carousel

we talked about it for days.

when we got there there were no children.

it just sat there with the music blaring in the background.

ezra stood and stared in awe.

he noticed all the details.

he pointed to a scene on the top and said,

"that's our island,"

they also had a scene of piazza san marco.

ezra watched it for a very long time

with very big eyes.

he stood very still.

back inside this dazzling chandelier hung from the center of the ceiling.

they had large clear dispensers of haribo candy

with ezra's favorite frogs.

we got a ticket to ride

but we ended up coming back inside.

ezra decided the carousel was for big kids.

here he is telling me,

"it's not for me."

"okay ezra," i said. and we got haribo gummy frogs instead.

maybe next time we'll come back and try some ice cream.

ezra's world

i love peeking into ezra's world. the other day i was spying on him through a hole on the side of his tent. he was playing with his animals and cow loader inside. each animal has his own felt blanket i cut out for him. he covers them up and says, "shhh. be berry quiet."

ezra loves to paint. last week during the tropical storm there was a day of painting. ezra used up all of his paint and paper and still wanted to paint more.

he made many colorful suns.

i thought this was a rain cloud with rain drops

but he says it's a bunch of rockets swimming in the ocean.

more rocket ships

i don't know how this happened but he asked me to take a picture of it.

after he used up all of his big paper and paint

ezra still wanted to paint some more

so we took out his watercolors.

i love that he enjoys creating art as much as his parents do.

now if only i had my piano.

le galion

last week before tropical storm otto came through, we had an amazing day at le galion beach with cheyenne and her boys. they brought a stand up paddle board with them to the island and we all got to go out on the (usual) calm waters of le galion. it was so exciting when cheyenne pulled the board out of the bag, ezra had to jump right on it on the sand.

he did a little dance on it too.

so first off cheyenne went out on it alone and with her boys for a bit. ezra and i made it out to the dock with his raft and watched. little did we know there were some ominous dark clouds gathering behind us.

when it was my turn to paddle out i was loving the ride i was getting from the wind pushing me from behind, but i soon turned around realizing it may be difficult to paddle back going against the wind. so i got on my knees and paddled hard as i watched those menacing clouds begin to drop cold rain drops all over the beach.

by the time i got to the dock where ezra was waiting for me i could hear his teeth chattering he was shivering so hard. i should've known then that a more serious storm would be on its way the next week.

luckily this one passed in the usual 10 minutes they take to travel overhead and we sat in the car and ate apples, granola bars, and drank some water until it was sunny out again.

the rest of the day was spectacular. not another drop of rain came and we had lots of fun spending the rest of the day in the water. the big boys took turns at the paddle and ezra's preferred way to ride was holding on to dillon's hands.

dillon wanted to paddle alone and cheyenne happily swam along side of him.

these skies always amaze me and i enjoy being at this beach so much for the views are lovely.

ronan steadily paddling all the boys along.

i of course am hovering nearby.

cheyenne took ronan out for a while for some one on one time and ezra and i watched dillon jump of the dock.

when ro got back the two boys monkeyed around a bit.

cheyenne having some blissful alone time on her board.

that cat is always anchored in the bay and on this day ezra said, "let's go under it!"

and so we headed over to it

sometimes ezra held his feet like this - do you think he had an itch?

but most of the time he kicks his little legs under there.

here she is!

cheyenne and i

two happy island mamas

(whenever we're at the beach)

and there go ezra and i under the boat for the third or fourth time.

and here's a video i took of our mini adventure

i will always remember this beach day as one of the best days on st. maarten.

tropical storm otto

tropical storm otto has been here for a few days on st. maarten. we've been staying inside since tuesday except for a couple ventures out to the store and to the gas station. it has been a welcome change of scenery and temperature drop. we always have heat and sun so i am loving the cooler weather and the grey soft skies out my windows. there has been a strong wind steadily blowing the waves and rain onto our shores and our main balcony. ezra and i have been going out to the balcony when it isn't raining to feel the cool wind on our faces and to watch the huge rolling waves (i can never quite capture how impressive it is with my camera).

with the weather actually matching the season we are in i was excited to start making a halloween themed felt board for ezra. one thing i miss the most here are the seasons and activities that come with each of them.

here's a close up of the trick or treaters. it's kind of weird to explain this to ezra. he does not want to dress up as anything this year. he says he just wants to be ezra. i think we'll take him to the halloween party at michael's school with a costume at the ready. once he sees all the other kids dressed up, i'm assuming he'll want to join in the fun.

here are two of our usual felt board set ups we have going. ezra put both of these together. the first one is of le galion - one of our favorite beaches here. you may recognize the red dock and mountains in the background.

this is a playground scene. that is by far what i will appreciate most when we return to california - playgrounds.... even just a field of grass. but, i know how much i will miss the caribbean sea in return.

when we venture out to the balcony ezra plays with the blowing water in the jacuzzi.

he says it's going fast.

it's really cool to see the elements in action here.

especially in your kid's hair.

the wind blows so hard when it is raining that it comes into the house. i have several towels at each slider and they get soaked.

the ocean that is usually so calm and clear looks so different when it's stormy out.

i have been enjoying this by knitting, baking, and laying in bed reading books with ezra. but i am ready now for it to return to usual. i feel so cooped up in our place, i just want to get outside and move my body!

this moment