Ready for some fun!

Well, finals are finished and I am ready for some sight seeing around the island. I finally saw a centipede (a little too up close and personal). I think it was on the power line above my head and landed on my shoulder. It didn't bite me, but my skin is still crawling from the experience. Plus, we must be in "big spider season" because in the last week I've seen more giant spiders than I care to. One was in our house (same day of the centipede experience). Wes rescued us and killed him. Needless to say, sleeping is interesting.

(Karissa, Anna and Nina)

Last week, Wes and the girls went on a trip with a few other spouses to a beach called #1 beach and to Bense Pool. The beach is on the Atlantic side of the island and tropical storm Ana was in the neighborhood, so the seas were a bit more rough than usual (not that I know what normal looks like). (Speaking of tropical storms, hurricane Bill is in our neighborhood, but to our North, so we should not see anything from it.) Karissa loved the waves, but Jillian stayed on the shore.(Margo and Jillian)

Bense Pool is a place that has a small water fall that you can go down like a water slide. It also has a 25' cliff for jumping off. Karissa, being the great dear devil she is, decided that she was going to jump. So, Wes took her up there to make sure she was still game on...and she did it...a few times. Of course, Jillian thought that was ridiculous and stayed on the beach (not that I blame her).

Today, the kids went on a field trip, by boat, up the Indian River. Wes and I were able to tag along disguised as chaperons (ha ha). We had a great time. There were two boats (man powered) that took us up to a little bar (not open) where we had lunch before returning. It was interesting to see the wildlife from that angle. There were a ton of land crabs. I guess Dominica has 18 different crab species. Interesting to see all the different colors and sizes. We also got to see an iguana in the tree just above our boat. The teacher was concerned that we would end up with another passenger.

So we broke down and got a car. We actually made a down payment on it a couple months ago. A 4th semester family sold it to us and we finally were able to take possession of it. I must say, it is really nice to not have to hike up and down the mountain every day...especially in the down pour of rain. The good thing about purchasing a car here is you can get out of it what you purchased it for.

We will keep you posted on our upcoming adventures.