Nicholas goes to the Water Park

We are keeping busy as usual. The dry season is finally here, sort of. We've still been getting some rain but not as much as usual. We had a nice weekend, going to a free concert at NAPA (National Academy of the Performing Arts). It was a percussion concert and included a guest performer who is a professor at the University of Delaware and a lady who is in Christy's book club who works at the University of Trinidad and Tobago. It was family friendly so Nicholas went too. He managed to shout "yay!" at a key moment, getting a good laugh.

Sunday we got an invite from friends to head to the water park. Another adventure for Nicholas. Lots of pictures below. Sunday night David made fish. Inspired by a show on the Food Network, he traded our neighbors two mangos from our tree for a banana leaf from theirs, and cooked the fish in the banana leaf on the grill.

In work news, Christy gets to spent 3 weeks on a rotation in the Political Section starting Monday, so that should be a good experience.


fish in a banana leaf

getting ready to go on the grill

at the water park

Nicholas went on the big slide with mommy and daddy

Nicholas was a little scared of the palm tree waterfall

There were little slides, too!

in our neighborhood....

we finally found mint in Trinidad for the first time (at the gourmet shop Malabar Farms), so David made mojitos! (The rum was easier to find).

our future soccer star (he tripped at the end, but don't worry, he is fine)

A New Slide for Nicholas

Now that the holidays are over, it's kind of nice to have warm weather. While shopping at Pricemart Saturday morning we found a great deal on a marked-down, last one left slide for Nicholas for the yard. He's a big fan. Saturday afternoon Christy cashed in her spa gift certificate at the Hyatt (a very thoughtful Christmas gift from David), and enjoyed an afternoon of pampering while Daddy played with Nicholas. She also had a chance to sit down and read her Real Simple magazine and is now inspired to get organized for 2011. Sunday was mostly a hang around at home day, but we did make sorrel, finally. It's actually supposed to be a Christmas drink, and we bought the fresh sorrel flowers but never got around to making it. Technically it's not done yet because it has to sit overnight before straining out the flowers, but hopefully it turned out ok. Other than that we watched a little football, got a few things done around the house, tested out the new playground, and took a wagon ride to the park.



just hanging out on my new play ground



"hi daddy, look at me!"

getting ready to go....

wheeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ok let's try climbing up the way I came down

Christy's pedicure

cucumber water.... inspired by the spa. it's very refreshing

Moe cat like's Nicholas's play area--when Nicholas is not in it

sorrel flowers

to make sorrel: boil water with cinnamon and cloves, add in the sorrel petals, boil for two minutes, and let sit over night. strain, bottle, refridgerate. dilute with water (or clear soda) to serve, or serve hot like spiced wine. yummy!

In other news, the mangos are back on our mango tree. This is a welcome development. We can't wait for dry season to finally get here! Nicholas is saying "woof, woof" a lot. At dogs, but also at Moe, his rubber ducky, and other things. He's also blowing kisses, giving high fives, and being generally cute, if not a bit short tempered.

Next weekend we get a three day weekend for MLK, but we'll be hanging around as Christy is duty officer, aka on call for any Amcit emergencies.

Old Year's Day--Caroni Swamp Tour

In Trinidad New Year's Eve is Old Year's Day. Makes sense. Since we had the day off, we went with some friends from the embassy to the Caroni Bird Sanctuary for a Swamp Tour. But first, some scanned uploads:


Santa was at the mall in Trinidad too.

And Ohio!

New Year's Day dinner-- cheese fondue in our new fondue pot--Thanks Uncle Tom, Aunt Sam, Ted, and David!

For New Year's Eve we were going to have a Trini tradition: black eyed peas and rice. This plan was foiled by bugs getting into the rice because the lid wasn't sealed on the rubbermaid container. The joys of the Caribbean. So, we had the beans over pasta instead, with pumpkin, okra, and eggplant. Looked a little funny but still tasted good. The rice debacle also ruined our cabbage roll plan but we'll have those later this week once the grocery store is open again.

On to Caroni Swamp:

getting ready to get on the boat

The whole point of the tour was to see the Scarlet Ibis. This is our camera on super-zoom and the red does are the birds, on an island across the swamp where they go to feed in the evenings. David tried out his new waterproof binoculars and they worked pretty well.

The Ibises flying in.

Caroni Swamp

observation tower that we did not stop and climb up

mangrove trees

yes, that's a snake. we also saw a few caymans

our tour guide

Nicholas on his first boat ride

lookin' cute

temper tantrum on the floor of the boat

happier in this pic

the boats

New Year's Eve Christy went to a friend's party for about an hour but came home before midnight so we could count down together. Except Trinidad is an hour behind New York and all our clocks are different so we're not quite sure exactly when midnight struck. We did our own countdown and had some champagne anyway. Then we waited an hour and counted down with NYC.

New Year's day we just hung around the house, watched some football, and put the Christmas stuff away. Will try to get some pool time in on Sunday.

Best Wishes for 2011!