We have been working hard on our backyard. Here are a few “in progress” shots!

After demo, before we started.

20x20 paver area for our pool in the summer

Raised patio area

Raised patio filled in.

Walkway

Tree - COMPLETE!!!!

Every Easter I take new pictures of the boys and try to get a new family photo as well. I am pleased with this year!

Camden

Carsten

What we did in Grenada while visiting Mike and Andrea with Mark’s parents!

Saturday March 10th
Drove to the Spiceland Mall
Wandered around the shops and outdoor market, bought souvenirs.
Went “shelling”
Celebrated Carsten’s 6th birthday
Dinner at the Beach House

http://www.beachhousegrenada.com

Sunday March 11th
AM – walked to the nearby point, watched the waves and took
photos
PM – went to Grand Anse Beach

http://www.grenadaexplorer.com/Beaches.htm

Played in the waves, rode on an inflatable pulled by a ski boat
Pizza for dinner

Monday March 12th
Breakfast at The University Club

http://etalk.sgu.edu/contribute/universityclub/

Went to Fort Frederick and Fort Matthew

http://www.grenada.mot.gd/forts.htm

Went to a fruit stand. Bought tamarin balls and cashew fruit.
Went shelling, swimming and relaxed
Went to the Dodgy Dock for dinner and saw a 747 fly over us.

http://www.truebluebay.com/restaurant.html

Tuesday March 13th
Went down to mum & dad’s condo and hung out on their beach.
Did some shelling, played in the sand, and read our books.
Drove to the grocery store (by ourselves!) and picked up some food.
Went and met our catamaran at the dock for our snorkeling
adventure. Went with 7 others (3 from England and 4 from
Canada). Went to Flamingo Bay And then the Sculpture Park. (http://www.grenadagrenadines.com/dive/dive-site-details/flamingo-bay/). (http://www.divegrenada.com/sculpturepark.htm)
Saw lots of fish, coral and sponges. Sculpture Park was
fascinating. Unfortunately, dad got pretty seasick.
Dinner at Ali Babas http://www.alibabagrenada.com/
Food was delicious, had a Chicken Shawarma Wrap, but service
was, as seems typical, not so great.

Wednesday, AKA cruise ship (see below) March 14th
7000+ cruise passengers supposedly descending on Grenada today!
Went to Food Land, bought some souvenirs and fed the koi.
Went to Grand Anse Beach. Boys got driftwood necklaces and
shark tooth necklaces. Boys had great time body surfing!
Heather cooked a great home-cooked meal of salad, pasta and bread
with brownies for desert.

Thursday March 15th
Glenn our tour guide picked us up at 8:20. We first went through
St. George’s, got stuck in a ton of traffic due to a car accident
and then went off up into the mountains.
1. First stop was Grand Etang Lake, http://www.grenada-beaches.com/grenada-attractions/grand-etang-lake/. We got a nice
tour of the visitors center and then went down to look at the
monkeys that were out. The monkeys sat on our shoulders and ate
bananas.
2. We then stopped at a plantation house for a refreshing drink.
3. Next stop was the nutmeg processing plant in Gouyave. Took
an interesting tour.
4. Next stop was Concord Waterfall, http://www.grenadaexplorer.com/Waterfalls.htm.
Took lots of great pictures.
5. Last stop was Fort George, not on the tour but we asked and
we had time! Boys loved the view and the big canons.
Once we got home, it poured with rain for the next two hours at
least. Dinner at Charcoals, http://www.charcoalsgrenada.com/.
Pretty good barbecued chicken.

Friday March 16th – last full day
Rained all night long, and hard!
Celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary!
Started off early and drove out to the lighthouse point. Not as cool
as “Crabville.”
The drove to Grande Anse Beach. Had a great time until the rains
came. Decided to leave and get lunch. Went to Spiceland and got
a roti.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roti

Met a nice man named Daniel from London, ended up buying both
boys a smoothie.
Went back home and relaxed. Heather slept, boys played, I relaxed
and cleaned up. It rained almost all afternoon.
At 5:00, went and met Mike & Andrea at the vet clinic and got a
tour.
Went to Prickly Bay and got some delicious pizza, yummy ice cream
and listened to an amazing Steele drum band.

http://pricklybaymarina.com/RestaurantBar.aspx

We got a new sectional sofa with chaise today! I love it!

I was looking back through my blog and for the past 4 years, February has represented a very sick month for all of us. I am happy to say that Feb. 2012 has been great! We had a little illness in January, but February was a healthy month for us! Now we did have a rough end of Oct. early Nov. with Camden, and we may have to fight off some colds in the coming months, but I am thrilled with Feb this year!

Last Saturday, Pack 522 had their annual Pinewood Derby Race. Camden and Carsten worked on cars to be raced. Camden designed a military type tank and Carsten wanted a Wii remote. They both worked with their dad to make the creations come to life.

On the day of the race the boys headed out and I met that at the school after they were registered. Unfortunately, right after I got there, Camden threw up and we came home. His car raced anyway and he placed 21st out of about 60 cars. Carsten raced in the Outlaw division and won a Blue Ribbon for Most Creative Car. Here are a few pictures from the day!

Camden before he left, he doesn't look like he feels 100%.

Camden's Tank

Carsten's Wii Remote

Carsten with his car and blue ribbon.

While dancing away in a Zumba class a couple of weeks ago I felt a pop in my calf of my left leg. I wondered what that was. I tried to rejoin the class only to find I couldn’t put any weight on it. Mark had to carry me out of the gym. Crazy! I saw my doctor who told me no weight on that leg until I could tolerate it. She also sent me to physical therapy! Luckily, I know an AMAZING PT!! I started therapy and I am now a believer. Not that I really didn’t believe, but WOW, Mark had done some incredible work with me! I have had aquatic therapy too and last night just started to walk without the walking boot and crutches. I still have some pain, but I can tell I am getting better everyday!

Here is a photo of me rockin’ the crutches before I got my walking boot!

This year the boys went to school up until Dec 23rd, so all of their days off happened after Christmas, which was nice in a way and stressful in another. It would have been nice to have a couple days off before Christmas to get stuff done, but having two weeks after feels a little like summer break. Here is a snap shot of the things we did over break, in no particular order.

1) PLAY!!!!! We played so much with friends, mostly in our own front yard with the neighbor boys, but also with some friends from school and cousin Nathan of course! We went to the park and played too!

2)MOVIES!!! We saw two movies this break in the theaters. The first one was We Bought a Zoo, super cute, but a little sad too. The second one was Chipwrecked. It was adorable and totally geared for kids! I was able to sneak off and see Breaking Dawn Part 1, again, with my cousin. I LOVE that movie!

3)PARTIES!!! We went to the Reed’s to celebrate New Years. The kids played downstairs. Then when they were bored we did some fireworks and s’mores. We had a great time and the boys, and yes even I made it to midnight to ring in the New Year. We also went bowling to celebrate a birthday for a friend of mine. We all had a great time.

4)GOLF!!! The boys and I joined Nathan, Andrew and Carrie for some mini-golf and a yummy lunch at Subway. Followed by what else…playing at the park! Mark also went to play golf with Brian and did well! He hasn’t played in quite some time and he was pleased with how he did.

5)READ!!! Camden got the Percy Jackson series for Christmas and he has finished the first 2 books in the series and just started the 3rd. I read a Lee Child book that is part of the Reacher novels. I liked it. I am thinking about re-reading the Percy Jackson books so Camden and I can discuss them.

We did a few other things like go to the gym several times, not sure it is the boys favorite thing to do, but they are used to it. We also got them in to see the dentist and get their teeth cleaned. For the first time, Carsten did it! I was so proud! I am looking forward to school starting again, not sure about work, but being back in our routine will be nice.

The other day, Camden and Carsten were helping to take the laundry out of the dryer. Carsten felt the need to label things as he pulled them out:
“Daddy’s shorts.”
“Camden undies”
“Socks”
“Mommy’s booby protector”

Love that little boy!