Pasku in the Caribbean

First off--on Saturday Fletcher turned 2 months old! woohoo! Love my little man!

We celebrated Easter with the Branch on Saturday morning by hiking up a giant hill, having a spiritual message, eating a delicious breakfast, and an having an Easter egg hunt! 

We of course also celebrated by going to the beach. no way we were going to break our Saturday tradition.

Easter Sunday was fantastic. The messages that were shared really touched my heart and I had the opportunity to teach the primary children about the first Easter and why we celebrate it. I am so grateful for my Savior Jesus Christ, the Sacrifice he made, and the gift that we can all be resurrected. 

He is risen!

Happy Easter!

Big news.

Lots of stuff been going on.

I'm going to start off with the bad news....my maternity leave is over. I'm super bummed. But I only have to go back to work for a couple more weeks because.......

Brandon is transferring schools. We are leaving Bonaire as soon as the semester ends. We have been thinking about transferring schools since November of last year and finally made the decision to do it a couple of weeks ago. The school is called Saint Martinus University and is on the next island over called Curacao. We are moving there in July. We checked out the school and Brandon sat through a couple of classes when we went to Curacao to get Fletch his proof of birth abroad and passport. (Which we got in the mail the other day! It's official! We got a legal American baby!) 

Brandon's classes at St. James end on April 26th, SO we have a two month break before his classes start again, SO we are going back to the states!! We are going back to Washington and working for the two months that we are there and enjoying the little things like hot water and warm showers, carpet, and a nice big bowl of cold cereal with REAL milk. 

So far I have been hired for four different jobs. I got hired at the Nike Employee store on the Nike campus in Beaverton, OR, two online tutoring jobs, and as a mommy stroller fitness/running instructor. I decided to turn the Nike job down and take the tutoring jobs and the fitness instructor job. I am so excited because I get to stay home with Fletch and my awesome mother and sister-in-laws and still work and make money. HUGE blessing. And since they are online tutoring jobs, I can keep the tutoring jobs when we move back to the Caribbean so like I said, I can be a stay at home mom and still earn money. WIN-WIN-WIN-WIN-WIN!

Also- I got a new calling. I'm the second counsellor in the Primary and I LOVE, love, Love it. So much fun.

We are excited for the new opportunities Saint Martinus offers us, but we are sad to leave Bonaire, especially the Branch. Good thing for Facebook!

Krouties

It was so awesome having Grammie and Papa K here for an entire week! Besides hugging and kissing and holding and playing with Fletcher every chance they got…

We:

ate gelato at Gio’s everyday,

went to the beach almost everyday,

went to the Dutch Bakery more than once,

took a tour of down town Kralendijk and Rincon,

saw more donkeys than they had ever seen in their life,

had a very, very scary encounter with not one, but two fearless iguanas,

went out to eat and jumped of the pier, (Grammie K with her clothes on!)

watched movies and talked about sports,

went to Brandon’s soccer game,

laid out by the pool,

went for a run,

and napped.

We love Grammie and Papa K

Blessing Day

First the basic facts:

Fletcher’s was blessed on March 3, 2013 in the Bonaire Branch in Kralendijk, Bonaire by his father, Brandon.

Those in the Circle: Brandon, Papa Krout, Elder Wayne Smith, President Brian Albus, Brother Hensley Palm, and Brother Daniel Solarin.

Fletcher was dressed in pants, vest, bow tie, and shoes made lovingly by Granna.

The vest barely snapped up!
He is growing so fast.

He was wrapped in a white blanket crocheted by Grammie K

Fletcher cried/whined the whole time he was being blessed. We knew it would happen though. I always feed him right before church and he usually falls asleep and at least makes it all the way through sacrament meeting, but of course he didn’t fall asleep. He was too excited to have his grandparents there!

By the way, I’m so glad that Grammie and Papa K were able to be there. It was so neat to be able to be with them as their first-born son blessed his first-born son. What a legacy! I tried to imagine how they were feeling and how I will feel when Fletcher blesses his children and I felt so overwhelmed with the Spirit and with happiness. How wonderful is this gospel? It truly brings joy.

The blessing was beautiful. Brandon did such a great job. It was a very neat experience to imagine how Fletcher will turn out and what kind of life he will live while his father is giving him a blessing to help him through it all.

I recorded and typed the blessing, so if you want to read it comment or send me an email and I’ll be happy to pass it on.

We were so thankful that Fletcher’s Aunties from school were able to make it. We love Auntie Abbey, Janelle, Kelsey, and Kenisha!

After church we had a small luncheon at the Smith’s house. We had a taco bar and it was so delicious! We were lucky everything turned out though. When we put the chicken in the crockpot in the morning it was frozen and the lid didn’t quite fit on so we just balanced it thinking that as the chicken thawed the lid would fall into place, but instead of doing that it just fell right off, so when we got home the chicken wasn’t all the way cooked! So we had to improvise and hurry and try to cook it and shred it in a frying pan, which worked out just fine. Whew.

After the luncheon we spent the rest of the day napping and loving and playing with Fletcher.

Super Great Day.

becoming american

Our trip to Curacao to go to the US Embassy was stressful and successful and exhausting.

Fletcher went on his first plane ride ever! it was on the smallest plane I have ever been on. It sat 8 passengers, but only 4 others flew with us over to Curacao. it was kind of scary, but it was a very short flight and luckily Fletch slept the entire time. Good boy. Unfortunately though our flight was delayed and so we got to Curacao a little later than we planned. That made us nervous because we had an appointment at the embassy and we didn't want to be late.

well we were late.

45 mins late.

not happy.

Brandon was taller than the wings!

when we landed Brandon got out of the plane first and got the car seat and stroller ready. I was the last one off of the plane with Fletch and as soon as we got off, Fletch puked all over everything. 

all over me. all over him. all over the stroller and the car seat.

yuck.

Brandon was the only one to escape.

Lucky him.

We hurried and rented a car and were on our way fairly quickly. the only problem was we didn't know what way to go. we had directions, but they had street names and apparently Curacao believes in naming streets, but not displaying the name. seriously. there wasn't one street sign. even on the big streets with stop lights. what is up with that?! so one very expensive map and 3 quick stops to ask directions later we finally made it.

The Embassy was at the end of a dead end road that was hidden, but once you saw it you knew you were there. There were huge fences with barbed wire at the top and guards everywhere. We were escorted by a guard everywhere we went. They wouldn't let us take any bags in--not even my diaper bag--so I had to carry a diaper with me. They screened us and scanned us and patted us down. it was pretty intense.

With the help of more than one guard we finally made it to the place we needed to be, 45 minutes after the time that we needed to be there. But luckily not many americans are having babies in the Netherlands Antilles so it wasn't a problem.

it was actually pretty easy to get Fletch's born abroad certificate and US passport. we just had to give them the applications I filled out, pay a bunch of money, and both take an oath and WHAM BAM we got us a little American citizen.

After getting escorted back out we checked out the island a little bit, ate lunch at McDonalds, explored a little more and then headed to the airport.

Before: Dutchie

After: Dutchie-American

Curacao is so different than Bonaire.  A lot more Dutch and so much more busy. They have stop lights and more than two lanes and tons of one way streets and no donkeys. I guess it is sort of like going from Laie to Honolulu (for those of you who live, have lived, or been to Laie and Honolulu).So back to the airport. First off they make you pay an airport tax for being on the island. so lame. we were there for like 12 hours and they charged us $20. boo. Second off our flight was delayed over 4 hours! usually that isn't that big of a deal, but when you get up at 5am and carry an infant around with you all day and don't get a nap and then have to spend the hours of 8pm-12:30am in a dirty airport where all of the food places close at 7pm, it becomes a big deal. We were supposed to be home around 9pm, but didn't actually roll into bed until closer to 2am. exhausted.

So that is it. we made it. callin' it good.

best aunties ever

We love our Aunties! We were surprised by a couple of packages and letters this week. We are feeling so loved and so blessed.

Gr'Auntie Carol sent us a mini baby shower! Best. Gr'Auntie. Ever. It filled Fletcher's crib and we are still enjoying opening and using the gifts she sent.

Auntie Jana sent us an Ergo Baby Carrier. Fletcher loves it. He almost instantly falls asleep every time we put him in it. It is like magic. Love it.

Auntie Jay sent us the cutest little Sperry's! Can't wait for Fletch to be running around in them!

Auntie Kristen sent us a cute puppy hat and a baby cocoon that is adorable.

Great Great Auntie Boop sent us a sweet card and $50.

We are not sure which Auntie sent it, but one of them sent us a full body swim suit, hat, and rain coat!

Between the four of them Auntie Dixie, Auntie SunDee, Auntie Penny, and Auntie Emily sent us two suit cases full of clothes, blankets, toys, books, burp clothes and tons more for Fletch and nursing pads and a breast pump for mom :)

Fletch has so many amazing Aunties and he can't wait to meet them!