Day 3 (Saturday)--Swept Away

A catastrophe was narrowly avoided when Abe accidentally left his phone in our taxi to the airport, but thankfully we were able to contact the driver and he brought it back to the airport.  I assure you he received a generous tip for his efforts.

We were grateful to Grenadine Air for transporting us comfortably and safely to the beautiful Island of Canouan.

The view from the plane.

We checked in with Tradewinds-- the sailing club James and Andrea are a part of.

We had a few hours to relax while waiting for the 5:00 hour when it was time to board the boat.  Okay, okay, twist my arm, I'll kill some time at Shenanigans-- a private beach resort. 

Then the blessed hour arrived-- the dinghy arrived to take us through the marina to our boat-- Swept Away.  How aptly named.

May I introduce you to "Island Betsy".  You'd probably like her.  I know I did.  She is brave and relaxed and adventurous.  She is up for anything-- happy and open to whatever life has to offer.  She'll try food she had sworn she'd never eat-- and she LIKED it!  She felt so comfortable in her body-- no makeup, no problem.  Lots of pictures in swimsuits, no problem.  Grateful every second for every opportunity.  Regular life Betsy could really learn a thing or two from Island Betsy.  I like to think a little bit of Island Betsy followed regular Betsy home.  Which I suppose is the point of traveling.

Our first selfie aboard our home for the next seven days.  Celebrating 25 years, baby!  

The gang. Note the gorgeous rainbow as we left the marina.  Spoiler alert:  no joke, there was another rainbow as we motored back into the marina at the end of the trip.  How blessed that our sail was bookended by rainbows.  Andrea said she always brings good weather with her when she travels.  She wasn't wrong.  This is their rainy season, but we had perfect weather ALL week, yet as soon as we were leaving it was pouring rain.  

Andrea had shirts made up for our adventure.  I recently learned that not everyone loves wearing matching shirts with friends or family.  Let it be known that if there is ever a reason to have unifying, matching shirts-- I am ALL IN!  The matchier (I made up that word) the better.  

She had shirts for the crew as well.  Roly, the captain, is next to Andrea.  Donny, the first mate and chef, is next to Abe.   They are both originally from South Africa.  They were pretty dang awesome in every way.  I can wrap my mind around Roly (age 36) being a captain of a sailing vessel.  And I can understand Donny being a first mate.  But I CAN NOT comprehend how Donny, at the tender age of 22 could be such an amazing chef.  I cannot begin to describe the gastronomical experience I had over the week we were on board.  We had two meals ashore at restaurants where Donny did not prepare the food, and frankly, they were terribly disappointing.  Under normal circumstances, they would have been quite impressive.  But it's hard to be impressed after Donny.  Like I said, I'm ruined for regular life.  A special mention goes to the starter soup on the first night-- a coconut, butternut squash, and spinach soup.  

Life changing.

The first evening we sailed around to the other side of Canouan and moored the boat for the night in Kato Cove.  We went for a little swim over to "Lover's Point" (so named by us) and then climb this rock and jumped in.  I realize it looks totally unsafe.  Regular Betsy at home is thinking, "Oh, no no no!  You mustn't endanger yourself!"  But Island Betsy believed Captain Roly who assured us it was plenty deep to jump there.  So we jumped.

Note about Day 3:  I wore a motion sickness patch for the first 2 days.  It totally worked, in that, I didn't get sick.  However, I did feel quite sluggish.  After that, I was great.  May I just say, that one of the nicest feelings in the whole world is being rocked to sleep.  No wonder babies love it!  I loved lying in bed and the gentle rocking lulling me to sleep.  So, so lovely.  I would like for my bed at home to do that.  I suppose that was the concept of the water bed but I don't want a water bed.  No, I mean, like a giant baby swing with my bed on top.  Well anyway, all this talk of being lulled to sleep is making me tired.  Goodnight and more fun in the Grenadines will be coming soon.

Day 2 (Friday)-- Barbados

 

HA! They drive on the wrong side of the road!  Growing up in the military, I am not untraveled, but I'd never been in a country where they drive on the other side. ("other" is nicer than "wrong":)  It was pretty trippy at first.  Barbados is still really into masks.  Blah.

They brought welcoming little fruit and cheese plates up to our room at the Marriott hotel we stayed in.  This was a sign of good things to come.  I ate a lot of fruit and cheese on the trip.  Thinking about it makes me want to go get some right now.  I think I shall.  I'll be right back.

Okay, let us continue

The Bridgetown Barbados Misson office was quite near our hotel and the coast.  We've had a couple people in our ward serve there so we took a quick pic.

We couldn't wait to get our feet in the ocean.  And I will comment on the colors and temperature and clarity and perfection of the Caribbean water many more times before I am through, but HOLY WHAT???  Unbelievable.

If you want your vacation well-documented, consider inviting Abe and me along:)  With Abe's picture-taking and my blogging, every moment can be preserved for future generations.  Just consider:)

We walked along a lovely boardwalk while considering our options for dinner.

Abe was very much in his happy place.  

How about an oceanside table at Tapas?  Yes, please.  

Note:  It has been explained to me that eating and being served meals in a quick and efficient manner may be somewhat unique to our American culture.  That many, if not most, other countries have a much different and slower concept of what qualifies as good service.  Barbados and every other island we visited definitely ran on "Island Time" which was markedly more relaxed. 

I love the lone palm tree-- we called it "Abe's Tree"

There will be an obscene amount of selfies of Abe and me, however, I offer no apology.  We just wanted to try to capture every moment.  It was that good.

I don't know the history of this structure, but it was right on the beach.  It looked like some old prison/fort thing.  It was cool.

The background almost looked fake.

These two are serious travelers!  It's fun and quite stress-free to travel with friends who really know their way around the world.

The first of several cannons left from the 1700s we found on the islands.  Our son, Cannon, is so named because my maiden name is Cannon.  We share an affinity for cannons.

James and Andrea headed back to the hotel after dinner, while Abe and I weren't quite done adventuring for the day.  We walked along the beach for a while and we sat on a log by a little clump of trees and played a little kissy-face and there were fireflies!  It was magical. It was like we were in a movie!

Day 1 (Thursday)-- The Adventure Begins

Oh, my friends, I am not what I once was.  I have had an experience.  I am a changed woman.  

On August 11th Abe and I, along with our friends, James and Andrea, boarded a plane with our intended destination--- the beautiful Caribbean Island of Barbados.  We stayed there roughly 24 hours before boarding a puddle jumper plane to Canouan-- one of the beautiful islands of the Grenadines.  For seven days, the five of us (the fifth being Andrea's lifelong friend from the UK- the ever delightful Olivia) sailed aboard a private catamaran, whereupon our crew of two completely ruined me for regular life.  It might have been better had I never known the joy of a private chef.  

We then flew back to Barbados for another 18 hours, before we flew home to the life and people we love, but were not quite ready to reembrace.  

WARNING: I am about to gush incessantly about how unbelievably amazing the whole experience was.  If you are prone to envy or nausea when you encounter such behavior, you may want to avoid the next several posts.

Day One 

Day one began late on the evening of August 11th.  We met up at Andrea and James's condo downtown and hopped on Trax heading to the airport.  No need to mess with parking or rides to the airport.  We took a red-eye flight to Charlotte, North Carolina.

Me asleep on the airport floor.  

Okay, well, that wraps up day one.  This was decidedly the least glamorous leg of the trip.  Next up-- Welcome to Barbados

A couple notes on Day One:

-- an outrageous amount of time and brain power went into planning for our ten-day absence.  I created a 17-page document for the children and Stephanie and Michaela Chase (sisters and blessed neighbors) who would sleep at the house and pop in and out to make sure everyone was alive and well.  

It was posted for all to reference, there was a backup hard copy and it could be referenced online.  Were 17 pages overkill?  You be the judge.  But I will say, it was a magnificent document and I believe it greatly contributed to a very positive experience at home and abroad.

-- Abe and I got our passports for this trip.  Neither of us has left the country since before we were married.  This trip celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary.  Was I nervous to leave the country?  NO.  I decided months before that no matter how scary this trip might feel, I was just going to do it and I would enjoy myself.  And I did!  I dare say, my next trip out of the country will likely be sooner rather than later.

Happy 8th Birthday, Peter

 

Peter turned 8!!!! We celebrated his birthday with a family dinner the Sunday before his actual birthday.  

Peter was THRILLED to get a Gabb watch/phone for his birthday  He spent his birthday sending messages and calling everyone we put on his contacts list.  More people for Peter to talk to!!! YAY!!!!!!

On his birthday I took Peter to run an errand at Scheels and we rode the ferris wheel.  It was pretty fun:)

Then to a birthday lunch at Chick-fil-A, as per his request.  He was such delightful company.  

When we went around the table, each saying what we loved about Peter, it was easy, because   everybody had really kind stuff to say about our little guy. I've never known anyone quite like him-- so intense and so earnest. He always tries his best and never, NEVER, NEVER gives up.  We love you, Peter! And happy 8th birthday!  

Cannon and George Go Off To Camp

Sunday night we were happy to arrive home from the Fox Family Reunion.  We weren't happy that Cannon accidentally left his entire suitcase, containing pretty much ALL of his clothing at Jesse and Amy's house in Liberty Lake.  By the way, BIG SHOUTOUT to Jesse and Amy who are the world's best hosts.  She really ought to be running a bed and breakfast.  

Leaving the suitcase would have just been a big hassle, except that we got home around 7 pm and Cannon and George needed to be ready to leave for young men's camp at 6:00 the following morning  We got it all figured out and he was appropriately clad for camp-- but it did make for a more exciting return home.

The gang went rafting and kayaking at Flaming Gorge.  By all reports they had a great time.  George is the only Deacon in our ward and the rest of these boys were teachers.  I guess you can tell by the height, George is markedly younger than the other boys.  George will be happy come January when all off his buddies who are a year younger than him join the quorum.

Abe took a day off work to go join them on the river.

The Brothers Fox-- at least half of them:)

Cannon and his buddy Ryan.

So beautiful!

I think the boys really enjoyed themselves, AND they were so happy to be home after almost two weeks away from home-- not to mention dance summer intensives and FSY and Civil War camp.  It's been a very full and very fulfilling summer for our family.  I cannot say that I am ready to buckle down and get back on the school train, but I'm guessing that feeling will come here in a couple of weeks.  

So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Goodbye --- Sort of

Abe loves his mother.  All nine siblings love their mother and really, really do not like to upset her.  They are respectful and kind and gentle with her.

And that is one of the reasons this family reunion was a little tougher than others.  We had a big project to undertake.  You see, Mom Fox moved into an assisted living home a few months back and it was time to clean out FoxHill (primarily the basement) so that Daniel (who bought the home) can use it as an Air B&B.  Thankfully the house will stay in the family and we will still be able to use it for reunions and visits to Spokane.  But the whole endeavor sort of represents the end of an era and a lot of change.  Something that Mom Fox (and some of her children) do not readily embrace.  

It was a massive undertaking-- to ensure that all photos, letters, cards, childhood memorabilia and such were not disposed of.  This is where THE WORKERS got busy.

A lot of stuff went to the dump.  Roughly 8,000 lbs.  Plus there was much, much more that just went into storage.  We really tried to be respectful of what was important to Mom Fox.  Remember, no on wanted to cause her distress.  

Katie and I were kind of the dynamic duo in the basement.  She handled mostly clothing and bigger items,.  I handled books and sorting out the photographs from the memorabilia.  

Then those sorted boxes of photos, letters, memorabilia were delivered  (by the runners) to the photo team (led by Phil) and the historical team (led by Melissa) upstairs.  Phil ran his scanner nonstop.  I never even saw him get up to eat or use the restroom.  DEDICATION!

So now we have access to little gems like this.  Little Abraham is on the left and little Jesse on the right.

Another angle of the controlled chaos.

FoxHill will never be quite the same.  Of course, nothing can stay static.  Everything is constantly shifting and changing and evolving.  And while it feels somewhat bittersweet right now, I am a believer that there is always something better to come.

So while the glory days of Grandma and Grandpa stocking the freezer with Totino's pizzas and popsicles and a pantry full of Goldfish and tubs of Red Vine licorice are over, FoxHill will continue to be a magical refuge from the worries of regular life.