Family Update

I had great plans about a post with all sorts of pictures, but it wasn't meant to be today. Internet difficulties. So, I'll just post a wee update on each of us -

Luke: He's coping very well considering all of the different ways he's being pulled - his first weeks of teaching, finishing the thesis, and taking care of his family in a foreign culture. The main event of the week for him was finding, buying, insuring, and registering our car. We're the proud owners of a 2000 white mazda. Each step in the process was a challenge because it has been years since we've bought or owned a car and doing it in a new country requires a good bit of learning along the way. One lesson learned is to bring an ipod and book to the dmv. Poor guy stood in line for 2 hours to register the car. But, "car" is something he can cross of the list now. In the last week, he's been introduced at the University of the West Indies as the new faculty, taught his class a few times, and set up his 'office'. He really likes being on campus and can't wait until he doesn't have a 30 minute commute to get there.

Isaiah: Sweet guy. He's been really into pirates this week. We've played pirates, had a treasure hunt, listened to a 'pirate heartbeat' on his white noise maker, and it was too perfect that he got a toy pirate in his kids meal from Chefette yesterday. He's also fallen in love with a cartoon called Animal Mechanicals. It is kind of like pre-transformers and it is one of his favorite things about living in Barbados. He's made quite a few batches of jello with me this week. We like to sit out on the front porch and eat it in the evenings. And, he's enjoying reading the Barbados map and planning a trip to see one of the lighthouses. Today when I took the kids out this morning, he told Luke, "Dad, don't play my kazoo while I'm gone, ok?" Another funny thing was when he looked at the map this morning and said, "See, Mom, we live right here in this little pouch." And he had his first encounter with a little Caribbean buddy, who also lives on the college campus. They did a lot of running around together last night at a bbq on campus. The conversation we overheard when like this:
J: What kinda man is you?
Isaiah: I don't know what you're saying.
J: What kinda man is you?
Isaiah: I can't understand what you're saying.
J: What kinds man is you?
Isaiah: I don't know what you're talking about.

Isaiah (as we're walking away): I think J speaks French or something.

Noelle: Sweet baby. She and Isaiah have both been sick in the past few weeks and we've been to the doc twice. Isaiah needed meds, but Noelle has recovered. She's added new words to her vocab including baby and mama. She's really loving walking with our hands now and pushing chairs around the flat. She's also loving spaghetti and cold grape pieces. And she's started sleeping with her little pink and white doggie. She doesn't seem to mind the heat at all and loves tasting the sand and sucking on my swimsuit at the beach.

HOlly: I can't say that Barbados is paradise. Luke says that maybe it's better to become friends with someone before falling in love and I tell him that I'm still working on the aquaintance part. That said, Barbados does have it's own charm and I'm getting used to life here. I do know that a big part of "paradise" is being with my hubby and kids. I've got that! I'll write more soon. My internet time is up!