St. Martin Activities « The Crookstons

Breakfast at Ocean Beach Club

When we all arrived on the island of St. Martin sixteen months ago, the stress of relocation, of being jobless, of being in a strange place, and of med school all made it a challenge to really feel like this island was “home”. After the last two months Tanner and I spent down there, however, my feelings for this place have changed completely.

I love this island. I wish I was still there, and I hope I get to go back again before Carina is done in August. I’m also a little sad it took me so long to feel this way about it. I’m not saying I didn’t like the island at first… I guess I’m saying that it just took a while to be able to honestly say, “I LOVE it here!” Read the rest of this entry »

Written on April 29th, 2013 , AUC: American University of the Caribbean, St. Maarten Restaurants, St. Martin Activities

Twins Spring Training, Finding Michael Weston’s Loft, Kayaking, and Suba Diving

Josh Willingham autogrphs Tanner's Baseball

Josh Willingham autographs Tanner’s Baseball

We have a tradition in our family: When our kids turn twelve, we take them on a trip of their choice… anywhere they want to go (within reason). Two years ago Andi opted for a cruise to the Bahamas, and Tanner decided he wanted to go to Fort Myers, Florida and watch the Minnesota Twins at their spring training.

It was SO! MUCH! FUN! Read the rest of this entry »

Written on March 24th, 2013 , St. Martin Activities

New Tires, Potty Training, and HIV Testing…

Carina, holding Piper, volunteering at the tie-die event with at-risk kids.

Yesterday I received the following Facebook message from my sister, Rebecca: “I’m trying to figure out where you live right now. Did you get a job that lets you live in St Martin’s? Or are you just visiting? What are school plans for Cari? And how is Andi doing? I guess I’m hoping for an all-around update on life.”

And Rebecca isn’t the only one who has asked us the same thing, so I figured I’d set the record straight.

Yes, I have a fantastic job (with great people) that is 100% remote, meaning I can literally work from anyplace that has a solid and reliable internet connection. I’ve had this job since the end of October, 2012. So, the obvious question is: Why have Tanner and I not been on the island since I’ve had this job? Read the rest of this entry »

Written on March 4th, 2013 , AUC: American University of the Caribbean, St. Maarten Shopping, St. Martin Activities

A Tour of Our Corner of the Island (As Seen From the Car)

The ‘Welcome to St. Maartin” sign by which tourists love to take their photos.

It’s good to be back!

Hey, I’ll be honest… I wasn’t at all sad to leave winter behind and come down here with Tanner to spend two months in the Caribbean with the girls!

In the months that I’ve been away, I’ve fielded a lot of comments and questions from people back at home about the island. As a result it made me realize that I’ve not done a very good job of documenting in this blog what the island of St. Martin is really like. I vowed that as soon as I got back here, I would take some time to drive around and photograph the inside of the island, away from the beautiful beaches, to show the parts of the island that you’ll never see on postcards and tourist brochures. Read the rest of this entry »

Written on March 3rd, 2013 , AUC: American University of the Caribbean, Learning Unlimited, St. Maarten Beaches, St. Maarten Shopping, St. Martin Activities

A Thanksgiving Full of Thanks

Andi and Tanner taking off on a para-saling adventure

What a trip!

It is now Sunday, December 2nd, 2012. Tanner and I got back to MN a week ago today. The time we spent with the girls down in St. Martin was fantastic, and I was profoundly grateful to be back with my wife and two daughters.

Little Piper is growing up so fast it’s scary. She talks incessantly and acts more like an adult than a two year old. Andi is doing remarkably well considering all that life is putting her through, and I am deeply impressed with her resilience. Carina is happily slogging along, and despite the pace at which new material comes at her, she still seems to be enjoying this whole med school thing. (Thank goodness!) The first weekend I was there was block weekend so I didn’t really get to spend any time with her for the first couple of days, but after blocks her schedule slacked off a little and we had some good, quality time with each other and the kids. Read the rest of this entry »

Written on December 3rd, 2012 , AUC: American University of the Caribbean, Mormons in St. Maarten, Rainbow Beach, St. Maarten Beaches, St. Martin Activities Tags: American University of the Caribbean, Families at American University of the Caribbean, St. Martin Activities, St. Martin Beaches

No Longer the New Kids, Happy Bay, And Other Stories of Time Moving Forward

Two of Five is Almost Half Done

Trail marker at the head of the path to Happy Bay

It’s Sunday June 10^th, and tomorrow Carina heads into the second block week of her second semester. This means we literally won’t see her all week. And, as there are four blocks per semester, it also means her second semester is almost half over.

Wow.

Wow!

Okay, now that I’ve gotten the “wows” out of the way, I do also have to say that it’s nice not having Cari being in her first semester any more, for a couple of reasons. Read the rest of this entry »

Written on June 11th, 2012 , AUC: American University of the Caribbean, Everything Else, St. Maarten Beaches, St. Martin Activities Tags: AUC, beaches, Families at American University of the Caribbean, family, Happy Bay, kids, Semesters, St. Maarten Beaches, St. Martin Beaches

“You guys sure are having an amazing adventure down here”

: Grandma, Grandpa, Andi, Piper and Tanner down on the beach below our condo

Well, tomorrow morning life is going to change dramatically. Again. Cari goes back to school, and I go back to work.

For Cari, it’s been a fantastic, relaxing, rejuvenating and much needed three week break. For me, it’s been a… (searching for just the right words…) a … an unexpected but inspired four month weekend.

Just today I got word that tomorrow I will start a short-term contract for a company in Minneapolis to code a new web-based application for them. It’s not a long term gig, but it’s work. And I’m grateful. On one hand I never thought it would take this long to find a company that would let me work entirely from a remote location, but on the other hand, not working the first semester of Cari’s schooling is exactly what our family needed while we all settled in to this strange new land.

But more on this later. Right now I want to focus on my Mom & Dad’s visit and on Cari’s break. Happily, my parents were able to arrange there visit to coincide with Cari’s freedom so we could all spend time together. And we had so much fun! I’m not even sure where to begin, so, let’s start with Cari’s birthday. Read the rest of this entry »

Written on May 8th, 2012 , AUC: American University of the Caribbean, Rainbow Beach, St. Maarten Beaches, St. Maarten Restaurants, St. Maarten Shopping, St. Martin Activities Tags: AUC, Families at American University of the Caribbean, family, Jungle Hike, Orient Beach, Pic Paradis, Rainbow Beach, St. Maarten Activities, St. Maarten Beaches, St. Maarten Shopping, St. Martin Activities, St. Martin Beaches, St. Martin Shopping

Music of the Island

My mom and dad on the beach down below our condo

A group we stumbled upon playing steel drums in a warehouse in Grand Case

Carina is on break right now between her first and second semester at AUC, and much to our delight, my Mom and Dad were able to schedule a trip down here during her break. They like to travel and were excited when we announced we were moving to a Caribbean island. We’ve been looking forward to their visit and were happy that it could coincide with Cari’s break. I’ll compose a better post soon with fun details of their trip, but right now I just wanted to share a highlight.

Yesterday evening we drove out to Grand Case, a fun little village over on the French side that is well known for it’s cute shops and yummy restaurants. (Andi, Tanner and I went there a while back and we recorded our trip here.)

As we were walking down the main street we heard the melodic and distinct sounds of steel drums, so we followed our ears. We ended up in an otherwise unassuming warehouse where we found a group of young twenty-something islanders playing their hearts out on an impressive array of drums.

At first I just took a few pictures, and as I did so I was thinking to myself, “I wish I could record this… it sounds so fun and beautiful.” And then it occurred to me, “Wait! I can record this!” I borrowed my dad’s iPhone (I no longer carry mine with me), put the camera on video mode, and after asking their permission, I started to record. Here’s a short clip of them as they were finishing up a song. Read the rest of this entry »

Written on April 26th, 2012 , St. Martin Activities Tags: Caribbean Music, St. Maarten Ativities, St. Martin Activities

A Few Heineken Regatta Pics

Once a year in March, Heineken sponsors a sailboat race around the island that draws crowds and boats from all over the world.

This morning Carina, Tanner and I went to the back of our complex armed with my tripod and camera to catch a few pics of the boats as they began the Saturday morning stretch of the three day race.

I thought I’d share of few of the photos.

Written on March 3rd, 2012 , St. Martin Activities Tags: Heineken Regatta, St. Maarten Photographs, St. Martin Photographs

Tanner & Baseball: Is it the Game? Or the People?

As a dad, it’s been a treat and a delight to watch my son develop and grow his love for baseball over the past eleven years. He has loved that game more than I loved anything as a kid.

Little Tanner playing T-Ball

I’m not sure where it came from, really, because sports has never been my thing. At all. And when I do pay attention to anything in the sporting world, it’s usually college football. But no matter. I’ve been more than happy to nurture and encourage his love for baseball. In fact it’s been a lot of fun.

Tanner has never been happy simply playing ball. Just showing up at little league games wasn’t enough to quench his thirst, and he became the ubiquitous instigator of neighborhood games. He would work the telephone or scour the neighborhood to round up all the usual suspects, corralling them into our front yard where they would play until it became too dark to see the ball anymore. Even as late in the year as November, Saturday afternoons would find a group of boys bundled up in winter coats and hats, playing their hearts out as if that very game was the Little League World Series. And in the dead of winter they would pile into our basement to play the same game, but on the Wii. On those sad days when nobody else was available to play, he would stand in our front yard for hours, just swinging his bat, alone. Read the rest of this entry »

Written on February 26th, 2012 , St. Martin Activities Tags: Caribbean Baseball, Families at American University of the Caribbean

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