Reunions, anniversary, and floods...

Lots of things happened this past week. It didn't seem possible to us but this weekend was our 10 year High School reunion, 5 year College reunion, and Friday marked our 5th Anniversary! We like to do things all at once! We decided to take a trip, just the 2 of us, for our Anniversary so we left on Thursday to go to beautiful Isabela, Puerto Rico. We slept in Thursday morning and then drove up there. We checked into our hotel and then relaxed for a while before heading to our first adventure. Here's a picture of a rock at the turn to go to Isabella and the view from the balcony of our hotel room. It was amazing!

We then left to go horseback riding on the beach and through a forest area...very interesting. It started out nice and then we realized we had the guide from hell! First of all - my horse, Peanut, is apparently scared of the water. Once we go to the beach when the waves would come near Peanut would bolt. Then of course the guide thought it was amusing and started letting his horse run. Mind you we were all beginners to intermediate horseback riders, didn't know how to sit on the saddle correctly to run, etc. Not the funnest thing we could have done. Then he starts letting the f word fly and just turned weird. We got off the horses to walk on the beach where we did learn some interesting things. We were on the beach (Survivor Beach) just below what used to be Ramey Air Force Base. They don't use the base anymore but for an airport now - the same place we went to the airshow several weeks ago. They still send out planes and helicopters to search the waters for Domincans trying to come to PR. They also find packages that Domincans have sent floating in the ocean. I thought that was interesting. We did see several planes flying over while we were on our trip. After walking on the beach for a while we mounted the horses and took off for home. It was, of course, pouring down rain by this time so we were soaked. He didn't make us ride on the beach too long before letting us go on trails through the forest. I was perfectly happy with that because there were no more waves! The problem was now that our guide was hitting on the girl in front of me. Trying to get her number, trying to get her to kiss him, etc. It was pretty uncomfortable! When we got closer to the stables he stopped us all to tell us not to tell the owner that we went running on the horses because he could get fired for it...very interesting ride! Here are some pictures of Courtney on Spirit, me on Peanut, and some pictures the jerk guide took while we were on the beach.

After the horseback ride we went to our hotel and took hot showers because we were cold and soaked. Then we went to dinner at the bar/grill at our hotel. It was really good. By this time the rain had stopped so we hung out there for a while and then went to bed early. We both ended up losing our sunglasses on the horseback trip so we had to get up the next morning to go buy some new sunnies. We drove all over looking for a place to buy them. We ended up finding a place called "Bye Bye Brasil" where they had all sorts of neat things. We got our glasses and talked to the owner for a while who was really nice. Then we decided to just take it easy for the day at the beach. On our way to the first beach, Shacks, we got a message from Courtney's step-mom saying their basement had flooded - and I mean FLOODED - and all of our stuff that was there is gone. Happy Anniversary! We feel so bad for them. The water came all the way up to the floor boards of the top floor and was rushing out the back door. We were keeping our washer & dryer there, Courtney's memorabilia, his drill & saw, etc. It can all be replaced, right? We hung out and snorkeled at Shacks for a while and saw some really cool fish and a coral reef. Then we went to eat at "Happy Belly". After lunch we drove to a beach called Posa Clara, we think. It was so neat! There's a huge rock that blocks off the waves and ocean from this shallow pool. Perfect place to take kids! We even enjoyed the shallow pool! We were excited because we think it will be a great beach to take Marilyn & Cole when they come in July. Here's some pictures from Posa Clara.

Aside from some unfortunate happenings we had a great Anniversary! We can't believe we've been married for 5 years already. I know, I know, for people who have been married for much longer it doesn't seem like much but it was a big deal to us. Courtney gave me a lovely watch and I gave him a clock that has engraving on it. We're going with a time theme for our marriage - I gave him a watch on our wedding day so I had to get him something else for the Anniversary. I also made him a DVD of our time together. I'll bring it home this summer if anyone wants to see it! One of Katie's friends from South Dakota came here last night so we'll probably be doing some fun things with her this week. Today, however, is reserved for laundry which I almost done with! I hope everyone has a great week and you may now start counting down the days until you see us...just kidding...unless that is you really want to!

Welcome to Puero Rico, Clamurro!

First of all...school's out for summer - school's out forever...or at least until August 6th that is! Our students finished classes on Wednesday of last week. It was a little sad to see them go but I know I'll see them tomorrow for their promotion ceremony and I'll see them next year. We had to stay at work until 5:00 last Monday and then 3:00 each day after. This week we're supposed to be there until 3:00 each day but Courtney & I will not be there Thursday and Friday because we're going on a vacation. Friday will be our 5 year anniversary so we're going away from Thursday - Saturday. The 4 of us (Marshes & Dills) got all of our things done for school on the first day so we'v been watching movies and playing games and I'm sure more of the same will be done this week. Really it's quite boring! On Friday evening Dr. Clamurro arrived from Emporia. After an interesting pick-up at the airport we finally made our way to Guayama. We stopped at Guavate and had some excellent roasted lechon (pork). It was a lovely evening. We got up yesterday morning and drove to Ponce to see the art museum. The museum was much better this time around. If you recall, when we went in April I had a fever so I wasn't too excited about being there. We had lunch at the boardwalk in Ponce and after that we drove to Maunabo and went to our favorite beach around here. Katie and I tried out boogie boarding and it was a little rough. The waves really pounded us which meant we couldn't just swim either. It was fun though - very relaxing as a day at the beach always is. Here's Courtney & Clamurro at the boardwalk and some of the boats there. It is proof that he was here people! Then there's us at the beach and Katie and I with our beautiful boogie boards.

After the beach we went to a lovely dinner filled with fabulous conversation and then it happened...something Courtney has been trying to get done for YEARS...Clamurro agreed to watch a Zombie movie with him!! He was so excited! They watched Night of the Living Dead ...well, Clamurro watched it, Courtney fell asleep! This morning we slept in a little and then drove to Old San Juan. We walked around Fort San Cristobal. Then we walked down to around where the cruise ships dock because we were to meet a friend and former student of Clamurro because he's staying with him tonight. His friend works in San Juan and lives around there. Clamurro leaves tomorrow morning and we can't take him to the airport because we have our promotion ceremonies. We had a lovely time with Clamurro - fast and jam packed but lovely! I think my sister is coming in a few weeks so I'm excited about that. I still don't know exactly when but I think she is... I'll have more pictures next weekend from our trip to Isabel. We're going horseback riding, ice skating, etc. so it should be a lot of fun. Here's some pictures of our adventures in Viejo San Juan today. Have a great week!

Fun Pictures

I just thought these were some fun pictures that I haven't posted yet. I had never seen a jelly fish before and really had no idea what they looked like. When Brent's parents were here we went to our friend Jorge's beach (that's what we call it at least) and Courtney and I saw this purple inflated thing. Courtney tried to pop it with a stick but it wouldn't. Then we saw this couple carrying one on some leaves and then we saw a tiny one...they all looked the same! We finally went to get Brent's dad, Rick, because he's a vet and we figured he'd know. We found out they were all jelly fish. There have been so many around these beaches lately. Clate had a friend in town this past weekend and they went to Vieques to the bio bay. Aubrey got into the water to swim around and got a jelly fish wrapped around her leg! When she got out they poured vinegar on it and had to pull the tenticles out! Gross! Anyway - here's a picture of one of them from Jorge's beach. I had no idea that's what they looked like! The other picture is Courtney & I snorkeling. We took a self portrait underwater with our underwater camera. It was difficult but we did it...looks pretty good, don't ya think? Have a great rest of the week! :)

That was one crazy weekend!

We had an interesting week and weekend here in Puerto Rico. This past Thursday was "student's day" and Friday was "Teacher's day". We knew we wouldn't have school on Friday for Teacher's day, a big deal here in PR, but we didn't know we'd be out early on Thursday for the kids! On Wednesday afternoon they told us they had decided to dismiss students at 11:00 on Thursday. We were pretty excited because we had already set up a party here at Casa Benny for that afternoon. We dismissed at 11:00 on Thursday, had a lunch catered by various teachers, had a cocktail hour at 2:00 in the library (complete with wine...you know how our school loves their wine!) and then it was back home to celebrate. We had the most people that have ever come to our parties. We even took out our TV and Brent's Xbox so everyone could join us with our new obsession...the Karaoke game. Courtney made an awesome Sangria and we partied until 12:30. It was a long afternoon! Here's some pics from our party...we have the girls (Katie, Kisha, me, and Lisa); me, Katie, Mr. Reyes, (our Spanish teacher) and his wife; Courtney singing "American Woman" with Mrs. Curet, the elementary PE teacher; and Katie and I being goofy with Mr. Zayas, the computer teacher. I was busy the rest of the time so that's really all the pictures that were taken!

We were supposed to have a fun filled Friday for Teacher's day but we were pretty tired and the patio was a mess so we stayed home. We spent Friday doing dishes, laundry, cleaning, and hanging out. Yesterday we got up early and headed to San Juan to get on the boat, the banana boat (singing the song yet?!). We have an Entertainment Book from the school filled with coupons and one of them was pay for one ride, get the 2nd free. It was us, the Dills, and Mendez. When we got there Courtney decided he didn't want to go so he stayed at a bar so we could park our car there without getting in trouble. The coupon was very deceiving and we ended up only getting one free ride (should have been 2!) but anyway. We hopped on and away we went. It was crazy! If you don't know what I'm talking abut it's an inflated banana that has straps on it. They pull it behind a boat with you holding on for dear life. We were holding on through the salt water getting splashed in our faces and noses running all the while the drivers are trying to throw us off. Katie and I were freaked out about being thrown because last year at this same beach there were lots of sharks...feels safe, huh?! We were going along doing great when Brent and Katie got thrown off together. I ended up in the middle so I wasn't in the water. They got back on and we went for a long while (it's a 20 minute ride that felt like an eternity!) when it happened. I got bucked off. Mendez was the only one who stayed on the whole time. We later found out he was signaling to the drivers which way to go to throw us...how rude! The beach we were at is the same beach where Roberto Clemente's plane went down. We were actually on the beach where the people of Puerto Rico stood for a long time waiting for him to walk up out of the water because they couldn't believe he was gone. Much of that was because they never found his body. The beach is right behind the airport and not far from Roberto's hometown of Carolina. Enough of a history lesson - moving on - here's a picture of us before the ride.

After the ride we went to the bar where Courtney was and had a drink to calm our nerves and then we headed out for lunch. We drove to Loiza which is a town famous for it's masks and festivals involving the mask. If you've been to our house (wink, wink) you probably remember a giant mask hanging on our living room wall. This is much like a mask you would find in Loiza. We ate at a restaurant that we had a coupon for but again the coupon was deceiving. It worked out for Courtney and me but not for the Dills. I had to take a picture of what Mendez ordered. I'm fine with fish - love fish - but only if it doesn't still have eyes and teeth!!! I also took a picture of the Dills and a self portrait of the Marshes...say cheese!

We were so sore this morning from our ride yesterday! You don't realize how much work you put your body through when trying to hold on to an inflated banana! When we got home yesterday we had to get showered and ready for our first Guayama Brujos basketball game. I wrote last week that we wanted to go but the tickets were sold out. At our party Thursday we talked with Manny, the baseball player, about the game on Saturday. He picked Courtney up Friday morning and took him to get tickets. He got us 2nd row seats so we went to the game last night. It was awesome! That's kind of funny because Courtney & I aren't really in to basketball but it was a blast! We didn't get to meet him but we did see the player from Kansas. He's the biggest player on the team at 6 feet 10 inches and possibly their best player! He really did a great job until he got tired. He played the entire first quarter, most of the 2nd, most of the 3rd, and most of the 4th. The game then went in to double overtime! We were ahead for the entire game until the last few seconds, went down in points, tied, and went to overtime. In the first overtime it was back and forth and then with 1 second left we tied it again! The 2nd overtime we ended up winning I believe 107-102. We had a great time! That's the KS boy - number 35, Matt Freije (Free-hee).

Today was spent shopping for grocceries at the Super Wal-Mart in Santa Isabel because they've closed down Pueblo, the groccery store just up the street. We have school all of this week and then Monday through Wednesday the week after...and we get out at 11:00 those days! I can't believe our time is 1/2 over and this school year is basically over! Things are nuts! Hope you all have a great week and we'll see you in 2 months!!

Kittens and Karaoke...

Well - I still don't have the pictures to show you to explain the excitement of last Monday. I'll try to explain it and hopefully will have some pictures this week. Last Monday I laid in bed and said to my hubby, " Wouldn't it be great if we got to school and there was no electricity so they would send us home?" That was met with a laugh from Courtney, we got ready for school, and left. When we got there, you guessed it, no electricity! If you recall this happened once already and we were electricity-less for 4 hours. We went to get the kids and took them into our dark rooms. One of my boys came to me and said, "Missy there's a rabbit in the hallway." Okay there are no rabbits in Puerto Rico...what are you talking about? After hearing this 3 times I finally told him to show Missy. He took me to a corner in the hallway and there it was...a new baby kitten! I picked it up and what should happen?! Another new baby kitten underneath! What was I supposed to do? I picked them both up and put them in a box. I told my husband that I couldn't leave them there because if an older student found them they'd probably do something mean because that's how most older kids here are. I told him I would have to take them home that night because I refused to leave them there. Okay so now I have no lights, 19 insane students, and 2 baby kittens in a box (are you singing "And a partridge in a pear tree" yet?!). About that time the principal comes in and says to use the cell phones of any students that have them and call their parents to come get them. Am I psychic or what?! I asked my kiddos, "Do any of you have a phone in your bag?" To which they replied, "Missy we're little kids!!" So I got out my cell and called one of my parents that I knew spoke English. Within at hour or so all students were gone and....the lights came on!! Now I'm student-less with 2 baby kittens. Courtney started telling other teachers about my new babies so I had people coming to ooh and aah at them. One teacher came with her phone, called a friend and took one of the babies. We went home with 1 kitten and I went to get formula. While I was out the mother of one of Brent's kids came and took the other one. So...we had a 1/2 day of school, rescued 2 babies, and found them new homes...all in a 1/2 days work! Moving on to the weekend...on Friday night we tried to go to a Guayama Brujos basketball game. We read on the Internet that one of the players is from Overland Park, KS. We got to the game early and they were already sold out. So we went home and were bored. Katie convinced Brent to go look for a movie and he took a detour to a game store in the mall. You see, Katie and I have been trying to talk Brent into buying a Karaoke or American Idol game for his Xbox for weeks now. Well - he found some games so we went and bought one! As soon as we got home we busted out the beer and got to singing. We made our own characters, dressed them, and started singing for scores. I let my inner rock star out singing "I Love Rock and Roll" my first time up and got a perfect 30,000! Yep - I'm a platinum artist! We all did an awesome job if I do say so myself. I think it's safe to say I've become an addict. I want to be at the Dill house singing all the time. In fact - last night when we got home (next story) we started singing. The Nuggets were playing so Brent went to our house to watch the game. Next thing you know Brent, Katie, and Courtney are at our house watching the game and I'm left alone with the microphone. I felt like a huge dork so I quit! Do you think they were trying to give me a hint? We haven't been singing today and yes I'm a little bummed. I even got on the Internet today to try to find a way to get more songs...I think I might need some help! These are pictures from Friday night when the fun started. I believe Courtney was singing "Me and Bobby McGee", a song we "unlocked" by getting a platinum score. We also "unlocked" several new outfits for our contestants including a cat outfit, a devil outfit, a long denim skirt, and a bathrobe. Yesterday during the day we went on a road trip with Mendez to Aquadilla to see the Puerto Rico Airshow Extraveganza. The Blue Angels were supposed to be there but cancelled due to the accident last week. We did however see one Blue Angel. They aren't took exciting when it's just one of them. There were some other cool air displays but the rest of it was walking around and walking through other US Military planes. It was pretty exciting for Courtney and I because several of the planes were from good ole Kansas! We met a pilot from McConnell Air Force Base, saw several Beechcraft planes, and found a plaque from Raytheon. Here are a few pictures of our KS connection.

We also saw a Hummer vehicle that belongs to the Puerto Rico National Guard so Katie and I had to climb in. They had an Xbox (I think) in the back hooked up to a big screen so there were little kids playing. There was an ARMY recruiting tent that we went to look at because I told Courtney it would be funny if our friend Dave Williams was there. He had to go look to see if I was really psychic...didn't work this time. There were some men walking around with machine guns that you could hold so Katie and I took turns being G.I. Jane. Mendez called my pose the Jane Fonda. Katie and I are known for having out pictures taken with random statues of animals or mascots or just crazy things. This time we find the lightbulb mascot for the always fantastic Puerto Rico Electric Company. We can't remember the full name it said on his back but we lovingly refer to him as Bombi.

Here are pictures of some of the helicopters, fighter jets, etc. that we saw. We were able to walk through 2 and even got into the cockpit. The first picture is a HUGE machine! It was posted how much would fill the plane so Courtney put it in terms I would understand. This plane would hold 4 semi loads of wheat!! That's a lot of room! We also saw a Coast Gaurd demonstration. We kept waiting for Aston Kutcher and Kevin Costner to come out like they did in "The Gaurdian" but they didn't. It's amazing how still they can keep those helicopters. It was very windy yesterday and I know it's ten times worse when they're trying to hover over the ocean in a storm with waves pounding them. All I know is the people we saw yesterday have steady hands and strong stomachs! PS: anyone who wants to know of a good gift to buy my husband...an Xbox would be fabulous! Please help support Kelly's karaoke habit!! ;) Good one, huh?!

In the words of Chris Daughtry...I'm Coming Home...

Nothing too exciting in this post just letting you all know that we booked our trip home for the summer! We will arrive in St. Louis on Tuesday, June 19th and leave on Friday, July 6. We can't stay for too long because we have many friends and family coming to PR to visit during the summer. We wanted to come home at this time for our friend John's wedding on June 23. Hope we get to see you all this summer! More to post later including some exciting news from school this past Monday but I'm waiting for some pictures. Check back here soon!

More Spring Break...fun?!

Okay, so we got back from Vieques and had our Easter so it should have been time for the spring break fun to begin, right? Unfortunately the Marsh family didn't do it that way. We got up Monday morning and I was sick. I ended up staying in bed with a fever on Monday and Tuesday. So much for finding something fun to do. By Wednesday I felt a little better so we decided to go to Ponce to the art museum and had a few other things on our list. By the time we ate lunch and walked through the museum I was beat and couldn't do anything else. The art museum is really nice. There was one main painting Courtney wanted to see which is the Flaming June. It really is stunning. The picture is a little fuzzy because I did it without the flash so it wouldn't glare but here's a picture I took of the original Flaming June.

We also saw some paintings of Saint Jerome who is the Patron Saint of Translating. I bought Courtney a Saint Jerome medal several years ago because I thought it was neat. No, we aren't Catholic but I liked it so I bought it. I've never seen pictures of Saint Jerome before so I was pretty excited. We drove back to Guayama and I had a fever again. I was so tired of sitting at home thought that I sucked it up and we went to see a movie. I figured sitting in the freezing movie theatre would be good for me...no comments needed. We went and saw Blades of Glory and it was retarded yet funny. By the time we got home the Dills were home from their outing and we all got pizza for dinner. On Thursday morning the boys all went fishing so I stayed home and cleaned house. I was so bored when I got done that I took pictures of the dogs. As you can see they were very excited to have their pictures taken!

Friday morning we got up and went beach exploring. We found a new beach that looks very nice and calm but no pets are allowed. Then we drove to one of the beaches we really like and had a picnic and then went swimming at the Brandemar pool. The sea was really rough on Friday so I couldn't even go swimming or to try out my new boogie board. Yesterday the Dills went on an outing to the North part of the island for horseback riding which Courtney and I will be doing in a month for our 5 year anniversary so we got up and went fishing. I learned how to tie on a sinker and a hook, I baited the hook, and learned how to cast. Basically I'm a pro now! Unfortunately we caught nothing...no fish for lunch! As you can see, I am a very determined fisher...

After catching, well, nothing, we came home and did laundry, went groccery shopping, and played games. It's really not been that exciting of a spring break but I guess that's okay because it kept us from spending a lot of money. We have no plans for today. Courtney needs to put new front brakes on our Rodeo and I'm going to make lunch and do some crafty stuff...or at least attempt it. Hope everyone had a great week and weekend!