I know you have all been wondering...

How are trip back to the US has been. I'm sorry I wasn't able to post until now. It took the internet company 2 weeks to get to our house to install the cable and internet...not to far from what you could expect with "island time."

So I'll start a few days before we left the island (which already feels like a life time ago...and not in a good way!). Reece's class threw a big surprise going away party for Reece. He had no idea but the teacher let us in on the surprise so we could come and take pictures! They were all so sad to see him go and his best friend Max was almost in tears by the end of the day. It was very touching to see that Reece had such a great group of friends while we were in St. Maarten.

We got all of our cleaning done on schedule! Shocker I know! We got busy that Wednesday before we left, and although it took all day we were able to check into the hotel that night with the load off our shoulders that all the work was done! Dave took his last test that Thursday and then we came back to the hotel for some relaxing and we had a nice dinner out for our last night out on the island.
Friday my friends Jill, Hanna, Carlyn and Meagan all showed up to help us get our suitcases to the airport and then we all shared one last lunch (for a while, but not forever) together.

This picture is the only one I got of all our luggage. It is lined all the way down as far as you can see.

So the plane ride went pretty well. We got a lot of dirty looks all day for having so much luggage and so many carry ons plus the cats! But we got through the day ok and the kids were great on the plane...even the cats did a good job and were barely noticed the whole day of travel. So we got back on Friday very late and were hit immediately by the COLD! It was horrible outside, I believe that night was below zero. The kids were frozen because we didn't have very good winter coats for them, Dave and I were already questioning why we left the beautiful weather of the Caribbean to return to fridge conditions! Saturday we went out right away and bought my dream car. I had been doing research for months and many of my island friends already knew that an orange mini van was in my future because I never stopped talking about it. So Tange became the newest member of the Reimer family. A 2008 Dodge Grand Caravan..now the kids don't have to touch each other, oh how nice to have a car we can fit in, and one I'm not afraid is going to break down any minute.

Reece's birthday was the 17th. We took him to Chuck E Cheese as promised. And the boys all had a great time playing all the games.

For dinner we met up with Dave's parents and had a yummy dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings and shared Reece's birthday cake. I can't believe he's 9! Holy crap do I feel old now!

I'll have to get to Christmas in another post...it has just been a whirlwind with Reece's birthday, Christmas, and moving back into our house. Dave leaves Sunday for Dallas until February 20th so we've been trying to spend a lot of time getting things together around here before he leaves. The house right now is just a disaster with stuff everywhere. We've also had to go shopping a lot for Christmas presents and clothes. Carter and Gavin had a ton of stuff that I had saved, but Reece had nothing in his size at all. We've also of course, hit most of our favorite restaurants that we had been missing for so long. So we've been really busy around here! We hope everyone had a good holiday and I promise to update very soon with photos of Christmas!

This will put you in the Christmas spirit!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Happy Birthday Cullen

We just wanted to send Cullen a huge hug for his 11th birthday today. Cullen is Dave's cousin and one of Reece's best pals. We hope you had an awesome day and we can't wait to see you very soon!

Holiday Concert

Reece had a Holiday Concert at school on Wednesday. He was so excited about it and made us arrive 45 minutes early because he was afraid we wouldn't find a seat! He sang first with the CIA choir and then did a song with his class. Each of the classes 1-6 did a song or little play that they acted out. It was really cute. This was CIA's first Holiday Concert and for being the first I think it was a hit!

Last night, Dave and I went out with his group of friends for a goodbye dinner. Dave will see almost all of them at Falcon in January but I may not see many of them again so it was nice to have one more dinner together. The kids stayed home with their best pal Carlyn! They had a great time and could have cared less when we got home!

I really can't believe how soon we will be home now. It seems surreal! I'm doing so well getting the major stuff done it doesn't look like we are going to have to bad a time on Wednesday and Thursday getting the last of the stuff done, which will leave more time for fun at the hotel! We are really pushing to have everything done on Thursday so we can just be lazy by the pool all day...hopefully it all goes as planned!

It's a boy????

So, many of you know the story behind us having 2 cats. We adopted Chewy from the pound when he was 5 weeks old and then about a year later he adopted a cat friend for himself, who we named Laia. Laia has been our cat since around last March when we would always find Chewy and Laia in the yard together and she was skin and bones so we started feeding her. I was thrilled to finally share the house with another girl, even if it was a cat! Today, I took the cats to the vet to get health certificates so they can fly home. The vet and I were talking about spaying Laia and why it was important when he got an odd look on his face and then went on to tell me that Laia is NOT a girl at all! Laia...now AKA Luke....is a BOY! A neutered boy, which is why Dave and I thought it was girl parts and not boy parts, but no less a boy! I was SHOCKED! Now we don't know what to call "her" and we keep messing up the pronouns! When I told Dave he about died of shock too. The kids thought it was pretty funny! So anyway...no matter what I do I was just destine to not have a girl...even when it comes to cats!

The farewells begin and so does the crap...

On Saturday night my friends Hanna and Jill threw a "Reimer Going Away Extravaganza." We started out the evening at Jill's house with some pre-party refreshments and a sweet little slide show of our time on the island put together by my friend Stephanie. Then it was time to head to one of my favorite restaurants on the island Le Chalet. They serve fondue and it's so fun and yummy!
Here is Carlyn and I preparing our potatoes, dried meats and pickles for the cheese. And below is another shot of the group at dinner.
After dinner we headed over to our favorite late night hang out, the Soprano's Piano Bar. We had fun sipping our martini's, dancing and singing! Then it was so late that it was time for a food run, so we all headed over to the only restaurant on the island that is open 24/7 and we ate again! I think I got home at about 4! Things seem to run a lot later here on the island then they do at home. It was a perfect night out and I thank Jill and Hanna for planning a night with all my favorite things and all my favorite people! I'm going to be so sad to leave these friends behind.
So with only 9 days left, I thought it was important that we do a little photo shoot with the kids on the beach. So yesterday, my friends Carlyn and Hanna came out to help capture some cute shots of the kids on the beach....here is a little glimpse into a few pictures that we got.

Today was the 5th Semester Farewell lunch sponsored by the Spouses Org. If you look back through the months you'll see pictures of me at them and talking about how I can't wait for it to be my turn. I can't believe it was actually my turn this time! Now looking back the time went so fast! I have had such an awesome time here, I can't believe it's time for the next stage. Here is me with 2 of the other 5th semester girls at lunch.
Ok, and as the title says...here comes the crap. With 9 days left we have been doing little projects every night trying to get this place clean. Last night was refrigerator night, so Dave and I cleaned the whole outside and underneath of the fridge. The night before we did our bedroom. I haven't decided what tonight will be- either ceiling fans or cleaning out the food pantry. Fun fun...our house currently looks as if it threw up. The living room is scattered with random things and half filled suitcases everywhere you look. I'm hoping to have the whole place cleaned and packed up by the 10th so we can enjoy a day with nothing to do, I'll keep you updated! We have one more farewell this weekend with Dave's student friends so that should be fun! We are going to a restaurant we have never been too before so it should be nice, I'll let you know!