Trivia, SoBe, and Sunday Soccer

A few weekends ago, our friends—Rhiannon and Jackie—invited us out to Buddies for an evening of trivia. One of the semesters was hosting the event, and it was estimated to be pretty lively. So, Matthew and I put our thinking caps on and prepared ourselves for some fun questions. 

One of the questions dealt with the clip below. We were to name the title of the movie, the main character's name, and the actress' name who played the main character. Of course, since it's one of my favorite movies, I knew what the answers were except for the main character's name. I, for the life of me, couldn't remember what it was. Silly me, since one of my best friends from high school has this same name. Do you know the answers? Comment below if you do. (No googling!)

We didn't end the evening as winners, but it sure was fun. Oh, and guess what the bonus question was at the end? We had to name all seven Harry Potter novels. It was a relevant question since the very last Harry Potter film was just released. And of course we knew all of those answers. :) 

Go team!

Last Friday, a few of us went to SoBe for a few cocktails. From 10-11 p.m., they were offering $1EC drinks to the ladies. Yes, that's right. $1EC=27 cents US. Therefore, I enjoyed a few cranberry vodkas for under $1USD. Imagine that! One drawback of the evening? THE MONSOON. The road to SoBe was completely flooded and it rained off and on all night. However, we still managed to have a good time. No surprise there. 

The flooded road to SoBe.

How are we going to get across?

In addition to having a huge outdoor lounge area, this is what the inside looks like. Not bad for a beach bar on St. Kitts, eh?

On Sunday, we had our end-of-the-season soccer tournament. We were scheduled to play the blue team at 3:00 p.m., playing 20 minute halves. HA! Our game with team blue did not end until 5:00 p.m. when they unfortunately beat us at PKs. After our game, Matthew and I stayed with Tiffany and a few of our teammates to watch and cheer on our friends' during the rest of the tournament. Even though I fell into a hole and went tumbling, was cleated by a rather tall fellow in the back of my knee, and we lost, it was an enjoyable Sunday. Also—take notice of our new team shirts. Sami had those made for us in Florida. What a doll! I think I might have to make Milo and Trooper a couple of shirts to match the team...

SWEET LIME 

Teammates. 

Matthew with Milo and Trooper—our biggest fans. 

Snorkeling for Starfish

While routinely checking my Facebook account the other day, I saw newly posted photos of my friend, Tracey, with her hands full of starfish, or sea stars, as they are sometimes called. Upon viewing the pictures, I immediately asked her where she had spotted the pretty little sea creatures. Lucky for me, she was planning on going snorkeling this morning, and she invited me to tag along. Holla that.

Tracey, along with her friend, Albeisa, stopped by to pick me up at about 10:00 a.m., and we headed to Shipwreck beach. We walked down to the former dolphin enclosure and starting snorkeling. Although the water was a little murky, I spotted four or five starfish. It was so exciting! 

We gathered the sea stars, made sure to handle them gently and carefully, and then took lots of photos. After our fun, we set the starfish free. It was a great way to start a Saturday.

Happy Birthday, America!

Yesterday was the Fourth of July, and although it's an American holiday, there were plenty of celebratory events on de island. Matthew and I headed to Elvis' Love Shack to play cornhole, hang out with some other students &VIPs, and relax. After a game of cornhole with Emily and Taylor, we decided to get some dinner and wait for the fireworks at Shiggidy Shack. However, after we finished our dinner, we decided to skip out on the fireworks show. We were told the fireworks would start around 7:00/8:00 p.m., but we factored in 'island time.' Needless to say, I did not feel bad for not waiting around.

Instead, we purchased some ice cream at Pizza Boys, (thanks for the treat, Yawgles), and headed to Emily and Taylor's apartment. This particular holiday is a big deal to the Yaw family, so of course, Taylor had purchased some fireworks at school earlier in the week. He was generous enough to share with Mateo, and off we went to the beach to watch the boys cause sparks and make noise. Woohoo!

By the time Matthew and I arrived home, it was almost 9:00 p.m. From all the running around on the beach, Matthew opted to use the plunge pool upstairs to cool down. The dogs and I joined him (minus the getting into the pool part), and watched the long-awaited fireworks from the balcony. It was a pretty nice showing...for St. Kitts. :)

The four of us at Shiggidy Shack for dinner.

Yes, that's a head lamp he's wearing...

Boys and fire...*sigh*

Mid-Semester Break

Mid-Semester break was June 24th-June 27th. The students were excited to have a three-day weekend. A lot of Rossies went off-island to Puerto Rico or St. Maarten. Some of us, probably most of us, stayed on-island and enjoyed an uneventful, relaxing weekend.

Matthew and I kept busy dog-sitting for our friends, Tiff and Matt. (They were among the few folks who headed to Puerto Rico.) We also went on a tour, (with Em and Taylor), to Beaumont Park where St. Kitts hosts horse races.

Matthew with Sophia and little Remington.

Trooper and Remy bonding in the trash/shade after a steep hike.

Beaumont Park Race Track

Matthew and Taylor

Horsey!

Where are the Marshmallows, Matthew?

I am...not very tall. I am also not aware of the contents in my kitchen cupboards. This makes it easy for my husband to hide things from me, specifically snacks and sweets. His recent choice? My marshmallows! However, my handy wooden spoon and I succeeded in acquiring the goods.

Marshmallows? Are you up there?

Got 'em!

Baby Birthday Parties: Be There or be Square

You might be surprised, but there are a lot of students at RUSVM who not only are married, but have children too. Therefore, an invitation to a friend's kid's birthday party is not rare. We had two baby birthdays to celebrate in June. The first party was for Beau; he turned two. The second event was for Mason; he turned one. And let me tell you something: baby birthday parties are pretty swanky down here on de island, folks. I'll let the photos provide you with legit proof.

Beau's parents are Andrew and Jessie and they held their son's second birthday party at their condo, Leeward Cove. A lot of families attended, but of course single friends w/o families were invited too. Holla! It was a beautiful day for the party, and it was fun watching the kids splash around in the pool.

View from one side of the pool.

View from the other side. What a nice day, huh?

Beau and his Mom and Dad. 

Additional party goers. 

Mason's parents are Diane and Matthew. The party location? St. Christopher's Club. Of course, much like Beau's party—a ton of guests arrived to celebrate his first birthday. How could they not?

The pool prior to the arrival of guests.

I helped Diane frost these cupcakes. Don't they look yummy?

Time to sing, "Happy Birthday..."

Mason and Diane

Mason with his doting parents. :)

The Barbie Jeep

When my friends, Rochelle and Matthew, came to visit us, we needed to rent a car. I won't go into detail regarding this nightmare-ish ordeal, but I will state that we ended up with the infamous island Barbie Jeep a few times while our 'rental' was being 'repaired.' It was a dream come true, mainly because I'd been keeping my eye on that jeep ever since I first spotted it. And I'm not the only fan; everyone had mad love for the Barbie Jeep!

Here was our 'rental' that broke down every single time we used it.

Visitors from the Mitten: Rochelle & Matthew

My friend, Rochelle, and her husband, Matthew, paid us a visit in early June. They arrived on-island June 5th, and departed June 11th. Daytime activities included trips to different beaches on the island, as well as to the Calypso Bay pool, (thanks to Tiffany), and to the Marriott pool. One day we went to Port Zante so they could do some touristy shopping, and while there, I took the initiative to show them around Basseterre. Another afternoon was spent at Ross University so I could show them Matthew's school and bring them down to the beach so they could look for conch shells and coral.

Nighttime fun involved trips to Bamboo Lounge, SoBe, Bobsy's, The Blue Martini, and the Marriott Casino. My Matthew brought her Matthew nighttime fishing on Tuesday and Thursday, leaving Rochelle and I to fend for ourselves. We spent one of the evenings at the local theatre. There, we laughed our heads off watching, The Hangover 2. While the boys were out fishing for the second time, I brought Rochelle to Shiggidy Shack and to Ziggy's for a couple of beers. While at Ziggy's on The Strip, we were asked by a local if we had ever seen 'snow' in the Caribbean. We told Slicky Ricky that we weren't interested. Oy vey.

On their last night, (Friday), the four of us went to Timothy Beach to hang out. We spent some of our time at Ziggy's enjoying a few beers before dinner at Sunset Cafe where we met up with Tiffany, and her boyfriend, Matthew. Yeah, that's right—three different Matthews.

The weather was fairly cooperative while our guests were here. We only had one rainy day and one super gray day. The rest of the week started out kind of overcast, but became bright and sunny by mid-morning. We also ran into some island adventures with our piece-of-crap-rental-car, but we survived. I was happy to see familiar faces from the Mitten, and it was enjoyable for me to share with them our interesting lifestyle. We exposed them to some of the ridiculous challenges that are involved with living on an island: inflated grocery store prices, insanely high electricity bills, crappy cars, the slums of St. Kitts, the culture, not having a variety of anything, etc. On the other hand, we also managed to share with them our love for our new home, and some really beautiful scenic areas. Overall, I think they had a nice, relaxing vacation.

Enjoying Tiffany's infinity pool. :) 

Rochelle, the Bronzed Goddess. 

Matthew and Rochelle with their beach findings.

Of course, we had to sing karaoke at Bobsy's!

Blue Martini dance floor.

Shots!

At Gong Beach

Me, Tiff, and Chelle at Timothy Beach.

Matthew...CUBED!