Trip to St. Lucia Day 7, Our Anniversary

Our departing flight was from a different airport so we were able to see some more of the island on the way to Vieux Fort. It really was beautiful. There were quite a few little scenic overlooks, but this one was the nicest I think.

Kind of a funny thing happened while we were stopped here taking pictures. Brother Marquis drove by and saw us so he stopped to visit, then the  DeBeauvilles drove by and stopped also. It was nice to see those wonderful people again before we left...and then we had someone there to take a group shot for us :)

When we got to Vieux Fort we stopped by the branch building there, Dad had to deliver some sacrament cups to them.

Then we ate lunch at a place called Scooby's. More good food :)

Then as we were heading out to go to the airport Dad got a call from the Sister missionaries there. They had a flat tire and they were very close to where we were so we went to help them out before going to the airport. Dad and Mike were their heroes :)

That's a pretty nasty looking tire!

Well, we really did have to leave, so Mom and Dad dropped us at the airport and we said our goodbyes...for now. 

Then we spent the rest of our 15th anniversary on airplanes and in airports, hey we were together for the whole day and that was nice :)

*We have to give a big THANK YOU!! to Mike's mom for coming and staying with the kids so that we could go on this trip.

Trip to St. Lucia Day 6

Our last full day on the island :(

We started it off with walking on Reduit beach (we went to a different beach every day, I don't remember the names of all of them, I'll have to have my parents remind me...hopefully I got this one right!)

I'm not particularly loving any of the pictures of me from this trip...but oh well...I guess it will just give me some incentive to diet and exercise.

My Mom and Dad are so cute

After the beach we stopped into the grocery store for a few things. Man, ice cream is expensive there!! The price is in EC but in US dollars it would be about 9 or 10 bucks.

Then we went to feed the missionaries at their district meeting. One of the sisters was from the D.C. area and happened to be in the Mount Vernon Stake. We used to live in that stake...small world.


We also stopped in the market again to buy some souvenirs.

After that we headed off to find David the snake man so we could get a picture holding his snake. My mom and dad have formed a kind of friendship with him and so they only go to him for snake pictures, they are loyal.

David was very friendly and his snake didn't kill us, so everything was good!

On the way back we stopped and took a picture of this natural bridge.
It kind of looked like a dinosaur taking a drink...to me anyway.

That night we went to a restaurant in Castries right on the water. It's called the Coal Pot. It was beautiful. There were 3 cruise ships in port that day and we watched them leave.

Our meal was delicious! I had red snapper, Mike had barracuda, Dad had a chicken dish and Mom had salmon...then we finished we a fabulous crème brûlée :)

Trip to St. Lucia Day 5, Mike's Birthday

We started out fairly early to go to Anse Chastanet for some snorkeling fun. On the way there we stopped to get some pictures of the Pitons, one of the main tourist attractions on St. Lucia.

When we stopped to take pictures we also bought some necklaces from a local man.

We gave the necklaces to the kids when we got home and they loved them :)

We got to Anse Chastanet and got ready to snorkel.

I remember my brother Joe trying to get me to snorkel a long time ago on a cruise, and I tried it, but kind of freaked out a little bit. This time I was determined to just do it, with no freaking out. After some trouble getting the mask on and getting it to stay on...I headed out to snorkel.

It was a lot of fun and it was a beautiful day. 

After snorkeling we went to lunch at the Dasheene restaurant at the Ladera Resort. It is an open air restaurant and hotel. It's a beautiful location and it sits right in front of the Pitons. I wish I had taken my good camera with me!!

Here is our lunch...taken with different cameras, hence the different look.

Anyway, the food was very good and we had a lovely lunch. I told the staff that it was Mike's birthday so they decorated his dessert plate for him. They called him "Mike" but they wrote "Mick." It's the thought that counts, right?!

After lunch we went to Sulpher Springs and toured the caldera of a dormant volcano...it was really interesting, and our guide was great, but the whole place was very stinky :)

On the drive we saw a lot of banana farms.

Before heading back to the apartment we visited some of the members. First we stopped in to visit the Marquis family. Their 3 little ones are so cute and fun.

I also took a little video of them playing a game they play there called Pikachu...it's basically rock, paper, scissors with a little extra punch (or maybe I should say slap and pinch, ha ha!) I don't know that it has anything to do with Pokemon :)

Then we had a great visit with Sister Joan and her son, and then on to the DeBeauville's. Sister D runs a little sewing shop and so my mom wanted to give her a rotary cutting set to help her out, so Mike and I bought one and brought it with us to give to her. She had seen stuff like it on tv and was super excited to have one.

After the visits we went back to Mom and Dad's and had some yummy cake for Mike's birthday and skyped the kids. 

Another full day done!

Trip to St. Lucia Day 4, Easter Sunday

We went to church early to help get everything set up.

My Dad is serving as the Branch President (President Bush, he he.)

It was nice to meet the saints there and to worship with them.

Here I am with one of the young woman in the branch named Brittany
She was so sweet.

Mom and I sang a duet and then I also sang a solo. It was a different experience for me because we had to sing a capella.....yikes! It went well though and I enjoyed doing it, I really do love to sing and I feel blessed to have opportunities to share my talent (if I may be so bold as to call it that)

After sacrament meeting, Mom and I went to help in the Primary. 

I loved doing that! The Primary President does everything on her own, there aren't any counselors or teachers really. She was thankful for the help.

Mike went to Sunday school and Priesthood and enjoyed those meetings.

Here I am with a few of the primary kids. The one leaning on my lap is Krisshona, she and I have the same birthday :)

It was a wonderful experience to go to church there.

Right after church we went to visit Brother and Sister Joe. That was such a humbling spiritual experience. The purpose of our visit was to bring the sacrament to Sister Joe, and to bring her a picture of the Savior to hang on her wall in front of her bed. Brother and Sister Joe had joined the church and then they had saved up their money to go to the temple to be sealed. They went and right after they got back Sister Joe had a stroke and now she is bedridden and can only move her mouth, her head a little bit and her left arm and hand. The Spirit was so strong in their small humble home, and Brother Joe would not let us leave without having some ice cream and giving my Mom a bag of guavas from his tree.

When we got back to our apartment we had dinner and we were able to Skype the kids and hear all about their day.

They made it to church on time and were good...so they said :)

Noah took on the role of Easter Bunny after church and set up an egg hunt for the other kids.