends at the famous Charcoals (aka..one of our favorite places to eat), which takes us about a minute to get to from our new place..it's great! Saturday was the SO Opening Social, so we went to that, and then Cody and me went to see Avatar. Then Sunday we decided to go to La Sagesse beach. It's about a 30 minute drive, but well worth it. We ate lunch there at the restaurant and hung out at the beach. We both got lots of rays..maybe a little too much, but we're finally starting to look like we belong on this island again after turning pale over the break. The good news is there were no sand fleas! Our friends warned us that we would get eaten alive at La Sagesse, but we never had a minutes trouble out of them.


La Sagesse Beach


Our beach chairs


At lunch


Cody at lunch

Our First Weekend Back in Grenada

We had a busy first weekend back on the island. Saturday we went with some of Cody's classmates on a Shadowfax cruise. It was pretty fun. They took us snorkeling, which usually I refuse to do because I don't want to be floating at the top of the water and become shark bait, but it was better than I thought it would be. We got to see these underwater sculptures that had been sunk to the bottom of the ocean. Cody and I would like to come back to that spot and go scuba diving, so that we can actually see them a little better. Then they took us to this little island hut in the middle of nowhere and cooked for us..which was delicious. It really was a neat experience, and I finally got to put on my bathing suit for the first time since getting back.


The view of the campus from the boat..just breathtaking!


Cody and me on the boat after snorkeling

Sunday was also an important day, because it was Macy's 5th birthday! I can't believe she is 5 years old. If she were human, she would be off to her first day of kindergarten..thank God she's not, because I wouldn't want her to leave me. We took her on a long birthday walk so she could explore our new neighborhood. She came back totally exhausted..Then we all took a much needed nap. We ordered pizza for supper, and then had a birthday party for Macy with cake and candles! We had a great weekend and are enjoying our breezy new place!


The birthday girl with her cake!


Cody helping Macy blow out her candles

Bye Bye Sweaters...Hello Bikinis!!!

We finally made it back to the island late Wednesday night. Everything went okay except for the airline losing one of our bags (what's new?)..luckily we got it the next day. We had a great time visiting with all of our family and friends over the break, but I have to say that I am so happy to be away from the cold weather. It was nice to put on my tank top and shorts for the first time in a month. I haven't been able to make it to the beach yet, but I'm sure it won't be much longer until I am in a bikini. Cody probably isn't as thrilled as I am to be back in tropical temperatures, but I think he'll manage. We are all settled into our new place. Besides it being disguistingly dirty when we got here, it's seems to be pretty homey. We finally unpacked and organized everything, and I have spent lots of hours today cleaning dirt and dust from every nook and cranny in this place. I think that we are really going to like it in this apartment. The breeze is absolutely amazing! I actually had chill bumps last night, so I curled up in my blanket for the first time ever since I've been in Grenada! It is such a huge difference from our last place. The island also seems to be much breezier than last term, so that helps a lot. I have to say that our two driveways are quite an experience to go up and down. The house sits on a mountain top way up high. There are two different roads and entrances to it. Both entrances are extremely steep, so I have to admit that I was a little nervous the first time that we went up them. Luckily the whole yard is fenced in, and both of the entrances have automatic gates on them which make it extremely safe. I think that the next four months here should be pretty enjoyable!

Last week in LA

I know that I haven't posted a blog in quite a while, but I've been trying to savor every moment of being home. We had a great Christmas and new year. We are down to our last week here (we fly out on the 13th), and I'm already starting to get homesick. I am looking forward to returning to Grenada to our new apartment where we can be a little family again. Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy visiting with everyone, but it will be nice to have our own place again with no going back and forth to each of our parents' houses (no offense to our parents). I have already taken Macy to get her paperwork for the flight back, so she is all set to go. This last week here will be spent trying to fit everything in that we want to do before we are gone for 4 more months. I do miss my Grenada girls and am looking forward to seeing everyone soon!

Back in the USA

(Picture: Compliments of Google)

Cody, Macy, and I started our journey at 5:00am Saturday morning in Grenada. After standing in line for approximately 3 hours, we finally made it on the plane. Our flights went well until we landed in the Dallas airport. All of the flights going to Shreveport had been canceled due to rain and fog. So the airport provided us with a bus that would take us to Shreveport. It was bad enough that they took a 45 minute flight and turned it into a 3 1/2 hour drive, but then our bus driver got lost on the way which made it even longer. We finally arrived in Shreveport at around 11:00pm and were exhausted. We are having a great time so far. We got up and went to church with my family on Sunday for the first time in almost 6 months. We had lunch with my Mom on Monday, then I let the doctor take a look at a spot on my leg..Luckily it wasn't anything but a sunspot. Yesterday was a busy day..I took Macy to the groomer, which she desperately needed. Then I went shopping. I felt like a kid in a candy store. I loved being able to just drive around and go in any store that I wanted. Then last night, Ms. Tanya and I went and did the annual Christmas Run downtown. I had never done it before, but it was pretty neat because all of downtown was decorated for Christmas, so everything was all lit up. I almost froze my buns off since it was in the 30s, and I just came from a 90 degree climate, but I had a good time. Today we are going to pick up our niece and nephew from school to spend time with them and then head back to my parents' house for a couple of days. Cody has been hunting everyday since he has been home. He has tried to get me to go with him, but I just can't bring myself to sit in a deerstand for hours when it is 30 degrees outside. We are so glad to be home!

All Moved Out

We are finally all moved out of our beach cottage. The past few days have been the busiest that we have had in a long time. This is Cody's finals week, so he is busy with that. It all started on Monday after Cody's pathology final..We started packing up things in the house to prepare for the move. Then on Tuesday we started moving everything over into the new place. You wouldn't think that we would have a ton of stuff since we had to bring our stuff over in suitcases, but if you include all of the stuff that we had shipped from the UK and all of the stuff that we have bought here, it's a ton! Then after everything was moved and packed, I cleaned. I was up until midnight cleaning that house. Our landlord has been so hard to deal with lately, so I knew that he was going to be hard to please. I cleaned every nook and cranny in that house. Today we got up and came over to Matt and Maria's place where we will be staying for the next 2 nights. Then off to Chase and Lauren's for Friday night. Cody met with the landlord to do our checkout, and as expected, he was extra hard to please. So we might end up paying extra money for little things like a dark spot on the concrete where the car may have leaked, and a reconnection fee to reconnect the cable even though he told us to disconnect it! I know..it's ridiculous! I wouldn't pay it if it was up to me, but the problem is he will just take it out of our deposit, so there's not much we can do about it. Oh well..I'm so glad to be gone from that place to where we no longer have to deal with that man. We are landlords ourselves since we rent out our house back in Louisiana, and I would never think of acting this way to our tenant. I am now stress free..no more cleaning or packing. Now we'll just be hanging out with our awesome roomies who are so graciously letting us stay with them! Cody still has two more finals, but nothing too hard. We fly home on Saturday morning and are so excited!

One Week!

This is a picture of Cody and Macy at the Shreveport Airport on our way to Grenada..hard to believe that was 5 1/2 months ago! Today is exactly one week until we fly home. There is so much to do before then. Cody has finals next week, so he has been busy studying to prepare for them. As for me, well we are moving our stuff into our new place before we leave, so I will be preparing for that. This week will consist of packing, cleaning, moving, taking Macy to the SGU Small Animal Hospital to get her health certificate for the flight, and hanging out with the girls before we all leave each other. I am going to the SO End of Term Social this afternoon on the beach. It will be good to get some more rays before our grand entrance back into the States. Today Cody and I have been talking about all of the places that we would like to eat at when we come home. Trejo's is at the top of my list..as always! Cody is craving some good ole Outback! Then maybe we'll have some Marble Slab or some Great American Cookie Cake for dessert! We are so excited to be back home after almost 6 months of being away. It has been nice to be in a tropical climate and to live at the beach and pool, but it will be nice to have to pull out our sweaters and coats for a change. Macy is looking forward to wearing all our her winter gear as well! We are really looking forward to stepping foot on US soil for 4 1/2 weeks..I'm sure the time home will fly by, but we'll enjoy every minute of it!