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Sunday, July 29, 2012

Best. Bermuda. Day. Ever! (so far...)

Last week at the beach by our house, our neighbor showed up with her adorable twin two year old grandsons. The kids have gone over several times to play with them and we all enjoyed an afternoon at the beach.

Later that evening Sheryl, our neighbor here, knocked on our door. She asked if we'd like to go to another beach this weekend - that she'd be happy to take us! I told her that sounded great and we would take her up on her offer. Awesome idea!!

This weekend, she drove us to Clearwater beach! First of all, she has a convertible, so we all got the thrill of driving around the island with an unlimited view of everything. It was fantastic!

Clearwater beach is located in what used to be the US Naval Airbase on the tip of the island. It was very noticeable the difference in architectural and even the roads. When we first arrived at the beach, there were lots of people - even lots of people camping. The next weekend is Bermuda's big Cup Match holiday and many people just camp out for the whole week. Sheryl drove us to a gate and told us if we walked past the gate and over the hill, we'd come to a much less busy beach - we decided that sounded good!

And was she ever right! We first encountered a very small beach but decided to keep going. We then came  upon the other large beach to the left, but there was a path to the right so we sent Daddy ahead on the "path less traveled" and he soon motioned for us to follow. We found a gorgeous beach - completely empty!!

An aerial view!

We set up our beach towels and dove in! It was lovely and calm, not too deep and the sand was amazing for playing in!

 Ryder, getting a ride from Daddy!






After much swimming and a quick picnic lunch, we decided to hike up the plateau surrounding the beach. 

 I'm a little obsessed with water and rocks. There's a dozen more like this....I'll spare you.

 

My favorite people in the world. 

So, this is fun... as we're up on the plateau and we find this large concrete circle in the ground. Clearly something used to be anchored to it. Chloe tells me "Hey, look! We found a hatch!" Love that my 12 year old is referencing LOST!

Posing on the Hatch!

Coincidentally, there was also a large tunnel that would have lined up perfectly with said hatch...hmmm....

It smelled lovely, also!

We returned to the beach for a little more water time before the wonderful Sheryl returned to pick us up. As we drove back home with our hair blowing in the top-down breeze, she asked if my kids were allowed to have sweets! Of COURSE, I said, and she stopped to treat the kids to a Bermuda favorite - SNOWBALL!

Yes, they're just snow cones, but I think snowballs are so much more fantastical! And isn't it so cute that our snowball creators posed for this photo? Bermuda is definitely very charming!

The kids enjoyed their multi-flavored snowballs as we drove home...



We polished our night off with steak dinner, cake and a game or two of Taboo! All in all, a perfect day!

Hopefully we'll have some more fun experiences next weekend as the island shuts down (rehearsals included) for CUP MATCH! A Bermudian holiday that centers around the big Cricket match. Should be fun!


Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Happy Birthday, PIPER!

Today my 2nd baby is 10 years old. My precious Piper - a sweet, sensitive and wonderful girl with a beautiful voice and all the right dance moves!
We started our day at the beach...which wasn't quite as fun as usual due to the crazy storms over the last two days.

Our usually serene, calm and clear beach...




had a super high tide and was covered in seaweed...not to mention the rather large waves. But at least we had the beach to ourselves...



Chloe and Piper enjoyed the waves...




but Ryder and Lola were none too thrilled, so they played on the playground.







Then we took a walk along the historical trail next to the beach. It was beautiful!


I especially loved the ruins of a home just off the shoreline. It was really cool! Bermuda has quite a rich history, discovered and settled around the same time as Jamestown and even played a role in the revolutionary war. So there are some really cool, really old structures!



Awww....siblings!



And...siblings with a photobomb by daddy!



Then we found a banyon tree and an impromtu photo shoot ensued...seriously, we were there for at least 20 minutes just snapping photos. Only the Huntsman family, you know?
Here's a smattering of photos!







Spiderman hands..not the middle finger!


















We came home and made Piper's favorite dinner - TACOS!!




Followed by PRESENTS! Her fav - her very own iPod!



Daddy had rehearsal, so we had to wait a while for cake. But here it is!




Frosted by Piper herself. And we didn't have any candles...so we improvised.
All in all, a celebration of our sweet Pips!





Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Nothing's perfect!

What a crazy few days! I have been sick, which is way not fun...for anyone involved. I was laid up in bed from Friday night to yesterday afternoon and haven't felt 100% until today. So the kids have been a little beach deprived but they'll survive! We have lots of time still.

The one good thing that came of my illness was that I had to stop. I didn't even want to look at my iPad so if I wasn't sleeping, I actually just watched TV. I've definitely become an info addict, always on my phone, computer or iPad. Having no cellphone service has been so great for me! I'm not a slave to it. I walk to the store without any easy way to call home and I'm fine. And home is fine. We become so reliant on our tech, we forget that we used to get by just fine without it. This 2 month detox is doing wonders for my anxiety level, believe it or not. It's amazing how much less I stress out with less information. It seems counter intuitive, but its working.

I do miss a lot of the conveniences of home. Don't get the wrong idea, Bermuda is a fully developed country, they just have limitations because of their size and government regulations to keep businesses in Bermuda. So basically what I'm saying is that there are no chain restaurants or stores. No Starbucks, no McDonalds or Taco Bell, no Target or Walmart...the only caveat is a KFC in downtown Hamilton. No drive thrus. We don't have car anyway because there are no car rentals in Bermuda. It's fine, we have a beach and a grocery store within walking distance and we can get rides when we need to go somewhere else. There's also a good transit system here, though we haven't ventured on it yet.

It's also a good detox from shopping. The only shopping I get to do is grocery shopping. And when a trip to just pick up a few things at the grocery store is minimum $50, that's enough!

Oh, wait...there is a "dollar" store...





Where everything costs $2.50 and up!

Ok, enough complaining! So the national sport here is cricket - there's a big national holiday next week called Cup Match that centers around cricket between the two on island rivals, St George's and Sommerset. I caught some cricket practice on our way to the beach last week!





I thought it s really cool even though I have absolutely no idea how it is played. It looks like a combination of baseball and croquet!

Lola and Ryder were being adorable on the way to the beach the other day...travel buddies!





We also had a major rainstorm yesterday! Thunder and lightening in the morning, a lovely overcast afternoon, then an even bigger storm in the evening that lasted pretty much all night! It was a lovely cool down.

It's still overcast and stormy, we even got rained on on the way to the store today. The sea was gorgeous! You know how you always read, usually in romance novels, of how the sea reflected the stormy sky? It's true! This was the shoreline across from the market today.













I really just love it.

Now, back to shopping, they also have some interesting new things at the market because some of their merchandise comes from England! Like the chivers jams and this yummy yogurt! It's my new obsession.




Finally, and last but not least, my kids eternally crack me up!

First of all, Steve took Ryder for a walk early one morning and as they passed this....




...Ryder says "Hey, look! A shipwreck!"




Then this weekend when Steve took the kids to the beach by himself, Lola says "I wish the gods didn't put salt in the water." Steve says "Who?" Lola "The gods! The life gods!"

Tomorrow is Piper's birthday! Hopefully the weather will cooperate!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Sunday, July 15, 2012

Trouble in Paradise & Paradise in....Paradise

So first, the toilet broke. No big deal, and easy fix, but it's not like there's a Lowes just down the block. But seriously, no big deal.

Then yesterday, the power went out for about 2 hours. Again, not a big deal, though I was a little worried because I needed to get some alterations done for the cast photo shoot that was today. But when the power came back on, the water quit working. Which was a concern. I knew we had a well and the water tank under the house and I wasn't sure what the deal was. But I thought that maybe some pressure just needed to build back up.

The girl who lives in the apartment below our house, Mayeesha, came home and I told her what was going on. She called her brother who came over to look at it. He said there was a problem with the switch and she showed me how to turn it back on if needed.

We had water again for a little while and then nothing again. So I went out to the pump and tried to turn it on. No luck!

When Steve got home, we called the homeowner and she said she'd have someone out in the morning to look at it! Which was good but not too helpful for a sink full of dishes. Not to mention the need of a shower for both of us to get ready for the photo shoot...

So we used our best improv skills and went out in the yard to do dishes, as it was then rain water pump that was out, but the well pump was fine and it supplies water to the yard, toilet and washer.




The girls, washing, rinsing and drying!



Ryder, handing me a knife to put away.

But, a little while later, Steve pulled a MacGuyver to hold the broken switch on so that we could get enough water in the pressure tank to take a shower...



That's my industrious husband!

Then, this morning, someone came and fixed it and we made it to the photo shoot in fine fashion!

We started at a studio with headshots. After getting everyone into costume, we headed out to a conservation area called Spittal Pond. This was our first shoot location.














Absolutely gorgeous! And the photos are going to be amazing! I'll be sure to share them when we get them back.



Walking to the shoot.



I'm just soaking in all of these new environments. I don't think I'll ever get over the gorgeous shade of blue of the ocean.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Location:Bermuda