FIVE

Our snow weekend turned into a long snow week. We had school off until Thursday. 

2025 week five

We walked to a friends house who had great hills across the street. The kids loved sledding down the ice. 

I had a craving for some sourdough chocolate chip cookies. After a few trials we found the perfect recipe. 

We got a little stir crazy by Wednesday, but it was lovely to be forced to snuggle and stay in. 

The cats in particular loved having plenty of cozy laps to snuggle. 

To break up the sledding we took a couple chickens for a walk. 

We went back to school on Friday and the kids loved being able to slide around on the ice on the field. We had a few bumps and bruises but most kids said it was the best recess they'd ever had. 

Saturday morning was Pinewood Derby. Theo did not place but he never lost a single race. 

...so handsome. 

On Saturday afternoon Matt and I took some friends to a local whiskey distillery. 

We got a tour and brief history of the facility and the entire distilling process. 

Matt and Bill got a chance to pour their own bottle and place the label. 

After the tour we went to the restaurant owned by the same family and had a lovely dinner in front of the fire. 

Quotes:

T- "You want to hear a secret about me?
V- "What?"
T- "I dont brush my teeth in the morning on the weekends. Especially not on Sundays."

V-"I bet you could look it up."

Me- "I bet you could stop farting."

V-"I bet I could but I choose not to."

Me- "They didn't use to be very friendly toward people who are gay."

T- "What? What does being gay have anything to do with God?"

Me- "Not much."

T- "Did Moses come down from the mountain and his tablets said, 'Don't be gay?'"

Me- "No, they did not." 

 

FOUR

 

This is what my mornings before school look like: coffee, toast, and a cat. It was rather a long week for a short week. There was impending snow on the horizon so the students were a bit distracted. By Friday, so many of my students were "sick" with what can only be described as "Snow Anticipation Sickness." 

2026 week four

There was only a bit of snow on Saturday and it was wet. The kids ventured out a bit but it took quite a while for their wraps to dry. On Sunday, they were up and dressed before dawn to play outside. 

It was so cold all day that none of their clothes even got wet. The powdered ice couldn't even stick to them. 

We discovered that an old piece of plastic corrugated roofing made the best sled for our driveway. 

In the afternoon, some friends made the trek through the snow to come sled with us. 

If you sit down for 2 minutes, a cat will appear on your lap to suck the warmth from you. 

THREE

 

 V playing the piano with a dog (carrot in mouth) on her lap and a little brother trying to pester her. 

2026 week three

On Tuesday Matt and I flew to St. Kitts and Nevis to celebrate 15 years of marriage. 

First night dinner was out of a truck called Blue Smurf BBQ. We got jerk chicken, jerk pork, and ribs. All were excellent. 

We also came to visit Matt's brother Sam and his family who are living on St. Kitts while his wife Larissa is in vet school. 

Matt was so happy that he was able to see a monkey so quickly. The monkey handler traded my brother-in-law for his own monkey. 

Then Matt was even more pleased to immediately hand the monkeys to me to see my terror. I am not a fan of monkeys. 

We went snorkeling around a shipwreck and then we went to lunch were there were more monkeys! Hooray. This restaurant leaves out a dish of fruits and scraps for the monkeys, mongoose, and cats to fight over. We saw several mongoose as well. 

Waiting for lunch at the beach. 

On Thursday we went into the capital of Basseterre. We got a ferry and rode over to Nevis for the morning. 

It's easy to take good photos when the subject matter is so cute. 

Our first stop was the Nevis History Museum which is also housed in the childhood home of Alexander Hamilton. 

Our plan was the walk "just outside town" to the ruins of the Hamilton sugar plantation after the museum. Just outside of town was a 3 mile hike up a mountain. At least the flora was incredible. 

We made it to the ruins of the plantation very hot and thirsty. Luckily there is currently a vanilla farm on the site with a little cafe. 

We got vanilla lemonade, vanilla iced coffee, and vanilla iced chocolate drink. We also got a small bit to eat to fuel us down the mountain. 

The ferry ride back gave us Uno cards as our tickets onto the ferry. Matt was rather worried that we'd just been scammed, however they took the uno cards like it was normal. Maybe it is...

On Friday we went to the ruins of another sugar plantation that now sells local rum. This tree was absolutely coated in thorns. Zoom in, it's unreal. 

This place had the most beautiful plants. I loved all the hanging vines and thick tropical foliage. 

I guess this is what an actually happy pothos plant looks like. I'm so sorry to my puny little baby plants in my classroom. 

We learned that these vines are colloquially called "Widow Makers." But we didn't learn this until after we all swung on them. 

After the run distillery we went to an old plantation house called Romney Manor that was at one point inhabited by Thomas Jefferson's great great great grandfather. There is quite a strong connection with these islands and the American Revolution. 

This tree is a cactus of some sort. At least it is a spiky succulent. It was over two stories tall and full of nests for these lovely little yellow birds. 

The house is also a shop for locally made batik fabric. We got a chance to watch an artist starting a batik print. 

On Friday afternoon we went to the school where my sister-in-law is getting her vet degree. The campus had so many monkeys. Too many. 

We also walked down to a little area on the beach where students will sometimes study. We thought we found the tiniest hermit crab we'd ever see. 

It would be hard to study in this spot. 

The school also had a toxic plant garden for the toxicology classes. 

On Saturday morning, Matt, Sam and I hiked to Shitten Bay. It was more of a scramble straight up over boulders than a hike, but the snorkeling on the other side was so fun. There were so many different types of fish and at one point it started raining which was a unique and beautiful experience underwater. A couple days earlier we got to snorkel with some sea turtles, but this snorkeling was my favorite. 

The hike back down. 

On our last night we went to a different beach where we actually found the tiniest hermit crabs we would ever see.

After the hermit crabs, Sam climbed a coconut tree and cut open a coconut for us to have fresh coconut water. 

Our last meal together was lobster and fried whole snapper. 

We had an absolutely beautiful vacation. We are so grateful for how much Sam and Larissa did for us to enable this.