collages of home!

HOME SWEET HOME!!!!!!
here are some collages of home from the past few weeks :) it's been a blast being back with family and in southern AB! love this place and love these people!



tennis and bike riding fun :)



who says they're aren't beaches in southern AB! wally's beach made up for our missing our statia beach time so much.....



we loved the park in statia, but it's so nice to have grass and gravel to play on instead of dirt! tire swings too.....a whole new world for these little guys!

the zoo!!!!



beckam got to camp out in the backyard with dad and uncle cars and had so much fun! s'mores by microwave and even a movie in the tent to make the experience complete :)

we LOVE spray parks and cousins!!!!

boys fishing trip!

beckam passed as a sea turtle in his swim lessons, and his teacher (tyler) said he's never seen a kid cry every day but still do what he asked them too! haha beckam loved it but was so freezing cold that he definitely teared up every now and then!

the boys have had lots of "special dates" since being home. beckam got to go golfing and out for pancakes with aunt kait, to waterton with dad and uncle levi, and even had a sleepover at grandma and grandpa moj's! maddie had a sugar cookie date with mom (yay for the bosch!!!!!) and has picked lots of strawberries and raspberries with nana and papa too :)

the last 3 weeks has been sooooo much fun! we missed this place and our families so much while in statia, and we've definitely taken advantage of the end of summer fun around here :) we also get to drink water from a tap and dry our clothes in a dryer, and we're sleeping in a queen sized bed again (hallelujah!). we buy our milk from the fridge section instead of off the shelf, and shopping at superstore, walmart, and costco has been glorious! haha life is good, and there will be plenty more to come from our little life back in canada :)

so long statia!

ok...ok...back to blogging. i can't put it off much longer or i'll be sitting in front of the computer for days trying to catch up!

 

we are home sweet home now, but here are a few pics from aug 15th - our last day on statia :( we spent the morning packing up last minute things and clearing out the house and saying bye to friends. it was so bitter sweet but mostly just hectic and crazy, so that saved the tears from flowing thankfully!

i had a moment a few nights before we flew out and had a little breakdown. as hard as living on that tiny little caribbean island was, it brought our family closer together and made us better people individually too. we LOVED our time there, and it was both hard and exciting to say good-bye and start the next little phase of our medical student life :)

beckam waved to the quill as we took off, and maddox was sooooo excited to finally be on the airplane we'd be talking about for months. it was a pretty exciting day and super surreal, but we were on our way! canada, here we come!!!!!

last one!!!

well.......it's here. the last blog before we leave! still seems surreal and crazy, but it's really happening - we are leaving statia forever in t-minus 3 days! we gave our farewell talks at church today, and we're gonna pack some bags tomorrow, and i'm taking as many pictures as i can - so, sorry for the picture overload!!!!



of course, we are still most excited to see and hang out with our amazing wonderful families, but we are also sooooo looking forward to our pillow top queen sized bed!!!! no more dealing with a crazy tossing turning prego wife in a FULL SIZED bed anymore for this guy! sweet dreams :)

i can't decide if we're looking forward to carseats or not, but whether they like it or not, my boys will be strapped in again soon! i know for sure though that i'm so looking forward to straightening my hair again!!!! i've done it a time or two here, but it's a puffy frizzy mess within minutes!

my mom asked me the other day what food we would want when we arrive in calgary. my answer.....grapes and watermelon!!!!! we are all so excited for watermelon again - YUMMMM!!!!

i'm also so excited not to have to worry about finding a dead cockroach next to my bottled water anymore! no more cockroaches and drinking out of the tap - yay!!!!

on to what we'll miss now......get ready cuz here come the pics! we love the library here - friends, a/c, good books - good times :)

getting caught in the rain on our morning walk with our every day bridge friends :) love it!

shells - can't get enough!

we'll miss our statia pool, but we also can't wait to play all day at the raymond pool :) yay for summer fun at the pool!

 

 
butter bread fridays!!!! this delicious little bakery is where we always get our buns here, but they make this amazing butter bread every friday, and i just discovered it a few months ago. it's become our friday tradition now - stop for buns and bread for dinner on our way home from the beach every friday! LOVE!!!!

friendship bracelets :) they've become quite the fad here, and me and my boys love ours!

 

they say an apple a day keeps the doctor away - i say it's all about the mangos!!!! i've had one a day for the last month or two, and i will most definitely miss our little mango tree and my daily indulgence!

making pancakes with dad in the morning :)

 

the park here is nothing special, but we love it!!! going there requires a serious shower for these crazy little boys, but it's so worth it to see them playing so hard and having so much fun :)

2 of my favorite shots from our last sunday afternoon at the park :)

and we can't leave without giving dora a high five on our way to the car!!! love the little statia traditions we've established here :)

and one last plug for the beach since i think that's what we'll all miss most about this wonderful little island.......some of the best memories ever with our little family :)

 

 

life really doesn't get much better than this :)

i keep going through ups and downs in my emotions when i think of leaving the little life we've come to love here on statia. right now......sadness. looking at these pictures makes my heart happy and makes me never want to leave the memories we've created here. we really have loved it here and appreciated this adventure of a lifetime to the fullest. we'll always look back with smiles and giggles and happiness on the time we've spent here. it was where our family needed to be at this time in our lives, and we're grateful for the amazing opportunity that it's been for us :) love you statia!!!

now.......only 2 1/2 more days til we board our little winair airplane and take off for home!!!!

2 more sundays

carrying on with things we'll miss, and i just keep finding more as i browse through all the pictures we've taken since being in statia…..

keeping it simple - as in our poster board christmas tree. no needle clean up and coloring the decorations together was so much fun :)
we've also been so lucky to have so many great visitors while we've been here, and the boys LOVE watching the planes come in and anxiously awaiting another suitcase christmas party from home!

the beautiful rainforesty volcano right up the road from us is pretty amazing, and we've had a lot of fun on our little hikes up there :)

 

sometimes, i wish my boys had more friends to play with, but i also love how they're such great friends themselves. i love listening to them play together and am thankful for the statia bonding time these little men have had.

along with that, our little family of 4 has also had some good statia bonding time as we struggle with connection to the outside world and as we face each day of this adventure together :) i love how we've all grown up together here!

 

men climbing trees with a machete in their mouths to have fresh coconut at their beach party and hammocks……it's the life!

maddie always gets so excited to see a coconut lying on the ground, and the boys found one to try and crack open the other morning and worked at it for a good 1/2 hour! 

we are very excited to drink water out of the tap though and to have it all day every day never pending on delivery and back order!

a dryer!!!!!!! i've grown accustomed to hanging my laundry, and i don't even really hate it all that much, but i'm excited not to have to shake my laundry to get rid of spiders and not to have to find gecko poop stains on my clean clothes and to dry off with a nice fluffy warm towel instead of my nice warm crispy one! it's the simple things in life we miss the most :)

as much fun as beckam has kneading the dough, the 8-10 minute work out my hands get after always makes me excited for my bosch again! what a wonderful machine!

the movies! can't wait to go to a movie again and movie popcorn…..mmmmmm!!!!!

2 weeks from today, we will be in raymond!!!!!!! can't wait!