Travel & Vacation: Beach Fun & Parasailing in Labadee, Haiti
Hanging out with Grandpa Russell at the beach
After a fun morning at the Aqua Park and many trips down the giant water slide we spent some time relaxing, swimming, and digging in the sand on the beach. The beach was right next to the giant water slide so the kids (and adults) could go down it whenever they wanted all day. We swam, played, and spent some time tossing the frisbee, skippies, etc…. Another family gave the kids 3 little floating rafts to play with the water so that added to the fun. After having a BBQ picnic lunch on the beach everyone went back into the water to play for another couple of hours. It was a great day at Labadee, Haiti.
Aw….what a life….lounging around on vacation at the beach. Karlie is living it up!
Brina digging around in the sand
Little Zach content with his sea shell treasure
There’s just something about digging in the sand…it’s fun for kids of all ages
Nathan and Amber found a bunch of neat shells…..the only thing is some of the cool shells had residents with claws! Although Amber figured out a way to clear the water pretty quickly, ha.
The girls having fun splashing around at the beach with Nicko
Whose ready to go parasailing?
Do you see that little tiny black spot in the bottom middle of the mouth? Yup, that little speck is Josh way up there!
Lee & Becky parasailing together. They don’t look scared at all!
That tiny speck of white in the middle of the picture is the boat that is pulling them. Wow, the boat looks so small and that’s a long rope! Dad, Josh, Lee and Becky enjoyed some time parasailing in Haiti.
Travel & Vacation: Giant Water Slide at Labadee, Haiti
Karlie zipping down the water slide like a pro
After we spent some time at the Aqua Park we headed over to try out the giant water slide! The slide was a lot of fun. If you laid down, put your feet together, fold your arms across, and arch your back you could really get some speed going down it. A few of times you could see an adults arm or leg come over the edge of the slide on the way down. The slide was a hit with both the kids and adults. I know several of us went down it many times. We had a blast zipping down this slide and it was right next to the beach so it was really convenient.
Daddy, Brina, and Karlie heading up the path to get in line for the giant water slide. You had to walk up stairs and a cement path to get to the top, but usually once at the top you didn’t have to wait very long before you were flying down the slide again.
Daddy and Karlie washing off their feet before going down the giant water slide again. At the top of the slide they had a spot for you to wash your feet before going down it.
Oh yeah! Let’s do that one again!
Daddy and Brina coming down the slide!
And it ended with a big splash in the pool of water at the end of the slide.
Brandon all smiles coming down the slide. I am pretty sure Brandon went down the slide the most number of times, he loved it!
Got a picture of Nathan as he was popping up at the end of the slide….he thought it was pretty neat!
Daddy flying down the slide
This was my view as I snapped a quick picture at the end of the giant water slide…the expression of Nathan’s face makes me laugh!
The “Travel and Vacation” series is an insight into our trips together as a family and ways we relax. 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. Explore with a good attitude, look 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!
Travel & Vacation: Aqua Park in Labadee, Haiti
Here come Daddy and Brina down the slide!
On our next stop we visited Labadee, Haiti. The place were we stopped was beautiful and relaxing. Our first stop of the day was the Aqua Park. You had to walk down a dock and they had a bunch of huge inflatables in the water from slides to trampolines and more. The inflatables were spread out so you had to swim from one item to the next and if I remember correctly the water was 30 feet deep in that area. The kids and adults had a fun time climbing, bouncing, sliding, splashing, and playing at the Aqua Park.
Karlie getting ready to come down the huge water slide into the ocean! It’s a lot harder then you think to climb up wet bouncy castles and slides!
Aqua Park fun! This one was a hard one to get onto especially for the kids, but Jeremy, Amber, Josh, and Lee had a blast on it! They managed to get it moving and spinning pretty fast.
The big kids had fun playing at the Aqua Park too! 🙂
Brina swimming past me on her way to the next Aqua Park item.
Daddy coaching Karlie has she starts to climb one of the icebergs
Swimming around at the Aqua Park
Travel & Vacation: Life Around the Kabini River, India
Sign near the Kabini River. Guess it probably won’t be a great idea to swim in the river….not a fan of swimming with crocodiles! Hmmm…let me think about it….No, thank you I would rather not swim with the crocodile! 🙂
I absolutely LOVED going to India. It was an amazing experience. The people were awesome and I learned a lot about myself during the trip. I have many things to be grateful for in my life yet so often I complain. I don’t have to pump drinking water or live in a tarp yet how often I grumble with the inconveniences of my life. I really do need to have a more thankful and giving heart because there a many people in this world that are content with far less. May I never forget this trip or the many things India revealed to me.
Filling her water jugs up to take back to her home. Watching her pump the water makes me appreciate the running water we have in our home. Sometimes I don’t realize how “convenient” life really is in the United States. I don’t ever remember pumping and carrying my drinking water.
Road full of goats!
Family in a small village near the Kabini River! The little boy is so cute.
Colorful houses near Kabini River
Look out stand in the tree. They use these look out to spot dangerous predators.
People will set up tents near the fields that are ready to be harvested. When the field is done they move to the next location and set up their tents. Makes me feel so very blessed to have a nice home. Even though its not perfect I don’t have to set up tarp tents near a jungle with lions and leopards in it. I have so much to be grateful for in my life.
Traveling through India was an eye opening experience for me. I enjoyed meeting a lot of wonderful people. Jake and I spent time exploring the area with Jake’s cousin Matt and his family. Thankful for an opportunity to spend some time with their family. We had a blast and hope we will be able to go back again some day.
The “Travel and Vacation” series is an insight into our trips together as a family and ways we relax. 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. Explore with a good attitude, look 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!
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.
Loosening My Grip: No More Repairs…..Please! (continued)
On Tuesday, I began sharing the repair ripple effect around our house these last few months. In last half of 2010 every time we turned around something was needing fixed from household to physical and more. God has a way of Loosening Our Grip on things we want to keep within our control.The repair domino effect continued:
- Glasses – it has been over 3 years since Jake and I had our eyes checked and new glasses. We bit the bullet and went to WalMart got our eyes checked and purchased new glasses. The neat part was we learned in our 3 1/2 hour visit that the doctor played tennis with a friend of ours from church, it’s a small world.
- Dental Work – it had been almost 4 years since Jake and I had gone to the dentist. We have chosen to spend the money on the kids and wait on going ourselves. Even though our teeth weren’t hurting we both had work that needed to be done which added up very quickly. We really like our dentist but I had forgotten how much it costs, however, if we didn’t get it repaired it would eventually become painful and more expensive. Thankfully over the last couple of months of 2010 we were able to get both of us up to date.
- Dryer – My dryer has been slowly fading over the course of several years. It has been repair many times in the 10 years we have owned it. I was under the impression that they lasted longer. In a typical week I only do 4 to 5 loads of laundry so it wasn’t like it was from over use. The heating aliment was replaced once or twice. Two years ago the dial stopped working, you couldn’t adjust the heat or length of the dryer. Thankfully we could still push the button and it would run, however, it NEVER shut off on its own so you would have to stay home and set a timer so you can take them out. Many loads were too wet or too dry over the course of a couple years. Over the last year it began taking between 1 to 4 hours to dry a load of clothes. We finally decided it was time to replace it,
- Van Repair & Water Pump – the van wasn’t running well early this fall and it was getting to the point where we where worried if it would start and run for us. Jake didn’t want me stranded somewhere with the kids so we took it in. There were several things going on and we were able to get it repaired. A month later the water pump blew and it was in for another shop visit. The girls asked why the van was going to the doctor so often!
- Water Line to the House – one day when I came home after work there was no water at our house. The water company wasn’t doing any repairs in our area and since it had been cold the last few days they indicated that we had a burst pipe. We found the location of the leak in the middle of our flower garden. The previous owner had a garden water faucet hooked up to the old well and when they ran city water they kept that on the line. Since the faucet was covered up we just assumed it went to the old well which was not the case. Thankfully we were able to fix this one on our own with the help of my brother the extra water cost more than the pieces to fix the faucet and we only had to go without water a couple times. We no longer have an extra faucet in the middle of our flower garden it is now buried underground with the other pipes.
Even though I would never chose for all of these items to happen within a few months God’s timing was truly wonderful. Jake was able to start feeling a little better after the surgery and he took on a new contract before some of the household items started wearing out. Looking back over the year I an encouraged to know that I am not alone. I have an amazing God, wonderful husband, sweet kids and awesome family and friends. You are not alone either. Even though 2010 or another year may have been tough on you physically, emotionally, spiritually and financially you are not alone. It is through the tough times that you can be renewed and strengthened. Despite the minor inconveniences 2010 has brought into my life I have much to rejoice about and be thankful for in my life. There are moments that I will treasure forever looking back over this year. Hopefully in 2011 it will be smooth sailing as far as repairs, however, I do want God to continue guiding me as I look forward to a fun and exciting 2011 jammed packed with memories!
Loosening My Grip is a series on areas in my life I am learning to let go of slowly. A couple months ago I was studying Jonah and one of the phrases that popped out at me was “Whatever you are holding on to in this life, hold it loosely so it won’t hurt when the Lord has to pry your fingers open to take it away.” I have found that in some areas God has had to pry my fingers off of whatever I am holding onto one finger at a time. There are areas in my life that I feel like I need control over and hold onto them tightly. I have been learning how to let go and hold loosely so God can do His work in my life.
