The Good, The Bad and The UGLY!!!

I know I haven't posted in a while but we've been home and we had a chaotic time just getting here. By the picture above you can see that Tyson was not happy and we felt the same way. Here is how the story goes:

We got to the airport in St. Maarten just fine. Checked in, ate lunch and went through the lovely security. Then we arrived at our departing gate to find...............the plane was going to be 2 hours late. WHAT!?! I had just given Tyson his "knock out" medicine for the flight; OH GREAT!! Ya Tyson fell asleep in the terminal. The plane arrived at 4:30 instead of 2:30. SO......Tyson woke up just as we got on the plane and he was a little "pill." We were late getting to the Miami airport, obviously, and so we ran, and I mean ran, to the baggage claim to collect our bags, to go through customs, to run back to the airplane to get to VEGAS. Well........this all would have worked, except for one thing "OUR BAGS DIDN'T COME FAST ENOUGH!"

We were stuck at the airport for another 3 hours to get our tickets re booked and to get a hotel for the night. Now Tyson was #1 hungry, #2 ready to run, and there was no where to run. So you can just imagine how happy he was to sit in his stroller. All Vaughn and I could do was laugh. What else could we do? Crying wasn't going to get us anywhere and Tyson was doing enough of that for all of us.

Long story short...........we got a room, had dinner, didn't sleep, got up at 4:00a.m. to be back at the airport, to wait 3 hours for our plane to Dallas and then to Vegas. It was the "Terrible, No Good, Very Bad Beginning to our vacation." But now we are here and it is NICE!!!!

(I left out a bunch of funny details, but I didn't want to write a novel, so if you want to know the rest....you'll have to talk to me)

Random Stories

When we first stepped on the island I wrote a lot in a journal, but some of the stories are just too good to be kept to myself so I must share them.

Story #1

We'll start of with the Centipede story. Tyson was about 11 months old and we had just be over to a pot luck dinner. We came home and Vaughn went to go study and I was preparing Tyson's bath, when he screamed. I dashed, like a horse out of the racing stalls, towards the hallway where he was sitting to see a HUGH, nasty, black and orange centipede race out from under him. The thing could have eaten us alive. NO JOKE! I quickly grabbed the RAID spray and doused the nasty bug until it quit moving. I was sure it bit Tyson, so I stripped him down to find nothing. Thank goodness! I have no idea where the big monster thing came from. I hope it came in the door and it wasn't on one of us. GROSS. Here is a picture of what it looked like.

Is that not the most horrible thing you have ever seen? Now imagine it crawling out from under your infant child. I still have nightmares about it.

Story #2

My second story deals with the infamous little cockroaches. I detest these little creatures. They serve no purpose as far as I am concerned, except to bother the human race. We had been on the island about 4 months when this incident happened. I went to blow dry my hair one morning and the dryer slipped from my hands and hit the floor. Tyson, who was on the floor at the time, picked it up and started shaking it. A little metal sound was coming from inside the dryer and I thought, "Great! I broke it!" So I picked it up, and out fell a bug leg from the shaft of the dryer. Upon further inspection I found it to be the leg of a cockroach. "NO WAY! Please do not tell me the damn thing is in my blow dryer!" I screamed.

Sure enough, the little bugger got its butt caught in between the back fan and was stuck and quite dead. Yuck! I turned on the dryer to see cockroach body parts flung all over the bathroom. I thought I could burn him out, turns out their little bodies can withstand a lot of heat.

Needless to say, I had to continue using the blow dryer for the next 3 months till we went home for Christmas. Every once and a while, a body part would fly out, but the little thing for the most part, was still intact in my dryer. I am sure I had lots of cockroach guts in my hair. GROSS!

Look closely at the picture and you can see that these little devils are HUGE!! Imagine finding one of those in your dryer.

Another Beach Day...Friar's Bay

I know, I know.....it seems like all we do is go to the beach....basically you are right!!!

We had another beach day at Friar's Bay. I would say this beach is comparable to Pinel. I love this beach. Just look at the calm, blue waters. On the right, Tyson is making his sand castles in the sand. He spent most of the time in the water and then the rest making small little sand creations which he soon hit down with the shovel.

Vaughn has his finals this week and finishes with them next Monday and then it is BYE BYE St. Marteen for the Jackson family for 2 weeks. I am ready to see the good ol' USA and so be in some not so HOT weather. It has been HOT and HUMID lately and my hair is starting to frizz again. I dislike summer..

The Italian Hair Cut

CHECK OUT MY NEW DEW!

OK, so here on the island a hair cut is nothing like back home. Not only is it more expensive, but they offer you drinks, and massages and treat you like you are royalty. I have been to a few places to get my hair done, but the one I keep going back to is Hair Illusions where the infamous Walter, who is Italian, cuts hair. (He also cuts Vaughn's and Tyson's) Today was my day to be pampered. I wanted high lights to hide my few gray hairs. (It sucks to get older) Walter not only shampoos your hair, but he also gives a head and neck massage, and I have needed one of those for a long time. I could have forgone the hair cut and just had a 2 hour head and neck massage. Needless to say my hair is great and I will have to save for the next semester to have it done again in October.

Two Cool Dudes!

Tyson and his dad decide to show off their shades. Tyson will only wear his sunglasses in the house. He refuses to wear them when we go outside. Go figure. I have two of the most handsome men around!!!

Easter Time in the Caribbean

I've never spent Easter Weekend on a beach, but there is a first time for everything. Vaughn studied extra hard yesterday and was able to take time off today to come and be with Tyson and I at the beach. We went to Mullet where the waves were slightly big, but not too big that they scared Tyson from the water.

Tyson loved having his Dada to swim with and I loved it too. I actually got some time to enjoy the water by myself. It was an awesome time at the beach.

This afternoon/evening the Spouses Organization had an Easter Egg Hunt for the kids and then a Pot Luck dinner. We had an over flowing of food. It was SO good. The kids loved the hunting for eggs and candy. Tyson was more interesting in finding the plastic eggs and opening them than the candy that was scattered on the ground.

This is he and I as we begin the hunt for the "plastic eggs."

Here is the play by play of the "hunt for the plastic eggs."

Then once the eggs were found Tyson found a bag to put them in, since mom forgot to get him an Easter Basket and when she thought about it all the stores were closed. OOPS!

He found some suckers and was proud as peaches about them.

He finished out the day by posing for the camera and hanging out with his buddy Kelly. Thanks Kelly for watching him while Vaughn and I ate. You are a life saver.

A wonderful time was had by all. Happy Easter to everyone back home in the states. We hope your is as eventful as ours was.

My New Hat

Tyson has been wanting to wear his dad's USC hat in the house the past couple of days. He loves to put it on and then smile and make us laugh. Here are a few pics of him sporting his new look.

Obvously my son is quite a character. Just look at the way he wears this hat. HA HA!

Here is Tyson showing the side view. Looking good son.

And now we have the backwards look. Such a cute boy!

Does this look like the face of innocence? I think not!

So innocent, so innocent. He gives that great big, cute, blue eyed grin and I melt, and all the trouble he has just caused floats away......NOT TODAY!

Here's the story. I was talking a shower while Tyson was engrossed in watching "Cars" and building with his blocks. Half way through getting the soap out of my hair I hear, "Clank, Clank, Clink, Clank." "WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON?" I peek out the shower curtain to find that Tyson isn't watching "Cars" or playing with his blocks. OH NO! He has found something much more interesting to do, using mom's hair brush as a toilet cleaner. YUCK!!

Of course I scream and PLOP the brush drops from his red caught hands into the toilet. OH DOUBLE YUCK! Now let me entreat you to the toilet of St. Maarten. No matter how many times you clean the thing, it aways has mold and mildew spots and slimy stuff all over it. And this is after cleaning it the night before. Now imagine what my brush is covered in. Into the trash it goes, but then what does "Dennis the Menace" do? He fishes it out of the trash and starts combing his hair. ARG!! It is never a dull moment here.

That is funny, I know. But at the time the cuteness wasn't so cute. And his reign of terror wasn't over. Thirty minutes later he has the trash can open digging for the Pops box which has characters of "Cars" on it. Now this box isn't exactly clean, it is covered in breakfast eggs, milk and other things. And he wants to play with it. I am through buying expensive toys, because all I need to entertain my son is a toilet, brush, trash can and trash. Life is simple now..LOL