I am on my first day being drug-free in the last 6 weeks, and I am finally feeling pretty good and am able to update our blog. I can't say much about myself because I have been stuck in the house looking at unpacked boxes, but Adrian and the kids really like it here in Florida. Adrian enjoys his job and things are going good there. It has been a slight adjustment for the kids. They are doing well and love it here, but, it has been different for them to live in the U.S. again. Brennan spent 1/2 a year in kindergarten in Texas, and then 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 1/2 of 4th grade in St. Kitts, where he was in a grade with 2-4 total students. Payton had a few more students in her grade, usually between 5-7. They are now in an elementary school of 800 children, with lots of kids all over the neighborhood. For the first few weeks, Brennan (and Damon) spent HOURS every day across the street playing football with the neighborhood boys, which we were happy for his sake because he is very social. BUT, we felt sad that the kids would come in and throw their backpacks down and then were out the door again. SO, we discussed it and decided that maybe if we got a trampoline, it would entice Brennan and his friends to spend some time over at our house and we could feel like he was a little more a part of our lives each afternoon. Well, we got the trampoline, and we certainly got our wish. The kids come out in swarms everyday when school lets out at 3:00, and now I'm lost as to what rules I should enforce for the trampoline. Brennan always has someone over to jump, so now he rarely goes out to play football, which isn't exactly what we wanted either since he did just sign up for the first time in his life to play competitive football in the fall . Here is the new party zone (complete with kids who think that we provide food and drinks everyday.) Ha! We tell them to BYOB (bring your own beverage.)
I have to say, life isn't so simple anymore when you have stores, malls, IKEA, movie theaters, restaurants, CraigsList, amusement parks, etc. to entertain you. That is something the kids aren't used to and they want to do EVERYTHING! We tell them it's a marathon, not a sprint. But while I was down, Adrian took the kids to WalMart and brought home Polly-Pockets and rockets. The boys had a blast lighting off the rockets and trying to catch them as they floated down when the parachute opened up.
Life is also not so simple when you have to deal with the upkeep of a house. I was one of the few (ex-Pats) in St. Kitts who didn't have a maid (or a cook, or a nanny), but we didn't have any yard work or home maintenance because as you know, we lived at the resort. There are trade-offs to everything I suppose. One of our newly acquired daily tasks (multiple times) is to chase the ducks out of our pool. Sure they're cute and all, but we really don't like to swim in feathers and poop.
Damon is learning to ride without the training wheels and (I think) is almost there! But he usually slows down and just jumps off the bike and lets it keep on rollin'.
Payton was one of two children in the school who received a "Future Leaders Award" for the month of February.
I know you've been dying to see pictures of my latest crisis, aka "the foot." I'm doing alright (physically) and am just about used to having rods stuck in my foot, but they will come out in 2 weeks and then I will hopefully be off crutches. People keep saying "you must be in so much pain" but I say "I am in pain- because I have to sit here and not do any cleaning or cooking or unpacking." It's mental anguish. So about the pictures- you really might not want to see, so if you get queasy just divert your eyes.
Here is one of my latest CraigsList finds- this cool little walker thingy so I can get a break from the crutches. This is my one and only makeup-wearing/hair-fixed outing in the last 6 weeks, and it took a lot out of me.
Lastly, Damon joined the neighborhood soccer league. They only had one practice where all the kids chased each other around in tag/flag football fashion, but during the game Damon picked it up and played like a little pro. He scored one point and was so happy, just like always. Some of you laugh at how he never stops smiling, well, check out these pics. He's smiling the WHOLE time, even when he's running down the field! He's a little cutie. (Also, the coach didn't show up, so now it is Coach Allred.) Speaking of Damon, he is very sweet with me because he doesn't want to hurt my foot, and he will say "I wish you never got on that ladder" or "I wish Jacob's mom was the one who fell off the ladder- he's a mean boy in my class." Ha. Sorry to Jacob's mom.
