Cocktails at Cabrits

Cocktails? Free giveaways? A reason to get dressed up?

That's all the spouses needed to hear and we were there!

Apparently every year, for the last 3 years, the Dominica Tourism Board has a cocktail party at Fort Shirley in Cabrits National Park.

Nothing like hanging out with friends and looking at this view...

Jen, Emily, and me enjoying a glass of wine in an ACTUAL wine glass. This is exciting since most places serve wine in a plastic Dixie cup (you know, the kind you swish with at the dentist)

Here's part of our crew in front of the historic building...

We had a wonderful evening full of laughs and memories.

Oh and did I mention we saw Morgan Freeman?

The Wheels are Turning

In these parts of the world if you were to go on a bike ride, a few things could happen to you. Here are some of them:

1. a crazy cow could charge you

2. a dog could follow you and you'd never get rid of him

3. you could get stuck in a pot hole, never to be found again

4. you could get caught in a horrible storm and be washed away

5. you could die from dehydration (the weather is so hot and sticky, you sweat it out faster than you can drink it in)

These are just a few possibilities and some of the reasons why we don't ride bikes around here. The other obvious is that we don't own any.

Instead, we SPIN!

A spouse on the island started teaching a spin class last semester and it's something I've really grown to love. At first, your "rear" is so sore from the seat and you think you'll die, but once you've done it a few times it's really a great workout.

I got Kyle to come with me on Wednesday and it was a good time to say the least! He got to get the other wheels turning besides the ones in his head.

Here we are...

(Yes, this a photo op taken after the rest of the class had left)

Just another adventure to add to our list.

A Birthday to Remember

The 19th of this month I turned a quarter of a century old...yikes! I didn't get to spend it with family back home, but I did get to celebrate with my husband and some amazing friends here. On my actual birthday Kyle and I went to dinner together and grabbed an ice cream treat afterwords. Tasty!

The next day we took this catamaran out for a "booze cruise"....

Kyle took off the entire day and relaxed on the boat! That was the best birthday gift I could get.

Some fellow 4th semester spouses, Jen and Emily

Jen baked this beautiful cake and Stephanie, a 3rd semester student, brought birthday decorations to dazzle the boat. So sweet!

Loving life...

...and enjoying time with my hubby!

Monday night the girls had a Birthday/Bachelorette party. I'm obviously not the bachelorette, it was the start of a new season of the show The Bachelorette. They brought homemade treats and wine and sang Happy Birthday to me where I blew out the largest candle possible (Thanks Jen).



Thank you to everyone who put together the boat trip and helped me celebrate. It was certainly a special island birthday and one I will never forget.

Break Happenings

This break was amazing! Kyle and I had a list of people to see, places to go, and things to eat...I think we accomplished it all and then some. We got to spend a lot of time with each other and that's always needed after a semester of studying.

We spent time with family...

(my mom and dad)

(Kyle's Grandma and Grandpa Hickman)

(Kyle's mom and dad)

We got to eat some of the foods we missed in Dominica...

(Costa Vida)

(Pizzeria Bianco)



(In-N-Out)


(Yogurtland frozen yogurt)

(Postino's)

We celebrated Cinco de Mayo with some great Mexican food and margaritas...

Kyle and I each got to do our favorite things...

(I went shopping)

(he went golfing)

(I did more shopping, with a Starbuck's coffee)

We hung out with friends...

(Derek and Megan, Nick and Jessica, Kyle and I at the Diamondback's game)

We restocked on some essentials to bring back with us...

We're back on the island, refreshed and ready to go for one last semester here! We return on August 20th (less than 90 days!)

Thank you to all the people who took time out of their busy schedules to come meet up with us. We love all of you and we were so glad to see you.

Happy Birthday Heidi

Well as many of you know yesterday was Heidi's 25th birthday. She continues to get more beautiful with every passing year (sure hope that continues ;). Today I am actually taking half of the day off and we are joining 30+ of our friends on a boose cruise out in the Caribbean Sea, not a bad day if you ask me. So I just wanted to wish my best friend, favorite side-kick and an all around wonderful woman a very happy birthday.

Love,

Kyle