Setting sail; the Bitter End at Virgin Gorda; beach time and lobster at Anegada

Sorry it has taken me so long to post some pics from our trip! It took me all week to sort through them all and edit them down to a manageable number. I decided to post them in a "series" instead of all at once, so this is only a snippet. These are from our first three and a half days on the boat. Click above to view the slideshow, or click a photo to view the album at your own pace.

DAY 1: We set sail from Village Cay Marina in Road Town, Tortola. We boarded our 48-foot catamaran, the Lionheart, at noon, greeted our captain, Warren, and stowed our groceries and belongings in our cabins. We each (couple) had our own sleeping quarters with a queen-size bed, toilet and shower. On the first day we sailed to Trellis Bay, which was only a short distance from Village Cay. Cap'n wanted us to get the feel for the boat in motion before some of the longer and potentially rougher sails later in the week. We moored for the night and had dinner on shore at The Last Resort. A local musician invited a couple of our crewmates on stage for tequila shots, and L.A. Jessica even sang a couple ditties with the band! A good time was had by all on our first night at sea.

DAY 2: It rained off and on all day. Cap'n decided we should sail to the North Sound at Virgin Gorda, to the Bitter End. There were several shops and restaurants along the waterfront, which gave us something to do since the weather was icky. We bought souvenirs and ate wings at a little open-air pub.

DAYS 3 & 4: Anegada! Home of the infamous Jimmy Buffett sighting by Gabe and Jess Blackburn last January. It took us several hours to get to Anegada, and again, it was raining. We were starting to get a little discouraged, but we couldn't help noticing we were in "da islands", and rain or shine, it was still paradise. When in Anegada, you've gotta eat lobster on the beach. We didn't want to risk getting caught in the rain during our lobster dinner, so we spent most of Day 3 on the boat. We played games, danced and grilled wings and burgers for dinner on board. Thank goodness the sun came out on Day 4. We cabbed it from Anegada Harbour to Loblolly Bay for some beach time. It was still pretty windy, so the seas were a little rough for snorkeling, but that didn't stop the boys from venturing out in the water. Anegada is surrounded by one of the world's largest coral reefs - the 18-mile-long Horseshoe Reef. The boys snorkeled, and we girls put our bums and feet in the sand to soak up some much-needed sun. Dinner at the Anegada Reef Hotel (by "hotel" I mean our table and chairs were in the sand) was all we expected and more. Five of us had lobster - 2 1/2 pounds of the most succulent lobster you've ever tasted. The other three had steak and a smaller portion of the lobster. Sides of grilled veggies, potatoes and plantains were served family style. We toasted to a fun and sunny day.

Stay tuned for the next round of photos and stories! Cheers!

Is it warm where you are?

I don't really dig snow. Kids love it, of course, and even a lot of adults like to get out and romp around in it. I prefer to hide out indoors by the fire until spring. There's a lot of snow on the ground, which means I haven't left the house all day. Matt started his morning by shoveling snow from the roofs of some of the older docks. I read and caught up on some of my DVR'd shows, and I worked on a story about our BVI sailing trip for 417 Magazine . I cooked waffles and turkey bacon for breakfast. (Click here for the waffle recipe.) This afternoon I made chicken chili with white beans, brown rice, a little bit of corn, onion, green chilis and white chili seasoning. Then I made a South Beach dessert - a cherry-apple crisp with oats, whole-grain flour, Splenda and cinnamon. I've had several cups of hot tea - decaf, otherwise I'd be up all night. I did all the laundry. I watched Matt play baseball on the Wii. And now we're watching Castaway, quite possibly one of the most depressing movies ever. We had to fast-forward through the plane crash scene, though. Neither of us could take watching that. And I had to leave the room when he pulled his tooth. Now he's arguing with the soccer ball - or, is it a volleyball? Either way, I'm about ready to find a different movie... and for this snow to melt!

Snowed In

Matt had to carve out a path to the gate...




















...and to the yard, so the dogs can go potty.

Two thumbs up for American Airlines

We flew American to the British Virgin Islands. Jess, Gabe, Matt and I all used frequent flyer miles and were able to fly from Springfield to Tortola for practically nothing. It was soooo nice to leave from Springfield, instead of KC or St. Louis, which is what we often have to do when we fly somewhere. (Ah, the joys of living 200+ miles from a major airport.) We left early Wednesday morning and were scheduled to be in Tortola that night. We flew from Springfield to Dallas - where we met up with Jessica and Chad, who had flown in from L.A. - then from Dallas to San Juan. When we arrived in San Juan, our flight to Tortola was delayed because of weather. The weather had passed by the time we landed, but it had caused all the flights prior to ours to be delayed. After we waited for probably an hour, they ended up cancelling our flight and rescheduling it for the next morning. At first we were bummed, but it ended up being a blessing in disguise. The airline put us up in a very nice hotel just minutes from the airport. They paid for our cab ride to and from the hotel and gave us dinner and breakfast vouchers. Flying out the next morning allowed us to see the islands in the daytime - the flight is only about 30 minutes at 7,000 feet - pretty incredible. We were in Tortola by 9 a.m., which still gave us plenty of time to go through customs, rent our dive tanks and weights, and meet Megan and Patrick for lunch before we boarded the Lionheart at noon. Overall, our travel experience was great! Because we were on FF miles, we weren't charged extra for our checked baggage, and furthermore, we didn't have any trouble with checked baggage going down or coming back. Two thumbs up, indeed.

Pics are coming soon, I promise!

I know what you're thinking... "Where are the pictures from your trip?!" I've been working on them off and on all week. There are just soooo many that I've been trying to edit them and move all the good ones into one album that I can share with you all at once. It's definitely taking me longer than I expected! It's snowing here today, and I have nothing better to do than to finish my little picture project, so hopefully by the end of today I will have posted some here for you to see!

We came back from the islands for this?

We're under a winter storm warning here in southern Missouri. We could see a half-inch of ice and up to 12 inches of snow on top of that, starting tonight! It was a year ago, almost exactly to the day, that the big ice storm hit Pontiac and surrounding towns. I certainly hope we aren't going to see a repeat of that. We lost the huge oak tree in our backyard to that ice storm. Well, half of it. What remained seemed to be leaning precariously over our fence, and we were worried that it could blow over in a wind storm. So, about a month ago we cut down the tree. A couple of local guys came and cut it up and hauled off the wood. While we were on vacation they piled up the limbs and burned them. When we got home, there was just a little pile of ashes left. So, we literally just finished cleaning up after last year's ice storm. Puhleeease, let it just be snow this time.

In Another World

Sadly, this morning we are realizing the tragedies we missed while we were away. During our week-long sailing adventure, we had no Internet, no phone (well, one for family emergencies only) and no television. The first earthquake hit Haiti the night before we left. We knew it was bad, but we didn't get to witness all the after math on television in the days to follow. While we were at sea, we got word of the second quake, but again, we were oblivious to the true horror of this natural disaster. In addition to that, we're also hearing about the torrential rains and storms in southern California. Our new friends, Chad and Jessica (two of our fellow crew mates) traveled home to L.A. yesterday as we made our way back to Missouri. Our thoughts are with them, and we hope they stay safe! We know that we are truly blessed to have taken such an awesome vacation, and our hearts are aching for those who are affected by such devastation.

Back on Dry Land

In case anyone is wondering... we're alive! Just been sailing the British Virgin Islands since last Thursday. No big deal. :) No really, I'm sitting on a breezy balcony in Tortola as I write this. I planned to wait until we get back tomorrow to post anything, but since the hotel here has wireless, and I've had enough sun for the month of January... I thought, oh, what the heck. There will be many stories to follow, and about a thousand pictures to share. It was a once-in-a-lifetime sort of trip. We lived and slept on a 48-foot catamaran for seven days and seven nights with three other couples and our captain, Warren. (Did I mention I'm still rocking?) Here's a snippet of stories to come... scuba diving the RMS Rhone shipwreck; eating lobster on the beach at Anegada; eating chicken roti for breakfast one morning and for dinner on our last night at sea; Painkillers and Carib; sampling the wings of the Caribbean; the Willy T; wet dinghy rides; rain, rain, rain, sun, sun, sun; "cab" rides - a.k.a. hanging on for dear life in an open-air bus or in the back of a truck; the coolest flight and landing ever in Tortola; Alan, Dragon and Night Hawk - the three best friends that anyone could have; the beach at Jost Van Dyke; the Baths at Virgin Gorda... and sooooooo much more.

Life After P90X

For those of you who don't know, Matt and I have been doing an at-home workout program called P90X. We started 14 weeks ago, and we finished last week. (The program is actually 13 weeks, but somewhere along the way we had a few hiccups and had to repeat a week.) Nevertheless, I'm very happy and proud to say we are DONE!

Starting P90X
We don't usually buy gimmicky things like this from the television - yes, there is a P90X infomercial! In fact, we'd never heard of it until last summer. Matt was inspired to do it after talking about it with a friend who did it and had amazing results. So, I said I'd do it with him.

A Major Time Commitment
P90X is a time burglar. It requires you to work out 6 days per week, for anywhere from 60 to 90 minutes per day. For the most part, we were able to stick to the 6-day-per-week regimen, missing only a few workouts along the way. We tried to work out as many mornings as possible; it was hard as hell to get up at 5:15, but once we got going, it was fine, and we were so glad we did it.

Intense
The first week was brutal. We were sore in ways we never thought possible! One of the reasons P90X works is because you do something different each day, which results in "muscle confusion." Our muscles were definitely "confused" that first week. By about Day 3 it hurt to laugh... it hurt to sneeze! I think we both wondered if we could do it. But, by week 2 we were feeling better and could tell we were getting stronger.

A Great Partner
P90X isn't easy. If it weren't for Matt being by my side, I truly don't think I could have or would have finished it. Having said that, as the weeks went along, I never once thought about quitting, even though it would have been easy to do.

Now What?
My biggest regret is not taking our measurements. We both weighed, and we took "before" pictures. (Haven't decided if I should post those here or not!) Matt lost pounds and inches - his pants are much looser, and he's on the last notch on his belt. I didn't really lose any pounds per se, but I know I lost inches and fat and gained muscle. I feel stronger and firmer. It's really amazing! Even though we're finished with the program, we plan to continue using the DVDs. For example, I want to keep focusing on legs and abs, and I know Matt wants to continue working on his chest, arms and abs. I'm not sure we'll keep up the 6-day-per-week routine, but making time for exercise is definitely a priority for both of us now, and I hope we can keep it up!

Clever Advertising

Ally Bank commercials are so funny!


This one is still my favorite, though...

Fun in the Snow!

Waiting patiently at the door to come in from the snow...





















The Queen LOVES the snow. This is her kinda weather...



























A very intense game of chase ensued...



















He's super sonic FAST!