Settling in

We can't believe February is practically here. It's been a busy couple of weeks as we get settled in. Our household effects from both DC and Berlin as well as our air freight arrived, so we've been busy unpacking boxes and getting things organized. David's parents joined us for a visit--Nicholas loved hanging out with Grandma and Grandpa, and they were a huge help as David especially worked to unpack and put together the nursery furniture. We are still waiting on our car, though. Port of Spain is definitely a driving city so we are a bit stuck until it arrives. Our biggest frustration, though, is that our diplo-cat Moe is still in Ohio. The plan had been for David's parents to bring him when they came, but Delta wouldn't let him on the plane. Long story short, he is still in Ohio and David will make a quick trip home to get him and bring him to Trinidad. We are experiencing some problems here in Trinidad with the quarantine, though, because the workers are on strike so they are not letting people in to visit their pets. We don't really want to bring Moe into this kind of situation so we are hoping the strike is resolved soon, and are waiting until the end of the month to go get him.

Other than that we are getting settled and starting to meet people. We are still looking for a nanny, another thing that is proving to be a challenge. We are keeping our hopes up, though.


On the up and up, we've now made two trips to the beach. We rented a car while David's parents were here, and David got to try his hand at right-hand drive, on windy roads through the mountains, none-the-less, in order to get to Maracas Bay. Here are some pics from our first few weeks in T&T:

This is at movie town, an open-air mall/movie theater/cluster of restaurants. It was calypso night.

Movie town-- we tried the Irish pub

Nicholas in his paw-print robe after a bath

the park in our neighborhood is right on the water. We were able to reach over the fence and zoom in on the crabs hanging out on the rocks.

view of downtown Port of Spain from our neighborhood park

the park

We can't believe Nicholas is 4 months old already!

a colleague lent us this bouncer chair which was a lifesaver before our things arrived.

David participated in (and won) the first annual embassy gold tournament, at a private club nearby called St. Andrews.

this was our stuff from Berlin arriving--miraculously not one piece of polish pottery was broken. Good job, Interdean!

Our first trip to the beach (Maracas Bay), last Sunday with Grandma and Grandpa Machak.

we had to stop for our Bake and Shark sandwich, just like the locals

this boat came pretty close to shore

we were invited up to the beach again this weekend with colleagues. the weather wasn't as nice--overcast and a bit windy--but we still had a great time

somebody was all tuckered out and took a nap on dad's lap, covered up of course

some of the locals were flying a kite until it got caught in the trees


So, we'll have a relaxing Sunday and another week of work. Hopefully we'll get our car soon so we can go enjoy the panyards and some of the carnival activities. We probably won't participate in carnival itself much because we're pretty sure most of it is not kid-friendly and we don't have a nanny yet, but we'll observe and get ready for next year.

We're in Trinidad!

We made it safely to Trinidad! One the way, we had a great time visiting Uncle Tom, Aunt Sam, cousins Ted and David, and Grandad in Atlanta. We also enjoyed our time in Miami although the city was experiencing the coldest temperatures in a decade. We've finally reached the heat now, and it's flip flops for the next two years.


It doesn't look like we'll be getting our things for a few more weeks or even a month, and we are told we won't get our car until the end of February even though it is already in country. It takes several weeks to get through customs and then we are going to be entering carnival time, when no work gets done during the celebrations. We will be laying low this year for carnival, since we don't have transportation or a babysitter yet. Port of Spain is definitely a driving city, so we will have to wait a while before we really get to start exploring.

On the up and up, we have internet and cable in our house, and we are in a safe neighborhood within walking distance to a grocery store, pharmacy, and mall.


Here are a mix of pictures: our last few days in Ohio, our travels to Atlanta and Miami, and our new home in Trinidad.


random pic-- taking a snooze

snoozing on Grandma's bed.... Nicholas doesn't really nap all that much but when he does he's so cute we take lots of pictures



watching the Rose Bowl

with Grandpa.... O...H....I.....O

in Atlanta, Nicholas got to meet his Great Grandad Rhodes

so... the story here is that we called a car company and ordered a suburban to take us to and from the airport and hotel, since 12 pieces of luggage, a stroller, and a baby in a carseat are enough to make any taxi cab driver run. Apparently, when the driver got his job, he wasn't sure all our stuff was going to fit into a suburban (in our defense, it did) so he brought a stretch limo instead (and still only charged us for the suburban!). So, we arrived at the hotel in style. It was probably the first time the inside of that limo had ever seen a 3 1/2 month old baby!

it was so cold in Miami--Nicholas still had to wear his hat!

view from our hotel balcony

tuckered out after playing with puppy


ok now the Trinidad pics:

view from the street outside our house

the front of our house

on the other side of an empty lot in our neighborhood, you can see the ocean

... so our request for a house with a boat dock on the ocean wasn't so unrealistic afterall... :-)

Apparently necessary sign outside the local grocery store, an IGA, just like in Granville (also known here in Trinidad as "Hi-Lo".

now Nicholas can do his tummy time in just his diaper!

so cute

ready to go explore the neighborhood

high vaulted ceilings -- we have them in our kitchen downstairs and also upstairs in all three bedrooms.

Our back patio

The stairs to the second floor have gates

Merry Christmas!!!!

Christmas finally arrived! It was technically a white Christmas with snow on the ground, but it actually rained all day and by Saturday the snow was gone. As I write on Sunday night, though, it is snowing again. We had a great time with lots of family coming over for Christmas Eve, and just the five of us on Christmas day. We went to the Christmas Even candlelight service at Warren Presbyterian which was very nice. Saturday was a lounge around the house kind of day, and we worked on a family puzzle-- a pheasant picture. Then Christy and David got to go on a date night-- Outback for dinner and then we saw Couples Retreat. Sunday we drove to Pittsburgh and had a nice brunch with Uncle Gene and Aunt Joyce. We went to Pamela's Diner, a favorite of President Obama. Then we visited Christy's friend Becky from Denison and watched the Steelers pull off a win over the Ravens!


with Becky, and sporting my new "City of Champions" t-shirt

the developing bald spot and consequential mullet developing on the back of Nicholas' head (sorry teenage Nicholas, I know you won't appreciate this picture in 15 years)

in his new golf hat Christmas morning

airplane time with daddy

in our new monogrammed Ralph Lauren polos from GG and Grandpa Rhodes

stockings!

sporting the sunglasses, all ready for Trinidad!

early Christmas morning... we started with the reindeer outfit but Nicholas wasn't a fan

Christmas Eve with cousin Siena

Christmas Eve dinner

cookies!

Christmas morning with our cool dude

with cousin Shawn

Christmas Eve presents

and more presents... Nicholas took a short snooze

Aunt Jenny and Aunt Rose

with Mommy and Siena

so much attention it was time for a nap

with Uncle Andy

reindeer toes

I'm almost as big as Pooh!

This week we'll be busy packing, organizing, and doing last minute things before we head off to Trinidad. Our next post will more than likely be from Trinidad, so it might be a while as we don't know how long it will take to get internet in our new home. We leave on Sunday and get to visit Great-Grandad Rhodes, and Uncle Tom and Aunt Sam and cousins Ted and David in Atlanta. We also get to stop in Miami on the way. Happy New Year's everyone!