First Snow!

The first snow of the winter hit us last Saturday... I think the temps went from 80 degrees on Monday to 30 on Saturday! That is Kansas weather!

The girls woke up screaming that there was "snow outside" and before we knew it... there was Lily getting her snowboots on over her pajamas so she could go outside!

They both enjoyed the big "inch" of snow... making their snowman and sledding down the drive way!

By noon, the snow had melted... but stay tune, they are predicting more snow this weekend!

The Wilson Cousins...2007

All the Wilson Cousins (Cindy's side of the family) gathered for a photo at this year's Thanksgiving. Caroline, Lily, Kennedy, Drew, Eli and Josh...

It's Always Fun When BaBa is Around...

Some cute pictures from our Thanksgiving day at Brian's Aunt Sheri and Uncle Gene's home in Garnett, Kansas. We then went over to Brian's Aunt Donna's home before heading back home.

Of course, the highlight of the day was the "BaBa" monster-thon! All the kids got a kick out of him!

We are back from the Islands... Mon!

We are back from the Islands... and what beautiful islands they were!

We arrived on a Wednesday.... and set out on Thursday to explore the beautiful resort of Frenchman's Reef. We pretty much hung out by the pool all day. That evening we took a ferry over to the neighboring island of St. John for dinner at Asolare. More later on that experience! And it was a dining experience!

St. John is one of the most beautiful islands in the Caribbean. Over half of it is a National Reserve... pristine and pure is the best way to describe this island. After dinner we had drinks at a great beach side bar called The Balcony... it overlooked the Cruz Bay. And it was there that I discovered my vacation drink "Lime in da Coconut".

On Friday, we went spent the day at the Marriott's beach and swam in the ocean pretty much all day. The water there is like swimming in the pool... crystal clear and 90 degrees! We were definately beach bums!

That night the Shockers played their first game... and lost.

Saturday we took a ferry over to Charlotte Amalie and shopped their downtown. Fun shops... tons of jewelry... if you are ever looking for a diamond, this is the place to get it! Duty free and tax free! Of course, I was not shopping for diamonds :-(

That night the Shockers played again and lost again.


Sunday was a great day at Coki Beach... a local beach made of pristine sand and crystal blue water. It is a snorkeling beach... so we swam with the fish that day. That night we took the ferry back over to St. Johns for another amazing dinner on top of another mountain.


Monday we had planned to rent a catamarran, but it rained and we went shopping to pick up a few more gifts that we needed. That afternoon we finally got a Shocker win! And to celebrate we enjoyed dinner by the Beach.. and one last "Lime in da Coconut".

We were home Tuesday... the kids still remembered us... and the house was still standing!

All in all... a great vacation!

The Local Scene from the Islands

The Caribbean Blue

I wanted to share some of the pictures of the beautiful blue Caribbean Ocean that is simply amazing.

The thing that just amazes me about that part of the world are the vivid colors every where you look... the blue sea, green trees, brown sand... every color just exploded!

A View To Savor

By far one of the most beautiful places I have ever been and to have the priviledge of having dinner at was a restaurant called "Asolare" in St. John, USVI.

This is the view!

We took a ferry boat from St. Thomas over to St. John with about 30 Shocker fans and were taxied up the mountain to this little restaurant that overlooked this view. We sat for about three hours dining on fabulous food, great wine and fun people!

It was a night to remember and a view to savor!

The Local Brew...

Even though he is a typical "Bud Light" guy, every where he goes he likes to sample the local 'brew'.

In St. Thomas that beer was called "Blackbeard Ale"... named after the famous pirate Blackbeard who loved to terrorize the Caribbean waters that surround the Virgin Islands.

Brian thought that it was pretty good... but for the next round it was back to a Bud Light!

The Island of Iguanas!

Every where we went around our resort... we faced these little creatures... called Iguanas!

And creatures they were! They had these frog legs, long tail and "dinosaur" type faces. They were very tamed and pretty much kept to themeselves. The only we were told is not to wear red toenail polish or they would thing they were cherries and might start tibbling on your toes :-)

Brian and I would stand looking out at the trees and next thing you would know you would be seeing tons of them in the trees... green ones, red ones and chamelion type ones! Just like you would see dogs and cats on the road here in the states... there it was all about the iguanas!

Three down... one to go!

It's official... as of Sunday night... the girls and myself have all been hit with the stomach bug! Lily went down last Tuesday, Caroline went down on Friday and I went down Sunday afternoon.

Now, we are just waiting for Dad to take his turn and we'll be done!

The Sisters Who Share Everything!

It's official... I now am the mother of two girls who are "a little under the weather". Not only did I get a call from Lily's school on Tuesday saying she was vomitting (per an earlier post)... but today, I went 2 for 2 and got a call from Caroline's school saying she was throwing up!

What kind of mother am I?

Well, both girls who seem to be sharing the same bug are now 'snug as a bug' in their own beds resting comfortably!

Childhood Remembered

At the top of Caroline's Christmas list this year is "BABY ALIVE"... of course, it is the power of television ads that is drawing her to this doll since the ad runs 1000 times a day on Nick Jr. Channel and Disney Channel.

Every time she brings it up, I remember wanting a BABY ALIVE doll myself growing up... I mean it eats, drinks, pees and poops! Who wouldn't want this doll! While I wasn't deprived at Christmas, I never did get one! Maybe I didn't have it at No. 1 on my Santa list like Caroline does.

Well, this year... not only will Caroline be whispering her BABY ALIVE wish to Santa, but her mom will too!

Santa Claus!

I was doing some shopping yesterday and stopped dead in my tracks when I saw this Santa Claus! I want this Santa Claus!

Oh please, Santa Claus... send this my way!

All Better Now!

She's back... and feeling better! Whew, that was not a fun day! Thank goodness for washing machines!

My little bug has a bug!

Today I got a call from Lily's school saying she "threw up" all over the place... I was shocked seeing how an hour before she was be-bopping off to school "just fine I thought". Needless to say, she spent the whole day vomitting and laying in my arms snuggling. She's off to bed, hopefully the 'bug' will be out of my little bug tomorrow!

Oh my, it's now November!

It's now November, and I'm trying to filter through my Halloween and Fall decorations! The pumpkins can stay but the jack-o-lanterns must go!

We spent our Saturday taking Caroline to tennis lessons and lunch with the family. Looking forward to a nice relaxing weekend!

Happy Halloween...2007

Well, Halloween is finally over... and my little bugs certainly hauled in the "goodies".

It's been an exhausting week... four Halloween parties in five days! We certainly got our money out of the costumes!

However, I think the greatest thing was watching little Lily run to the door every time a trick-or-treater knocked on the door. She loved handing out the candy!