Wondering if my arms and legs can fall off?

Rob and I have wanted kayaks since the first time we used the ones at the hotel when we first got to the island. We were terribly broken hearted when we saw the prices of them at the marine stores. So we finally decided to wait because when people move they tend to sell their boat, kayaks, mopeds, and what not. BUT THEN..... We found out about the inflatable kayaks. Who knew?! We got 2 kayaks and a little 2 seater inflatable boat. Today we bathed the kids in sunblock, got the life jackets, plenty of cold water, our snorkel gear, and set of on an adventure. We took 1 kayak and the boat down to the beach we discovered yesterday. The paddles just glide through the clear water with ease, but I have a feeling I will be sore in the morning. It is amazing at how different each beach is here. The Sandyport beach (in front of my house) has magnificent blue water with hundreds of colorful fish. The beach at the Caves (that we discovered yesterday) has water so clear and clean you could drink it, if it wasn't so salty! However there wasn't a fish to be found. There was the biggest starfish I have ever seen though. They were over a foot across and this wonderful shade of reddish brown with creamy yellow bumps. We were able to swim down and pick two different ones up so the kids could get a closer look. It was an amazing experience. I know I know I need an underwater camera. We swam, kayaked, snorkeled, and played on the beach for over 4 hours today. Alex made friends with some local boys who taught him how to pull these strange looking creatures off the rocks. He was in all his glory. Ainsley was just trailing behind them climbing in and out of the little tide pools. Alena was swimming with a girl her age. What a wonderful life.

This is Alena and myself in the canal yesterday going for a test spin.

What Can You Find?

After spending three years in Virgina with Rob on a boat, I would have gone to the end of the earth just to be together as a family. Virgina was wonderful and I made the best friends I've had in a while, met up with childhood friends, had a baby, had excellent state of the art medical facilities for the kids, was close to family, and discovered Williamsburg. However, I wanted my husband back. He was underway a lot, when the boat was in he worked all the time, and he seemed stressed out because of work and the fact that he missed out on a lot of the kids activities and just us in general. We are not at the end of the earth, thank goodness, but the Bahamas instead. The kids have grown leaps and bounds since we have been here. Happiness has done wonders for our lives and it shines through in the kids. Seconds after stepping off the plane in Nassau the stress just disappeared from Rob. He loves his new job. It makes a huge difference when you actually enjoy going to work everyday.
Part of the reason I think Rob didn't like Virgina is because I did all the exploring by myself. By time he did something we had already been there done that. It's just part of being a military spouse, on both ends. So even thought the island is small, we have taken up exploring it together. We love going to the Zoo and bought a annual membership. It is very lush and Alex just knows it's a jungle.

The lizards are every where which is great for the kids. They feel so special every single time they spot one.
We love to walk the neighborhood after dinner. Land crabs are still such a strange thing to me. I just don't picture them not being at the beach. Who would have thought crabs would dig a hole in soil to live?

One evening while playing with the frisbee out front it landed on the side of the house. Alena and Rob went to get it and got attacked by a daddy bird. They came to close to his baby momma!

I know life can't always be what you want, especially being a military spouse. They are bound to be gone at times, it's their job, I get that. BUT I will take the good when I can get it. That time for us is NOW.

What can you live without?

In grade school you learn about what is considered a need and a want. Somewhere between first grade and now I must have forgot. Did I forget? Or have I carelessly let wants turn into needs? For well over a month me and my family have been living with very little. One pot, one pan, 4 big plates, 4 small plates, 4 bowls, some cutlery, cups, only a 4 cup coffee pot *gasp I know*, 5 towels, 1 pillow per person, a coloring book per child, very few toys, one TV with one channel, limited Internet access, and most of all no car. Then one day a big truck rolled to a stop in front of my house and unloaded 161 boxes of all sizes, plus a outside play house, slide, patio chairs, fire pit, bikes, a wagon, and a Christmas tree. I was overwhelmed looking at it all piled up in my house because the reality is, we didn't NEED half of it. I thought I did so good before we left VA sifting through our belongings and trashing, donating, trashing, donating, yard selling. Every time I opened up a box that said girls room toys, boys room toys I would sigh and say what in the world! Where did this stuff come from? How did the kids even have this much crap stuffed into their little rooms? Well I bought it, I stuffed it into their rooms. (along with help from Rob of course) I can't have this all just be about toys though. What about clothes. Did I really need to bring my favorite jeans from high school? Lets face it I haven't fit into them since I was pregnant with Alena. My kitchen is a whole different topic that we won't even touch. I NEED everything in there... wait is the line between and need and a want getting blurry?? Rob called me a hoarder as we were unpacking and sorting/trashing/donating and I tried to toss a ceramic square that had ABC's on it. It once held flowers in it. Boy he fished that sucker out of the trash so fast! He apparently gave it to me when Alena was born.... ooooops. I can proudly say we decided we had to many wants and tremendously downsized over the past 48 hours. I even donated a few of my kitchen items. Not my butter keeper from GG though. It has my favorite Irish butter in it, sitting on my counter along with my big coffee pot. I think that once you have your wants in your possession it is hard to get rid of them. It is also nice to work hard and play hard (or shop) but in the future (i.e. next few years) since I can't just run to target whenever I please... I will learn a few things about living a greener more simple less materialistic life. What can you live without?

Playing catch up

Well last time I blogged we were still in the hotel. We have now moved into our large bright yellow house on the canal. I was so happy when we arrived to our new home and found they had fenced in our yard! I had been having visions of the kids falling in the canal everyday. "Our yellow house" as Alex calls it, is fully furnished, rent paid, and utilities paid. As a young married couple who quickly brought three kids into this world, I can not even begin to explain how good it feels to not worry about those things for the next 2 years. The house beautiful and much our larger then our VA house, so that is a plus. We had some minor issues when we first moved in, some that we are still trying to get fixed. Ant infestation, bad plumbing that equals flooding in my foyer, dishwasher that is not mounted, no phone line, huge gap in the door that is saying hello lizards and iguanas please come live with me!, and probably more things that we have yet to discover. I feel a little bad after reading my cousin in Singapore's blog though because these things are all taken care of for me cost free.
So enough about "our yellow house" that is minutes away from one of the most beautiful beaches that is known for great snorkeling. What have we been up to? Well, we love to walk through our neighborhood in search of monkeys, lizards, iguanas, land crabs, beautiful birds and butterflies. We go to the pool or beach everyday. Is it possible to turn into a mermaid from being in the water to much? We take the jitney (bus) around the islands a lot too. We love to go the straw market and see what island find we will come across. There is an extremely exotic zoo here. We went last week and had so much fun we bought a year membership. They have marching flamingos! While we were sitting watching the show Alena and Alex got chosen to go into the ring with them. That might have been the highlight of their little lives. I can not wait to post pictures of that. Hand feeding the parrots apple slices that landed on us might be a close second for them.
We have been having a great time here so far. I feel like I am not even coming close to explaining what our lives have been like for the past few weeks. Its hard to go back and blog about what we have been doing and experiencing. Now that we have Internet though I can keep up with our new Bahamian lives. :) No worries mon!