Mom, Shelb & Laura Visit

When we were sailing, Laura was here in Barbados watching Gem. I knew Shelby was going to be here when I got back from sailing but I didn't know "Glamma" (mom T) would be here too! She pulled off a great surprise! We did a few fun island adventure things like island touring, a catamaran cruise, a kadooment fete, swam a wreck and saw some turtles! I also learned how to play Hearts! Their trip was too short as always :( Here's some pics from their fun week in Barbados!

Sailing the Grenadines

This summer has proven to be an eventful one. The beginning of July we got to check something off the ol bucket list, sailing the Grenadines! We went with our friends Alan & Jenny, rented a catamaran for a week and left from St. Vincent, hitting up island after island, staying the night and a day in each place. The islands are so different in water color (mostly blue), civilization, resort only or anyone can visit. We had a BLAST, watched some beautiful sunsets, swam in the clearest waters with turtles, ate some fabulous food and learned how next time we'll do a power catamaran, screw the actual sailing lol. 

GoiNg gLeNN in CaLi

In June we headed out to California, neither of us has been and some good friends of ours were getting married in the desert at the Joshua Tree (which isn't actually a tree lol, but an area). We flew into LA and spend the day at the Santa Monica pier and rented bikes to ride up and down the coast on the beach, very cool, I recommend it to everyone! We headed out that night to Palm Springs (in the valley, which now I know what that means too), it's about a 3 hr drive so not too bad but when you're tired, it takes forever! There was a pool party and music and it was 113 degrees, the wall when leaving the hotel was no joke, you literally walked into a heater. We walked and shopped a little, then went to a nice sushi dinner with some friends since we had a few days out there before the wedding. So fun and So hot, no humidity though lol.

The wedding was absolutely amazing! We all got bussed out to the desert and dropped off, then had to walk a few mins in the desert to this little half building called the ruin. They had 2 giant tables, lights, vintage furniture to lounge on and a taco bar for dinner!! Probably the sweetest, prettiest, most unique weddings i've ever been to, makes me want to do it again and do it something like that, just so nice. Chris and Davis, thanks for inviting us to celebrate your amazing day!

EuROpE AgaiN

Time to play catch up....I keep finding myself posting every 2 months on average and that is no bueno. Literally the last few months have been full of traveling. Darin has hardly been on island between managing his other shops, flying to Orlando for meetings and then traveling for weddings and with me to Europe! I last wrote in April just before our big trip. This is the trip I won on boxing day last year for most clever photo with a Virgin Atlantic beach ball! It was so nice to win a free airline ticket but at the same time we weren't sure where to fit it in and we had to use it in a year. Our friends Alicia and Pete helped by taking Gem for the 9 days so we could go alone...first time ever! Alicia and Pete have 2 boys that adore Gem and she loves them all right back. They took her to school, to the beach, to the pool, over to play in a tree fort, had ice cream dates....just did so much fun stuff with them and we are so thankful to have awesome friends like that here. 

Off to Europe we went, found a week between Darin's travels and squeezed it in, we only had a few weeks before we left so kinda last minute, but that was ok with us....who likes to wait months and months for a fun trip? We stopped in London first, Darin has only traveled to Italy on this side of the world so all these places he's never been. It was fun playing "i remember some stuff tour guide", we did all the tourist stuff I loved on my last trip and skipped the meh stuff from the last trip. We had a lot of downtime and found pubs to eat and get warm with a cold beer! Fish and chips are my favorite thing, well and a great beer, so I feel like I fit right in over there. I love the buildings, the tubes, the pubs, just really all of London. So much happened while we were in London, we arrived on the Queen's 90th birthday, then the President (Obama) came to see the Queen and the families for 2 days, then they had the London marathon over the weekend, super busy week in London. At the end of our trip we were back in London for the day and what a difference in the amount of people on the streets, you could actually walk straight somewhere lol. Overall London was great, a little cold, but great!

Dublin was next, just a quick 24hrs, which is pretty much all you need....ok maybe 48hrs. If you have more time there then that's when you rent a car and drive the country, but we didn't have time for that. So, instead we got on a bus tour, headed to the Guinness factory and did the whole tour, ended up at the gravity bar where you can see far far far with a 360 degree view, keep in mind this is a bar, and it was awesome! We headed on the bus tour and walked a little bit to temple bar district which was super cool. I can officially say i've had a Guinness in Dublin, in a pub with live REAL irish music! The next day we were off again to another fun country i've been to.

AMSTERDAM! I was so excited to see our extended, extended family over there and introduce Darin to them. We arrived and Klaus took us right to the Keukenhof (tulip gardens). I have never seen so many in my life, it was one of the most beautiful sites ever, just being surrounded by color after color of tulip, the colors go on and on as far as you can see. I will, without a doubt, be going back there again. Irma was making dinner that night so we got to the house and settled in before coming down for dinner, meatballs! We had some other family over so that was nice meeting them and we played spoons and another card game, drank wine and laughed a lot. I love that my (maiden) last name is so unique that I found people on the other side of the world that are my family....it still blows my mind. The next day was Kings Day! Irma wasn't feeling well but Klaus took us into the city to see some sites and watch the boats go by with the partying people and loud music! We all dressed up in orange and had plenty to drink. The ONLY problem with this day was it was SO COLD, the coldest kings day in 50 years lol, of course we were there. We walked around the districts and ate some food but we were so bundled up and cold, we just wanted to go back to our hotel and turn the heat on haha. Sad to leave, but I did promise next time i'd be there a week and not a night or two, so i'm looking forward to the next visit over.

We headed back to London for the day before flying out the next. Met up with some Bajan friends for sushi, went to a bar and then back to the hotel for a good rest before our early flight home.

It was such a great trip. I had so much fun with Darin, just me and him was so nice and new for us. 10 years together and that was our first trip together, hard to believe but it's true. Now we know we can hang out together for 9 days and have a fun time with each other. I loved our trip and look forward to the next one we go on together! We're thinking Italy in 5 years, lets see if it happens :) Love you babe!

A Rough Season of Life

It's been a while now, but I just wasn't sure how to write about our experience. I feel like I can write about it now from a better place emotionally. So here it goes....at the end of December we were pleasantly surprised with the news of a new little one on the way! Couldn't wait to see Gem be a big sister, told our close friends and family who were also so excited. Went to the dr. it was to early for a heartbeat but I was due September 14th, a perfect day. My parents flew in for Gem's birthday that weekend and that day before they arrived I started bleeding. I texted a girls group that I wasn't well and couldn't make our brunch date when one of them called to make sure I was ok and I lost it on the phone. She immediately came to get me and take me to the emergency clinic while another friend came to get Gem (Darin unfortunately wasn't in town). From one place to another, I heard a heartbeat and felt a huge relief, it was the best sound ever, YOU were safe. I was put on bed rest for a week until my next appointment. My parents arrived and were so happy to spend their whole vacation helping me with Gem, cooking and cleaning. Darin arrived the next day, he couldn't get home fast enough the day before. At some point in the week I had a miscarriage, I had no pain, not a lot of bleeding, no fever, nothing....so going back to our week appointment, we were really hopeful that YOU were still in there safe. You only know the feeling if you've been through it, when the dr has the ultrasound on your belly and can't find the heartbeat.....floods and I mean floods of tears just come over you as your heart breaks into a trillion little pieces, you sit and try to listen to the dr, but you just can't pay attention anymore, it's a feeling I wish on no family. My parents were there when we got back to give us good long hugs that we needed so desperately. Gem just went about her day, laughing, playing, asking us to play in the pool and with her toys, a part of me is so thankful she was too young to know what happened because i'm not sure how I would of got through that with out her bubble of happiness. She reminded us that every life is precious no matter how young and there is still a life to live with her and we can try again to give her that little sibling she deserves.

Mommy, Daddy and your big sister Gemma love you so so much, you were a gift from above and we'll never forget your 6 precious weeks of time with us. All in Gods hands, something just wasn't right....it's true when they say that a miscarriage is a little baby to good for this earth, God has plans for you with him and that's ok. See you one-day little angel of ours xoxo.