Our 7th Wedding Anniversary

On Monday, December 22, 2008 we celebrated our 7th anniversary. My parents agreed to watch the little ones overnight while we stayed at The Burke Manor Inn- a bed and breakfast inn in Gibsonville.
Our room was the Naomi room and perfectly restored to reflect early 1900 Southern charm.

We had dinner at Red Lobster in Greensboro and then went to a nearby theater to see the new James Bond movie. The theater's heater was not working yet they were still selling tickets for showings. Crazy and stupid, I know. Anyway, Morgan tapped into his Bond driving skills and got us to another movie theater in Burlington in record time. (For those of you not familiar with NC geography, Burlington is normally a good 25 minute drive from Greensboro. Morgan made the trip in about 18 minutes.) It was a good action movie and who could not love Daniel Craig as James Bond?

We loved having an evening to ourselves and not having to have our super listening ears on just in case the kids woke up in the middle of the night. Thanks Mama and Daddy for taking such good care of our kids while we were away!

Our Flight Home

Our day began at 4:00 AM when Theo picked us up to take us to the airport. We made it to the airport without too much vomit (Miriam puked a little bit and it all made it into the baggie). I was so relieved once we finally made it to the Melville Hall airport because I knew that it would be the last time that we ever had to make that nauseating journey. Yippee!

Amazingly enough, our Liat flight left on time and we didn't have any airline troubles like we did last Christmas. Our flight from San Juan into Charlotte was quite turbulent and as we landed, Miriam raised both hands in the air and said: "Hooray." However she then proceeded to vomit all over me and herself. The flight attendants kept telling Morgan to sit down while the plane was taxiing, but quickly realized why he couldn't when they saw the mess. The flight attendants were then very helpful in getting paper towels for us.

After leaving the plane, Miriam and I headed to the restroom to clean up. She had her pajamas to put on, but I was not as fortunate. My jeans were so soaked with vomit and I didn't have any extra clothes. I tried to find pants in the shops but I just couldn't bring myself to paying $30 for a pair of Wal-mart brand sweat pants. I did the best I could and then just wore the wet jeans home. Lesson learned. Always pack an extra set of clothes for me too when traveling with the small one aka Miriam.

Both my Mama and Daddy met us at the Raleigh airport. I started to worry that our family of 4 and my 2 parents would not all fit in the Jeep Cherokee but Mama said that she would lay down in the back. Hmmm...that doesn't sound legal but I was too happy to be on the ground to really worry about this. My Daddy surprised us all though. In the parking lot he pointed out the Suburban they had just bought. Yeah! It was great having such a large vehicle to chauffeur us all around in.

We pulled up to my parents place a little after midnight. It was a very long day but when I went to bed that night, I was so grateful that I was finally home. I was in the land of plenty again and never going to fly again! (Or at least not for a while).

Fort Shirley & Cabrits- our last day in Dominca

On our last day in Dominica, we went to Fort Shirley and Cabrits along with our good friend Adrian. These pictures are in reverse order of what we saw that day, so maybe start at the bottom and work your way to the top.

The Fife Family ending the hike with a beautiful look-out onto Douglas Bay.

Just a little lizard that we saw along the hike. We also saw a snake. It was the firs snake I had seen in Dominica as well as the last. Thank goodness. I am not a snake fan.

2 silly boys!

Me and my little ones exploring the remains.

We discovered several trees there that had these spikes growing out of their bark. Does anyone know why this happens? We were very perplexed about this defect or defense mechanism in nature.

This is not a real crab...we found this crab's shell along the hike and Morgan thought that a kiss would bring it back to life. Just kidding. Morgan was just being silly after suffering through all his tests. It was so great to have a Morgan again that was less stressed.

It was such a clear and moderately warm day. The perfect end to our time in Dominica.

Miriam in the cannon ball storage room. She was a little disappointed that all the balls were locked up and that she couldn't get one.

Morgan scoping out the Commandant's Quarters. These ruins were so fascinating to go through. We didn't see these last year on our trip to the Fort. We found little grape shots all over at the Quarters. The kids wanted to take the little "balls" home but believe me, our luggage was at the maximum weight already!

There were many hermit crabs on the hike. Adrian caught this tiny one and thought that the kids would like to hold it. They didn't at all. When he handed it to Luke, Luke just about climbed over Morgan to get away from it. Adrian then thought that if I held the crab that the kids would see that it was OK. I don't think so. I am not into creepy things crawling on me. The kids definitely get their squeamishness from me.

Along our hike, Adrian saw a hole in one of the old buildings and had to further investigate.

A cannon in just Luke's size.

Miriam posing with the Lewis squint.

Luke and Miriam had a blast climbing on the cannons. Every cannon they saw, they had to climb on it.

I was kind of sad when I saw this mango tree because I knew that I would miss mango season this year in Dominica. Sometimes we would get the best mangoes! Don't worry...I have since recovered from the sadness and am enjoying all the produce at the grocery store in the place of the mangoes. ;)

Who knew that cannons were great jungle gyms?

Coloring is Tough Work

In the hustle and bustle of getting all packed and ready to leave Dominica, the kids were often left to their own devices the last couple of days in Dominica. One afternoon Luke really wanted to color some Star Wars pictures that I had drawn for him. I could tell that he was tired but when I asked him if he wanted he nap, he adamantly told me he wasn't tired. (I now know that this really means: "I need a nap in the worst way.") Anyway, I let him color at the kitchen table while I started to pack and organize some things. Minutes pass by and it is really quiet. I went to check on him and I found him asleep at the table. Only the lightsaber was colored. I guess that's all the strength he had.

Our Dominica Christmas Tree

As you may remember from last year, my creative husband created our Christmas tree out of poster board, tape and glue. We kept the tree on top of our closet and the day after Thanksgiving, set out to decorate the tree.

Merry Christmas from the Fifes!

Luke got to hang the star.

Miriam completely mesmerized by the ball.

Decorating Miriam

Morgan's long arms came in handy as he hung the tinsel.

Decorating Gingerbread Cookies

One of our favorite Christmas traditions is making gingerbread people as a family. The first FHE of the December we made our people. Take a look at our creations:

Miriam was willing to share her cookies...just be warned that she licked the frosting on all of them.

Luke is like his Daddy...very meticulous when it comes to decorating.

A very serious Morgan trying to decide what to create next...

A very tired Mom...I love to make and decorate the cookies but they are a mess to clean up! The smile on Luke's face makes it all worth it.

Thanksgiving

The kids and I had Thanksgiving lunch with Luke's school. They provided the turkey (yes, real turkey!) and all the fixings.

After trying to get my very picky eaters to feast on the food, I finally gave up and headed to the playground. Luke created a new way of using the swings. Take a look!

After the kids played for awhile, we went home to get ready for our Thanksgiving dinner. We ended up losing power that afternoon while I was preparing dinner. However because we have a gas stove, I was able to get everything prepared. Most days I curse our little oven, but now I have to change my tune. I am grateful for the small gas oven we have and that I can still prepare food for our family when the power goes out. (As a side note, we lost power 3 times last week for several hours at a time. I am getting pretty good at cooking by candlelight.)

Our Thanksgiving dinner guests were the Lynn family, Adrian, Matt, Tom and our little family gathered together. Susan helped provide the stuffing, grilled chicken, gravy and pineapple upside down cake. Adrian brought his awesome mashed potatoes and I cooked the fried chicken (it's Great Grandma Fife's fried turkey recipe just with chicken), sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, rolls and pumpkin pie. It was truly a feast!

I just wanted to thank all the moms and grandmas out there in our lives that have worked so hard over the years to provide Thanksgiving feasts. I had no idea you worked so hard! Between trying to plan everything just right so that all dishes are warm and then the clean-up, this is a meal that requires so much work. Thank you all for making all of our past Thanksgivings so wonderful.

We are so grateful for all our family and friends. We have been so blessed as a family this past year and our hearts are full of gratitude for all that we have received. Our time in Dominica has opened our eyes as to how rich we really are in blessings and for that I am most grateful.