Vacation: “Sky Safari Zip Lining ” – Basseterre, St. Kitts (Part 2, Pictures)
The following are some pictures from our day in Basseterre, St. Kitts!
We had a fun time exploring the capital of St Kitts. Basseterre was a neat place to walk the streets and meet people. They had monkeys you could take pictures with after getting off the port, if you wanted a picture with the monkey you had to pay $20. You learn quickly to say “no, thank you” because there can be so many people asking for your attention.
While the rest of us were walking through the shops Dad sat down for a few minutes at a table and ended up getting an aloe massage. The guy said he looked 20 to 40 years younger after the massage, it was pretty funny to watch!
There was a sailboat cruise ship at Basseterre, St Kitts. We encountered a lot of amazing boats during our vacation!
Coke was a popular sign no matter where we went. Here is one of their advertisements painted on the side of a building in St Kitts.
A construction crew working on a home. Often times they would go ahead and run the pipes before building the next level that way they had a head start when they were ready to build again.
St Kitts had beautiful turquoise water and white beaches. We didn’t make it to the beach that day because we went on the Sky Safari but we heard a lot of great feedback from other people on the ship.
The catch of the day! The fish were almost as big as the fisherman carrying them. One of the big industries in St Kitts is fishing. These guys are rinsing off some of their fish they caught earlier that morning.
We arrived at our excursion. They took us by bus to the Sky Safari Zip Lining adventure! It was a beautiful place and soooo much fun going on the zip lines.
Amazing view while standing in the Botanical Gardens and overlooking the town and the ocean. It was a breathtaking site, absolutely beautiful!
Fresh coconuts were hanging in the trees all over the island. They had a spot where there were so many coconuts they just couldn’t eat them all. Almond trees were in abundance as well.
Beautiful flowers in the Botanical Garden in st Kitts! They had interesting flowers, trees, and artists to see!
A tree loaded with fresh fruit, I think these were the goya fruits. Very popular in the islands!
A local artist showing us how she does her paintings with wax and canvas. Each color takes a day to paint and dry some paintings take days before they are complete. Very interesting to watch.
Beautiful white bench with flowers peeking through at the Botanical Gardens on St Kitts! They had plenty for flowers, plants, and trees to see or you could just relax on one of their benches.
I really thought this wagon wheel bench was pretty neat. The Botanical Gardens had great stuff to see or you can take a moment to relax and enjoy the surroundings while we were visiting.
We saw several lizard or iguana type animals during our excursions. Although it was neat to see them running around I was thankful they wanted to keep their distance from everyone. I think our guide called them ground lizards.
Sugar Cane was once very popular industry on St Kitts (and many of the other islands). This sugar mill was no longer active but was very neat seeing how they use to make the sugar from the cane.
This is St Kitts form of poison ivy, none of us volunteered to touch. We decided to take our guides word for it on that one. No one was wanting any type of poison ivy reaction on our vacation.
This is a St Kitts apple growing in their tree. Almost everywhere you walked you could see fruit growing in trees. Even though the apples are not the same as ours I am sure they are delicious. They don’t eat the skin on their apples.
This tree was near the Sugar Mill in St. Kitts, in the past it was said that when slaves first came to the islands they were tied up to these thorny tree for several days. I didn’t even want to touch it because the thorns were so sharp, ouch!
Jake all geared up and ready to go. My handsome man helped me get all my gear on as well. The hats and harness were pretty comfortable and everyone had a blast on the zip line. Fun times together with family!
Goodbye Basseterre, St. Kitts hope to see you again! It was wonderful spending a day with you and we enjoyed all the fun adventures on your 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!
Vacation: “Sky Safari Zip Lining ” – Basseterre, St. Kitts
The fourth day of the cruise we stopped at Basseterre, St Kitts. Basseterre is one of the oldest in the eastern Caribbean and was originally part of the French colony. Then in 1727 the British made Basseterre the capital of St. Kitts. The island is known for its rich volcanic soil, tropical climate, and almost 70 sugar plantations. Although the peek years for sugar plantations have past you can still see the old plantations, sugar cane fields, abandoned fortresses, city squares, and architectural structures. The volcanoes are dormant on St Kitts and the mountains are a great place to take a hike.
Our excursion today was AMAZING!!! The whole group went on the “Sky Safari Zip Lining” adventure. We went on a zip line that was 1,400 feet long, 25 stories above ground, and up to 40 plus miles per hour. There were four zip lines all at different spots on the mountain. On three of the zip lines we went one at a time and on the last line we raced a partner….I raced with Jake. We both thought that Jake won but when we got the pictures it looked like I made it to the platform first, interesting! The zip line clipped into a harness and was super easy to learn how to do. On the way down we were up so high the boats in the ocean seemed tiny plus our feet were hitting the tops of trees as we flew along the zip lines, it was awesome!
We had a blast in St. Kitts! If you have a chance to go sometime, we definitely recommend you check out the Sky Safari Zip Lining.
Facts about St. Kitts:
- Sovereign: Queen Elizabeth II
- Governor-General: Sir Cuthbert Sebastian
- Prime Minister: Denzil Douglas
- Capital: Basseterre, St. Kitts
- Total area: 65 square miles
- Population: 49,898
- Monetary: East Caribbean dollars
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!
Information on St. Kitts found on Info Please.
Celebrating Valentine’s Day!
We love Holidays at our house! It is a wonderful time to celebrate with those you love and making more wonderful memories together! We started our weekend of fun on Friday. Jake and I had the opportunity, through swapping babysitting with friends, to go out for our Valentine’s celebration on Friday, February 11th. I will be sharing a little more about our adventure throughout the week. It was amazing time with my man and many great new memories were made. On Sunday we made blueberry heart pancakes with strawberry sauce and had the left overs this morning for breakfast!
Batter’s ready on for the pancakes, love turning everyday food into a fun celebration for special occasions! If you are excited the whole family will have a blast too!
Brina helped get the blueberries out for the batter. She got them out of the freezer, measured the blueberries, and mixed them into the batter before cooking the pancakes. Even better is we talked about the memories behind the blueberries we were using. We picked the blueberries fresh from a friends yard during a fun evening together. Thankful for friends, fellowship, memories, and the opportunity to enjoy such amazing fruit during the winter season.
The blueberries are so delicious! The girls always love it when we add them to their pancakes and I like that they are getting extra fruit!
We purchased the heart shaped pancake form at Dollar Tree several years ago and still use them regularly (it came with a star and bear shape as well). The girls enjoy getting super special shaped blueberry pancakes.
The pancakes were delicious with the big juicy blueberries in the shape of a heart!
We pulled our flash frozen whole strawberries out. The girls and I had a great time picking them at a local farm and froze the ones we didn’t eat right away. One of our favorite ways to eat pancakes is with frozen pureed strawberries instead of syrup, healthier and delicious!
Once the strawberries had thawed for awhile I pureed the strawberries to use as sauce to dip the pancakes into. The family loves it and tastes amazing. We typically just puree the strawberries, if you want it a little sweeter you can add a little bit of sugar or honey.
Everyone got their own strawberry dipping sauce dish for their blueberry pancakes. Yummy!
The fresh blueberry pancakes are ready to eat. For an extra bonus we have hugs and kisses sprinkles as well as strawberry sauce for dipping! Delicious! What a fun way to start off the Valentine’s Day celebrations as a family!
Family Recipe: Karen’s Fresh Fruit Dip
If you need a super quick recipe to throw together right before the guests arrive you should try my great Aunt Karen Younger’s Fresh Fruit Dip. It is easy and a hit with everyone. The fruit looks amazing next to the white dip!
Karen’s Fresh Fruit Dip
- 1 (8 oz) package Cream Cheese (soften)
- 1 (7 oz) jar Marshmallow Creme
Mix together equal parts of soft cream cheese and marshmallow creme. Stire well together, cut up fresh fruit and dip. Works really well with tart fruit.
My great Aunt Karen added a note on the bottom of recipe – “No double dippers, (smile). Enjoy!”
Love that this recipe is quick, easy and delicious!
Save A Lot: Deals for the week of January 5-11, 2011
Here are this weeks deals at Save A Lot. There are not a lot of coupons for extra savings, however, there are several really good deals even without coupons. Sign up for the Smart Shopper Club, by doing so you will get a $5.00 off of $25.00 coupon!
Meats and Seafood
Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast – $1.49 per lb
Ground Beef (73% Lean) – $1.79 per lb
Fairgrounds All Meat Hot Dogs – $0.75
Banquet Brown n’ Serve Sausage Links (40 count) – $2.99
Carolina Ground Turkey (16 oz) – $1
Shaner’s Chicken Breast – $5.79
Fairgrounds Lunchmeat – $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
Take & Bake Pizza (Pepperoni or Sausage) – $5.99
Armour Lunch Makers – $1.99
Wylwood Broccoli – $1.29
Coburn Farms EggsZactly – $1.49
Coburn Farms Low Fat or Light Yogurt – $0.50
Tony’s Crispy Crust Pizza – $0.8
Use $1/2 printable coupon from Tony’s
$0.39 each after couponHousehold
Xtra Laundry Detergent – $1.99
Charmin Basic Double Roll Bath Tissue (12 rolls) – $5.00
Use $0.25/1 coupon from 12/26 Proctor & Gamble (Expires 1/31/11)
$4.75 each after couponFacial Tissues – $0.99
Produce
Iceberg Lettuce – $0.89
Fresh Pineapple – $1.50
Yellow Onions – $0.99 each
Grocery
Malt O Meal Frosted Mini Spooners or Berry Colossal Crunch (42 to 50 oz) – $2.99
$0.75/1 printable coupon from Malt O Meal
$2.24 each after couponJJ’s Apple or Cherry Pies – $0.33
Krunchers Kettle Cooked Potato Chips (Assorted Varieties) – $2.00
Mantia’s Grated Parmesan Cheese – $2.55
Save-A-Lot Soda – $0.69
J. Higgs Potato Chips – $0.99
Caskey’s Chunky Soup – $1.49
J. Higgs Crackers – $0.79
Del Pino’s Canned Pasta – $0.69
O’Days Mac & Cheese – $0.33
Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix – $0.39
Mantia’s Spaghetti – $0.79
Sundia True Fruit Cups – $0.89
Instant Oatmeal – $1.49
Del Monte Spaghetti Sauce – $0.79
Kool Aid Bursts – $0.99
Manwich Sloppy Joe Sauce – $0.99
Hargis House Vienna Sausage – $0.37
Hargis House Chicken Vienna Sausage – $0.37
Hargis House Chili with Beans – $0.99
Hargis House Beef Stew – $1.79
Hargis House Corned Beef Hash – $1.49
Hargis House Chili without Beans – $1.29
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.
Family Recipe: Grandma Willa’s Fruit Punch
As the Holidays approach you may be on the look out for a great new punch recipe to brighten the celebration. Everyone loves Grandma Willa’s Fruit Punch! It is quick, easy, and the base is made in advance. The punch is slushy and has a fun fruity flavor. If you are looking for a great punch for a birthday party, family gathering, holiday, shower, wedding or just for fun try this one. You can make it in any flavor or color you want to match the occasion. We have had raspberry, orange, cherry, strawberry, grape, lime and many more flavors variations of this recipe over the years.
Grandma Willa’s Fruit Punch
1 – 6 oz package of Strawberry Gelatin (or Flavor of your Choice)
3/4 cup of Sugar
2 cups Boiling Water
1 – 46 ounce can of Pineapple Juice
6 cups Cold Water
2 liters Ginger Ale (chilled)
Optional: Add Whole Cherries, Sliced Pineapples, or Complimentary Fruit on top for extra flair.
Directions: In a 4 quart (or larger) freezer container (we save our 1 gallon ice cream containers to use), dissolve gelatin and sugar in the boiling water. Stir in pineapple juice and cold water. Cover and freeze completely. Remove from freezer at least 2 hours before serving. Place in punch bowl. Stir in the Ginger Ale just before serving. Makes 5 1/2 Quarts of Punch.
You can use any flavor or color of gelatin with this recipe. Pick what goes best for your special occasion and enjoy. Grandma’s Fruit Punch has been a hit at many of our family celebrations.