Here Comes Santa Claus 2014

Our Santa visit this year was another fantastic one. 

The boys had their lists ready.

They were extensive!

I love this smile!  He looks so much like Allen…

The Santa this year was a little different from last year’s.

After seeing Santa the boys had some fun playing Christmas games. {Do you think Miller was peeking?}

They had a fun photo booth set up and we had a blast with it!

And just because I can’t resist…here are some Santa pictures from the past!

2008

2009

2010

What happened to 2011?

2012

2013

Merry Christmas!

Festival of Lights Boat Parade

This was our 3rd year enjoying the Festival of Lights Boat parade.  Our friends are kind enough to include us on their boat each year and we love getting out on the water to see all the entrants up close and personal. 

photo credit

This year’s contest was smaller than it has been in the past, but they had a $20,000 prize for the winners!

Of course my camera battery dies after 3 pictures (blurry of course), but it was so much fun!

This is my artistic approach to photography! 

I kid, it’s nearly impossible to get photos at night unless you’re still and since I was on a boat it wasn’t very still!

The kids love seeing the fireworks so close!

We all bundled up because the weather has been a bit chilly.  68 degrees or so!

My sister Sharon was visiting and got to come too!  She has a funny story about winning third place in a boat parade based only on enthusiasm!

The theme was sailing to commemorate Sir Durward Knowles sailing gold medal in the Olympics 50 years ago.  Here are some photos from the official site

After following the parade for a bit we headed back in the direction of home, but made a small detour to check out this super yacht that was anchored along the cruise ship pier.

It was enormous…and gorgeous…and owned by the former prime minister of Qatar…which must be a very lucrative job!

Go check it out because my iPhone pictures at night don’t do it any justice.

Bahamian Snow Day- What the Heck Wednesday

We have been having some wild weather here recently.  Typically December is pretty windy and we have had our fair share of wind so far.  The other day as we were leaving the neighborhood there was a LOT of water in the road.  It was coming from the beach across the street and going right into our neighborhood.  Sometimes if we get a real big high tide and wind at the same time this happens. 

Not a huge deal because our neighborhood has a canal system and the water will run right back into the canals.

So I took the boys to school and we marveled at the big waves along the way.  I stayed for my usual volunteering time and then made my way home.  When I came over the hill and saw that what we had thought was high tide was really just nearly high tide.  The real high tide hit while I was at the school.  And with it came a lot of stuff that shouldn’t have been in the road.  Normally this road it a pot holed mess.  It had officially just gotten worse.

As I drove down the road I was simultaneously thinking, “This wasn’t even a storm” and “My car is going to get eaten alive with this salt water.”

The close I got to home the worse it got…

Have you ever run over a coconut?  I don’t suggest it.  I sounds like you just ran over a bomb.  {Or what I imagine running over a bomb would sound like since I’ve never run over a real bomb, but I have run over several coconut explosive devices}

As I got ready to enter my neighborhood it was a total mess.  There was a bus that got stuck in the sand.  Some guys were trying to pull it out by using a light post as leverage. 

There were regular people passing through and poor tourists who had to get off their scooters and push them through the mess.

I stayed within our neighborhood for an hour or two and when I came out they had tried cleaning it up some….

I’m thinking that these guys know how to drive a tractor, but snow plowing is just not their thing….

You see they piled all that sand right there. 

In the exact spot where the water came onto the road.  The exact spot where the water is going to come back through when the tide is high again next time.

Hey!  It beats a snow day in the North any day!

Sporty

This year the boys have new sports clothes that are part of their school uniforms.  While their everyday uniforms are fine, I adore their new sports uniforms {which they call a kit here}.  The white is so sharp!  The school crest is also sewn on the tops and shorts.

I’ve blurred it out but the name of their school is printed on their bums.  They love it!

All of the kids are given a “house” which is used for contests.  My boys are in Green House. 

While I adore the look of their uniforms, I detest the washing of them! Here is a little problem for you…

boys + white clothes = a bottle of OxyClean  a week

Miller took that nice white uniform on a field trip last week and got some mud on the shorts.  It must be magic mud because Oxy Clean and Clorox couldn't get it out of the white shorts…  Each piece of the uniform costs $22. 

I wish that they boys were going to stay with these smart uniforms forever, but the US, just doesn’t do uniforms the way they do in other places.  The boys are very eager to move to a place where they don’t have to wear uniforms…sigh!

The boys want to wear athletic wear all the time.  Ugh!  It’s just so…nylon!  I’ll just enjoy these uniforms days while they last.