A fun day at sea....

Yesterday, the kids and I had a fun day out on a boat charter. We went with a group of student friends of Dave's. We got on the boat at 7:30 and got yummy croissants and quiche on the boat before we left. We left from the lagoon so we had to make it to Marigot by 8:30 when the bridge went up. I've never been on the side of being in the water for once instead of being in the car waiting for the bridge to come down! So that was a fun difference!
We then sailed for 2 1/2 hours to a little island off of St Maarten called Tintamarre. Once there we swam and played on the beach and also got a great mud bath! This is my third time to the island so my 3rd mud bath...but its so great and makes your skin so soft! Even Reece got into the spirit and put on the mud! The other two weren't so interested!
After sometime on the island we swam back to the boat for a yummy lunch prepared by the crew of the boat. After lunch we headed to Creole Rock, where the boys and I snorkeled. We saw lots of cool fish, and Carter thought it was "Awesome" and he so badly wanted to do it again! Reece got to help drive the boat! He thought that was so awesome and definitely his favorite time of the day!
After snorkeling we continued on to one last swim spot, where we all just relaxed and had some nice fruit for a snack. Then it was back to Marigot to catch the bridge going up again! It was a long day and we all got a bit toasty but we had a great day! The only thing that could have made it better was if Dave could have gone..but he was studying as usual! But break is only 4 weeks away and then we can do some fun stuff all together!

Happy 4th of July!

We are wishing everyone a Happy 4th of July! We celebrated today with a beach picnic with our friends from the Spouses Org. It was fun but nothing like the 4th on Lake Francis! We can't wait until next summer to have a 4th the way it is suppose to be! Hope all of our friends and family had a great day and for those of you living in the US we hope you appreciated it, you don't know how good you have it!

Its been a while

Let me start by saying I can't believe that it is July already. The year is just flying by...on the other hand, this semester is crawling by! I can't wait for it to be over! Dave and I are already getting our list together of things we have to do on break since it will be our last one to enjoy the island.

Since I posted last, Reece has had his last day of 3rd grade! His grades were awesome and a lot of them had gone up since the last report card. He got nearly all A's! The only subject he really has trouble with is French! His reading has really improved and we're so proud of him! He's excited to have some time off but looking forward to starting 4th grade here on the island!

Carter has survived his birthday! He had a great time. We had lunch with his friends at McDonald's and I made a yummy cake...in my toaster oven!! We tried to go Mini Golfing but it wasn't open so we had to go have ice cream instead, but all in all a great day. He was so funny b/c we had all his presents in the house for 2-3 weeks and he never once asked to open them but once it was actually his b-day he never stopped asking if it was time to open them! He had so much patience that I guess it just all fell apart at the end!

Gavin is up to the same old thing. After Carter had his birthday Gavin decided it was his birthday too and he now thinks he is 4...and there's no convincing him he isn't. In a little under 2 weeks we can celebrate 1 whole year of no diaper changing in the Reimer family! Wow has that been nice and money saving!! He has also perfected his swimming and can swim across the pool by himself and he loves swimming under water!

Dave and I are just hanging in there. Dave is pretty busy with school again, so still studying and spending most of his time at the school. I'm still doing the surrogate patient thing, and trying to stay busy to make time go by a little faster. Here are a few random pictures of things we have been up to.

Here is the cake I made in my toaster oven for Carter's birthday. Look how big those boys are getting!

Here is a going away party we had for one of my good buddies Sheryl who left the island a couple weeks ago. These are two of my island pals Carlyn and Hanna. I got a hair cut...what do you think?

Another one of us at the going away party.

A day at the beach. This is the best beach, the locals call it "baby beach" because it is so calm. Here are the boys with JT, Carter's best pal, and Nate, who is Gavin's best friend. They were making a floating garden and were so proud of themselves.

A great day at the park! Even I had to get into the action!

Happy Birthday Carter!

I can't believe it has been 5 years! The time has flown by and there has been so many changes...another brother, two more houses, and moving to another country just to name a few. Five years ago today we had the son we had tried for months and months to conceive. We even had to do fertility drugs to get pregnant. We were so excited and blessed when it finally happened and at 20 weeks when they said it was a boy we were even more thrilled. Carter was an excellent baby- slept constant and barely ever cried. He had reflux which made him throw up constant and had the worst case of eczema you ever laid eyes on and he was still the most precious thing you ever saw! Then he turned 2 and he got this little personality which is all his own. Many of you have experienced "the Carter" and know what that can look like...and it isn't pretty! But as he gets older he is learning what is and isn't appropriate and he's turning into quite the little man! He told me today that now that he's 5 he can go to school in America and I know he'll be excited to do that when we get home! So here are some pictures of him when he was little...I think it was more for me than you, but I just love to look back on what they use to look like. Once he turned 1 1/2 and Gavin was born its all a blur...I must have been busy. So I love looking back through the pictures and looking at the changes...so enjoy! And Happy Birthday my sweet Carter! Mommy loves you!

Happy Father's Day!

Here is a Happy Father's Day wish to the 5 best fathers we know! My brother Matt and our Niece Hailey at the top, Dave's Dad Glen with Carter, our Brother-in-law Barry with our Niece Olivia, my Dad and Carter and of course Dave and Reece and Carter. You couldn't ask for a better group of Dad's and I hope they all had a special day and got some time to relax. And to my Dad...I miss you everyday Dad and wish we could spend today together. Love to all the Dads!

Exciting Weekend

We had a pretty exciting weekend. On Saturday we were involved with a simulated bus crash with the Dutch Marines. Dave was in charge of the volunteers from AUC and making sure all 30 people volunteering got there and back safely. It was such a fun experience. We got to watch them set up the simulation and then we all got in the bus and acted crazy, yelling for help and faking injuries, when the Marines showed up. I even tried to pass Gavin out the bus window, since I figured in a real situation I would do just that to get him to safety. Then the Marines helped us off the bus and dealt with the people with injuries. It was fun to watch them at work along with the St Maarten Police and Fire Department. After the simulation we got treated to lunch by the Marines and it was authentic Dutch food...hmmm not so good, but nice to have a chance to chat with them. Later in the afternoon they did another simulation with other AUC student who pretended to be rioting for food and water after a hurricane. We weren't involved with that one but heard it went well.

Here is a picture of them setting up the situation and making the car look authentic.

Here are some students getting pulled out of the back of the bus.


Here is another view from the front of students getting "rescued" from the bus. The Red Cross had fake victims that used fake blood and injuries in the car. The firefighters used the jaws of life to get them out.

Here is Dave with Dr. Atchley, she helped organize AUC's involvement in the simulations. And Jack was in charge of helping with the afternoon rioting simulation....he's a former 82nd boy like Dave!
Here is a short clip of them setting up the scene by crashing up the car and getting the bus into position.



On Sunday we went to family fun Day for Reece's school. They had it at one of the beaches. The little kids played in the swimming pool while Reece and his friends jumped off the pier and played in the ocean. It is still hard to get over alcohol at school activities. It makes me laugh every time, because you wouldn't even dream of that in the States.

Dave having a beer and watching the kids swim.


Reece being a Sea Weed Monster! All the kids in the back are kids from CIA.
Here they are getting the Principal with sea weed. They also got Reece's teacher Ms. Minthorn.
Reece jumping off the pier.

Oh and an FYI from last post, we went and talked to the lady in the AUC immigration office and we were able to get our pictures and another appointment to get our papers.......SOOOO after 18 months we are officially legal to be on the island!!!

So close yet......

We'll after almost 18 months on the island our residency papers were finally ready to be picked up! There is only one day to pick them up which was today, so we got up early got everyone all ready and headed over to Phillipsburg Police Station to pick them up. We get all the way over there and are told that the paper and picture the school told us to bring is not right and we have to go have another passport picture taken. When we get over to the passport picture place it was going to cost $12 for each picture and could take close to 2 hours to develop (the window for picking up papers was only 4 hours, and the line was out the door)! Well us and another couple decided this was was to much money and time to even bother with and once again AUC did not prepare us the way that would have actually made this run smoothly! So I guess we are legal b/c we have papers but sort of illegal b/c we'll never actually get those papers! But if we've made it this long what's another 6 months!

On another note, Carter had a dentist appointment this week and Dave and I were so worried he was going to freak out big time. He actually did really great and loved sitting in the "robot" chair. Unfortuantly one tooth had a cavity in it that we have been keeping an eye on since we moved here and he needs to get it filled. So this Monday he goes back and something tells me this time isn't going to go as well as last time! Send us some good vibes we may need them!

And it was that time again....Welcome Breakfast time! It was great hanging out with all the new and old spouses and I'm excited for the next one when I get to announce that it is our last semester and everyone claps and cheers...it has been a long haul to get there!