Featured

My blog was featured on Pet Blogs United this week.  Rough week to be featured but for everyone coming over from there..I promise we have fun normally. 
Cali says "Welcome!" with a little ETS

Remembering

Jason's mother passed away on August 18th at 11:12AM at 60 years old...two days after we put Henry down and on what would have been his 13th birthday.  We were able to make it to Charlotte to be with his family and her in the end.  We had a wonderful service for her this past Thursday.  She was an amazing artist, mother and grandmother. 
We had decorated the church with all of her artwork.  The stage had some of the best work and Jason's dad had a wonderful powerpoint presentation of some great memories

 The foyer was covered in her artwork.  This is one side ..all four sides had this much and more.

One of my favorite things she did was our wedding cake at our reception.  We asked for a wine themed cake and she delivered.

We will miss her dearly.  Jason is still with his Dad to help him through this time. 
While waiting for the service to start on Thursday, I received the call that Henry's ashes were ready.  Timing is everything, huh?
Now that I am back home with my furry ones, I can get back to my new normal without Henry.  I downloaded the photos off my camera and foudn the last photo I took of him the day of...he was such a good boy.

We have definitely had a rough week.  I am hoping everyone else in our family stays healthy for a while..I don't think our mental health can take another hit.  But I am thankful for everything we have and am definitely trying to enjoy every moment.
Happy and fluffy blog posts will resume.. 

Henry

I wanted to do a video..or something to honor my boy, but the words and creativity escape me right now.  He fought hard and was strong until the end.  He found us late in life but we cherished every minute with him.  Hemangiosarcoma eventually won.  To date..it was the hardest thing we've had to do.  But I needed to tell my blogger friends.
Rest in Peace and Run Free my sweet Henry.  Such a good boy.
WR Red Eye August 18, 1999-August 16, 2012

We love you.

 We will miss him forever.  Good bye, Bubbie..
And now we head to Charlotte, Jason's mom has been moved to hospice.  2012 has been a rough year.

St. John 2012

For Jason's 40th birthday, we rented a villa in St. John with some of our closest friends.  It was on the 'quiet side' of the island and we just enjoyed doing very little for a whole week. 
We had to take a ferry from St. Thomas first.  The US Virgin Islands are really very beautiful.

 After arriving on to St. John, we got our rental car and headed to Coral Cove Villa.  

There had been a bad lightning storm the day before we arrived, so we had no power for a few hours.  AFter a day of traveling ( literally a full day), we found ways to enjoy ourselves.  The villa was perfectly situated.

 The next day, we had power..so sun and relaxation were on the menu. 
The house is on the left..this was taken from the rocks near the pool

 The rocks near the pool..we called that stick the Praying Mantis all week.  Resembled it most of the time

 Sunrise was beautiful from the side porch

 This was the view from the outdoor dining table/gazebo and also the view from my room which was directly to the right of this photo

  This is the main room. All the bedrooms were separated and air conditioned. This room was not but did not need to be. All the doors opened and a great breeze was always there.

 Our bedroom.  They all had balconies or patios..but we spent most of our time in the main room

 The side porch where we spent most evenings. The chairs viewed the sunrise but had direct sun through the morning, so they were great for afternoon naps. ;-)

We had donkeys visit us a couple of days.  We discovered they enjoyed stale french bread and would let us pet them while they were eating.

 Gyeong tries to make friends too

Camera 1

 Camera 2

The snorkeling was fantastic at our house.  Everywhere you went in to the ocean, the was live coral and great fishes to be found.

 Since St. John is mostly a national preserve, the snorkeling is fantastic everywhere. So on Monday, we chartered a sailboat for a day of snorkeling and scuba.  They took us to three different places around the chain of islands. Jason, me, Gyeong, Kristen and Susan on the boat!

 Kristen and I

 The trip itself was breath taking..

 

 

 Susan and Jason did scuba while Kristen, Gyeong and I remained topside and snorkeled.

 

 

 Susan navigates the coral while scubaing

The weather was perfect, the water was crystal clear and warm and the fish were plentiful.

 The soft coral was everywhere..fans galore!

 Gyeong tried to coax a few fish in to his pocket for dinner..but he did come away with a pretty nasty bit on his finger..he wanted to touch them!!

 We did attract the attention of a local predator..but luckily they are just menacing and not dangerous. But whenever we thought he was gone, he would emerge from the shadows and just stare at us.  He was usually about 3-4 feet away and quiet ominous!!!

I have done a lot of snorkeling in a lot of different regions of the Caribbean but I have never seen a sea turtle in the wild.  I was very hopeful for this trip since they are very common in USVI.  We stopped at a calm bay to have lunch and we jumped in the water to snorkel while the lunch was being prepared.  And right below me!!!

 We ended up seeing two more..but I only got photos of this one..I was very excited!!!
The Cloud 9 crew was awesome and we really enjoyed having the boat to ourselves.  Such a great day!!
A few days later, we jumped in the car and headed to some out of the way bays to snorkel.   We went to Sugar Bay and Lameshur Bay..both very secluded with great snorkeling

 Biggest fish we saw by far (except the Barracuda)..easily 1-2 feet long.

 On the way back, we realized we were on the hill above the house. So the red roof in the middle of the photo, is our villa.  The peninsula is where the praying mantis lives.

 For Jason's birthday, we had a chef come to the house and prepare us a gourmet meal.The chef did eventually have to kick Jason out of the kitchen 

 Not a bad view

 We did venture out occasionally to sample the fare on the island.  Miss Lucy's was a wonderful brunch location on the water.

 And Sweet Plaintains had a great rum tasting

 It was a wonderful vacation.  I feel sure Gyeong will have his blog up shortly with more photos (he had a great time with the hermit crabs!).  But I do wish I could do this every day....

 The fur kids were happy to have us home.  We have a wonderful petsitter who lives at our house while we travel.  So they are well taken care of in our absence.  But they were very happy to have us home!