Valentines Day

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Just another day in this house. 

Keagan came by the house last night for dinner. I marinated some steak bites and cooked up some shrimp, and we ate our meal in front of the tv while watching college basketball. For the record, the steak bites were excellent!

I’ve put off completing the dreaded FAFSA for months, and told Keagan we had to do it this weekend. I logged in, and soon verification codes were being sent to Evan, Keagan, and me. We put Evan on speaker phone to get the numbers, and while I was trying to gain access, the boys made small talk. 

Keagan: The FAFSA accounts are messed up. They have you listed as my parent. 

Evan: Thats crazy! I just almost started a fire in Bella’s apartment boiling water for fettuccini. I’m not responsible enough for any other life. I can barely take care of myself.

Keagan: I just ate dinner. Some steak bites and shrimp.

Evan: Where are you?

Keagan: I’m at the crib,

Evan: Woah! You got steak bites and shrimp? I thought you were in Nashville at a Japanese fusion restaurant. 

Keagan: Hey, little bro comes home and Mom goes all out.

Evan: I see that. When I’m at home, I’ve gotta eat Ritz crackers, peanut butter, and two pink ladies for dinner. That’s crazy you get the good stuff.

😂🤣😂🤣

Pink ladies. 🍎 🍎

I laughed until I cried! 

(And I cook every night.)

Snow Week

​One full week. No alarms. No work. No appointments. No obligation to do anything. 

Perfection. Life is good.

White Coat

​I saved my personal day leave for seven months - even skipped on a bucket list concert in September to make sure I had one day of leave to see Evan’s white coat ceremony. I have looked forward to this event for a year! Then the snow storm hit; the ceremony was canceled. A make-up ceremony was scheduled later in the week for a smaller venue, but guests were not allowed. 

No problem. The school agreed to live stream it. We logged in to see this. 

The screen eventually got righted, we listened to multiple guest speakers talk about a lot of nothing, and I counted 51 students walking across the stage. My number 76 was almost up. I had my phone ready to record and screen shot. And the internet went down. Not mine. The school’s!  

No problem. They have a photographer taking pictures to commemorate the occasion. Here’s what I got.

(This expression is my dad all over.)

Grainy. Out of focus. But he’s wearing slacks, a button up, and dress shoes. 

Congratulations to my boy!

One Happy Island

​We bid farewell to the One Happy Island but not before we got our fill of Dutch pancakes. This (and the cheese selections) were really the only indicators  I found of the Dutch heritage. After the boys made fun of my pancake choice in Amsterdam, I vowed I would order nothing with cheese this time. I lied. I got the pancakes with ham, mushrooms, and Gouda and it was fantastic! 

We took to the streets of Oranjestad to window shop. That was short- lived, though, because we are out of money. I actually thought everything downtown would look like this; I was wrong and it was a big let down to see only three brightly colored buildings. 

The water was beautiful. The sand was soft. The weather was perfect. The real world and a credit card bill awaits us. Now if we can just get back home without too many delays.

I can’t wait to plan our next get-a-way.

Aruba Days #5 and 6

​Merry Christmas! 🎄🎅✝️

We spent our last full days at Baby Beach, a horseshoe shaped beach known for great snorkeling, and Arashi Beach, also known for great snorkeling. They did not disappoint. Wes and Keagan said they spotted fish of every color, barracudas, and turtles. I sat on the beach finishing two of the best books I’ve ever read, and then watched this pelican repeatedly dive into the water catching small fish. 

The water color here is beautiful!

Aruba Day #4

​We were up early for our off roading adventure. Our tour started at an animal sanctuary where we fed goats carrots by hand.

I’m still questioning how a camel made its way to Aruba.

For today’s adventure, we reserved two UTVs to access remote areas of the island that we can’t see by car. 

We wore the neck gators to protect our mouths and nose from the dirt. Even still, my eyes were watering from the irritating sand.

This island is a desert - a coral desert - so we were surrounded on the paths by fossilized coral and cacti. 

One of the first stops was a natural bridge. The island has six.

We stopped at the old gold mill where gold was once found. And we made a stop at a small outpost for pastechis with hot papaya sauce. 

On the other side of the park, we stopped at the beach for a quick swim. Keagan decided to climb the rocks instead; some things in life don’t change. 

Not many flowers grow here naturally, but I love the wild bougainvillea. I remember seeing it in St Thomas and loving it there, too. 

We hit the grocery store on our way back home. This place is a stop into itself and every other American on the island must have read the same intel because they were there with us. They, too, wanted that spicy cheese dip. We were disappointed that our favorites were sold out. We did score the fresh apple fritters, so not all was lost. 

For dinner, we had crab cakes and snapper on a sweet potato purée at a beautiful restaurant with an outdoor patio. The boys ordered dessert, a gorgeous lemon cheesecake with fresh fruit. It was divine! All I can say is come Sunday I’m back to tuna and carrots, so I’m enjoying a week of cheat meals with dessert.

We drove to San Nicholas on the southern tip of the island to see the Christmas lights. Keagan played DJ and we listened to 45 second clips of tracks from Christmas carols, to Chris Stapleton, to Kanye, to Brandon Lake. He has an eclectic taste in music.

  

Tonight we put our heads on the pillows grateful for the best gift.

Aruba Day #3 🐢

I was awakened this morning at 0845 with our neighbors - a local family - blaring Spanish music. I thought for sure this was Wes trying to get us up and moving, so I reluctantly got up to find I was the only one awake. Everyone else was still in bed and seemingly unable to hear a thing.

Our morning started slowly - Wes had breakfast on the porch, Keagan did his Bible study, Evan did some school work, and I took my Kindle poolside.

For today’s adventure I booked a snorkeling trip with sea turtles. We consider ourselves to be experienced snorkelers; we can say we have swam with sharks, sting rays, and all kinds of fish but sea turtles have evaded us. Our guide took us to Tres Trapi Beach where just outside the swimming area is sea grass that the turtles feed upon. Just arm lengths away we swam with the turtles! Amazing! We also saw a barracuda feeding on a bright blue parrotfish, and we caught a defense mechanism in play when a flying gurnard changed his color to bright pink. Stepping out of the water and onto the rocky steps, I spotted a kododo, a turquoise lizard that I thought for sure was an imaginary animal! 

Our quest to eat only the best food this week continues. We had dinner outside as the sun set. 

We are sun kissed, bellies full, and ready for sleep. The best part is we get to do it again tomorrow.