Our first time at our new branch! Man are we so thankful the gospel is the same throughout the world. Being able to focus on something familiar, even though we are miles away from "home" is super comforting.
Looking down at the baptismal font! (yes in the ocean!)
I do have to stop and say here that you (whoever you are reading this) need to remember that every day has been freaking hot and humid. So uncomfortable and not what any of us are used to. The church building is a house that the church bought from a local, so not a typical standard US church building/meetinghouse that we are used to and grew up in. Only the sacrament room has AC units and fans. The rest of the building/house does not. RS and combined sunday school is held in that main room, but primary and all the classrooms and nursery do not have AC. Our poor kids already were sick of the heat back at our place (remember no AC there), and then they come here to none either. haha we could see beads of sweat pouring down their faces when we picked them up! We couldn't get home fast enough to change, and Tinley was hilarious. She stripped down naked, stood in front of the fan, then went and jumped in a cold shower!
I promise to share pics of our place and a post on that next!
Bronx catching lizards after church. This is right underneath our place, where you can see our dryer there by Bronx's foot.
So after eating some lunch and changing, we decided to go drive around and do some sight seeing. We drove into St George's (the capital/main city), then kept going up. Something else to note about driving and the roads here: they are TINY. like, teeny crappy roads, that have drop offs on each side because their gutters are not covered. So sketchy. People drive in the middle of the road all the time and then you both try to veer out of the way when you come up on another drive going the opposite direction. Oh and don't forget the potholes that speckle the road. They are all over and also make everyone look crazy because we all try to avoid them.
So we kept driving up and came upon The Grand Etang Forest. It was so pretty and so cool and definitely gave off that authentic jungle vibe. We stopped for monkeys at the top, but sadly none came for us (there are people who try to call them out for tourists/visitors). We kept going and went to the Grand Etang Lake. It's a freshwater lake filling up a giant crater in the middle of the island. To be honest none of us were that impressed with the lake. It looked just like all the other lakes at home. Nothing fancy...hah. We turned around and headed back towards home.
At the top of the mountain, before we got to the lake, there's a spot on the side of the road where you can stop and see/hold monkeys. We got out and they called to them (the monkeys) but sadly none came for us! We'll be back!
(looking down at all the fish)
If you can't tell, Ryder is kinda torture wherever we go. I forgot to pack the backpack so we had to just take turns holding him, which he hates..
The kids had a blast climbing all over those huge rocks and loved watching the locals dive and flip into the pool.
Some of the cool looking vegetation:
Kevin to me right before I made him snap this pic with me:
"This is the last pic I'm going to take. I'm sick of all your pictures."
.....hahaha doesn't he know me by now? Famous last words? He's a good fake smiler though!
Monday 8/26/19
Today we were alerted to a tropical storm* watch. My poor parents (especially my mom) were experiencing probably she was fearing. While Kevin was at school my mom watched the kids and my dad and I loaded up on groceries and got lots purified water jugs for each person. While out doing errands, my dad found a nail in our back tire, so we got a hold of the guy we rent the car from and he tells us his "guy" will meet us at IGA(where we were currently) to fix the tire. Well, something I had been told of (really warned of) is that Grenada runs on its own time schedule. Like, you've heard of "Mormon standard time"? Well there's a "Grenada standard time"....and it's1-2 hours later than that. It's pretty great especially when you are just waiting around in the heat and humidity. haha. Luckily we had the grocery store and connected mall close by to kill time at. Finally the guy comes to fix the tire. He puts a plug in it and calls it good (oh my word! huge eyeroll here please). haha it took him about 3 minutes to do.
Remember how it's insanely hot and humid? And remember how we don't have AC in our main living area? Well Kevin decided he didn't want to live like that for the next 2 years, so we offered to pay for a unit in our place. Of course the owner was like okay yep! So we went and bought a nice big AC unit at Courts.
Later this evening, Kevin and I went and gassed up the car. That was a zoo! No one wants to be stranded and carless on an island in a tropical storm.
*we all feel pretty lucky that that tropical storm (Dorian) did not even touch us. We barely got any extra rain from it. We also are not in the direct path or hurricane belt down here. Close, but not quite. We've been told there have been some rough/bad storms though. Thankfully it didn't delay my parents flight out either!
Tuesday 8/27/19
My mom came out with me this morning to run some more errands. There's just so much random crap that has to get done or things we had forgotten to grab at the store. This is also the day the AC was to get installed. We waited and waited and nothing. No one showed up. I was so bummed because it was kind of a waste of a day for my parents. We could have at least gotten out and explored some more cool places!
Kevin and I went on campus to get my SO (significant other) ID card and paperwork.
Then this evening we decided to go to Morne Rouge beach (which is the one people typically call "BBC" beach). We got there about 5:30 and as we did everyone was leaving. It was one of the most beautiful sunsets and beaches I think!
Matchy matchy without even realizing. haha
He looks cold but I took off his onsie and he was fine. The water is really so beautiful here and warm!
This chika is a little fish and loves back floating in the sea. She sings songs while she floats and it's pretty dang cute.
Wednesday 8/28/19
The AC unit got installed today! Hallelujah. We feel like happier more patient people all around, and like maybe JUST MAYBE life will be a little more livable and bearable on this island. In all seriousness though, AC is an amazing beautiful gift. We feel spoiled to have it and are so so grateful that we do! The running joke all week was when my dad was going to be able to use the oven and make some chocolate chip cookies (he LOVES his cookies). He refused to use the oven with no AC in the house! This evening he made his cookies and they were delish.
Chilling, watching the electrician hook up the AC.
My mom and I worked on making new curtains for the kitchen. She did all the sewing which I was so happy and grateful for!
Around 5 we went to Grand Anse beach again. The sand there is just so white and soft all the way out. Can't beat it. If you haven't been able to tell, we really like going the last hour and a half of the day (remember sunset here is at 6:30). I feel there's less people, and it's not scorching hot out. The only downside is that the mosquitoes come out as soon as it cools off and the sun goes down, so you have to be ready to leave quick.
I love this shot my mom took.
They really have just loved going to the beach and love the waves. Bronx snorkles around looking at everything. Tinley tries to find the prettiest shells, and they play and laugh and build in the sand and it's magical. Until they start teasing and fighting like all brothers and sisters do.
Thursday 8/29/19
Not much this morning except my parents packed up. Cue the sad emotions. I'm sure-well i know-they were pretty happy to be leaving out of the humidity and mosquitoes and tropical storm warnings! haha!
My dad scrubbing my dishes. He also cleaned our bathrooms twice while he was here.
Mom journaling.
Pumped to be flying back to America!
Tinley and I started crying as we drove home.
Friday 8/30/19
Pretty laid back slow day. Tried to finish organizing the bedrooms and bathroom stuff. Kevin had his white coat ceremony this afternoon at 4. Annie watched our kids for us, which was fun for them because the Coopers have 3 kids all our kids ages, too.
It was pretty quick and after we picked the kids up, we went down the road to grab some dinner at Options (a food park on the way to campus). We had some burgers that were okay. Not as good as Umbrellas. The fries were good though!
There are lots of stray cats and dogs, which I don't love, but Bronx and Tinley and Ryder sure love them.
Saturday 8/31/19
I literally have nothing written in my phone notes, but I did take this picture in the morning. Just showing some rain clouds, and loved seeing the sun peeking through.
Yay! Another update. I just love how much your parents just took care of you guys and were happy to see you'd be ok while there. And yes, I'd go to that beach near sunset too for all those reasons. It's gorgeous. You look so cute your first Sunday in the branch!
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