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

Week 10 here on the island has flown by. Eric conquered his anatomy and physio tests, and has a nutrition exam this coming Tuesday. Yesterday, the VIPerS whooped up on Team Ocho at Timothy beach. It was a close game there in the beginning, with Ocho winning the first game, then VIPs winning the second. We then took it away the last game, leaving Ocho looking for their pride in the sand. :) Sorry Chad and Matt! The VIPs practice and socialize every Thursday at Timothy, and we have definitely improved our game over the last few weeks.

After volleyball, we high-tailed it home to get ready for a night at Bobsy's to witness the much talked about Island Idol. (Bobsy's holds karaoke every Wednesday night...good times). Lindsay's husband, Matt, won Island Idol last semester, and was back for another run after the title. Unfortunately, he was not the winner, but is a really great country and western singer. After the "show" was over, we all did a little karaoke'in of our own. The girls sure were Rockin' with the Rhythm of the Rain!

The Fearless VIPs after our Domination over Team Ocho

Timothy Beach

George Strait, aka Matt and his lovely bride, Lindsay

Country Boys Can Survive

Eric, Tim, Adam & Matt

Matt & Chad...Couple of Crazy Texas singin' boys

Carnival Cruise Ship leaving Kitts, passing in front of the dorms, on its way back into the open Caribbean Sea