Limes and Coconuts

About time for an update - being nagged!!!

2009-02-23T22:51:00.004-04:00

Not really Chloe, you just nudged me into something I should be doing!!!

So what news.... Well Jon has been off Island for a business trip to Orlando. I stopped speaking to him when he called me to tell me he was at the Hard Rock Cafe at Universal... lucky bugger! He was thrilled to find the Bubba Gump Shrimp Shop (as in Forrest Gump) so here is a pic (bit blurry as was taken on his blackberry).

They have finally called an election date on island - they announced it the day that the Stanford scandal hit the press - if you have missed it check it out on line - only a $9.2 billion dollar fraud! Fortunately we don't bank with the Bank of Antigua! So election day is March 12 which is great as the government are now pulling out all the stops to repair roads, street lights and have finally opened the new hospital which is state of the art and a $60 million dollar building.

They have a system here that when you vote, you have to dip your whole finger in a pot of black ink and it takes about 3 days to come off so all the islanders are going to be going around with one black finger! As there is only one terrestrial channel here the party political broadcasts are done by people driving around in cars with huge speakers on the roof yelling their support to their respective party (either UPP or ALP). A little annoying but more so when they do at at half six on a Sunday morning!

Life is pretty much ticking along. Jon still loving his job. Alfie loves his new school and has been picked as one of 24 students in the entire school to create the school's web site so once it is up I will post it here so you can have a look at his handiwork. Charlie has started a new school too and is very happy. He has a lot of friends there and thinks it is "cool". Jon has quickly picked up some Antiguan sayings (more out of necessity) such as "I will walk with it" meaning I will take it with me.

It is much cooler this time of year, about 28 degrees in the day and 20 at night which is COLD!!!! I now wear a jumper at night and we have a blanket on the bed!!! I may even have to invest in some socks lol!!! Jon had a real shock when he went to Orlando as was about 8 degrees there - he was freezing!!!

But the beaches are still lovely, we went to the beach yesterday for a BBQ and then came home for a swim in the pool (well swim is a bit optimistic as is only 3 ft deep!) but is 15ft wide so can have a good splash about and float on a lilo and sunbathe. Rudi adores the pool and often asks to go in. He is really chatting now and trying to make sentences - so sweet! Here are some pics of him too. We MUST take more of the other two but they are not such posers so next time I shall have some more of them.

Well think that is it for now, miss you all, want you all here for a holiday -GET SAVING!!!!!

Loads of love from The Islanders xxxx

Back to reality....

2009-01-21T10:22:00.003-04:00

Well Dad and Sally had a wonderful time and we spent most of it liming on the beach! We had a couple of good nights at Shirley Heights and they weren't too horrified with the car (apart from when the gear stick disappeared!). So now it is back to reality with the kids back at school and I have some part time work lined up.

Alfie is loving his new school and has just agreed to run the 800m - not sure where he gets that from - not me for sure! It is his birthday today - I can't believe he is 12 already!!

Rudi is speaking more and more by the day - his favourite word being "Gecko". Charlie just loves living here and has been for a sleep over at a friends house at English Harbour.

So all in all, life pretty much ticking along...

Christmas Day In Antigua

2008-12-26T13:53:00.002-04:00

How strange was it having Christmas in the sunshine?!!!

We had a lovely day, just liming (chilling out) at home. The kids all loved their presents, the elder two loving their body boards. Nice and quiet and in the afternoon we caught up on Skype with all the family which was lovely.

Dad and Sally are coming out a week today - to say we are excited is an understatement.

Anyway, we are off to the beach now, so pictures of Christmas Day below....

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Shooting Stars and Stunning Ships

2008-12-15T21:49:00.002-04:00

Wow we get some amazing shooting stars here!!! They are incredible and look like fireworks lighting up the sky.

Yesterday we went down to Falmouth Harbour and saw some of the boats still there from the boat show - god there is some SERIOUS money there. Here are some pictures...

Also, some pics of South Point, the development Jon is looking after

Here too are some pictures of some cabin boys.....

And finally - Story Time!!!

Pictures below.....

The Pictures...

2008-12-15T21:27:00.008-04:00

Seeing as I've been mentioning them....

2008-12-11T17:01:00.001-04:00

Here is a pic of one of our visiting spiders....

It is one of these... A Giant Grey Sphinx Moth

2008-12-11T16:28:00.005-04:00

Description

Adult: Adult dorsal forewing is brownish with a dark spot at the base of the costal margin and blurry gray and white markings. Dorsal hindwing is dark brown with white along the inner margin and the lower half of the outer margin. The body is striped with transverse grey-white bands and wider black ones. Average wingspan is 12.7 to 14 cm (females are typically larger than males and lighter in color).

Larvae: Larvae are velvety black with yellow rings and a reddish-orange head and can attain lengths of up to 6 inches. The black 'horn' located on abdominal segment 8 is approximately one inch long and is located on an elevated orange 'button'. Thoracic legs and prolegs are orange and speckled with black spots. Newly molted larvae are light yellow and dark gray in alternating transverse rings; several hours after molting, larvae become their typical yellow and black coloration.

larval size

Oh I am so looking forward to that hatching!!!! BTW that is not my hand but a pic I found on the net!!! Mine is the image below...

OMG Is this the biggest caterpillar ever?!!!

2008-12-11T16:03:00.004-04:00

Just took these pics of this caterpillar in our garden which measures at least 6 inches - it is HUGE!!!!! Am going to search it up on the net to see if I can identify it - all I know is it is going to turn into some BIG nasty flappy thing. ARRGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!

Word of the Week

2008-12-10T20:12:00.003-04:00

.... from Rudi is:

"Umm Wack" for a centipede!

Christmas in The Caribbean

2008-12-08T22:15:00.000-04:00

Hi everyone!

As Jon has been getting requests for newsletters I decided that the best way ahead would be to start this blog so that you can subscribe to it and collect up dates as and when I put them on - that way it wont get spammed out and also if I have missed anyone off the email list (blame Alfie for that one - he dropped my laptop smashing the hard drive and lost all my email contacts) those who are in the know can give them the link!! (And ask them to email me their address!)

So what news?.....

Well we have settled in to our new life and now speak like Islanders calling mobiles - cells, rubbish - garbage or trash and finally remembering to cost things in dollars instead of pounds. We are slowly (as in Antiguan slowly) getting our heads around the fact that there are no such things as direct debits here, standing orders do kind of exist and credit cards are virtually non- existent - everything here is cash. Neither do bills come in the post (I have only ever seen the post lady once!) We occasionally get a water bill tucked into the gate but other than that you have to ring up for your bill!

Gas (petrol) has just gone down and is now about £2.40 a gallon... my little car uses so little that 4 gallons last me 3 weeks! Mind you the island is only 108 square miles...

Jon still loves his job - he is very busy and it is so varied he is never bored. I have been working part time on a temporary basis for the same company but that is due to come to an end at the end of Dec but who knows it may continue.

The boys are both at the same school at the moment but we are moving Alfie as the school he is at now is not suitable and we are trying to move Charlie but there is no space in the other school that we want him to go to. Rudi is at Little Flowers nursery run by Aunty Cathy who is lovely and the nursery looks like a little wendy house complete with gingham curtains.

We bought our christmas tree at the weekend - decorations are SO cheap here compared to the UK. Funny how some things are SO expensive here (like second hand cars) and yet others are so cheap.

For those who don't know our house is 90 seconds drive from the beach and we can see the sea from both the front and the back. We have a palm tree by our bedroom window and sea breezes which is lovely as temperatures rarely vary from 28 - 30 degrees day and night. It is so strange buying suntan lotion and listening to christmas carols!

The downside to living here are the mosquitoes who still seem to enjoy a good munch but at least we are getting used to them so don't react as we did. There are also a large assortment of critters... the most humungous moths (seriously they have a 4" wingspan and those who know me well know how much I love moths!)... fruit bats - don't even go there!... and vast crickets (they could be locusts we are not sure). To top the list we have the tarantulas that appear now and again - they are massive!!! And then there is the rat story.... but that is one for another time.

So all in all life is treating us well, we have made some lovely new friends and the days seem to fly by - cannot believe we have been here for 6 months already.

Sunday we went down to Falmouth/English Harbour as it is the Boat Show - my god you should have seen some of those boats - the sorts that royalty would go on - they were vast!!! Unfortunately we did not know that if we had gone earlier in the day that we could have gone on some of them and viewed them, so that is a trip planned for next year for sure - expect some amazing photos.

Well will fill in some more stuff soon... here are some pics too

Love

Sam and Jon