St. John Pics

I have posted quite a few pics below. I couldn't help myself... Enjoy!

Roadside "wild" goats and donkey

The Westin Resort in St. John

View from our balcony

Pool

Island Boy

Family Fun

Beach Bums

Natural Beauty

Paradise Found...

We returned from our trip to St. John yesterday evening. It was more beautiful than I expected and very relaxing. St. John is only a 90 square mile island with 75% of it being a national park. So, it was very undeveloped and naturally beautiful. For the most part it was a very sleepy island.

Carsten was a great travel companion and fell IN LOVE with the beach. He was SO VERY active the whole time that we were there, hardly taking a moment to rest (This was a bit of a problem on the airplane, but we managed). I think he really enjoyed himself, as did we. We did not have much of an opportunity for active pursuits with Carsten along... we just played in the sun, sand, and crystal clear waters. I will write some more of our experiences and post some more pics in the next few days. We are glad to be back to the mainland!

The Devil in pink

Last week I took Carsten to the play area at Memorial City mall and we encountered the devil... in toddler form. The Bubby was playing in this area that is supposed to be like a little pond. He climbs into it and it has little hills to climb up and stand on, etc. While he was playing, this little girl (a.k.a "She-Devil") jumped in and started taunting all the kids. She-Devil was the scariest child I have ever encountered. She moved slanky-like... like a snake... and had this evil look in her eyes. She never smiled... she just had this wide eyed evil stare. I am an adult, and I was quite scared of her.

After she scared all the older toddlers and moms away from the pond area, Carsten was the only one left for her to pick on. She knew I was standing there watching him, so at first, she was very sneaky about picking on him. She would slank right by him and nudge him just enough to make him topple off whatever hill he was trying to climb. He would just laugh when he fell off thinking she was playing some kind of game with him.

I kept watching her like a hawk and was looking around to make sure her mother wasn't watching so I could rip the little She-Devil to shreds when she decided to make her move on my offspring. Eventually, she flat out just pushed Carsten down. He looked at me like, "Did you see that mom?!" and was a little confused as to what had just happened. I instantly pounced on her and very firmly told her, "No! He is just a baby and is much smaller than you. Do not push him." She looked at me coyly and continued slanking around the pond.

At one point, she came up to me and said something. I couldn't make out what she was saying. Whatever it was made no sense and sounded very cryptic. I was afraid she was trying to put me in some kind of devil worshiping trance. I didn't look into her eyes... just in case.

Not 2 minutes later, she made Carsten her victim again while staring right at me as she did it. Again, Carsten looked at me with hurt feelings and I pulled him out of the pond and said loud enough so that she could hear me, "Come on Carsten... let's go play somewhere else where you won't have to worry about being pushed around by the She-Devil." I looked deep into her evil eyes as I said it.

Anyways, she never bothered Carsten again after that. Apparently, Satan figured out I was on to him and was afraid I would blow his cover.

For the rest of the time we were there, I saw her torment kid after kid... mom after mom shooing her off their cub. I kept looking around to try and place her mom sitting on the sideline sooooo not paying attention. I never saw a mom approach her or visa versa. In fact, it seemed as if she did not belong to anyone.

I am convinced that she came straight out of the fiery pit's of hell.

Going to have to learn Spanish

When Carsten wakes in the morning, he is usually mad, crazy STARVING. Unfortunately, I am usually trying to take a quick shower and dress myself about the time he wakes up. So, we distract him from his hunger with one of his crack-like addict forming shows that put him in a trance for a good twenty minutes or so while I finish making myself not so scary looking.

This morning when he started to come out of his trance and started whining for breakfast, I reassured him that we would go downstairs and E-A-T in just a couple of more minutes. I spell words, like "eat", that send him into a whining frenzy if he hears them. He immediately started whining to go eat. He knew exactly what I was saying. He can't talk, but he can spell. Go figure.