• Heart Reflections: You Can Do Nothing

    I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. – John 15:5

    I am in the process of reading several books right now and I came across this verse twice last week (probably a subtle hint or gentle reminder for me, hmmm…).  It is one that I have read many times throughout the years but the part that really struck me this time around was “apart from me you can do nothing”.   So all the time I spend trying to accomplish tasks in my own strength is worth nothing?  I really don’t want to waste my time, do you?

    How often do I try to do everything in my own strength or at least I want to feel like have some sort of control over what’s going on in my life?   More often then I want to admit!  What I really need to focus on is staying connected to the vine and drawing my strength, nourishment, support, and guidance from the one who really is in control of my life.

    Our family has grown many gardens so I am aware of the plant growing process.  When a piece of the branch or plant gets separated from the vine it dries up and ceases to produce any more fruit.  The vine is what brings the nutrients from the roots to the branches without it there would be no fruit. I don’t want to shrivel up, but rather I want to grow, flourish, and thrive producing a lot of fruit.  The main question to myself is – am I taking the steps to have that good fruit in my life by drawing my nutrition from the vine or am I starting to shrivel?

    I am praying that this verse will be a reminder to all of us of how important it is that we get our daily strength from the vine.  No matter what your circumstance is today you can be encouraged that God is in control and he will give you the nourishment you need for today.  Eventually you will be begin to God working through your heart and life to produce an abundance of beautiful fruit.  Take little steps today and start drawing nourishment from the vine.  Spend some time  praying, listening to a sermon, reading the scriptures, or singing praise and worship songs to help replenish your heart and keep you connected to the vine.

  • Do You See Apple Slices or A Candy Cane?

    It is the super simple things that can add an extra festive touch to a family snack or get together.  The girls wanted a snack so I sliced up some apples, but instead of putting them in a bowl or on a plate I left them on the cutting board in the shape of a candy cane.  I love it when I am thinking clearly enough to actually do the “little stuff” because it is so worth seeing them get excited over apple slices in the shape of a candy cane or something similar.

    Think of 3 simple ways you can add a festive touch to things you are already doing.  Not to mention it may coax your kids to eat more apples or other healthy foods around the Holidays! 🙂   You don’t have to make  elaborate dishes to spark a smile in your family members!

  • Love It – Cuisinart CPB-300 Compact Portable Blender & Chopper

    My husband bought me a Cuisinart Blender a little over a year ago and I LOVE it!  He got me a Cuisinart CPB-300 SmartPower 15-Piece Compact Portable Blending/Chopping System and it has been a huge hit with the whole family.  The best part is it is compact and comes with four 16 ounce single smoothie cups as well as a bigger blender.  I will often whip up a quick smoothie for myself for breakfast or a snack as I am walking out the door.

    I have used this blender A LOT and it has held up very well (its still in great condition).  Before this one I went through 2 KitchenAid Blenders which were much bigger and I didn’t use them nearly as often because it was harder to clean.  I cannot say enough good things about this blender.

    I have made a lot of different recipes with this Cuisinart.  The fruit smoothies are my favorite!  I have enjoyed experimenting with smoothies and  have discovered how easy it is to make smoothies at home.

    The girls will often request a smoothie for a special treat or snack too (so I am not the only one who loves the Cuisinart Blender).  I have included some of our favorites smoothie recipes.

    Smoothie Recipes

    Product Specifics

    • Sleek electronic touchpad with LED indicator lights
    • Powerful 350-watt motor
    • High, Low and Pulse controls
    • Standby mode; safety interlock and auto stop features
    • BS housing with stainless steel front pane
    • BPA-free Tritan 32-oz. blender jar, 8-oz. chopping cup, and set of four 16-oz. travel cups
    • Patented ultra-sharp stainless steel blades
    • Two interchangeable blade assemblies: blending blade and chopping blade
    • Recipe Book
    • Dishwasher safe
    • Limited 3-year warranty

     

    Blender

     Are you ready for a smoothie?

    “Love It” is a series of posts on items that I use regularly in my household that I love!  There are some items in our daily lives that make life more enjoyable, efficient, or just plain fun.  I will be sharing with you some of the products that have been given to us (or to me) that have made it to the top of my list.  It’s my way of giving a huge thumbs up!

  • Love It – BluApple

    I am very excited to share with you a little item that has saved me a lot of time, energy, and money over the past year while helping our family eat healthier! I have been asked many times how I can purchase marked down fresh vegetables and fruits without them going bad within a day or two…..well, I am going to share my little “secret” with all of you.  If you love to eat fresh fruit and vegetables, but wish they would stay fresh longer I have stumbled upon something that will really brighten your day! 🙂

    When I got the BluApples I was a little skeptical, to say the least.  How can these little blue apples really help extend the life of my fresh fruits and vegetables?!  Do they really work?  Is it worth the cost?  And many more similar questions.

    I waited for a few weeks and found an amazing deal on these little BluApples.  I was able to get these free (only had to pay $3 shipping).  Unfortunately, I haven’t seen that deal again otherwise I would stock up on some for my family and friends.  Either way these little apples have more than paid for themselves MANY TIMES OVER!

    Our family loves to garden, buy fresh fruits and vegetables, however, when our fridge is full of produce sometimes fruits and vegetables would go bad before we had a chance to eat everything.  The BluApples extend the life of our fruits and vegetables (even ones that I buy which are already on the “edge”) for weeks!  These BluApples really do preserve the produce and help the items last much longer!

    I used to clean out my fruit and vegetable drawers out about once a week.  Now I do it once a month and sometimes longer because the items in the drawer are staying fresh. Enough of my raving, here are some more facts about this neat apple:

    • 2 Bluapples – Last for 3 Months Each – Additional Absorber Refills Available Separately (Our BluApples lasted longer than 3 months, typically lasted 5 to 7 months)
    • Prolongs freshness and storage life of fruits & vegetables
    • Made In USA
    • Put in refrigerator crisper drawers
    • Place in the fruit bowl on the counter or anywhere you keep fruit
    • Pays for itself dozens of times over in the the first year alone
    • Extend storage life of your produce (up to 3 times longer)
    • Average household can save up to $600 per year

    How Do The BluApples Work?

    • Ethylene gas is given off naturally by fruits and vegetables as a signaling mechanism in order to coordinate uniform ripening. However, once concentrated in your refrigerator or other storage areas, the presence of ethylene gas continues to speed up ripening and hasten spoilage.
    • The BluApple is designed to provide effective ethylene gas absorption for three months in a typical home refrigerator produce bin or storage container.
    • The active ingredient does not “wear out”, but continues to absorb ethylene until it has reached its capacity.

    This would be a wonderful gift for any cook in your family.  It really does WORK (and BluApple is not paying me to say it either).  Your Mom, wife, sister, friend will probably come back to you in a couple months thanking you again for this gift.  Hey, they even make you a special meal out of some the fresh produce just to say thanks!

    You can pick up the BluApple Ethlylene Gas Absorbers – Starter Pack of 2 – Refrigerator Fruit & Vegetable Preserver on Amazon for around $9.95 with two packs of or many major retailers. If you have a Swagbuck Amazon Gift Cards you can even get this it for free!  You’ll love it!

    “Love It” is a series of posts on items that I use regularly in my household that I love!  There are some items in our daily lives that make life more enjoyable, efficient, or just plain fun.  I will be sharing with you some of the products that have been given to us (or to me) that have made it to the top of my list.  It’s my way of giving a huge thumbs up!

  • Leaves + Pumpkins + Ghosts = Oh My….It’s Halloween

    Karlie and Brina raked up a bunch of leaves to “stuff” the pumpkin!

    What a difference a year makes…..so much has happened over the past few months it is hard to believe it is Halloween again!  I like to think that I have learned all the lessons I need to know by now but I find myself still trying to balance this thing called life.  At times I am torn between having fun with my family and getting things done on my never-ending and always-growing “to do” list (does anyone else struggle with this or is it just me?!).

    Sometimes the best way to get things done is to have fun doing it with your family.  For example, you can make raking leaves a game by seeing who can stuff their “leaf pumpkin” the fullest or fastest!  You get to have fun with the family plus you get a few extra leaves off the yard all at the same time.

    Last year it was much warmer for Halloween so the kids spent almost all their free time outside playing.  Only a few days ago we were wearing shorts and it was 80 degrees outside, but with the storm up north the wind has picked up, leaves are raining down on the yard, and there is an extra chill in the air.

    Two little pumpkins for my sweet “pumpkins”!

    They got these cute little pumpkins from a fall activity we did with a group of friends at a local farm.  Since these pumpkins were too small to carve we made delicious Pumpkin Dip and a small batch of Seasoned Pumpkin Seeds!

    The girls made these easy “Banana Ghosts” to take in their school lunches!

    It was cute hearing them giggle as they put together their little ghosts.  We took 1 banana, cut it in half, the girls put a dab of peanut butter (or soy butter) on it, adding raisins for the eyes, stuck a straw in the bottom and put them into bags for their school lunch.  The straw was a fun addition because the ghost would “move” (in slow circles) when they held it up which added to the excitement.  Sometimes it’s the simple things that you already have in your kitchen that bring the widest smiles!

  • Heart Reflections: Stretching Towards the Sun

    Our family has recently planted a garden.  Since it had been getting cool at night we started the seedlings inside.  Every day I have watched and nurtured those little plants.  Some of the seeds popped up quickly while others never came up.  As I watched the plants growing each one stretched out their leaves towards the light.  Once they were big enough we transplanted them outside in our garden.  Shortly after planting them we had a night of heavy wind, rain, and even hail followed by a frost on the ground a few days later.  Even though it was “safe” for us to plant the garden outside there are still risks and dangers.  Many of the seedlings survived the tough few weeks of new growth, however, some did not make it.  Although, our hope was that every plant would thrive we know that nature will do some natural pruning especially in the weaker plants.  For whatever reason some plants didn’t make it (something caused the undesirable side effect…maybe the roots were too shallow or wet / dry or too much shade / sunny or bugs or a number of other factors) .  On the other hand some plants thrived despite all the challenges they faced.

    While I was thinking about the plants it occurred to me that the analogy can be applied in some ways to our own lives.  We should be looking towards the Son at all times, the one who created us.  We all grow at our own pace, some of us may have sprouted quickly while others are delayed but have a more solid root structure.  Even though life may not be perfect and we may experience seasons of drought, hail, or disease we still have a choice of where to focus our attention.  Once we decide where we will focus our energy we will experience a variety of ripple effects (sometimes the effects are positive and other times they can can be less desirable).  When we are in stressful situations do we continue to grow or do we wither under the pressure of life? We all want to continue growing, thriving and producing a beautiful fruit.   The big step is making sure our root structure is strong and secure.  We do this through continually cultivating a relationship with our Savior.  Yes, this will take our time, energy and nurturing, but in the end it is worth it.  We all want to feel loved, appreciated and valued yet so often we look towards our earthly relationships to provide that fulfillment whether it is through our spouse, children, serving at church or whatever fills that void.  Instead we should look to our creator who made us, never fails, and loves us unconditionally.  As we notice flowers and plants stretching towards the sun, let that remind us of the importance of reaching towards the Son in our own lives as well.

    “Heart Reflections” is a series of thoughts and encouragement that come directly from my heart.  Life has a way of throwing us extra challenges and when our focus is pulled away from what is truly important we tend to feel the pressure of stress in our lives.  This series is created to remind us that we are part of something so much bigger than ourselves.  We don’t have to face the pressure of life on our own.  We can trust that our prayers are being heard.  He alone knows what’s best for us and gives us the appropriate strength to get through each day as it is set before us.

    Photo by Stig Nygaard

  • Save A Lot: Deals for the week of April 6 – 12, 2011

    The Save A Lot deals are similar to the ones from last week so if you haven’t had a chance to stock up on these deals you can do it this week.  The weekly ad deals are listed below for your convenience.   Sign up for the Smart Shopper Club, by doing so you will get a $5.00 off of $25.00 coupon!

    Meats and Seafood

    Frozen Chicken Leg Quarters (10 lb Bag) – $0.39 per lb

    Bone In Shank Portion Ham – $0.99 per lb

    Beef Eye of Round Roast – $2.99 per lb

    Bone In Pork Sirloin Roast – $1.29 per lb

    Schooner Tilapia Fillets (12 oz) $2.99

    Pick 5 for $19.99 promo on going: Pick any 5 specially marked packages of your favorite cuts of fresh, frozen or smoked meats and pay just $19.99 (about $2 per pound).

    Fridge and Freezer

    Imperial Spread Margarine (16 oz) – $0.50

    Fairgrounds Jumbo Hotdogs (16 oz) – $1.00

    Oscar Mayer Bologna (12 oz) – $1.00

    Banquet Family Size Entrees (26 to 28 oz) – $2.00

    Portside Battered or Breaded Fish Fillets – $2.99

    Hillshire Farm Sausage – $1.99
    Use $1/1 printable coupon from Hillshire Farms
    $0.99 each after coupon

    Goldleaf Deep Dish Pie Shells – $1.99

    Creamy Whip Whipped Topping – $0.89

    World’s Fair Ice Cream – $2.49

    Crisp Not from Concentrate Premium Orange Juice – $2.69

    Mrs Smith’s Fruit Pies – $2.49

    Household

    Colortex Big Mopper Paper Towels (6 pack) – $3.99

    Solutions Window Cleaner – $0.99

    First Force Pine Cleaner – $1.00

    Axis Liquid Bleach – $0.99

    Clorex Disinfecting Wipes – $2.49

    Sparkle Paper Towels – $0.99

    Solo Laundry Detergent – $1.79

    Produce

    Seedless Red or Green Grapes – $0.99 per lb

    Yellow Onions (3 lbs) – $1.49

    Fresh Iceburg Lettuce – $0.99 each

    Grocery

    Ralston Cereal – $1.50

    Shelby Grove Sliced Peaches (29 oz can) – $1.00

    Maxwell House Wake Up Roast Coffee (34.5 oz can) – $4.99

    Portside Chunk Light Tuna – $0.53

    Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix – $0.45

    Wylwood Vegetables – $0.49

    Wylwood Crispy Onions – $1.99

    Kaskey’s Cream of Mushroom Soup – $0.69

    Kaskey’s Onion Soup Mix – $0.79

    Kaskey’s Chicken Broth – $0.59

    Potatoes on the Side Instant Mash – $1.39

    Libby’s Pineapple – $0.99

    Ginger Evans Cake Mix – $0.99

    Ginger Evans Graham Cracker Ready Crust – $1.29

    Ginger Evans Brown or Powdered Sugar – $1.49

    Ginger Evans Cherry Pie Filling – $1.99

    Nabisco Snak-Sak Cookies – $1.29

    Kool-Aid Jammers – $1.79

    Taco Bell Taco Dinner Kits – $1.59
    Use $1/2 coupon from February ALL YOU Magazine
    $1.09 each after coupon

    Bubba Soda (2 liter) – $0.69

    Diet Mountain Holler (2 liter) – $0.69

    Diet Crisp Zero, Diet Mountain Holler, Bubba Zero, and Bubba Caffeine Free (12 packs) $2.29

    Remember you can use the $5/$25 printable coupon to sweeten these deals!  Plus you can earn up to 5 additional $5 off $25 coupons for sharing the coupon with your friends.

    For more information about Save A Lot’s coupon policies go here.  If you find additional deals or savings please let me know and I will add them to the list.

  • Living on a Budget – Groceries $40 for 4

    SaveALot | RiteAid and Walgreens

    I made it through my second week of doing my new cash budget system – Groceries $40 for 4 and I have to be honest with you, it didn’t go well at ALL.  It was a super busy week and I decided at the beginning of the week to totally revamped my menu for this week.  The good news is the menu included a bunch of new healthy recipes, however, since we have been cutting back on our grocery shopping the last few weeks we had to rebuild our fresh fruit and veggie stockpile.  Although I was able to get a lot of great deals on veggies (Thank You Aldi’s) it still added up quickly.  My grocery store shopping this week was spread out and sandwiched in between appointments which made it even more hurried and less organized.   I am still learning how to operate on the cash grocery system (even though I blew it this week).  Hopefully, we can continue trying to utilize the food we already have in our pantry and freezer along with adding in extra fresh fruits and veggies.  I did learn a lot about the mistakes I made this week (hopefully I can refrain from repeating them).  What I learned this week from some of my grocery shopping mistakes:

    • It is important to make the time to go shopping and not try to squeeze it in between appointments (rushing through doesn’t always work well even with a list).
    • Forgetting some of my coupons made a huge difference ( I didn’t have the time or desire to use extra gas to go back for them)
    • Shopping early morning is much better than in the middle of the day (not as many markdown items)
    • Fresh items are more expensive (it is okay to substitute in some frozen ones too).
    • Completely altering your menu once the week has already started causes unnecessary stress
    • There are certain times of day it is not smart to take the whole crew with you to the store (right after school when they are restless and very HUNGRY)
    • It is very difficult sticking to a $40 grocery budget when I had numerous hiccups in my process

    Pictured above is my Walgreens and SaveALot | Rite Aid trip.  Sorry I was not able to get a picture of my Aldi’s and BiLo trips it took everything in me just to put the stuff away (actually, I still have a few cans sitting on the counter still waiting for me to put them in the pantry).   I didn’t separate out my household and grocery items at Aldi or BiLo either so I don’t have the exact totals but to be completely honest I more than double my grocery budget for this week.  Here is what I spent at the two stores pictured above and what we bought:

    • $5.05 at Walgreens for 2 cans of Cashews
    • $19.23 at SaveALot | RiteAid for Milk, Parmesan Grated Cheese, Yogurt, Carrots, Cheese, Mushrooms, Stew Meat, Hamburger Helper

    Life was spread out and busy this week.  My grocery shopping and house shows the ripple effect of it too. It was our second week of the challenge – Groceries $40 for 4 and we more than doubled our grocery budget of $40.   I was disappointed in myself for making so many silly mistakes (and I knew better too) in my rush to pick up groceries and feed the family.  I did get to use some coupons, bought clearance items, and utilized weekly ad discounts to help save us a little extra on our grocery budget even though the savings wasn’t enough.  I really hope to be more organized and do better next week.  We’ll see how I do!

    I hope to give you regular updates on this budget section so you can celebrate the good weeks with me and thump me on the bad weeks!  As always you are welcomed to join the journey with me.  I would love to hear your story and how you are doing too.  I hope by taking the extra time to watch my grocery spending it will allow us to feed our family, enjoy life, and yet stay on track with our budget.

    Living on a Budget is a series of ways our family uses a budget to help keep us accountable with our finances.  Life doesn’t always go as planned.  We have used some of the ideas I will be sharing for years while others are ones we are just starting to implement as we continue finding ways to be creative and have fun with what we have been given.  Having a plan in place allows us the freedom to be smart with what we have been given, get more creative when it is a tight (week, month, year or a season) and when necessary live a much more simplified life.  A budget helps us stay on track so we have more opportunities to enjoy the many blessings we have been given as well as share what we have with others.  There is so much more to life than having all the stuff.  We may not have the newest or greatest items in our house, we drive used cars, and wear hand-me-down clothing…..however, if our family is taken care of and have love for each other and others we have more than all the riches in the world.

  • Living on a Budget: Groceries $40 for 4

    Groceries from CVS, Walgreens, & RiteAid

    It was my first week of doing my new cash budget system – Groceries $40 for 4.   Although it has been a learning process the week has gone pretty well so far.  Since this my first week am I still testing the water and we continue trying to utilize the food we already have in our pantry and freezer.  Here is my grocery spending for the week:

    • $1.61 at Walgreens for 2 cans of Mandarin Oranges and 1 can of Mushrooms
    • $7.96 at RiteAid for a gallon of Milk, 2 packs of Cheese, 1 container of Sour Cream
    • $3.72 at CVS for a 24 pack of Bottled Water and 2 boxes of Popcorn

     

    Groceries from Ingles and CVS!
    • $1.98 at CVS for another 24 pack of Bottled Water (Jake should be set for a little bit!) & Free Mike-n-Ikes Candy!
    • $10.00 at Ingles for Strawberries, Oranges, Tangerines, Onion, Seafood, and Apples.
    Groceries from Aldi's
    • $14.06 at Aldi’s for Pineapple’s ($0.99 each), Salmon Fillets, 2 Cheese Packages, Cucumber, Bananas, Cheese sticks,  and Celery.

    It was our first week of the challenge – Groceries $40 for 4 and we spent $39.33 so we were very close to going over.  I was disappointed to see RiteAid’s milk spike up this week, but thrilled to get the 24 packs of water for $1.98 as well as some fresh fruit and veggies on sale.  I used some coupons, bought clearance items, and utilized weekly ad discounts to help save us a little extra on our grocery budget.  Since it was my first week I was testing the water and hope to do better next week now that we have replenished our fruit and veggie drawers.  We’ll see how I do!

    I hope to give you regular updates on this budget section so you can celebrate the good weeks with me and thump me on the bad weeks!  As always you are welcomed to join the journey with me.  I would love to hear your story and how you are doing too.  I hope by taking the extra time to watch my grocery spending it will allow us to feed our family, enjoy life, and yet stay on track with our budget.

    Living on a Budget is a series of ways our family uses a budget to help keep us accountable with our finances.  Life doesn’t always go as planned.  We have used some of the ideas I will be sharing for years while others are ones we are just starting to implement as we continue finding ways to be creative and have fun with what we have been given.  Having a plan in place allows us the freedom to be smart with what we have been given, get more creative when it is a tight (week, month, year or a season) and when necessary live a much more simplified life.  A budget helps us stay on track so we have more opportunities to enjoy the many blessings we have been given as well as share what we have with others.  There is so much more to life than having all the stuff.  We may not have the newest or greatest items in our house, we drive used cars, and wear hand-me-down clothing…..however, if our family is taken care of and have love for each other and others we have more than all the riches in the world.

  • Vacation: The Beautiful Island of Dominica (Part 2, Pictures)

    We recently had the opportunity to go to the Caribbean Island of Dominica.

    Here are some of the pictures from our adventures throughout that day!

     

    Jeremy & Amber wanted us to take a picture of them behind the bars at the end of the port, ha! Too funny!

    Per their request we took a picture of Jerm and Amber reaching through the bars on the end of the pier.  It was a pretty funny sight to see as we were walking down the pier, they crack me up.  If you notice to the left you’ll see the barb wire on the outside of the bars.  Always an adventure.

    One of Dominica's oldest and biggest churches!

    Dominica had several beautiful churches on their island.  This one was the oldest and largest.  It had a lot neat flowers around, an iron fence with crosses on top along with several other neat features.

    Local school girls blowing us kisses, super cute!

    Dominica is well known for their schools, some of the surrounding islands will send students to Dominica to study.  All the kids wear school uniforms to school.  Above is a group of girls from school blowing us kisses as we drove by.  Cute kids!

    This was a huge tree in the park! You can actually walk through the vines inside the tree!

    Above is a large tree we saw in the park.  The tree was so big you could walk through part of the tree at the openings.  We noticed a lot of neat trees during our time in Dominica.

    This large tree dropped onto a school bus (and flatten it) during a hurricane. Thankfully, no one was injured!

    A few years ago during a hurricane this tree fell onto the parked school bus.  Thankfully the kids were in a safe shelter during the storm not riding on the bus.

    A house made out of trees and vines, the black spot is the door opening to the house!

    In the middle of a park they had a “tree house” literally.  It was a spot with a lot of dense trees and vines that they made into a hut.  It was pretty neat.  The black hole in the middle is the doorway.  If you are looking to have an “on the ground” tree house this is a great idea, no more falling out of the tree house!

    Volcanic lava rock along the hiking trail in Dominica!

    A large volcanic rock on a railing as we were hiking through the rain forest.  Dominica has active volcanoes although it has been many years since an eruption on the island.  Thankfully!

    An orange fresh water land crab right next to our hiking trail!

    I honestly did not know that there were fresh water land crabs!  We saw a couple on our hike but this guy was pretty courageous, he came right out in front of us.  He didn’t run and hide when he saw us either, he just moved to the side.   I would say he was about a 4 inch land crab which from the couple we saw was pretty big.

    Dominica's rain forest had a lot of huge beautiful trees, vines, and flowers.

    There were parts of the rain forest that was more dense.  Here is one area that we could see up to the clouds.  The line across the middle is a vine, the vines were so think you could swing from them and everywhere.  They had amazing foliage, trees, flowers, ferns, plants, etc….and everything was big due to all the rain they receive.

    One of the Trafalgar waterfalls in Dominica!

    One of the Trafalgar waterfalls at the end of our part of the hike.  You could actually bring your swimsuit and towels up to go swimming at the pool at the bottom of the waterfall.  It was gorgeous!

    Another waterfall in Dominica!

    This is the second waterfall, they call the two falls “twin waterfalls” because they come out of the mountain almost side by side.  There is only a little bit of greenery from the rain forest and lava rock between the two waterfalls.

    Crew at waterfall in Dominica!

    Here is our crew that went on this excursion.  We had fun hiking, looking at the amazing creation, and learning a lot of interesting facts about the Dominica rain forest.

    Trafalgar Falls

    A picture of the twin falls.  It was  hard to get a good angle to take a picture of the falls and it was raining.  The picture is pretty but the look, sound and everything was even more amazing.

    Rain forest in Dominica!

    Greenery in the rain forest.  There were a lot of beautiful plants and greenery on our hike.

    Fresh fruit in bloom in the rain forest of Dominica!

    It was not uncommon to see fresh fruit hanging from the trees in the rain forest and all over the island.  Some of the fruits I recognized while others I did not.

    Dominica Sulphur Springs bubbling!

    The sulphur springs hike was pretty quick and we didn’t spend a lot of time hanging out once we arrived.  If you don’t know anything about Sulphur Springs then you will be surprised by the smell.  It was neat to watch it bubbling for a few minutes but we were glad to get away from the stinky smell it creates.

    Sugar cane field in Dominica!

    On the way back down from our hike to the Sulphur Springs we noticed several sugar cane patches.  This patch had been picked and some of the stocks were laying down in the water.

    Sulfur Springs in Dominica!

    Here is a picture of the water from the Sulphur Springs running through the island.  It was a beautiful sight with the springs bubbling down through all the rain forest greenery.

    Dominica coast line!

    Dominica had a clean coast line.  This location had a sidewalk next to the road with some green grass and palm trees.  It was close to the port as you can see from the cargo crates in the background.

    Village in Dominica!

    Here is a picture of one of the villages on Dominica.  This one was built into the mountain where other villages closer to the heart of the rain forest were actually built in the valleys due to all the rain.

    Fishing boats off the coastline.

    Dominica has a lot of private and family fisherman.  The small boats in the picture above go out daily and catch fish and seafood right off the coast.  The ones not on the water are placed under a tin roof as shown in the picture above.

    Interesting sign at the beach!

    There were several signs on Dominica (and other islands) that made me laugh.  In case you cannot read it says “Management is not responsible for drugs sold to visitors. – by Vendors  They are not part of management.”  I think they maybe had some problems with this issue in the past.  Kind of sad they have to put out a big sign.

    Amber and Jeremy at beach.

    Amber and Jeremy swimming at Mero Beach in Dominica!  Amber, Jeremy, Jake and I swim for a couple hours while Mom and Dad relaxed on the beach.  It was fun hanging out, swimming, and relaxing for a little bit.  Although Amber never did get her dreadlocks done.

    Beautiful Mero Beach!

    We stopped at Mero Beach for a couple hours to relax and swim after we took our hikes to the waterfalls, rain forest, and Sulphur springs.  The water wasn’t as turquoise as some of the other islands because of all the volcanic rock and black sand beaches.  The was a little less salty here due to the all the rain forest water that dilutes the salt in the ocean.

    Dad and Mom at the beach in Dominica!

    Dad and Mom relaxing on the  beach under the shade of the palm trees while we went for a swim.

    Beautiful beach at Dominica!

    It is hard to see from the picture but Dominica had beautiful black sandy beaches.  The sand really sparkled in the sunlight.  It was neat to see and I had a couple cups worth of sand still on me when we got back on the ship, seriously, ask Jake, Amber or my room attendant!     I had a little stash of black sand that came out of my sandals once I made it back to our room!!!  I had a lot fun exploring Dominica, it is a beautiful island!

    A Vacation To Remember series is a reflection on our recent trip and ways we relaxed.  Life is short and we were thrilled to have the opportunity to build memories with family and explore of of the most amazing places during our time away.  Go with a good attitude and looking for fun and it will be an awesome trip jammed packed with positive memories.  It is refreshing having some time away from the regular routine.  Make it a once in a lifetime opportunity to meet new people and learn.  You just might see or try something new that takes your breath away!