St. Croix USVI

For one of my Christmas presents last December, Rick purchased a trip to St. Croix for the week of March 12th.  It is THE Virgin Island that we had never been to.  We had been to St. Thomas (which we adore) as well as St. John and a couple of the British Virgin Islands.  We left SL at midnight and arrived to St. Croix after a four hour redeye to Charlotte and then a three hour layover and then another three hour flight to the island.  Needless to say we were happy to arrive at our destination.  Redeye flights are just hard on an aging body.  Namely mine.  They don't seem to bother Rick too much.😑

We made it to the Renassaince Carambola Resort which is located on the North end of the island.  It is settled on a nice bay surrounded by rainforest.  Just really a picturesque place.  Right off the bat we could tell that this resort is not kept up quite like all of the other Marriott resorts that we have been to but we were very pleasantly situated in our ground floor room with beautiful views of the ocean and it's LOUD crashing waves.

The first order of business after getting settled in our room was to find a place to eat.  We drove a couple miles over to Cane Bay where we had dinner at a little beach bar called Spratnet Beach Bar.  The food was just ok but we were happy to eat and to just sit and watch the ocean.

We got a good night's rest and then headed over to the hotel's restaurant for breakfast.  They had a nice spread of eggs, potatoes, bacon, sausage and pancakes.  We filled up and then got ready for the day for some exploring. 

(Some shots at our hotel)

After breakfast we drove over to The Market, a large grocery store in the middle of the island.  We grabbed a few things for our day and then headed over towards Fredriksted to see what was there.  Frederiksted is where the cruse ships usually dock.  Which Covid, of course, there are no cruise ships.  The place felt somewhat ghost towns with only a few stores open.  We found a dive shop and Rick was able to set up a night dive for Monday night.  After perusing the area we drove over to Sandy Point NP.  It is the largest beach on the island but is only open on the weekends in the months of September through March because it is a prime place for turtle nesting.  Being March we were able to get onto the beach.  There were no facilities so we just changed in the car.  Not my favorite thing to do but we made it work! 😉 

The beach was gorgeous with just a few people hanging around so that was great!  It was so fun just hanging out in the water letting the waves roll off of us.  So relaxing and sort of romantic:)

After the beach we were famished so we stopped at a Beachside cafe close by and had some good food.  We ordered a cheese dip with home made chips.  It was so tasty.  I ordered a salad and flautas and Rick had shrimp with a sweet sauce and Mahi Mahi bites, which he loved.

After dinner we stopped back at the Market for some food for Sunday.  We picked up some ingredients for spaghetti with meat sauce, salad , and bread.  Of course, we got some dessert items too:)

We came back to our room and relaxed to a British Baking Show on my laptop.

Twas a great day!

The next morning we woke up to Pachelbel's Canon in D.  We opened up our doors to a wedding happening just steps from our room.  The groom was in shorts and a short sleeved button down and the bride had on a flowy white dress.  There were a handful of guests.  We had to laugh because really the waves are SUPER loud here.  We were imagining the officiator yelling the ceremonial words over the sound of the waves.  After the nuptials, a cooler was brought out with beer and the party lasted for a few hours.  While it was a beautiful location this wedding was very different then a traditional wedding.

We had a nice sabbath day.  After breakfast Rick had his Bishopric Meeting while I did some Sunday study.  We then watched our Sunday meetings via zoom.  They were very uplifting and nice.  When our meetings were over it was already three o'clock so we got out of our room and went for a drive thru the rain forest.  The roads were super potholey but the drive was beautiful!  We drove all the way to the end of the road on the west side.  So nice!

When we got back to our room we fixed up our spaghetti dinner and enjoyed feasting!  

The next day was Monday and we drove over to Christiansted and then East end of the island.  We stopped in Christiansted and had lunch at a place called The Mill.  It is locat4ed on the boardwalk and is housed next to an old sugar mill.  While there we shared a wood fired pizza and it was super yummy!  We both had some St. John's rootbeer to wash it down.

After lunch we walked along the boardwalk and walked into some shops.  Didn't buy anything but had fun perusing.

We then walked over to the historic fort to have a look.  The fort was built by the Danes in the 1600's.  This is the commons house where everything coming into port had to be assessed.

 

The Fort was used as protection for many years.  It was trying to protect its resource of rich island soil from other Countries.  It also housed the islands prison.  It had cells for runaway slaves and those committing crimes.  Oh, how awful it would have been to have had to be in one of these little cells!  Those poor slaves!  They had to endure so much hardship and if they tried to run where were they to go?  This is an island with not a lot of place to hide and no way off.  

The view from the fort was beautiful.  Protestant Cay was just behind us.

The Steeple Church was closed to visitors but we got to peek in because there were workers inside and they left the door open.

We left Christiansted and drove to the east end of the island.  Here is our picture with Buck Island in the distance.

We got back to the hotel in time for Rick to grab his Snorkel gear and head over to Frederiksted for his night diving gig.   He was in a group of five divers and they just walked in from the shore as it was getting dark.  Rick had never been on a night dive so this was exciting for him.  The group stayed in the vicinity of the pier where the cruise ships dock.  He said there were lots of coral on the pilings and they saw tropical fish, sea spiders, lobster, turtles, a squid and some puffer and burrfish.  He was hoping to see an octopus but didn't.

While he was doing that I stayed at the hotel and read beside the pool.  I tried to get int he jacuzzi but it was just lukewarm and that lasted about two minutes.  I changed clothes and then went to hang out at the restaurant.  I ordered a pina colada and a bbq sandwich and just enjoyed hanging out.  Rick joined me after his dive where he ordered some sweet pork nachos.  

We got back to our room with the news that back home Darrell's doctor had decided that he would have open heart surgery the following day.  We decided to start a fast that night along wth the Allen Family.

This was the picture that DeeAnn sent to us.  All of their sons and SIL (except Dalton) were able to be in the hospital to give Darrell a blessing.  This was a tender mercy because the head nurse was so against it so DeeAnn didn't think it would happen.  She was very prayerful an then there was a shift change and the new head nurse said it would be fine.  I love this picture!  Matt blessed Darrell that he would be well.

We fasted the next day.  Rick had a lot of school work to do so we just stayed around the hotel for the whole morning.  In the afternoon we started a hike to the tide pools but I knew that with no food or water in my system I could not make it.  Rick had already ran/walked five miles (crazy man) and was ready for a hike.  We turned around after about a half mile.  Maybe another time.  We lounged on the beach for a couple of hours and then by five were ready to end our fast and go find some food.  We had heard that Darrell's surgery seemed to be successful.  

We drove around trying to find a place to eat (three places that did not work) so we ended up driving clear to Christiansted.  We found a street taco place and ate to our hearts content.  We didn't stay long because the partiers like to come out at night and when you smell marijuana in the air...it's time to leave.

Anywhooo....

After returning home we found out that Darrell was not doing so good.  He was very sick and they could not close his chest back up after surgery.  We decided that we should change our flights and get home.  Rick got on with American and was able to get us return flights for Thursday.  Two days earlier than expected but it feels wrong to be here having fun when Darrell is on the brink of death.

We had one last day so after Rick's schoolwork we took time driving around again.  We wanted to try La Reine Chicken Shack cause it sounds like its a place that the locals love.

The food was super delish!  The best food we had eaten all week!  

After lunch we made our way over to Fredericksted Beach and took a nap in the car.

Then we drove over to Rainbow Beach and changed in the car and enjoyed the last hour of sun in the water and on the beach...mostly in the water:)

Then we witnessed a beautiful sunset and a kiss to send St Croix off into the memory books!

Goodbye St. Croix!  It was nice to meet you!  Maybe we will see you again sometime:)

Brach turns THIRTY THREE

On March 8th Brach turned thirty three.  We got to celebrate with him and Kendra a few days before his actual birthday.  We met at Braza Grill in SL and enjoyed a nice meat filled dinner together.  We had lots of nice conversation and delighted in just spending alone time with the both of them.  Lots of times when we have all of the kids with us it is hard to have uninterrupted conversation so this was very nice. 

 I'm sorry that I didn't get any pictures of the event.

We are grateful to have Brach in our lives.  He is a wonderful man who loves God and his family.

Happy Birthday, Brach!

(Pictures courtesy of Kendra on Brach's ACTUAL birthday at the zoo with the family)

 

Sisters trip to Arizona

Last week the Phelps Sisters took our annual getaway trip.  This year Kathy found some cheap flights to Phoenix, so we all booked them within an hour.  We left on a Monday and came back on a Friday evening.  Karen made a nice write-up about our fun time there.  I love all of the details she puts in.  This is all in her words....

Seven of us sisters started out to go on this trip.  We got roundtrip tickets for a nice cheap price--and set up lodging in a big 5 bedroom house in Gilbert, Arizona, and arranged for car rental on a couple vehicles.  The only ones not planning to accompany us, were Lar, who’s serving a mission with Brent in Tucson, and Robin who is still not feeling very well.  On the morning we were to depart, Kathy was all packed and ready, but decided she should stay and help Chris’s wife Sorine take care of the two boys cause Sorine had been having problems during her pregnancy.  So the six of us who actually went on the Sister’s Trip this year were Janell, DeeAnn, Janis, Darla, Ruth, and Karen.  

We settled in and made it to Phoenix in good time and had another big delay in getting the car from Enterprise.  The car from Alamo was a cinch, so the three that went in that car—the minivan,  made it to the agreed-upon Olive Garden in good timing and just sat and waited till the other three made it there.  The lunch at the Olive Garden was great, and we all sat and relaxed and enjoyed ourselves and felt excited to think that we were truly THERE!

 

Check-in time for our rental house was 4:00 p.m., so we arrived there a little after four and found a fellow scurrying around there, trying to clean up some of the last-minute stuff.  He left a few things in a mess, though, so Darla was on the phone till after 7:00, trying to get things arranged for either a different house or a cleaning crew to come in and fix things cleaner.  We settled on just staying there and having a cleaning person come in; so he came in the next morning and tried to spiffy things up a bit.

 

We headed out to Walmart rather late that evening and each of us bought lots of goodies to stock the fridge and cupboards with.  We came back and ate some of the snacky items we had purchased, rather than sit down and eat a real dinner.

 

We put in a movie to watch and it wasn’t very good, so we put in another movie and it was really good.  Some of us left at the beginning of that movie because we had seen it before, so we went on to bed.  DeeAnn couldn’t sleep very well as the night went along, so she got up and took a big, long soaky bath.  I don’t know how the rest of you all slept, but the night passed, and we woke up the next morning bright and early because the cleaners were going to come. 

 

Tuesday morning the “cleaners” didn’t come—just a single cleaning guy came and he did the cleaning by himself.  All six of us left around 11:30 and started out our adventures after a nice morning prayer.  We drove to the Japanese Friendship Garden which was about a half hour away from our place.  DeeAnn paid for everyone’s entrance into the Garden and even lined up a wheelchair for me to use as a walker, which I pushed all over the Japanese gardens and really appreciated!  We enjoyed the beauty there and took several pictures, and the day was sunny and warm and we had a good time.

 

 

When we left the Japanese Gardens, we headed for Heritage Square over in Phoenix, and drove around trying to find it for quite some time—then decided to eat lunch first and find it later.  There was a beautiful older mansion house there that’s usually open to the public, but it was closed at this time—due to the Covid.  There were other things around the square of interest, so Darla, Janis, and Janell explored the area while DeeAnn, Ruth, and Karen sat in the car and rested.  The others came back and showed us pictures, though, so that way we didn’t miss out on too much!  😊  (Darla even used Janell’s knee to climb a tree for them to have a special photo op….) 😊

 

We ended up finding a nice place downtown to have our lunch.  It was a place called Mancuso’s and served delicious Italian food, steak, and seafood.  We were about the only customers in the whole place, and we chose to sit outside in a nice shaded table.  Our waitress was very charming and helpful and she took nice pictures of us.  We had put money in a parking meter and only had 1 ½ hours for our dining experience, but it worked out well, and Janell hurried off and brought our car to pick us up.

 

By the way—we REALLY REALLY Appreciated Janell and Darla doing the driving for us!  They were great and really found their way around places wonderfully well!  We were SO thankful to have them drive us everywhere!

After finishing at Heritage Square, we drove across Phoenix out to Glendale so that we could see the Phoenix Temple. It was really beautiful, and we sat on the temple grounds for a nice long time—watching a wedding party and taking pictures.  We asked one of the gals from the wedding party to take a picture of all six of us, and that worked out well.  As we headed home, we decided we were ready for ice cream, so we found a Baskin-Robbins out by Gilbert where we were staying, and four of us got ice cream—Darla and Ruth refrained! 

We came on back home and several went out to get in the hot tub—Darla, Janell, and DeeAnn.  Actually they tried to get in, but it was absolutely so HOT that they barely managed to get their feet and legs in the water while sitting on the rim.  It was a very Small hot-tub, and it didn’t work the next nights we were there, so the six of us never tried getting in at once.  I went out and talked with them just for fun while they were sitting there, and the night was really warm and nice.  They had a good time—heating up their feet and legs, but we were never able to get in the cute pool that was there in the back yard.  It was just too dirty.

 

After showers, most of us got ready for bed and sat down to play a few games.  They were fun games and we mostly had to all learn the rules before playing.  We got finished about 10:30 and everyone headed to bed. It had been a very nice day.

Wednesday DeeAnn sprayed off the area surrounding the pool so she could lay out and feel better about being in what had been the dirty setting around the pool.  Janis and I went for a little walk on the trail behind our house, near the park, and it was fun to see lemons and oranges growing on trees in most of the back yards we passed—including our own yard out behind the pool.  Most days several of the sisters went for walks all by themselves or with each other.  We were right by a nice park that had a huge walking trail all around it, and on the last day there, we found out that Janell had walked all the way around that walking path—way over by Robert’s office even!

 

On this morning, after getting ready for the day, we all prepared to head out to see and do things with our day, but DeeAnn and Ruth decided to stay home and just rest and enjoy the surroundings.  (DeeAnn wanted to get some sun!)  The other four of us left for the shopping mall way across town—it was called the Premium Outlets and we stayed there for just an hour and a half and got a few things—heading off separately in different directions.  Janell was quite disappointed because she didn’t find any of the things she was looking for.  I was surprised because I ended up getting quite a few things for Dennis at the Van Huesen store, and that was fun.  Janis found some good bargains at Sax, and Darla was disappointed in trying to find some sandals, I think.

 

I want to make mention of this, because I actually felt like a wonderful little blessing had happened for me when we first got there to that mall.  I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to walk very far or very long, and I didn’t know what I was going to do.  When we first walked in to the shops, there was a small black shopping cart just parked up against a building from Sax Fifth Avenue’s shop.  I asked a boy who was sitting there if he knew anything about it, and he said he thought it was just for people to use, so I started pushing it like as if it were a walker, and I used it and went everywhere I wanted to go—feeling just fine with the support it gave me.  When we were all through and ready to go home, I just parked it back up next to the building where I had found it, and thanked Heavenly Father in a little prayer, for that wonderful blessing of making it so I could join everyone without causing problems.

 

We came back to the house after shopping and picked up DeeAnn and Ruth and all six of us headed over to The Cheesecake Factory Restaurant to have our lunch/supper.  The food was delicious, and we had a nice table and a good waiter and had a really nice, nice time.  We sat and visited and didn’t hurry off, but really enjoyed our beautiful setting.  After that we headed over to the Gilbert Temple and by the time we got there, it was about too dark to take pictures.  But we took a few anyway and just enjoyed seeing that lovely temple.  (…sorry I use the word “nice” so much….) ☹

 

DeeAnn and Darla had talked about turning our smaller car back in so that we could get $103 back, so I rode in with DeeAnn and we took the car back to the car rental return place.  We had rented two vehicles because we were expecting to have seven of us along, but with Kathy not joining us, we managed to all six travel just fine in the minivan. Darla drove the car we returned, so we all headed back home rather late and found that movies were just getting over so we mostly all headed off to bed.  (We usually took time to talk with our husbands each evening, and that was fun and made them feel a little less lonely.) 😊

We made arrangements on Wednesday night to head to bed early so we could take off for Tucson rather early the next morning, so Thursday we headed out for Tucson, leaving here by 9:40.  Janell drove us there, and Darla drove us back home.  I need to mention that I had purchased juice, bacon, eggs, and bread for toast, and I full-well planned on getting up to fix breakfast for all my sisters, but never did doit!!  I did fix eggs and toast for DeeAnn and me that morning, but I feel bad that I didn’t do anything very helpful for anyone for the most part…. ☹  (But everyone certainly did a lot to help ME!!) 😊

 

When we arrived in Tucson, we went straight to Brent and Lar’s apartment and found it just fine with their good directions.  We went in and visited with them for about an hour or so, and enjoyed seeing their nice apartment and hearing about some of their experiences.  While we were there a fellow member called and asked if we would come and visit with them—a brother and sister Hardy—so we did go to their house.  They were a nice fun couple who have been married for 48 years.  Their names were Mike and Philippa Hardy, and Philippa told us really fun stories—one right after another.  They had some chickens in coops out back and they had a snazzy little race car thing that the husband had built.  It was a 1929 Ford T-Bucket.  They also had a big box of oranges they had just picked off their tree and they kindly let us have some of them.  

 

After leaving their place, we rode with Brent and Lar in their van over across town to a Cheddar’s Restaurant, where we were seated in a nice back room and all had a fun little lunch together.  Brent and Lar are on a strict diet that permits no dairy and no meat and no sugar, flour, and other stuff, so they found that they could eat good food there and stay on the diet.  The food there was really delicious, and Janell paid for the meals for all of us…that was sure NICE!!  We turned around and headed straight home after eating, but we had certainly had a nice time.  We realized a bit later that we had plumb forgot to go past the Tucson temple.   

 

After getting back home, we came in and talked for a few minutes with Ruth and Brad.  Ruth had stayed home because she had a bad headache, and Brad had arrived about five minutes before we got there.  He and Ruth were planning to take off on a long driving trip—going possibly all the way to Branson and maybe to Florida.  They left to go get something to eat, then Brad brought Ruth back, and he himself stayed at a hotel that night.

 

Some of the sisters sat down to watch a movie, and after freshening up a bit, DeeAnn, Darla and I took off to go to Queen Creek to visit Fred and Norma—our cousin who is Uncle Al’s son.  We stayed there about half and hour and Fred showed some pictures to Darla and DeeAnn while I sat and talked with Norma, who wasn’t feeling very well.  When we got home, we fixed some fun food to eat while the other sisters watched the rest of their movie.  Then we headed to bed.

Friday we took sheets off beds, gathered up used towels, packed ourselves, and prepared to check out of the house by 11:00.  Brad took some pictures of us outside by the colorful bushes in front of the house.  He had come over to get Ruth and take her with him, while the other five of us piled in the minivan with plans for all of us to meet up with Robert and Mary at a restaurant Robert had suggested—the Barrio Queen.

 

We met them there and sat outside at a big round table in a sunny corner of the grounds. It was an up-scale Mexican restaurant, and the portions of food were really generous, plus the waiter was very helpful and accommodating.  It was SO FUN to be with Robert and hear him talk!  He has been a Bishop for the past 4 ½ years and expects to be replaced in just a few short months, probably, so he kept us entertained with his funny stories and his genuinely loving personality.  We could certainly feel the lo­ve he has for his ward!  It was so refreshing and uplifting to sit and talk with him and listen to him talk.  It was good to be there with Brad, too.  We all had a great time just being there!

 

We left the restaurant and turned in our car and checked in at the airport for our flight home.  The wheelchair experience was not very eventful and the entrance to our departure gate was really close to the check-in gate, so we sat and relaxed awhile before it was time to depart.  We all loaded on our plane and got good seats right at the front and sat there for nearly half an hour, waiting to take off.  Pretty soon they announced that due to a slight technical problem, we had to de-plane and go get on another plane.   We did that, but the whole process delayed us by more than an hour in arriving back in Salt Lake.  Husbands were waiting for wives, and Janis and I headed on home to Blackfoot.  All in all—we had had a wonderful time being together and enjoying each other’s company. 

Tender Mercy

At the end of February I was able to go to Vegas for a family meeting with my siblings to talk about the care of my mom and dad.  They are getting older and are needing more care.  Scott and Mare have most of the responsibility of caring for their needs i.e.; making sure mom's blood pressure is taken. giving medication, and checking in on them a couple of times a day.  Scott even sleeps there most nights.  

While we were able to discuss ways of helping with some of their physical needs like cleaning of the house and watering the lawn etc... the most important thing was not resolved, and that was getting more of a reprieve for Scott and Mare.  I have decided that I will go once a month for a few days at a time to help.  It is not much but it is something.

While there I had a little miracle occur.  On Wednesday, just a few days after arriving I loaded dad and mom into the car to take a drive to Callville Bay, Lake Mead.  I thought they might enjoy the ride and I thought it would be fun to take a trip down memory lane since that marina was a huge part of my growing up years.  There were many summer afternoons that were spent on Lake Mead on my parents' boat.  Our family would pack up sandwiches and soda pop and enjoy the afternoon on the water skiing and riding around in that fun boat.

Well, after arriving to Callville my mom needed the restroom.  We found one in the parking lot that was open.  Before leaving I took my phone out to take a picture of my mom.  She looked so pretty that day.

When I was getting her back into the car I set my phone on the back window of their Cadillac.  I had the thought, "don't forget to get your phone"  Well, after getting my mom into the car and her walker into the trunk, lo and behold I forgot to get my phone.

After driving the forty minutes back home and getting my parents some lunch and settled in for the afternoon I decided to run to the store to get some ingredients for chocolate chip cookies.  After driving a couple of blocks I looked down at my purse and noticed my phone wasn't there.  All of a sudden panic filled me!  The last place I remember seeing my phone was on the back of the car at Callville!  I got that sick feeling that losing a phone brings.  I turned straight around back towards my parent's home and said to myself that I would have to drive all the way back to Lake Mead to see if my phone was still in the parking lot.

First, I knew I needed to call Rick because he has Find a Friend on his phone and he could see where my phone literally was.  While I was telling him my story he suggested that I go back out to the car to check one more time if it was inside.  As I came around the back of the car I saw it!  It was still in the exact same place that I had laid it an hour and a half before...on the back window.  I couldn't believe my eyes!  I had made turns, even a U-turn and had been up to speeds of sixty miles an hour and yet my phone had stayed on the back of the car through it all!  Rick said, "Yes, my phone shows your phone is at 2383 Gateway Road."  We both expressed feelings of shock and gratefulness that a little miracle had occurred.  Rick then said, "I think you should go in and thank Heavenly Father for this tender mercy."  And for sure I did!

Another experience that happened on this visit was not so good.  At around 8PM that night I had encouraged my mom to go back and get changed into her pajamas.  I would be back to help her.  In the meantime Rick called and I talked to him for nearly an hour.  When I finished up my call I could see my mom had fallen asleep on the couch.  It was now 9PM and I wanted to help her get ready for bed so I woke her up.  Well, that was a mistake.  She woke up very disoriented and I could not get her to calm down.  She was hyperventilating and talking nonsense.  Very disoriented, scared, and confused.  I decided to bring her pajamas out to her and help her to get dressed there in the family room.  As I was getting her pajamas on, she was trying to take them off.  After a awhile she got fixated on the remote control my dad had.  She wanted the remote but didn't know what to do with it.  More confusion and even a little anger coming through.  Well, long story short.  After an hour I called Mare to come and see if she could help to get her calmed down.  We worked for hours to help her get back to sleep.  The confusion and turmoil continued and I knew that if she rested she would wake up better.  By midnight we were able to get her back to the room but she would not rest.  She was having to urinate a lot and my thought was that she had a UTI that was causing this episode.  

A sweet experience that happened during this time was that my dad came back to help to calm her.  He had been worried from the start of this episode about how to help her settle down.  He came back to the room and stood on the opposite side of the bed and said, "Sher,  you need to get some rest just lay down and get some rest."  He had tears in his eyes and his voice was hoarse like he'd been crying.  Then he turned around and walked back to the family room.

After another twenty minutes or so he came back to the bedroom once again.  He pushed his walker right up to hers where she was standing next to the bed.  Again, he was crying.  He put his forehead right on to hers and said, "Sher, it's time for you to get some rest.  Just lay down and you will be better in the morning.  I love you. Ok? Get some rest."  Both Mare and I were crying from witnessing that sweet experience.  My father rarely cries but in this tender moment his love and emotions were one as he tried to calm her.  

Mare asked me to step out of the room shortly thereafter and said she would try to get her in bed.  Then Scott arrived and went back to help.  An hour later I went to see how things were and Scott was asleep on the bed and mom and Mare were headed out back to the family room again.  Boyd called at 2:30 and said he needed Mare to be back home by 3 because he needed to get up and go to work.  She left at 3 and I once again tried to get mom back to her bed.  My mom was up and down for the next hour but eventually she fell asleep between 4 and 4:30.  I finally was able to sleep.  I slept until 9AM and woke up to find both dad and mom awake in the family room.  I asked my mom how her night was and she responded, "it was fine,  I guess."  She had no recollection of what had occurred all through the night.

Mare was able to get her into the doctor later that day.  The doctor said it was not a UTI but just effects of furthering dementia.  It will be interesting to see how much longer my mom will be able to keep her mind together.  While she has had a few episodes like this in the past, none have lasted near this long.  I'll say that it was a very emotional time.  I got to the airport later that day and just cried.  Not only was I exhausted from lack of sleep but the emotional toll was great.  

I'm losing my mom.  It is not going to be easy.

 

Daisy is Two

I know it's late in coming, but this sweetheart turned two in January while we were out of the country.

We love our beautiful Daisy girl!  She is always happy to see grandma and grandpa and loves to come play.  I have the great opportunity to have one on one time with her on Tuesday and Thursday mornings while Sarah teaches home school with Henry and Charles.

We usually have a little breakfast, listen to music and dance, read books, and then watch a show (usually Coco Melon) while I get my shower in for the day.  It is a special time that I really enjoy!

Isn't she the dolliest?!💝

 

COSTA RICA

This post is late in coming....almost two months late.  I have been lazy and have not taken the time to post but better late than never:)

In January after our visit to Tampa Bay we flew out to Costa Rica for a week's adventure.  And an adventure it was!  This was our FIFTH time to CR.  We love it so much, so when different countries started opening up for tourists again (with Covid rules set in place) we saw that Costa Rica was relatively easy to get into.  I say easy for me because Rick did all the legwork.  We had to make sure we had sufficient insurance, a health form filled out and of course, not be sick, to get into the country.  

Just a few days before leaving, the US decided to mandate all families traveling out of the country to have a Covid test before getting back in.  While that could have caused a hiccup in our trip, I am happy to say that it was relatively easy to get, albeit a little extra money to get back home.

Anyhoo, on to memories of our little trip.

We stayed in the Los Suenos Marriott, which we have stayed at the two other times we have stayed in his area.  This time though we were upgraded to a better room...a "swim-up room".  This room made our trip from fantastic to SPECTACULAR!  

Our room had a walkout deck into a beautiful pool!  It is funny how something so simple elevated our trip so much but it certainly did!  We loved getting into the pool every day just for relaxation.  For the most part it was pretty private, and it felt like the pool was just for us!  Another a huge bonus to having this room were the macaws that we could see fly by into the trees just adjacent to our room.  One day while we were enjoying the pool we saw a toucan land in a tree.  So cool!  Especially since toucans are my favorite bird!  After this trip macaws have become a close second, though!  They were so loud and beautiful!

Our room had a fun hammock just next to the slider door.

Our first day was a Sunday so after spending most of the day in with meetings and studying and such we headed off for a little drive.  We stopped at a picturesque place to snap a photo with Jaco in the distance.

 We ate number of meals in the hotel's restaurant.  The passion fruit smoothies were the best!

We had a lot of this....(chips, guac, and pico)

and this....(shrimp ceviche) while in CR.

Another hammock shot.

 Rick started Pathways schooling at the beginning of January, and he was so DILIGENT getting up every morning at 5:30 to get his studies and work in so it didn't interrupt our play time.  He's so amazing!

            I love that when he sets his mind to something he goes for it ALL. THE. WAY.

This was the continental breakfast served everyday.  I always upgraded to add some eggs and rice and beans.  It was always a great breakfast eating al fresco while watching the iguanas and birds.

One of our days we got to take a 4 wheel adventure tour.  We were able to ride up into the jungle and swim in a waterfall.  Rick also did a little snorkeling and saw the elusive crawdads.  The jungle was amazing, and the 4 wheel ride was super fun as we got to drive into the river many times getting ourselves pretty dirty!  The natural pools helped to clean us off.

Another day we got to take a riverboat ride on the Tarcoles River.  This has been a favorite each time we have come.  The crocs are HUGE, and we got to be entertained by the boat's captain as he hand-fed two of the crocs we came across.  He got super close to them!  Pretty crazy!  We also got to see lots of indigenous birds from the area.

The sunsets were beautiful!  This particular one was taken from the Hotel's restaurant.

Another highlight of our trip was our day trip into Manuel Antonio National Park.  Our guide was very knowledgeable about the flora and fauna of the park.  We saw a lot of wonderful wildlife...

There is also a renowned beach within the park with monkeys all over the place.

After getting out of the park we stopped and had a wonderful lunch across from the beach.  We had planned to spend the day on the sand and in the water until....

I noticed that I forgot my swimsuit:(

It worked out well though, because we just went back to the hotel and enjoyed our pool:)

My limeade smoothie was a welcome treat from our hike in the park.

More ceviche for Rick:)

This was our last night in the Jaco area, and we were hoping to have pizza on the beach as the sun set, but unfortunately the pizza place didn't open till later, so we watched the sunset and then had pizza.

                                                      They were both fabulous!

One afternoon we took a drive up into the mountains and just really enjoyed the sights.  We were up on a ridge and could see down on both sides of the valley.  So beautiful!

I saved these last two pictures for last.  Rick found this macaw shirt and had to have it.  

We bought it in honor of the over THIRTY macaws we saw on this trip!

              We LOVE Costa Rica!  It is one of our favorite places on the planet!

                            Until we meet again CR...Pura Vida!