South Africa

For anyone who doesn't know, we are heading to South Africa over break. We will be in Stanger, a town near Durban. We leave on Tuesday the 16th and get back on the 26th. The trip is being organized through The Circle of Love Foundation. One of the students in Owen's class, her parent's started this medical missions foundation and organized a trip to coordinate with our break. We are not exactly sure of what we will be doing over there, but it will include a medical clinic, visiting the squatters camps, along with other things. We will also be going on a game drive to Hluhluwe Game Park, where there are supposed to be the "Big Five," lion, leopard, elephant, buffalo, and rhino. We're pretty excited about everything, it should be a great trip and an amazing experience. We have a new camera which will hopefully capture our time there, and maybe some of the "5" ;) let's hope! Look for a post trip update in early September once we're back and caught up. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers throughout this time, especially for safety over everything. 

Brunetti Wedding

Congratulations to two of my favorite people, it was a wonderful day, thank you for having me be a part of it, love to you both!

The main reason for my trip home was for Michelle and Evan's wedding. It was a wonderful day, full of fun and love. I was so thankful to be able to be a part of their day. Michelle was a beautiful, classic bride and Evan looked great, and both were so happy. They had both the ceremony and reception at the Simsbury Inn which worked out very well. It was 105* that day so we all appreciated staying in one place, inside. The Inn had many nice backdrops for pictures and I am excited to see their professional pictures. I have a few pictures from my camera, and a few borrowed from other peoples. The first few are from the rehersal dinner at the Brunetti's house, I brought back little island outfits for my "nephews" which they loved. Then a few pictures from the wedding. Well enjoy the pictures.

Aidan, age 5

Connor, age 3

Now they match Owen!

Getting ready

The Beautiful Bride

"Sisters"

My brother, Jared

Family

Summer in the States

Chihuly

I just returned to the island after spending most of July in Connecticut (hence the lack of posts lately). I had a wonderful trip and was a little sad to head back to the island, although I was happy to be with Owen again. The weather was amazing, I spent the entire first day back outside. We had a cookout with the neighbors, I went to the town fireworks with one of my neighbors, then we had a bonfire on the street. It was the perfect adjustment back to life in the states. I did a lot of shopping for things we needed back on island. It was a little overwhelming to drive and shop with so many choices and people. It took a few days to get used to it all again. Aside from spending the first week shopping, I went to Misquamicut (my childhood beach) with my Dad, spent a lot of time with the rest of my family, hung out with some friends, got a few doctors appointments out of the way, and had a relaxing vacation. The next week was Michelle and Evan's wedding, details in the next posting. And my final week at home was more time with the family and relaxing. Overall it was a great trip home, though it went by way too quickly. Here are just a couple highlights.

Chihuly Art Exhibit at MFA Boston

Family Lake House

Landgren House (much different than the snowy pictures from the Christmas post)

"Pod 1"

AUC (red roofs)

Mullet Bay (our beach)

St Barthélemy

My 26th birthday was last week. Conveniently, Owen had a 3 day weekend and was able to take a day off to explore another island to celebrate. We decided on St Barthélemy since it is accessible by ferry and we had a good excuse to go (St Barths is one of the most expensive islands). St Barthélemy is known by everyone as St Barths, except Americans who call it St Barts. We decided to go with St Barths since we do our best to adhere to local customs. 

Anyway we went with our friends Alie and Sean. It was a 45 minute ferry ride, which was very rough! We decided to sit outside, to avoid getting sea sick or being around those who do. Thankfully none of us are prone to getting sea sick and did not get sick this trip. Apparently we picked the wrong section to sit in and all the waves splashed directly on us! Alie and I decided to move (tricky task on a boat that's seriously moving!) to the other side, Owen stuck it out as you can see by the second picture. 

After arriving, we grabbed a quick breakfast and rented a car and toured around the island a bit. We stopped by a few beaches looking for snorkeling, but the waves were too rough everywhere. Eventually we stopped for lunch at a local burger joint. It was good but very expensive! After lunch we tried one more beach. It was still pretty rough but Owen and Sean went out anyway, since we did bring all the snorkel gear with us. Alie and I napped on the beach while getting blasted with sand the whole time. After a little while, the weather turned so we headed back to town. It then poured! We hung out in a covered shopping area for a while then braved the rain and shopped a little. After that we headed back to the ferry to head home. All in all it was a great day, even though the weather wasn't great. St Barths has a much better feel to it than St Maarten. It is clean, safe, well maintained and just plain nicer. It was a good birthday trip!

Making the best of the waves

Gustavia Harbour

Overlooking St Barths

Owen on a cliff edge; typical.

Trying to get a picture of our crazy hair...come to find out Owen was looking up my skirt! (I had a swim suit on)

Tiny car, tiny roads, large cliff edges (okay this edge is small, but most were huge)

Another crazy runway, planes come over the road and have to stop before the water

2 way road? as long as you utilize the edges!

Highest Point on St Barths- Morne de Vitet, 286m

Reminded me more of New England style beaches (not the water of course)

Owen's Advanced Dives

Heading down to Fushang Wreck at 110ft!

A few weekends ago, Owen went for his Advanced Open Water Certification. Two of Owen's friends did the course with him. They did a search and recovery dive, an underwater navigation dive, and 2 wreck dives. One wreck at 60ft and the other at 110ft! His next goal is to get rescue diver certification. Michelle de Villiers from Octopus Diving took these pictures during their dives (Owen has the gray sleeves). I love how blue it is at depth compared to the pictures from my dive, however Owen may be the only one in our family to see those depths! 

Hey Owen!

Owen and Eero by the prop

Lots more fish and cool stuff on the wreck

Exploring

Inside a wreck, tight spaces!

Being goofy at Gregory Wreck

The Guys