Getting settled and some delays

We've had another really nice week on the island despite news that our shipping container is delayed until March 17th -- why does it take eight weeks for a boat to get from Baltimore to Antigua we are wondering!?!?.

On Saturday we had lunch at our neighbor's restaurant Chez Pascal -- a fantastic restaurant at the top of Galley Bay Hill that feels a bit more like the Mediterranean then the Caribbean -- "perhaps due to the French music playing in the background,” said Pascal. Whatever the case, it was a great way to pass a Saturday afternoon and Madeline was on her best behavior, sitting like a lady for almost two hours as we enjoyed escargot, lobster salad, gazpacho, fish soup, and grilled snapper, topped off with an aperitif of aged Antiguan rum. On Sunday we drove to English Harbor to tour around the historic Nelson's Dockyard with Sam Park, a colleague of Preston's in for the week from Washington. We saw all of the one-man rowboats that recently completed a race across the Atlantic from London to Antigua. The winner took about three months to complete the trip, and we think he is still recuperating on the island. We also went up to Shirley Heights for the weekly Sunday BBQ and steel band music festival. Shirley Heights provides an amazing view of the island, sunset and the mega yachts and mega sailboats parked in English Harbor. A reggae band comes on at 8 o'clock but we had to leave to take Madeline home to bed before that got started. Next item of business: find babysitter!



On Wednesday, Madeline and Amanda started weekly "Mommy and Me" swim classes at Jolly Harbor. There was only one other little girl in the class, a two year old who was swimming on her own after only four months of lessons. We think she intimidated Madeline, who decided to scream the entire time, so we're trying again on Saturday. Tonight we started the weekend early with happy hour at Coconut Grove -- a nice place to have drinks on the beach while watching the sunset. We finally saw the famous "green flash"... and after all the hype, I'm not sure what all the fuss is about. In fact, I think the 'flash' is actually caused from staring at the sun for so long in anticipation of it , or the number of drinks consumed leading up to sunset, but at least we can now say that we saw it.

We’re most excited about the arrival of our first guest next week…”Ma Orr” “Nana Pat” or “Mom” as the various members of our household call her. We hope she survives the ten day trip without her daily dose of Chris Matthews. Look for a guest blog entry from her next week.

Welcome

Welcome to our blog! What can we say? We have a lot of free time down here and what better way to fill it than writing narcissistic journal entries about our new life.



We've been here two weeks and so far, we are really enjoying life here. Preston has actually been here for three months already so he probably feels like a native, but for Amanda and Madeline, life feels like an extended vacation. Our house is in the Galley Bay/Five Islands section of the island, a more remote, but beautiful part of the island. Not many of the ex-pats live in this section, but we thought the chance to live right on the beach was worth the potential trade off of driving a little bit further to see friends. No, we don't have any friends here yet, but we're pretty sure they don't live near us since we only have four neighbors -- our landlord, Max and Annemarie; Florence and Pascal, the owners of Chez Pascal, a wonderful French restaurant up the hill from us; Natalie, whom we haven't met yet but we understand she owns one of the duty free shops in town; and of course, the neighbor we really want to meet, Giorgio Armani.




Our house has a great little pool that has proved very handy in alleviating the midday heat. Our house does not have any air conditioning which makes me, Amanda, a bit nervous, but the locals say that with the ceiling fans and the ocean breeze, you don't need it. So far that seems to be the case, although it is only February after all. We literally keep our house wide open all day long in the front and back so that the breeze flows right through the house and keeps it cool. Occassionally a lost bird or a nosy lizard will find their way into the main great room but Madeline's excited chasing after them usually gets them out pretty quickly.



Speaking of lizards, chasing them has become a favorite pasttime of Madeline's. She can't quite understand why they run away from her so quickly, so we suggested she say "hi" so they know she's friendly. Now she runs after them, waving her arms and saying hi. They're still running, but she's getting closer and closer to catching one.