I came upon this entry today and I thougth I would post it. It was fun to read my thoughts from back then. So much has changed but some of these feelings are still there. Enjoy.
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As we are getting ready to leave our Island Paradise I have begun to look back through some pictures of our time here. I remember when we first landed, after a very long day of flying with 2 small children to and unknown world I didn't really know what to expect. But stepping off the plane in a long sleeved shirt with long jeans only added to the feeling of being drowned by the humidity. Since then however, I have come to love the weather and especially the humidity!
Grenada is a world of polar opposites. You love it. You hate it. It's sunny and hot. It's pouring rain. People are nice. People are rude. Life travels in a cycle here. First you love it (especially if you get here in the middle of January like we did!) everything is new and exciting and you can't wait to experience it all. Then you hate it. You realize that when you went to the store they weren't out of a few things for a day, they were out of almost everything you needed for a MONTH! You come to the conclusion that you aren't breaking out in hives as an allergic reaction to something...those are mosquito bites. The realities that are typical Grenada hit you smack in the face with out apology.
They cycle continues and you adjust to the little quarks of the island and you settle into a routine, and then you love it again. You fall in love with the simplicity of life, the seclusion of your family away from outside influences. You learn new skills that you wouldn't have otherwise, and you feel a sense of accomplishment in your ability to adapt to a world that was so foreign to you in every way.
The final turn happens when you getting ready to leave the island for good. This is bitter sweet. After all the hard times you start to see all of the wonderful experiences and beauty of where you live and you realize you will miss it. But you are ready to move on to the next step of the education process (cause heaven knows you still have a looong way to go)
So as I prepare to leave this part of the Johnson Family Adventures I wanted to look back at some of the really neat things that Grenada has to offer, the fun adventures we have had, and the great people we have met.
Monday, November 9, 2009
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
October- the Reader's Digest version
It's been a while since I posted and I should probably try to catch you all up on what's been going on with Ridge.
As you all know he fell and his tooth into his gums and we were waiting to see if it would descend on it's own. Well the day after the initial fall he fell again and knocked the tooth up even farther (i wasn't sure that was even possible) and we had to take him back to the dentist.
After looking at the tooth we were told to make another appointment for one week later and to see how it was doing. Ridge was put on antibiotics to prevent an absess forming, and were sent on our way. The rest of the week passed with only minor complaints from Ridge about not being able to eat peanut brittle and other such foods. I of course bribbed him with yougurt and milkshakes. That seemed to help.
The next week when we returned to the dentist they said his tooth wasn't absessing, which was good, but they didn't know if the tooth would be able to descend. They were worried that the tooth had brocken throught the buckle plate and that would prevent the tooth from coming down. The dentist suggested that we wait another month but he didn't think it would come down. So I asked him if he thought that it wasn't going to come down why were we waiting? I asked him if it would be totally over reactive to do the surgery now and get the problem on it's way to healing instead of waiting and risking reinjury or infection.
We talked more and decided to go ahead with the surgery and it was scheduled for the following Tuesday.
Everything went great. Ridge was such a trooper. I of course was a mess, but Ridge did great. The dentists were great and let me go back with him while he was getting the sleeping gas, so it wasn't as hard as it would have been to leave my screaming baby with strangers.
The surgery didn't take that long and the dentist said it was a good thing we took the tooth out. There was no chance it was going to come down. He said "It was a mess in there." Ridge had a quick recovery and even wanted to go play with friends that night. What a funny kid.
It has been two weeks since his surgery and he is doing great. He still has just one tooth in the front but is going in tomorrow to get a "new" tooth. He is so proud of his baby tooth and he carries it around everywhere. The dentist gave it to him in a little green case and he loves showing it to people.
I'm going to start a collection of things that have been removed from Ridge's body. So far I've got a bead from his nose and the tooth. I kind of hope the collection stops there.
I'm going to post some pics tomorrow of the before and after with his new smile, so stay tuned for that.
Halloween:
Now I should cover Halloween. We had a struggle this year with costumes. Dyson changed his mind 9 times! Of course I would have made him stick with his first choice if it hadn't been so difficult. He wanted to be R2D2! Most of his costume suggestions were of th same calliber. So you can imagine my hesitation in making him lock into one. I wasn't sure I would be able to accomadate it. Eventually we got it all figured out and he was a vampire for his school party and a cowboy for the big night. Ridge wanted to be a vampire and was for his school party but decided he wanted to be a bat for trick or treating.
We went to my sister's work for some trick or treating and the boys were the cowboy and the bat and Rori and I went as Thing 1 and Thing 2, complete with blue hair. It was seriously the greatest costume ever! I loved it.
After the office trick or treating we headed to my mom's to make some soup for her ward Halloween party, which we crashed. It was such fun! We went to different rooms in the church and the kids got to do different activities and get get a treat from each station. Then we had soup, salad and rolls for dinner. We got to hang out with everyone except for Heather, Mike and Jax. But we did get to see them earlier at Heather's work.
I decided that on Halloween night I wasn't going to take Rori out with me (it's so much easier to go with just the boys) so I left her home and the Thing 1 costume just wasn't as good. So I dressed up as a doctor with Jason's SGU lab coat and stetheschope and the like. It was an OK costume compared to Thing 1.
So I took the kids out and we went around the neighborhood. I didn't know how long the kids would want to stay out but when Ridge started asking me to carry his bag of candy because it was too heavy I decided it was time to call it a night!
The kids made quite a haul and came home very happy. We had a Halloween party at home with some of Heather's friends and saw all of our aunts, uncles, and cousins from Jason's side of the family.
All in all the week end was great. Filled with family, friends and WAY too much candy. Of course I will be able to help out there.
I hope you all had a fun time. I am going to try to post pics later but who knows if I'll get to it today.
As you all know he fell and his tooth into his gums and we were waiting to see if it would descend on it's own. Well the day after the initial fall he fell again and knocked the tooth up even farther (i wasn't sure that was even possible) and we had to take him back to the dentist.
After looking at the tooth we were told to make another appointment for one week later and to see how it was doing. Ridge was put on antibiotics to prevent an absess forming, and were sent on our way. The rest of the week passed with only minor complaints from Ridge about not being able to eat peanut brittle and other such foods. I of course bribbed him with yougurt and milkshakes. That seemed to help.
The next week when we returned to the dentist they said his tooth wasn't absessing, which was good, but they didn't know if the tooth would be able to descend. They were worried that the tooth had brocken throught the buckle plate and that would prevent the tooth from coming down. The dentist suggested that we wait another month but he didn't think it would come down. So I asked him if he thought that it wasn't going to come down why were we waiting? I asked him if it would be totally over reactive to do the surgery now and get the problem on it's way to healing instead of waiting and risking reinjury or infection.
We talked more and decided to go ahead with the surgery and it was scheduled for the following Tuesday.
Everything went great. Ridge was such a trooper. I of course was a mess, but Ridge did great. The dentists were great and let me go back with him while he was getting the sleeping gas, so it wasn't as hard as it would have been to leave my screaming baby with strangers.
The surgery didn't take that long and the dentist said it was a good thing we took the tooth out. There was no chance it was going to come down. He said "It was a mess in there." Ridge had a quick recovery and even wanted to go play with friends that night. What a funny kid.
It has been two weeks since his surgery and he is doing great. He still has just one tooth in the front but is going in tomorrow to get a "new" tooth. He is so proud of his baby tooth and he carries it around everywhere. The dentist gave it to him in a little green case and he loves showing it to people.
I'm going to start a collection of things that have been removed from Ridge's body. So far I've got a bead from his nose and the tooth. I kind of hope the collection stops there.
I'm going to post some pics tomorrow of the before and after with his new smile, so stay tuned for that.
Halloween:
Now I should cover Halloween. We had a struggle this year with costumes. Dyson changed his mind 9 times! Of course I would have made him stick with his first choice if it hadn't been so difficult. He wanted to be R2D2! Most of his costume suggestions were of th same calliber. So you can imagine my hesitation in making him lock into one. I wasn't sure I would be able to accomadate it. Eventually we got it all figured out and he was a vampire for his school party and a cowboy for the big night. Ridge wanted to be a vampire and was for his school party but decided he wanted to be a bat for trick or treating.
We went to my sister's work for some trick or treating and the boys were the cowboy and the bat and Rori and I went as Thing 1 and Thing 2, complete with blue hair. It was seriously the greatest costume ever! I loved it.
After the office trick or treating we headed to my mom's to make some soup for her ward Halloween party, which we crashed. It was such fun! We went to different rooms in the church and the kids got to do different activities and get get a treat from each station. Then we had soup, salad and rolls for dinner. We got to hang out with everyone except for Heather, Mike and Jax. But we did get to see them earlier at Heather's work.
I decided that on Halloween night I wasn't going to take Rori out with me (it's so much easier to go with just the boys) so I left her home and the Thing 1 costume just wasn't as good. So I dressed up as a doctor with Jason's SGU lab coat and stetheschope and the like. It was an OK costume compared to Thing 1.
So I took the kids out and we went around the neighborhood. I didn't know how long the kids would want to stay out but when Ridge started asking me to carry his bag of candy because it was too heavy I decided it was time to call it a night!
The kids made quite a haul and came home very happy. We had a Halloween party at home with some of Heather's friends and saw all of our aunts, uncles, and cousins from Jason's side of the family.
All in all the week end was great. Filled with family, friends and WAY too much candy. Of course I will be able to help out there.
I hope you all had a fun time. I am going to try to post pics later but who knows if I'll get to it today.
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