MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Eric and I are glad to be back in Texas to spend the holidays with our family and friends. We will report back to everyone, via blog, when we return to the island in January.

May you all have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

We would like to share a very precious Christmas present we received on December 20th. His name is Jeremiah Thomas Weaver, the son of proud parents Tyler and Courtney Weaver (My brother and sister-in-law, Eric's bro-in-law and sis-in-law). Jeremiah, "JT" is our first nephew. We are so proud of him. We are excited that Jeremiah will be visiting us in St. Kitts in May of 2010. Beach babies run in the Weaver family.

Semester One=Almost Over

Today marks a monumental day for myself. I am flying home one week early from the island, to hopefully be at home for the birth of my new niece/nephew. In the meantime, Eric will stay back to take his final exams. Today he had his last anatomy exam, and will have 4 finals next week, being: Monday=anatomy, Tuesday=microanatomy, Wednesday=nutrition, and Thursday=physiology. Looks like he will have a few sleepless nights next week! The last two days, he has studied from 7 am to 12 am (with a few breaks here and there to eat, etc.) He is due for a much needed break and time home in Texas with family, dogs, pine trees and cows.

We would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! We hope to see as many friends and family as we can while we are home for the break. Start checking your calendars to see if you will be able to visit us here on St. Kitts in 2010!

(clicking on image will enlarge it)

Our first semester here on St. Kitts is coming to a close. Today marks day 101 here on "The Rock", and the beginning of week 15. Eric has one more week to study before a test on Fridayand 4 finals the next week. He has been studying hours upon hours for his final exams, which we both know will pay off in the end.

This past week me, Lindsay and Sean decided to check out St. Kitt's sister island, Nevis, while our spouses were diligently attending class and studying. We took our car, loaded onto a tiny ferry, (where we were not viciously attacked by a flock of seagulls...ehhmm Galveston), and cruised across the Caribbean Sea/Atlantic Ocean channel. See pictures below of the fabulous views offered by the West Indies volcanic islands.

Here we were enjoying a cold, Caribbean brewski on St. Kitts, waiting for the ferry. The island in the distance is Nevis, our soon-to-be destination.

This is a pic of the Caribbean Sea from the ferry dock on St. Kitts.

The tiny, but o-so-cozy ferry. They sell ice-cold adult beverages aboard! Our car is the blue SUV, 2nd to back row. In order to get your car aboard the ferry, everyone must form a line (backwards) and BACK onto the ferry. Let's just say a Carib was calling my name after I had to endure this forever life-scarring event. Kittitian's can get a little cranky when you don't back into your EXACT spot on the first, second or third try! Sheesh...

Shot of Nevis

Making our way to Nevis

Getting Closer

This is a cattle guard on Nevis that I HAD to get a picture of!

It was not a very smooth drive over. While we were on Nevis, we first stopped off to enjoy a burger and "Killer Bee" (famous rum punch of Sunshine Bar). We then drove around the whole island, taking in the beautiful, lush scenery. Before our departure, we stopped off at a beach bar to enjoy beverages and the beach.

I was unable to get many pictures while on Nevis because I was the driver. Hopefully I will be able to return to Nevis with Eric, so we can enjoy the views and serenity of this island together.

Here, a truck is BACKING onto the ferry as we were leaving Nevis. I was fortunate enough to have a Kittitian gentleman valet my vehicle onto the ferry when heading back to Kitts. I think he remembered me from earlier on in the day!

Wednesday night, on-campus housing held a Christmas light special near the dorms, offering students hot apple cider, hot chocolate, Christmas Cookies and Carolers! Two of the carolers below are fellow VIPs and friends of mine.

We will leave you with a Christmas portrait of our pomeranian, MAX. We are excited to spend the Christmas holiday and New Year with our friends and family back home in Texas!

While we did not get to celebrate Thanksgiving at home with our families, we had the pleasure of getting together with wonderful new friends here at "The Booger". Our meal was exceptional, with tasty dishes that were unique to the families of all the students that were present. There were a total of 30-40 people whom we celebrated this special day with. Thanks to Noelle, Erin, Kosmo and Chad for letting us have this feast at your home!

"The Booger", inhabited by 4 Ross U students

Amazing view of the Atlantic Ocean from the Booger

Thanksgiving in Paradise

Lindsay and I trekked up to Brimstone Hill one day last week where I captured a few pictures from our journey. I missed the trip up there during orientation with Eric and our group. The views from Brimstone are wonderful! If you come visit us, we will definitely be making a stop here with you.

Beautiful shot of the Mountains

picture of a neighboring island in the background

Me, sitting on a cannon, with the Caribbean Sea behind me

Turkey in the Tropics

Eric & I would like to take this time to let all of our friends and family know how thankful we are for each and every one of you that have blessed our lives and supported us through our big move to St Kitts. Though we are many miles away, our thoughts and spirits will be with our family members back home as we celebrate Thanksgiving, Caribbean Style. After turkey week is over, Eric will have two more full weeks of class and then a brutal week of finals. He is done an amazing job thus far, so please keep him in your prayers while preparing for finals. I will be home in 2 weeks from Friday. I will be leaving the island early to hopefully be there in time for the birth of our new & first niece/nephew. We are so excited for Tyler and Courtney!

On this very day, while you are probably back home in long sleeve shirts/jackets, and nestled by the fire at night, we continue to endure 85-90 degree weather (but no complaints here...we are just missing the chilly hunting weather). The pictures below will give you a better idea. Happy Thanksgiving and safe travels to everyone! Gobble Gobble.

A cloudy afternoon, away from the books.

The Strip

Sunset

Cruise Ship sailing into the Sunset

Hash Hike, Think & Drink, & Sunday Funday

Let's see...I will start with this past Friday. Once again, our beach volleyball team, the VIPerS, won another game! I believe we are now 4 and 3. Vet spouse's are whooping up on these vet students! :) But, we do get to practice during the week, when everyone else is studying. Eric did not sign up for a team this semester, but hopefully he will play next semester (but who knows....2nd semester is supposedly one of the hardest and most time consuming, so we will see.)

On Saturday, Eric woke up at the crack of dawn, camped out in the library, and studied all day until 5 pm. Me, on the other hand, had quite an interesting new experience. Yes my friends, I am now officially a "Hasher". Umm, let me explain. Wikipedia describes Hash House Harriers as such... "The Hash House Harriers (abbreviated to HHH, H3, or referred to simply as Hashing) is an international group of non-competitive running, social and drinking clubs. An event organized by a club is known as a Hash or Hash Run, with participants calling themselves Hashers". Lindsay talked me into partaking in this event, and now I am hooked. For this hash there was a trail for the runners and one for the walkers. I definitely fell into the walker category, along with 4 other friends. It took us ~1.5 hours to hike up the mountainside, through part of a semi- rainforest, and back down through brush, over rocks, and through pokey trees (see picture below for explanation). Once the hike is over, everyone congregates where the trail begins....dun dun dunnnn....and the drinking begins. For those who have never done a hash, you are labeled as 'Virgin Hashers', and are initiated in the most peculiar way. That's right, you get on your knees and are baptized with a cold beer pouring over your head....and then all the "virgins" have to chug a full beer. Crazy, I know...but we can't wait for the next one! So I heard that some people who go on vacation look for Hash House Harrier hikes all over the world. I challenge each of you to seek out an HHH club near you. You would be surprised...one may be right around the corner from you.

a view of the mountainside that we hiked

let the games begin

Emily, Lindsay, & Me

3 Texas girls without a clue what we were in for

mountainside view of a carnival

cruise ship leaving St. Kitts

our walking group...and no they didn't fall into

the river bed...that is sweat folks

these freakish pokey trees (as I call them) were all over the place...I actually stuck my hand out to slow myself down, and found out real quick not to do that again. since when did trees need a self-defense mechanism?

an overview of the vet school campus

dorms to the far left side...classrooms to the right

cattle grazing the mountainside

Overlooking the Caribbean Sea

Initiation

I got in trouble because I wasn't completely on my knees...these

people are serious with their beer baptizing rules

and the beer begins to flow over my head (fresh one just out of the ice chest)

Lindsay's baptism

and then Emily's

...and now we must chug a full beer, while more beer is slung on us...hoping to finish our beer because the rest of it will be poured on us if we don't finish...

"Drink it down, down, down, down, down"

O yes, they have a song for it

Later that night Eric and I went to a 7th semester fundraiser at Buddy's Bar on the Timothy Beach Strip. The fundraiser was titled "Think and Drink Trivia." It was basically like playing trivial pursuit x 150 other students. Lots of fun! Me, Eric, Matt and Lindsay, aka Team Rednecks, did a pretty good job. The guys did most of the thinkin' while we did some drinkin'.

Here are a few pictures from that night.

fun times

no clue

SUNDAY FUNDAY

Eric decided on Sunday to put the books away and get out and play. We enjoyed a nice lunch at Shipwreck and relaxed a while on the beach. Eric then drove me around the whole northern portion of the island, since I missed Uncle Millie's tour during orientation. On the tour, I saw Brimstone Hill from a distance, Mt. Laimigua (St. Kitts' volcano), and lush sugar cane fields that are no longer harvested. I unfortunately have no pictures to share with you of the tour, because we wanted to just enjoy our time without having to worry about stopping for pictures. I am sure I will make that trip again before our journey here is over. We then finished off the night at the Caribbean Cinema for a little "couples retreat". It was so nice to share a whole day with Eric. He now has 4 more weeks of classes and then a week of finals...meaning, I will see him again in 5 weeks! (J/K)

Counting down the days until we fly back home. We miss each and every one of our family & friends. See you all very soon. Thanks and Gig'em.

Colors of the Caribbean

Today I am bringing you the vibrant colors of the Caribbean by way of cloth patterns influenced by the culture here and lush, tropical vegetation. I am fascinated with plants (just like my momma) and have captured just a few photos of some of the beautiful plants of St. Kitts. Sure, back home we have some of these in our yards, but here they stay beautiful and in bloom year round.

The first photos are of the colorful material that the Kittitian women use to make clothing, pillows, purses, etc. Sooo priddy.

Caribelle Batik Designs

A Dove perched on a Flamboyant Tree

Bougainvillea (used as shrubs here on the island)

Palms of the Marriott

Bougainvillea

and another

I call this one Fire (not sure the name of it)

A Crazy Cactus Tree

Lipstick Palms

Gardens at Romney Manor Estates