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.

On Board The Random Wind:

A couple days after Tanner arrived, we got together with some other med students and their families and rented a huge sail boat for the entire day: The Random Wind.  It’s owned by a lady and her two children who live on the boat full time, and captained by a guy who honestly reminded me of Captain Ron.  (If you don’t know the movie reference, Google it!).

Before we set sail, the owner of the boat (far left) and her hired captain (second on the left) gave us a quick “Welcome Aboard!” speech.

The back of the boat was covered by a canopy so it was in the shade most of the day. This is where Cari, Andi and Piper pretty much parked themselves and stayed. Cari’s fair skin burns so easily, and Andi was told by her doctor to stay out of the sun as much as possible.

The front of the boat was all sun, and this is where the Sun worshiper Michelle hung out all day.

This little six year old’s mom owns the boat, and with her brother (who wasn’t on this trip) the three of them live on it full time. What a life!

The beige building with red roofs is Cari’s school. The big cranes are helping put up the new building which will be complete just as Cari finishes.

The building on the far right is The Cliffs, which might be the nicest place to live on the entire island. (No way we can afford to live there.) The complex just to it’s left is Rainbow where we live. (Well… it’s where the girls live and I now sometimes get to visit.)  And that’s  Jason LaVigne, a med student who’s a semester ahead of Cari.  They have a son two years younger than Tanner and they used to be our next door neighbors until they turned traitor and moved across the street 🙂

This is Cupecoy Beach. It’s a lot smaller now after tropical storm Ernesto, and it’s also entirely clothing optional. Before the storm you could walk there from the beach below Rainbow (now you’d have to swim).  One morning not long after we first arrived I discovered it while going for a morning jog along the beach, and when I stumbled across it, nobody had any clothes on. At all.

You can’t really tell in this photo, but none of the people on the beach in this pic are wearing clothes either. I didn’t have my nice zoom lens with me that day or I could have given you a nice show!

As we pulled into Baie Longue (Long Bay) and anchored, a school of fish swarmed the boat and stayed right next to it the entire time we were there.  Piper was fascinated:

Matt Lew is a medical student a semester ahead of Carina, and his wife Cecily and Michelle have become good friends.

Tanner about to swing and drop into Mullet Bay:

The day was most certainly one to remember, and I would happily recommend  The Random Wind to anyone looking for an enjoyable day trip in St. Martin.

 

Thanksgiving Dinner:

There is a small cluster of LDS (Mormon) students and families on the island right now, and we all gathered at our place together for Thanksgiving.

Gary Attebury is a semester behind Carina.  His wife Ashley gave birth to their son, Parker,  a few moths ago, on the island.

Robert Wright is a student at the same semester as Carina. He and his wife Trisha are professional opera singers. Trisha, faced with boredom on the island, decided to teach herself photography. Her portrait photos are stunning! She has become so good at it, and so well known in the med school community that students happily pay her for photo sessions. And, the school asked her to be the official photographer for the next White Coat ceremony.

Martin is a single student in Cari’s class who has become a good family friend:

Junior Golf:

Louis Sun is a first semester spouse who also lives in Rainbow and who has two sons, Luke and Lauren. Even before arriving here, Louis has made a great discovery: Junior Golf at the golf course right next to AUC.  One hour lessons twice a week with a professional golfer… and best of all of all, it’s totally free!

On the Saturday just before we left, Tanner and I joined them.

 

Para-Sailing at Orient Beach:

There are SO many activities on this island that are right there for the plucking… for a price.  Now that I have a job, we were able to treat Andi and Tanner to one of the activities we always wanted to do before, but could never afford.

(Brief Photo Explanation:  I had been tinkering with the white-value settings on my camera before this outing, and I forgot to set them back.  Much to my dismay, the colors were terribly off.  I did a ton of color adjusting in Photoshop and got them looking presentable, but still a bit weird.)

 

You should have seen the smiles on their faces!  SO much fun.  After the kids went, it was my turn.  I was surprised at how quiet, peaceful and calm it was way up there. And what a view!

 

Wrapping It Up:

I felt a little odd being back down there again after a four month absence.  It was like… like I belonged there, but like I didn’t at the same time. Where as before I always felt like, “this is home for the next while”, this time I felt like a temporary tourist, even in our condo. It wasn’t until we had our place full of friends at Thanksgiving that the old, familiar feeling of being home, of being where I belonged,  finally returned.  And then a few days later, I was gone again.

Although I’m not a fan (at all) of this in-between stage, of this feeling of being a man without a home… of feeling like I’m a guest both at my in-laws and in the condo where my wife and daughters live… None the less, I am beyond grateful for a job that lets me work from anywhere which made this trip possible.   Cari will be done on the island in nine months, and I know that time will fly.  As finances allow, I’ll be down there a few more times and hopefully Tanner will be able to come at least once more as well.

When all this began, this isn’t at all how I envisioned our island experience.  But it is what it is, and we’re making the most of it.  All in all, I can find reasons to be grateful for how it’s all worked out, and in the mean time, I hope we can fit in a few more island adventures before this comes to an end.

And when our island time does come to an end… well, at this point, we still have no idea where we’ll end up next.

The adventure continues…