Dominica

September 2 in Dominica (Not the Dominican Republic.... totally different place.)

Our excursion for the day was "Easy Dominica and Jaco Falls".

The shipped docked and we took in the views while we waited for our excursion time.

The little port city was just nestled right into the mountains.

Once we were on our bus tour we were taken to see some amazing views and road on winding roads through some of the most lush green I've ever seen.

It was SO sunny.

The views were awesome.

Our special stop was to see Jaco Falls... and I have to say when we first got there I wasn't sure what to expect.  I mean... this little covered walk way didn't seem to lead to anything.

But, after we climbed down these stairs...

And kept climbing down these stairs...

We finally came to the falls.  It was pretty amazing to be down in the bottom of this cavernous area and see and hear the falls.

Nick and Zoe made it across all of the slippery rocks to get a pretty close look at the falls.

Dominica is extremely lush and green.

When we were done sight seeing we had to climb back up those stairs.

Let me just say... I'm not in the best shape for stair climbing.  I was very happy to make it to the top and take a few moments to relax and enjoy the scenery.

We had a little tropical juice (or a little rum punch).

We really enjoyed the very fresh locally grown fruits.

 We took some time to stop and admire the flowers.

And... when we got back to the ship... we sat down, and settled in for a much needed snooze.

Blogging with no Photos. The HORROR!

I've been trying to finish posting my cruise vacation photos.

I uploaded the first 3 photos of Dominica (not the Dominican Republic) and suddenly the uploader started telling me "server regected".  I've tried on 3 separate days now... thinking I hit a glitch... and no luck.

Big red highlighted "server rejected".

I've been trying to research on the help forums what my issue could be and I'm suddenly (after 3 1/2 years of blogging) finding out that the number of photos you are allowed to upload is dependent on your storage availability on Picasa (since Blogger auto stores your blog photos there).  Looks like I'm at 99.9% full capacity.  Hmmm.... I never even checked that before.

So... now... what do I do???  Start paying an annual free to keep uploading and storing more photos?

Do I have other options?

Blog with no photos?  (ACK!!!)

Suggestions please.  I'm panicking.

Barbados

September 1 in Barbados

Our excursion for the day was called "Barbados Beach Break".

If you ask Ana about the beach... her response will be "I don' like a beach!"...

My dad, Nick, Zoe and my mom... they can't get enough of the beach...

Me... I like the beach... I just don't like sand...

Zoe learned how to make drip castles...

Ana took a little time to check out the flowers...

The day couldn't have been more beautiful...

And our family at home was worried that we were all in the middle of a hurricane...

Grumpy face, sandy feet...

We did have a lot of smiles though...

St. Lucia

We went on a Carnival Cruise the week before school started.  RIGHT before school started.  We returned the Sunday of Labor Day Weekend and Zoe started school Tuesday.  So... I'm finally going through the photos.  Remembering the trip like it was ages ago.  I did just want to take some time to share some photos of the trip.  We had a fabulous time... even though we were cruising around a hurricane! (The photos seem to be limited because Ana decided to attach herself to me for most of the trip... like someone glued her to my hip.  Fun.  Not easy to take photos while carting around a 37 pound 2 year old.)

August 31 in St. Lucia.
(Side note... Nick and I went on our honeymoon in St. Lucia.)

Our ship...

 
Getting on a bus for the "Best Views of St. Lucia" tour.

My parents...

A flower given to us by some little children...

Love...

Batik is a major industry in St. Lucia...

My camera seriously did not do justice to the views...

 

Having a tropical juice break...

Off to school we go

Today was Ana's very first day at school!  She started the half day toddler program and will be in school from 9-12 on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.  She's in the same school, in the same room, with 2 of the same teachers that Zoe was in just 3 short/long years ago. 

Ana also has the same tongue in her pictures that Zoe had!!!

Once again I'm wondering how my baby girl became this big girl ready to go off to school.

Ana was all smiles with Zoe.  She was ready to get in the car and head off to school. 

Once we got to the classroom Ana got a little nervous.  Lately she's been having some stranger anxiety.  Actually... she's been having some "not stranger" anxiety too.  Last spring Mike (one of the teachers) was one of Ana's favorite people to see when we would get Zoe from school.  She would run to him yelling "HI MIKE!"  Now... she wouldn't even give him a high five.  She spent last week's "meet the teacher" visit clinging to my leg and crying.  The teachers and I were a little bit nervous about today.

But, their were princess shoes.  Glass slippers are pretty magical.

The teachers are pretty magical too.  (And Ana's class has 4 teachers... er... 1 teacher and 3 assistants.  Awesome!)  They got Ana involved in a gluing project and it seemed like things were off to a good start.  No crying!!!

I will now admit I was a bundle of nerves.  When we came in Miss Karen actually told me she was lying in bed this morning thinking about Ana.  And then she said she and Mike (the assistant) had come in to school and they had talked about what a change Ana's attitude was from June to now.  I love that they had Ana in their thoughts before she was even in the class... but I was also worried to know that I wasn't the only one concerned about how Ana was going to react to her first school day.

I think we were all pleasantly surprised.

I took advantage of Ana's concentration and snuck away. 

So... while Ana may not have had an extremely easy-going attitude about starting school today... she also didn't have the difficult drop off I was prepared for (and other children and parents definitely had a harder time).  At the end of the day Karen said Ana's day was alright.  She was a little off but no crying.  She said she seemed more angry and annoyed than sad or upset.  At one point she was in the swing (I think) and yelled to Terry (an assistant) "HEY! GET ME OUTTA HERE!"  I can totally picture her scrunched up little face saying that.  Totally Ana.

I'm hoping that soon Ana will be back to her friendly, outgoing, silly self.  The girl who would go into Zoe's class to visit last spring and would act like she owned the place.  Saying "HI" to everyone she saw.  Hopefully she'll warm up quickly.

(I'm already preparing for tomorrow, though.  It may not be so easy to sneak out on her!)

My daughter... the fisherman

Zoe had been talking about wanting to go fishing for a very long time. 

But... Nick and I don't fish. 

And... Zoe is a girly girl.  She doesn't like to be dirty.  She doesn't like to touch stuff.

Zoe also doesn't really like to sit still... or be quiet.

But this summer... she went fishing.  She went fishing at the beach in NC (2 times) and she went fishing at a pond here in NJ.

And Zoe?  Well... Zoe LOVES to fish.

I didn't go with her... but I'm told she was quite a good fisherman.

I wonder if this means I'm going to have to start fishing?

Kindergarten Begins

Today my baby became a kindergartner.

She was SO excited.  No worries.  No fears.  No questions.  Just pure excitement.

I was so proud of her.  She is so unlike I was.  (I seem to remember how I spent circle time sitting UNDER my teacher's chair.  I would also cry so I wouldn't have to play in gym.  That is how shy and nervous I was.)  I don't quite know where her confidence comes from... but she just glows with it.

Zoe's enthusiasm was contagious.  Ana was ready to hop right on the school bus with Zoe and grab a seat.  (We'll see how Ana deals with her first day of toddler school next week!!!)

When the bus showed up (EARLY) I was barely able to slow Zoe down long enough to get the few pictures I was able to snap.  She's already giving me the attitude and the "MOM I HAVE TO GO!  THE BUS IS WAITING!"

She jumped right on the bus and quickly found a seat next her new friend Jackson (he's a neighbor we met just over a week ago).  When the bus driver asked me to climb on and check that her seat belt was on properly she had already claimed her seat by Jackson and was buckled in safe and sound.  She and Jackson were both all smiles.

I wished Zoe luck and told her to have fun at school and then the school bus whisked her away from me.  I'm proud to say I did not cry one tear as the bus pulled away.  (I can not say the same right now as I look at the photos and type.  oh well. What can I say... I'm a sap.)

A few hours later I was sitting on our front step waiting for the little yellow bus to come back down our street.  When the bus brought Zoe back to me she was still wearing her sparkling smile.  She had stories of what her teacher was wearing (she had on a pink shirt and NO ponytail), and told me all about the library rules and how we have to be careful with her borrowed book, and how they got to eat snack, and how they had to tiptoe to go outside before the end of school "because we couldn't let the big kids know we were getting outside time!", and how Jackson asked her for a kiss goodbye...but she didn't do it (ALREADY?????).

I hope she always has such a true love of school.  That her confidence stays strong.  That her smile always sparkles.  That she finds friends so easily.

No matter what... she will always have a proud Mommy waiting for her to come home.