There's been so much kid stuff going on over the last two months that hasn't been blogged about. It's shameful, really. So I'm just going to try to summarize as best I can, kid by kid. Deep breath!
Ethan
Ethan has spent the last couple of months finishing up the speech season, then practicing and performing his role as Mr. DePinna in East Ridge's production of You Can't Take It With You. He ended the speech season strong, coming up with a number of top ten wins and a handful of top five at his tournaments. Here he is (you can kinda see him, right?) receiving an award at a meet where I served as a judge. (Didn't judge HIM of course. It's fun judging speech meets, btw. This whole subculture of kids striding purposefully through the halls dressed in business attire, talking to walls as they practice their speeches: it's fascinating.)
He's in the middle. Squint and you can see him.
But the play has been the biggest news of late. Ethan had a fabulous time in his first big speaking role on the high school stage. He played Mr. DePinna, a crazy friend of a crazy family, who helps the father of the family manufacture fireworks in the basement. You Can't Take It With You is a wonderful play for a high school to produce because it's truly an ensemble piece, and there are so many fun, hilarious characters to play. And the did SUCH a great job. I watched it all three nights (much to Ethan's confusion: why do you keep coming? You've already seen it once! Well, pardon me, son, if I enjoy seeing you up on stage. :-). Every night the audience loved it. There are so many talented actors at Ethan's school, and Ethan loved his director -- all together they put on a hilarious, heart warming show. On the second night (which was probably their best performance) the lady sitting behind me said, "That's the best play I've ever seen at a high school." High praise.
Here are some photos taken on opening night. One of the parents got permission to take these, and then shared them for free (so kind) with everyone else:
Mr. Depinna and Paul Sycamore, discussing fireworks technology
And more thoughts on fireworks technology
The basement where the fireworks explode
Mr. Depinna doing his best to get introduced to Mr. Kirby
Nice shot of Ethan
Another nice shot of Ethan. (Opening night he had blue socks. The last two nights they were red.)
Yep. He gets to wear a toga. He also gets to pose as a discus thrower, but alas, no photos!!
Mr. Depinna, apprehended by a G-Man for his stash of explosives in the basement.
Chaos ensuing!
The final shot of the family at dinner together.
Ethan has a big AP test coming up next week and is busy with school and studying and good friends he's made from speech and drama. I can hardly believe that next year he's going to be a junior. A junior! Seriously.
Elise
Elise has had a jam-packed couple of months herself, most notably including her 14th birthday and her middle school's performance of Honk Jr., the musical. First, the birthday.
Elise's birthday falls on St. Patrick's day, so Forrest and I decided we'd take her downtown for some authentic Italian food. Little did we realize that we'd get stuck in a giant crowd of drunken revelers -- when St. Paddy's day is on a Saturday, lots of people show up for the parade and start drinking EARLY. We finally gave up trying to navigate the enormous crowds and find a parking place and wound up at the Olive Garden in Woodbury. :-) It was an experience anyway. Here she is, wearing her birthday shirt from Grandma Sweat and enjoying a little cake with the fam:
She also went to DQ and to see a movie with her friends for her birthday too. Here they are, being cute:
Elise also had fun performing in Honk Jr. She was in the ensemble, but even though she didn't have a speaking role, she was in a ton of different scenes. Here's part of the opening number:
She had a great time and sang and danced her heart out.
Elise and her friends after the show.
Cast photo
Prettiest duck of them all!
She's also looking forward with great anticipation to an anime convention that's coming to Minneapolis this summer. She and a few of her friends have become a trifle obsessed with anime, and she used her babysitting money to buy a costume (called a Cosplay -- I'm learning the lingo) and her wig recently arrived. She's a big fan of her wig:
Needless to say, there will be adult supervision with Elise and her friends as they attend this anime convention. Ahem. But she's doing well, and really looking forward to the last few weeks of school wrapping the heck up. A couple of mornings ago when I went into get her out of bed she moaned, "It's not faaaaiiiir," in real distress. Mornings are not Elise's friend. She'll be so glad to sleep in here soon.
Jonas
Jonas ALSO had a birthday, not to mention two concerts, his Arrow of Light award, the Pinewood derby, baseball, and an opportunity to dress up like Albert Einstein. First, the birthday:
Jonas rejoicing at his family gift.
We had a "Hunger Games" party. Like my sign??
Jonas being serenaded by his friends
A little basketball out back
All the guys
We took the kids to The Hunger Games, but it was kind of a crazy night. I'd sent out the invitations the day before we went to St. Lucia and I was a little harried, to say the least. I had completely forgotten that was the Saturday before General Conference, which meant it was Priesthood session, which meant Forrest, as the YM Pres., was somehow in charge of feeding every man in the ward pulled pork sandwiches. So that Saturday, while I was getting the house all decorated, Forrest was cooking pulled pork. Then he took off with Ethan for the Priesthood session whilst I entertained ten 11-year-old boys, then he sped home and helped drive them all to the movie, then he drove back to the Stake Center, then I sat with all of them at the movie, then he sped back to the movie theater to help shuttle us all home. Meanwhile, Elise had closing night of her musical and there wasn't a soul to watch Wyatt, so my dear, dear visiting teacher took Wyatt and picked Elise up from the musical when it was over. Whew! It was an exhausting day, but fun. Jonas had fun. And the movie was really good.
Jonas had a few other milestones. Getting his Arrow of Light:
He's now an official Boy Scout!
And speaking of Scouts, he also managed to come in second place at the Pinewood Derby while Forrest and I were in St. Lucia! The best showing ever by a Hallstrom kid, and we weren't even there:
Shark fin on the top. That must have been what put him over the edge.
He's also had some band and choir performances. Here are a couple of short videos, for the Grandmas listening pleasure. (Of course, anyone else can listen if they'd like.)
His 5th grade choir did a bunch of 80s songs. It was great. I love seeing Jonas (try :-)) to "cut foot loose."
And here Jonas is, playing the trumpet in his 5th grade band. Alas, he is adamant that he no longer wants to play the trumpet. My trumpet dreams for my boys, dashed! Ah well, maybe Wyatt will pick it up in a few years. We bought the darn instrument.
Jonas also worked really hard on his 5th grade project, a report about Albert Einstein. He had to write a research paper, memorize a speech, dress up in costume, and make a display. He is now an expert on Albert Einstein. And he looked so great in his giant wig:
We tried putting flour on the wig to make it more grey. Did our best. :-)
And he's also playing baseball, but I don't have any pictures of that yet. Forrest is coaching the team, and although they've lost their first two games, we're hopeful they can turn things around.
And finally . . .
Wyatt
First off, Wyatt has been having all sorts of fun just being himself. For example:
Wyatt at the "Pirates" exhibit at the science museum. We went during spring break and he insisted on wearing his Halloween costume. I am convinced he had much more fun than the rest of us who were not appropriately dressed.
Springtime! Wyatt is an outside kid, moreso than my other have been. Now that warm weather is here, he wants to be outside running around all the time. I love it.
Just cute.
Enjoying a little cake.
Yo, eggs, dude. What up?
Wyatt is the master of the monkey bars. Master! He has callouses on his hands to prove it, callouses of which he is very proud.
Wyatt also started t-ball this spring. (He insists I call it t-ball. If I ever mistakenly say "baseball" he corrects me immediately. Every. Single. Time.) He's having a lot of fun so far and is always excited to play. He's a good hitter and has made a few throws to first base. (That's the only play they can do right now: catch the ball, throw it to first. It's a good way to introduce them to the rules of baseball.) Here he is, playing and looking handsome:
And that's about it, as far as the kids are concerned. I have some pics from Easter that I'll post soon (yeah, yeah, you don't believe me, do you?) and I'll try to stay on top of things a little better. But -- oh! -- in case any of you don't know already, I got a job for Fall semester! I'm so excited. I'll be teaching composition at Inver Hills Community college, three sections: two while the kids are at school, MWF, and one online. The pay is a lot better than Utah, and Inver Hills is only 20 minutes away from my house. It's the perfect setup for me, and I'm grateful and excited.
And I'm also grateful and excited to be done with this post. Bet you are too! Finally signing off.
Has it really been over two weeks since my last St. Lucia post? And has it really been ONE MONTH since we went to St. Lucia? Boy oh boy, my blog cred is slipping fast. Not to mention all the other bloggable kid-related stuff that's pilling up. Anyway, sorry for my delays (apologies are for the Grandmas). Here's the last bit about our trip.
We had all sorts of fun experiences on the island, from swimming in the ocean outside our hotel, to kayaking to the little island nearby, to shopping in downton Castries and more. But here are a few of the more memorable outings:
First, the famous St. Lucia mudbaths. These sulfur springs near a volcano are one of those touristy things listed on all the "what to do in St. Lucia" travel sites. Also, apparently these mudbaths were highlighted during an episode of The Bachelor (more than one native St. Lucian remarked upon this proudly), which has increased their exposure. We were smart, though: we got up early so we could get there right when it opened, hoping to lather ourselves up in restorative mud ("it takes off ten years!") before the tour buses full of cruise ship folks descended upon us. Although there were a few people sharing the bath with us who spent most of the time talking loudly about professional hockey, they had a nice personal tour guide with them. He gave us some good tips on where to find the smoothest mud, and reminded me to take off my wedding ring (but not my necklace).
He also ever-so-kindly offered to take pictures of us afterward. (He was the one who recommended the kissing pose. We never would have come up with that ourselves.)
By the time we were done with our pictures, the cruise ship folks had pulled up. Oh the humanity! We were glad to avoid it. In fact, we specialized in avoiding crowds the whole entire trip.
Later that day, we went to a cocoa plantation on the property of our hotel owner. The main plantation house doubles as another of his hotels, and he has workers here who produce cocoa and other produce, as well as flowers. Charles is his main guy on this property, and he was so kind to take us on a personal tour. Cocoa: more fascinating that one would think.
Charles telling us how their special drying trays for cocoa beans work.
The beautiful pool by the plantation house/hotel
A cocoa pod
They grow these coconuts only for the husks for composting. They have no way to sell the coconuts themselves and make money at it, so they just throw the insides away!
Some flowers he was getting ready to deliver to a wedding. Such pretty colors!
On Saturday, we got up bright and early once more and beat the crowds to the jungle zipline. I was a little nervous about it, given my fear of heights, but I figured once I got buckled into the harness I would be fine. And I was right. Walking up the rickety stairs and waiting on the platform was scarier to me than the actual ziplining. (It's any high spot from which I can fling myself that gives me the heebie-jeebies.) The most stressful part, actually, was the fear of not going fast enough and getting stuck in between two platforms, which would necessitate one of the nice worker men having to shimmy out and come to get you. Luckily--whew--didn't happen.
All hair-netted up and ready to go. The hairnet requirement, as far as I can tell, is to either 1. keep your hair from getting stuck in the zipline, or 2. keep you humble.
One of the kinda rickety high platforms.
Look at all that jungle!
And me, zipping away. Not the best picture, but I figured I needed proof that I really did it.
One of the highlights of the trip for me was attending the Castries branch on Sunday. They met in a small building, and there were about 30 or 40 members, 4 young missionaries, and a missionary couple. We happened to come on fast Sunday and the branch president asked guests to bear their testimonies with a note of pleading in his voice, so we did. But I admit what I enjoyed the most was listening to the members bear their testimonies: so many of them new converts, so many of them having to make real sacrifices just to get themselves to that building on a Sunday morning. And listening to the young men bless and pass the sacrament! Tears. It was a beautiful, spiritual morning, one of the most memorable ones of the whole trip.
The church building. No chapel, no organ (but a nice little keyboard!), but an abundance of the spirit.
Me with two of the young men who blessed and passed the sacrament. The one on my right is a new convert.
The sister missionary serving with her husband emailed this picture to Katie when we got home. This little girl is named Krisshona, and she was so friendly and sweet, giving both Katie and me big hugs and asking me all about America. All the children at the meeting were just beautiful.
Our last big adventure on the island was a scuba diving/snorkeling trip. Darrin and Forrest did the scuba diving (although Katie almost did it too -- she'd certified over 15 years before, but felt a little rusty, so joined me in snorkeling around). We went on a boat owned by a British guy and his wife and a few other tourists; really, the only time during the whole trip that we weren't just the four of us. It was a good crew, though, and we had fun. My only complaint was that even though the first place we dove had some incredible fish -- I wish I had an underwater camera -- it also had a bunch of little stinging plankton-like devils that the locals called sea ants. They're so small you can't see them, but their bite feels a little like getting poked with a tiny needle. My favorite is when they'd bite my lips. When I was swimming in an area that the seemed to be hanging around, I took to covering my upper lip with one hand. The sting dissipated after a moment, but it was still a little irritating. Luckily the second place we snorkeled was sea ant free.
They guys reported seeing a giant puffer fish, among other things, and I loved swimming among big schools of colorful, Nemo-ish fish. The water was clear, the sun was shining, and it was an all around great day.
Forrest and Darrin, before the dive
Taking the plunge!
A whale we saw. Unfortunately, once we came a little closer, he didn't surface again. But it was still cool.
A view from the water
Darrin and Katie, looking cute.
Forrest, and Beverly, the dive master lady. She was great. Closed her eyes and slept the whole way back.
And there you have it: our St. Lucia trip! I could have written so much more, but this will have to do or else I'll never get back on blogging track. We arrived back home and found that Barbara and Chelle had taken SUCH good care of the kids and our home. We feel so lucky and grateful to have had all their help. The kids had a great time, and it was a relief to know we could leave them and not worry. And now Forrest and I have a trip that we'll always remember, truly a trip of a lifetime. It was wonderful. Thanks, babe, for sharing the last twenty years with me. We shouldn't wait twenty more before we do something like this again.
Our St. Lucia trip was wonderful in so many ways, not least of which were some of the lovely surprises that came our way, many of them food related. I've had trips where I plan and scheme in the hopes that I'll get to eat one or two delicious meals, only to end up disappointed (oh, my girls trip to Chicago, what a culinary disaster!). But this trip? So much good food.
The first nice culinary surprise happened when we got bumped to first class for the trip from Atlanta to St. Lucia. Four hours, free movies, and surprisingly tasty food (no peanut baggies for us!). It was a little strange to sit there in my first class seat while everybody else shuffled past, thinking I was the kind of person who could actually afford to buy a first class ticket just because. (At least that's what I used to think when I shuffled past the first class folks, back in the day before I understood how frequent flyer miles work.) Turns out you don't need to have much money at all (obviously) -- just a husband who travels a lot on Delta, and a flight that doesn't have a lot of business travelers who'd get bumped ahead of you.
I made Forrest pose for a First Class photo. They also refill your drinks as often as you'd like, and give you hot towels with which to wipe your grubby hands. The best part, of course, is that you don't have to spend four hours trying not to touch the elbow of the snoring stranger escaping the confines of the seat next to you whenever you shift position.
Once we got to St. Lucia there were many good restaurants to choose from. Lots of sea food, of course, and a bunch of restaurants with fancy European chefs, as well as little restaurants making local Caribbean food that was spicy with an Indian flair. Our first night there we went to an Indian restaurant that had been highly rated on TripAdvisor (oh, thank heaven for TripAdvisor) called Spice of India and mmmmmm was it yummy. Not very expensive, and the owner/chef came out and chatted with us. So many different flavors (my favorite kind of eating -- I do not understand spending $50 on a slab of steak) and every bite was good. Here we are at Spice of Inda:
And what the heck, more pictures of us at other restaurants, too. Eating at The Coal Pot, another really nice place right on the water that had delicious sea food:
And then Darrin and Katie, followed by Forrest and Me, at The Edge, a restaurant I kinda talked them into because I heard it was supposed to have good sushi. Again with the TripAdvisor. I loved my sushi, but Darrin has a touch of the sushi snob about him and wasn't as impressed as I was. I'll concede, my sushi experience is comparatively limited: simply eating those little pieces of ginger in between bites makes me happy. Just a few minutes after we took these pictures one of the only rainstorms we experienced on the island swept in. A couple of waitresses got drenched trying to tie down the tarp-like window coverings (see the ties behind Darrin?), but the wind was whipping too hard, so we had to move, even after the waitresses' brave attempts to rescue us.
If you enlarge this picture you can see that's a shrimp on the plate. Eyes and all. So fancy, leaving the eyes on!
Lots of the restaurants we went to did a beautiful job plating the food. Even the lunch spots. A pretty plate of food just makes things more fun:
Nope, that's not pork and potatoes. That's tuna and breadfruit. It was yummy, too.
This was Katie's dish and I can't remember what it is, other than it was supposed to be "cocoa-infused." And it's pretty.
We found a wonderful local spot for gelato, Elenas, and went there three times. Passion fruit was my favorite. So tangy! We also ate dinner cooked up by a guy in a trailer on the side of the road, as well as ordered surprisingly tasty rotis from the beaten down restaurant next to our hotel and ate it in our room while we played Monopoly Deal. Colin, the owner of our hotel, told us that some people like the "rustic charm" of the decidedly dilapidated restaurant, but that if you're not into that sort of thing, just order it to go. Great advice from Colin, once again!
We also ate at the restaurants of a few really fancy hotels. Our first attempt at eating at a fancy hotel was pretty hilarious, though. We had driven the 1 1/2 hours through winding roads and St. Lucian villages to arrive in southern St. Lucia where the Pitons are located, as well as a few other touristy spots like the mud baths and botanical gardens. What we hadn't really understood was that a good place to shower and clean off after the mud baths would NOT be forthcoming, so we headed to a beach we'd heard was nice and tried our best to wash off in the ocean. Turns out the bay also included the fancy dancy beachfront of a hotel called Jalousie Plantation (where you can stay for the low, low price of $500 a night, for starters! Just for kicks, I'm hyperlinking the fancy hotels where we ate, just so you can get a sense of where the 1% stay when they're not hard at work managing portfolios and hedging funds and whatnot). Their restaurant was right on the beach, so after trying in vain to scrub the black mud from our elbows and the backs of our necks, we sauntered over to the hostess, dressed in blinding white linen from head to toe, and asked for a table. "Ummm," she said uncertainly, glancing at us, then over her shoulder, then back again, "due to crowding concerns, we ask that all non-guests eat at our snack bar," and gestured to the far side of the beach, a nice distance away from the half-empty outdoor restaurant full of "actual guests."
Well! I never!
Truly, I really didn't mind shuffling off to the snack bar to eat with those of our kind. Same dang view anyway, and cheaper!
We kept to the right hand side of the dock.
Forrest at the snack bar, wondering how his "non-guestiness" could be so obvious.
We were planning to eat dinner that night at another fancy hotel, Ladera, but we didn't time things so well and got there at 5:00, a full hour before dinner was scheduled to begin. (In the interim, we were able to change our clothes and clean up a little better at a plantation house owned by Colin, our hotel guy, story forthcoming.) That actually turned out for the best, too, because we got awesome seats right by the balcony overlooking the Pitons -- best spot in the house -- and ordered some yummy food off of the bar menu. Great ambiance at half the price once more!
Right in between the two Pitons
We also had a fun lunch one day in Marigot Bay, a little cove where yachts and sail boats come in to refuel and stock up on necessities. There was a great little shop advertising French cheeses and expensive alcohol: the sustenance of fancy yachters, I imagine. It was in this bay that we saw a sailboat so huge and gorgeous I had to take its picture:
This picture does not do it justice. I'm sure its owner buys lots of overpriced brie.
The restaurant was a casual place, not busy at all, with the bay on one side and mangrove fields on the other, as well as pretty little birds that came to visit:
It was also at this restaurant that Katie accidentally talked the waitress into giving her a guava from her own personal stash. Katie had mentioned her love of guavas and her wish that she could order one, and before we knew it, the waitress had given us the guava she brought with her lunch. We tipped her well. :-). We all shared it and found it quite delicious, rind and all. (On a side note, Katie also took a bite of a fruit she *thought* was a guava, growing wild at another beach we visited another day, and proceeded to have a mildly scary allergic reaction. Two stories about Katie and guavas alone on this trip! Too many tales to tell.)
The last fun restaurant we managed to visit was at the Hotel du Chocolat, another fancy spot for fancy-people-who-are-not-me. We decided to try to squeeze it in on our last day there, and although it made us just the teensiest bit almost late for our flight (15 more minutes and they wouldn't have checked in our luggage, whoops!) it was totally worth it. This is the view from the balcony:
And us, standing in that same spot, with the Piton obscured due to that darn Caribbean sun:
Yep. This is the kind of swimming pool that $700 a night will buy you.
All the food at the Hotel du Chocolat (it's built on a cocoa plantation) is cocoa infused in some way. Yep. Yum.
Forrest and Darrin, waiting to get their chocolate on. I realize that sounds odd but I'm going with it anyway.
Darrin's pasta, Katie's roti. I had a roti, too, which looked just about the same. Don't you love how they put the plantain chips (no potato chips! heavens!) in a little glass? Who thinks of such things?
Katie's "tour of chocolate" dessert, and Darrin's ice cream trio.
Forrest with HIS ice cream trio, and my molten chocolate cake, which was truly one of the best desserts I've ever had in my life.
After that beautiful lunch, we rushed to the airport and hustled on to the airplane where I was thrilled to find we'd been upgraded to 1st class AGAIN, and this time Darrin and Katie got to join us too (Darrin doesn't have quite as many Delta miles as Forrest, but he still has a good amount). Once we got in the air they fed us right away -- a yummy pasta dish -- and even though we were full we STILL ate it. Because, you know, free food? Again, you can take the girl out of West Valley . . .
One of the most striking things about this St. Lucia trip for me was the juxtaposition of the poverty of so many residents of St. Lucia and the decadence and wealth on display among the most monied tourists. It became clear to me how thoroughly middle American I am: not comfortable with poverty or luxury, and continually surprised that there are so many people on this planet who inhabit both of these unfamiliar worlds. On the tiny island of St. Lucia alone, so many examples of either extreme abound. But the fact that I got to drive on the winding roads and see the colorful villages in one world that will never be mine, as well as eat the molten chocolate cakes and stand on the sweeping balconies of another world I'll never join? What a blessing, right? Just to see them both.
So coming up next . . . snorkeling, hiking, zipping through the jungle. The non-food-related St. Lucia experiences await.
