Our Lives in Pictures

We just wrapped up MAMAPALOOZA here on Kwaj, and I have to tell you....my mom wasn't even here and I'm still exhausted. With that said it was tons of fun and we did so much, I've decided to let the pics speak for themselves. Leanne's mom and Amy's mom came to visit and each brought their friends with them for double the fun. We had lots of happy hours on the beach, book club, and cookouts to celebrate the mom's arrival on Kwaj. We finished off MAMAPALOOZA this past weekend with Swashbuckler's Ball. It's an annual party here on island where everyone dresses up like pirates and parties at the "yacht club." Our whole group put on our pirate finest and partied like in was 1492. It was a great way to end MAMAPALOOZA!! Here are lots of pics of what we've been up to this last week!

Hermit crab up close...I may or may not be terrified of these guys (by may not be I mean that I'm VERY scared of them)

There is a whole on the golf course that at night gets COVERED in hermit crabs...you literally cannot walk without stepping on one of these suckers

This was the group that went to check it out...I was not a fan of crabs crawling on my so I was doing lots of high-stepping to keep them off my toes...please note everyone laughing at me

At the shrimp boil on the beach

The Spock's and the Page's created a beautiful shrimp boil on the beach for MAMAPALOOZA

We also had our ladies book club on the beach...we discussed House at Riverton...but mostly talked and drank wine...as we do :)

Our book club sunset

Our basket weaving class....lots of fun but I was very stressed most of the time...I'm not very "craftsy"-thats Jane next to me looking calm and like a basket weaving professional

Angela, Jane, Shelbi, and I with our finished baskets!

We had a great beach day at Coral Sands Beach

Paradise

Hard to tell, but this is an Eagle Ray with her babies just off shore...we saw her wings splashing around just off the beach

Our island family before Swashbuckler's Ball

So very classy pirate wenches :)

We have had so much fun these last 2 weeks, the mom's had a great time, and we did too! Now on to one of my favorite holidays...HALLOWEEN!

Anniversary dinner and other shenanigans

Happy Monday everyone! Hope you all had a good weekend! We had a good weekend here, we got to see our new nephew and godson Matthew on FaceTime for the first time, as well as catch up with the whole McClellan clan and my family in Texas. Johnathon was also excited cause he got to go on another fishing trip and actually caught fish this time!

Johnathon holding one of their catches...Ohno tuna I think?! Either way it was sushi later

Nurse shark feeding frenzy...they wait at the marina for scraps from the fishermen that get discarded

Johnathon went out on our friends boat and they came back with some Ohno and Dogtooth tuna. Johanthon was pretty pumped because the last time he went fishing they got skunked :( Anyway while Johnathon and the boys were out fishing, Leanne and I were hard at work finding coconuts and playing practical jokes on Jerrod. Jerrod has been harassing me to take the position of Sportfishing club president. For the record, I went to 1 meeting for the sole purpose of free food, and to get my hands on some of the fishing club t-shirts. I have not actually gone fishing yet, and call me crazy but I think that is a necessary experience for the fishing club president to have under his/her belt. That has not deterred Jerrod in the slightest from trying to nominate me every chance he has. So while the boys were busy fishing, Leanne and I decided to play a harmless practical joke on Jerrod. We found a picture of Jerrod holding some fish and made a "VOTE FOR JERROD" flyer complete with angelfish borders, and put them on display all over Jerrod's back patio, and on all our friend's doors. Jerrod's wife Donna, caught us in the act, and was only too happy to suggest that we put flyers on all the guys bikes that were down at the marina, and to put a flyer at the help desk down at the fishing marina office. THANKS FOR THE TIPS DONNA!!! Not sure Jerrod found it as funny as we did, but the other guys enjoyed the flyers on there bikes, and informed me that they will be voting straight down the ticket...Jerrod English all the way for fishing club president. I think my work here is done. :)

After checking out the guys catch, Leanne and I capped off our afternoon by grabbing some coconuts that some of the island workers were cutting down from the trees. We were just gonna take some whole coconuts home to hack into with any old machete we had lying around, but the workers didn't seem to think we had it in us to break into one of those bad boys, so they sharpened a stick and opened them for us in about 5 seconds. I was impressed. I was just gonna bang mine on a rock 'till it opened. They seemed to have a better strategy, so who was I to stop them. Here is a picture of one of the workers breaking open a coconut:

The guy basically sharpened a stick and whacked the coconut on it till the outer peeling came off

Leanne gets all the credit for getting us the coconuts

Amy, Leanne, and I enjoying real coconut water

After our afternoon of practical jokes and coconut harvesting, Johnathon and I made some sushi and had a low-key movie night. Here are some pictures of our homemade sushi:

My roll

Johnathon's roll

Earlier in the week, Johnathon and I celebrated our 1st wedding anniversary...a little belated but still special. The island offers a dinner-on-the-beach night that you can reserve during the week. This was our first weekday night available so we reserved a surf and turf dinner on the beach. They set up a private area on the beach and wined and dined us while we enjoyed the beach at sunset. We were nervous our dinner might get rained out, but the rain held off and it was a perfect dinner, and perfect way to celebrate our first anniversary. We have had a very adventurous first year of marriage, from getting married in Michigan, to our honeymoon in Jamaica. We got a dog and moved to a small tropical island. We've done a lot, but we wouldn't have it any other way. Dinner on the beach was a great way to look back on our first year of marriage, and to look forward to all the good things to come. It was a great night.

View of Emon Beach from our dinner area

Sunset view

Me at dinner

surf and turf...yummy!

Happy 1st anniversary! xoxo

Spa day and a dinner party "sharing circle"

Hope everyone had a great weekend...Johnathon and I certainly did! Johnathon was feeling a little under the weather on Saturday so he took the day off work, which was a bonus for me cause I got to have my husband home for more than one day in a row. Johnathon hit the ground running at work and has only had one 2 day weekend since we got here, so I was ready for him to have some time off! We laid low all day, and I'd like to say that I nursed J back to health, but lets be honest...that man never lets me take care of him, or takes any of my healthcare advice. But what do I know...I'm only a nurse, right. Psh! Don't worry, I'm not bitter at all about this.

 Anyway, Johnathon was feeling better by the end of the day, so we went over to our friends Adam and Lindsey's house for their Oktoberfest/German party. Our friends Preston and Leanne came over too, and we were enjoying our German beers on the couch when Adam told us about their dinner party "ritual" they like to do. Now, Adam and Lindsey are quite the world travelers, so we really had no idea what kind of worldly party ritual they were about to throw our way, but we were down for it. Lindsey then asked us to sit on the floor in a circle and join hands. I stole a quick look at J who seemed as confused as I was, but everyone else was practically racing to get on the floor and join hands, so we went with it. Lindsey then asked us if we would like to share something about ourselves, but we were spared by Leanne spontaneously bursting into a sincere, and delightfully on key version of Kumbaya. It was at that moment that I was about to explain to our hosts that Johnathon's bought of Ebola was really coming back with a vengeance, but was cute short by everyone bursting out laughing and explaining that it was a big joke all along. Well played everyone... well played. The rest of the night was great, and thankfully less eventful. Lindsey made delicious German brats, cabbage, and German potato soup, and Leanne brought a German chocolate cake that I would like to say I resisted, but that would be a huge lie. It was amazing. Diet starts tomorrow. We finished out the evening with Yahtzee (i lost) and Cards Against Humanity (how can you lose when you play that game?).

 We had a very low key Sunday with some beach time logged. On Monday, J headed down to the boat yard to help the boys work on their boat, and I headed back over to Lindsey's house for a girls "spa day." There are no spa's on Kwaj so we pretty much have to improvise, but I have to say...our spa day was pretty legit. One of our friends Dawn is a masseuse and gave us all head and back massages that were to die for. We also set up pedicure/manicure and facial station downstairs. Of course I was so excited for spa day that I completely forgot my camera to document our day, but perhaps that's for the best. A room full of women three mimosa's in, wearing PJ's with facemasks on is probably best left undocumented. It was a great day with all the ladies and just what we needed.