A portrait of Beth today

Here is a portrait of me today, walking the mile to our home with 7 bags of groceries (including milk and frozen chicken- heavy) and a 30-something pound baby on my shoulders.  The other two kids are not included in the portrait because they were behind me quite a ways, crying "Daddy, Daddy, come help us..." but it was to no avail, he was busy at work, the other people who could help were in a meeting at the church at the time, and I wanted to get home as quickly as possible to get out of the heat and the wet clothes from the swamp we had to walk through.  I'm just thankful I don't live in a place where this is part of every day life for the woman.  

To find out why we were having this little adventure today, see previous post.

OOPS!!

Normally I stay out of the posting of blogs, this is left to my wife. However, I felt a need to post this blog....

She decided to venture out and look for boogie boarding waves while I was at work....

When she went to turn around the vegetation hid the hole that she ended up driving into....

Just another adventure that we will look back on and laugh about.... I hope!!

PS- I will let you know if and when we actually get the car out!

Little beach beauty

Just ignore the two front teeth that have been missing since an altercation with the neighbor's golf club last summer.

Do you see the resemblance?

The next great hairdresser

Payton LOVES to fix my hair up all beautiful! Here is one of the signature looks. 

Brotherly love

Brennan is a very sweet and fun big brother and loves our baby so much.

We found Payton's shoe!

You never know what kind of interesting things can be lost and then found again with a 1-year old on the loose.  

We're waiting anxiously!

The countdown continues...

Acupressure "massage"

So here I am, getting acupressure therapy from a Taiwanese man at our branch party.  We have video of this whole thing but I'll spare you, unless you like to watch people be tortured.  It felt like he had needles in his fingers.  I tried to remember the last time I felt that much pain, and I'm not even sure if recovery from my last c-section a year ago felt like that!

Here is the faithful husband, enjoying some dessert while I was in the torture chair.  

Culture in St. Kitts

This was actually "Carnival" in Nevis (the island of St. Kitts and the sister island of Nevis form one federation) which is similar to Mardi Gras in New Orleans.  We took the ferry over for the day, and a full day it was.  We went over with new friends, the Parson's from Draper, Utah, and the Johnson's from North Carolina (who were members of the Church here on vacation) and spent the day eating, waiting for the parade to start (we're talking hours here), visiting, and soaking up the sun!  It was VERY hot and there were a lot of people, but we waited it out to take in some local culture.  After the parade started, we stayed as long as we could stand (it was SO loud) and we also wanted to beat the crowd out, and so we headed over to the Four Seasons to cool off at the beach and pool.  We then waited in line for a few hours for our turn on the ferry back.  It was a full day with many twists and turns (no bathrooms open to the public, rain, sunburns, interesting ferry parking) but it was fun to spend time with new friend's and get to experience some of the local culture.  

Boogie boarding excitement

This is from a few weeks ago when we went boogie boarding for the first time.  We went with the Burt's who showed us the ropes and helped with the kids so Adrian and I could go out and learn together.  We had a blast and need to go again soon!

Ebony and Ivory...

Damon and Jaida share a moment on "Bluie," the comfy chair that Damon got for his first birthday.  

Fun with Pringles

Let them eat crepes...

Although I am not usually one to post recipes on my blog, I have been asked by fellow blogger's, homemakers, and in some cases, fellow house-husband's (yes I'm talking about you, Jason) for the crepe recipe from the earlier post "Millions of mango's."  Here goes- (you better half this recipe unless you have a large blender)

In blender combine-

2 1/2 cups milk

1 cup sugar

6 eggs

1+ tsp. vanilla

pinch of salt

2 cups flour

Heat large round pan on medium heat.  Cook crepes by pouring a small amount of batter (around 1/2 cup) into pan and twist pan so that crepe spreads out to the edges of pan.  When golden brown, flip over, and voila, there's your crepe.  Recipe makes a lot so there are leftovers.  

Serve with a little butter, sprinkle some cinnamon-sugar, fruit (we love strawberries, kiwi, bananas, mango's of course) and roll up.  If you live on the edge, in the food sense of the word of course, you can be like Jared & Janene and fill the center with pudding, jam, ice cream, or whipped cream, sometimes even all together!!  Enjoy and happy eating.  

Not your everyday occurrence....

Here is the first of probably a few posts about things that are not your everyday occurrences, at least not for those of you back home in the U.S. Not a big deal, just something humorous that we would never think to happen.  Last night we were in town and made a point of going to the gas station so that we wouldn't have to go on Sunday morning before church.  After filling up with $30 worth (which bought less than 2 gallons of gas- do not be alarmed, this 2 gallons cost  approximately $11. U.S. dollars) the gas station attendant (you do not pump your own gas here) told us that was all we could get, that they had run out of gas. He said the truck would probably come in the middle of the night and there would be gas again in the morning.  We had to laugh.  

Damon walks!

Although it's only about 6 steps in a row and then he jumps on the ground and takes off crawling.

Millions of mango's!

OK so maybe not millions, but we have eaten and processed (guesstimating) around 400 mango's in the past 10 weeks. Here we have some of the specialties that we serve here in the Allred home- a mango jam with a hint of tart lemon; a creamy mango smoothie with a tantalizing blend of mango's, passion juice, and cream of coconut; a delicious mango crepe dusted with a perfect mixture of cinnamon and sugar; a wonderfully healthy and good-for-the-brain frozen baby food that can be enjoyed year-round; and of course, a few extra mango's to be eaten alone or given away to friends and neighbors. And for just a 1-day plane trip, you too can come visit us here in St. Kitts, and give our mango specialties a try!

The boys...

Here they are, our 3 boys in their "man" chairs, getting in a few minutes of Sports Center.

DISCLAIMER: THERE IS A DIAPER UNDERNEATH THAT BELLY ROLL ON THE BABY.

A trip to the doctor in St. Kitts part II

This is a follow-up post from a month or so ago when we went to the doctor for the first time here in St. Kitts. If you haven't read, it was an interesting experience. Since that visit, we have spoken to others and gotten some additional information, and our trip to the doctor in St. Kitts today was a pleasant surprise. Our new doctor was very professional and well spoken, and his office had exam rooms with supplies organized nicely, a courteous receptionist, a copy machine, normal doctor's office chairs, Germ X sitting on the counter, and patient history paperwork for us to fill out, including a space available for the patients first AND last name! And, they even took debit cards!

So to friends and family who are concerned about our welfare here on a remote island in the middle of the Caribbean, do not fret. There is professional and decent medical care to be found.

And I have one more disclaimer to make. Although in the past I have referred to our little island here as a third-world country, it really isn't a true third-world country. We say it more as a joke for ourselves because our lives here are so different from what they were in the United States. But in the true sense of the word, this is actually one of the "middle class" islands in the Caribbean. Yes there is poverty, but there is poverty everywhere. Yes there is crime, but there is crime everywhere, and St. Kitts is actually one of the safer places in the Caribbean to be. So yes, it is humbling to see a different lifestyle than what we are used to back in the states, but we are blessed to live on a beautiful island with people that will take you in as family once they get to know you.