there's a volcano on the island...

In case you didn't know, there is a volcano on our island! A few weekends ago I hiked the Quill with a few friends, Eric was busy in the classroom doing his study thing. We have hiked before together and had a blast, it was just as fun the second time around. 

History: The Quill is a volcano located on the island of Sint Eustatius in the Caribbean Netherlands. 

The summit elevation is 601 meters- 1,972 feet above sea level. 

The name Quill originates for the Dutch term "kuil" meaning pit or hole. Makes sense, right? : ) 

QUILL 

 we ran into an entire "herd" of crabs

 termite infested tree 

at the top...but not in the mood for pictures...ha

 us at the top when we hiked the first time 

statia fall

Halloween? What's that? It's kinda hard to get into the Halloween spirit or even Fall spirit when you live on a tropical island. The fact that Halloween does not exist on Statia makes it even harder. Sometimes I really just wanna throw on a pair of jeans and some cute fall boots and enjoy some hot chocolate, but who am I kidding?...that can wait...I'm on a freakin' island right now! I better live it up while I can! To help get into the fall spirit I got a little crafty this weekend and made a fun little pumpkin decor for our little home. And believe me, you have to be real creative around here when not everything is at your fingertips! While most of you are sipping hot chocolate and wearing your cute fall boots, I'll be at the beach : ) 

Happy Fall and almost Halloween! 

fresh treats

Hazel FINALLY had tomatoes the other day and I was thrilled! The tropical storms we had this summer wiped out the tomatoes plants : ( I also picked up a few other goodies including bananas and Eric's favorite, figs! Figs have become our new favorite thing, they look and have the same texture as bananas but have a much sweeter taste, and are have the size. We can't get enough! 

bananas, figs and tomoatoes 

yummy figs when they are ripe 

guavas! 

fresh garden tomatoes 

YUMmmm...anyone who wants to come visit, I promise to take you to Hazel's garden! 

sandy sandcastle

We had some fun times at the beach this week, swimming, snorkeling and building sandcastles! 

smart start, statia style

OKAY...this morning I was in the grocery store buying cereal and came across this bag of Smart Start and decided it was totally blog worthy and put a nice smile on my face.

 There were 2 boxes of Smart Start on the shelf that were completely crushed and marked $5.22 (the normal price) and next to the completely crushed boxes were bag after bag of the exact same cereal with the front of the box cut off and taped to the front of the bag...they must have been so completely crushed when they received them in shipment that they had to take the bags out of the boxes. At least they were kind enough to cut the expiration date off and tape that on the front. They were also kind enough to mark down the price $1.22 bringing a bag of Smart Start with the box label taped to the bag to $4.00. 

What could make your day better than this? 

it finally came!

Eric's sister Anna sent us a package a few months ago in hopes that it might get here in August for our 1/2 birthdays, but seeing as we live on a teeny tiny island, everything travels to us by boat...which means it may take a few weeks OR months to get here. We have been anxiously awaiting our surprise package and we finally received it yesterday! I took a few jumping pictures as requested {don't mind the sweaty pits, we live in the Caribbean}

IT CAME! 

twizzlers! a mixed cd! kool-aid!..and much more!

MIDWAY to HEAVEN

 ALL our goodies 

5 whole months

Another month has gone by and today Eric and I are celebrating 5 whole months as husband and wife!