Andi sporting her trophy and medal

Andi sporting her trophy and medal

Each year Andi’s school, Learning Unlimited, host a science fair.

Collectively, the students put it a staggering amount of time and effort. They spent months and countless hours researching and prepping their projects, and the result was an impressive display of ingenuity across the board.  The competition was fierce  and until the awards were announced, Andi didn’t think her project was going to win.

Carina, being the scientist, was more involved than I was.  But by and large, she let Andi and her partner Manni work it out themselves. Cari’s role was limited to proof reading their reports and helping them construct their display. All of the credit for the field research, the model construction, the surveys, and the imagination behind the project go to Andi and Manni.

In addition to learning about their subject, it was also interesting to watch Andi work through a complex project with a joint partner, navigate the people skills needed to pull it off, and juggle time management to put in the required hours to make it all a success.  Job well done on all counts, Andi! Read the rest of this entry »

Written on March 25th, 2013 , Learning Unlimited

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 »

Halloween on the island isn’t quiet what it is at home, but the American community still makes the most of it

While Tanner and I are keeping busy up in the northern hinterlands of Minnesota, the girls in St. Martin are filling up their days with lots of fun island activities as well.  Andi and Tanner have both had birthdays recently… Tanner turned 12 and Andi turned 14. Michelle recently shared a fun report on her blog, and I thought I’d re-post a condensed edition here as well.  If you’d like to experience the whole report, checkout her blog!

Take it away, Michelle….

“We like to parrty. With two r’s”

Christmas came early this year for the estrogen tank in St. Martin. As I mentioned in my last post, my niece Andi who JUST turned 14 (WOOT WOOT) went home for medical tests and was diagnosed with Probable Lupus. With a brave face and confidence from her doctor, she decided to return to us on the island to continue her school year as normal and get her regular teenage life back. We missed the little nugget, and were so excited to have her back, and just in time for her birthday. Read the rest of this entry »

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