Life's a Rollercoaster

St. Thomas, Virgin Island as the hurricane was coming in.

Lately we have definitely been riding the rollercoaster of life, with all its ups and quite a few downs. I guess you have to take the good with the bad and we have had a lot of goods in our life so maybe it was just our turn for the bads. We have had some school set backs along the way but I think we did a good job of seeing the positive in them and bouncing back. I think we did a pretty good job of taking Abe's cancer diagnosis in stride and getting through what had to get done. But we were hoping that he had moved past the bad and were back onto the good. But we just got back from a vacation that just reminded me that there will always be some ups and downs.

Our hotel, we were in the top building.

Back a few months ago my parents had invited the kids and I to head to St. Thomas with them for a week. I'm not one to turn down a vacation and things worked out pretty good with work so we went. Once again I totally forgot that I have bad luck with traveling during hurricane season but dad assured me that he had checked the weather and there was nothing heading our way. The kids were really good on the trip down, both driving to D.C. to catch the flight and while flying down to the Caribbean. We arrived on Friday and by Saturday there was talk of Earl and how we were right in its path. We had a great time the first couple of days. The condo was lovely, with 2 bedrooms and a kitchen and living area. And the beach and pool were so much fun. Ethan and Taylor couldn't get enough of the water slide (which meant that one of us was stuck going down it a million times with them). But on Sunday everything started shutting down in preparation for the hurricane. The hotel was sending around notes saying that if you had a way to get off the island you might want to think about it. Having lived in South Carolina for a long time we weren't terrible concerned about a hurricane, especially when they said that path had changed so that we would only being getting the edge of the storm. And actually the storm itself wasn't that bad. It was very windy and the rain, at times, was so hard that you couldn't see anything out the windows. The kids thought it was pretty fun to be blown around in the wind and be allowed to walk out in the rain. It was all fun and games until the power went out, for 3 days!

The view from our condo

For the first day it wasn't that big of a deal. The hurricane was still blowing through so the room would get a good breeze if someone held open the front and back door. Although it was really strong so McKaylan got sucks out of the door once when a big gust came and she wasn't ready for it. We still had some charge in the computer and DVD players so it wasn't too bad. Dad went on a mission to find ice from a hotel down the road that had a generator so we had a chance at keeping the food cold that we had bought when we arrived. Food was crazy expensive on the island, like $9 for a gallon of milk, so letting the food go to waste made us just sick. So we made 2-3 trips a day to get ice. The hotel was set up on the side of the mountain so there were a lot of flights of stairs. So with no power that meant lots of sets of stairs. There were about 10 flights of stairs to go down to the pool, and another 10 to get back up. We got some great exercise and I was amazed at Ethan's ability to walk up and down them all, with some prompting. We sure were missing Abe and my dad when we had to carry all of our pool stuff and Taylor up the stairs. By 6:30pm on the first night it was dark enough that you weren't going to find anything without a flashlight and since there was one flashlight in the room for all of us there wasn't much to do. We felt like we were from the olden days when you went to bed when the sun went down and got up when it rose. By day 2 the thrill of the adventure was wearing off as was the breeze from the storm and it was hot and muggy in our room. We pretty much lived in our bathing suits and went to the pool for most of the day. I had decided to pack light and only bring 3-4 outfits for everyone and I was going to wash clothes in the condo. Of course the storm hit right as we ran out of clothes so our choices were limited to which sweaty outfit we wanted to wear. At least I had brought 2 bathsuits for each of us so at least they could sort of dry in between wearings. Poor Taylor usually didn't have on any clothes and her little curls never dried from all her sweating. We were even desperate enough for some cool air that the guy driving the shuttle around the resort offered us a ride in the van and we rode around for a couple of loops just to get the kids cool. We definitely met some nice people as we all sat around the pool chatting about how crazy it all was or gabbing while charging our electronic devices in the lobby, which had a generator for the lights but still no a/c. It definitely brings people together.

Dad felt pretty bad leaving us on Tuesday while we were still without power but his ticket had been bought for that day so there was no reason to stay around. We looked into getting out early ourselves but flights were full until Thursday and that was only the day before we were suppose to leave. I felt kind of sorry for the people that showed up to the hotel not realizing that a hurricane had just hit and most of the island was without power. I guess they have learned to do their homework before they show up next time. One couple said their first clue was the fact that on the plane the lady sitting beside them that had on a red cross shirt and said she was traveling to provide hurricane relief.

By day 3 we were threatening to make camp at the pool and sleep outside in hopes of getting enough breeze to sleep through the night. Taylor had been up from 2-4 since she was too hot to sleep. Crazy hot and no sleep made for a very crabby mama. Luckily right at dark on Wednesday night the power came on and there were cheers from all over the hotel. You forget how great a/c is until you don't have it for a little while. The island still was recovering when we left so we didn't see much, even on our last day there but at least our attitude had improved by then. And it definitely made me thankful that amongst all of us there wasn't a complainer in the bunch. We all just sucked it up and made the best of a tough situation and had a good time.

Hanging out in the park entertaining the locals and chasing the chickens!

This was easily the kids favorite activity.

The igunas take over the hotel. Taylor LOVED to chase them.

Taylor calling "come here, iguana" to the big one hiding under the chairs.

I just love this picture of Taylor.

Luckily we got in our beach time before the storm hit because the sand was pretty much gone after the hurricane.

Can you tell he was getting into something?

The calm blue sea was gone for several days after the storm.

Taylor loved the wind in her hair during the hurricane

Our post-hurricane attire

Oh how Taylor loved to watch the planes go by. She would say "Oh, plane, hold you."

Taylor found her favorite play spot in the closet.

Ethan happened to pack a small flashlight, when my sister McKaylan saw it she thought it was the flashlight provided by the hotel and was pretty concerned that it was all the light we were going to have. Thankfully not!

Nothing to do in a hurricane but to run the corridors half naked. Our redneck roots were really showing during this trip.

Ethan kept saying that he never wanted to go home, even when the rest of us were dying. He had such a great time!