Quiet

It has been a very quiet week here with everyone gone. Jay left for Orlando on Wednesday and is headed home with the kids today. That's right I have been without children or husband since Wednesday. It has been wonderful, and quiet! I did not do much, just go to work and then come home to the quiet. I went out to dinner with Heather on Friday then some friends came over last night. The quiet has been a nice way to get ready for the rest of the summer.

In a week and a half we head to Oregon for Janie's wedding then we are off to Indy for a week. We have never been that far northwest so we are really excited to see somewhere different. The kids are excited because they get to fly on Delta and sometimes Delta has the screens on the back of the seats in front of them. Aahh the little things. The funny part about the whole trip is that Jay is flying seperatley from us. He is flying ALONe on American while the kids and I fly together on Delta. Must be nice to be him!

Boat update: The boat is out of the water and Jay got the motors running. It still needs a lot of electrical work so we will see what happens.

Kiddies

The kids are off to Mary and John's for the next week. They are flying up with Jane and flying back with Jay next Sunday. They are both going to camp at Suntree for the week. They are both very excited to go.

Walker went to VIERS Monday-Wed. VIERS is the Virgin Islands Environmental Research Station. They have a 3 day sleepover summer camp which is similar to camps in the states except here they are on the water and learn all about the island, plants, trees, etc. Walker came home on Wednesday exhausted! Quinn enjoyed being an only child for a bit but he did miss his sister.

Camp is moving right along. We are half way done. We have had a lot of fun the past 3 weeks. The next 3 should be just as fun!

What happened

Here is the story about the sinking boat. Sometime between noon and 5pm on Wednesday the boat sunk. Jay thinks there was a loose belt and the battery was not fully charging so the battery stopped working which then made the bilge pump stop working. Once that stopped it slowly filled with water and then sunk.

How they floated it is an even better story. The Majettes' were here on Wednesday when Jay found out about the boat. Thank goodness! They were able to make us feel better about the boat sinking and convince us that all was not lost. They called a bunch of their friends who in turn made us feel better. Jay was ready to use Sea tow to raise the boat on Thursday at $100 a foot...$2600 total. As it turns out he had some friends help and they raised it themselves using inner tubes and a tube of visquene(I think that is how it is spelled). Anyway, they raised the boat on Thursday afternoon, towed it to the National Park dock, then drove it to the jobsite. Various people have been working on it since it got out of the water. We shall see.

One of the funniest things about the boat sinking was that everything that was in the boat came out, chair cushions, chairs, coolers, life jackets, tools anchors. The lighter stuff floated off the boat and all around Chocolate Hole. We have recovered everything, we think. The front of our house is now filled with crap.

Our Boat out of Water

It is better than where it was on Wednesday...under water.

Check out Pretlows' Carnivale pictures at www.big-planet.com

A gazillion and one

It seems like ages since I have posted. It actually was sometime while the fam was here for vacation. I will start there. Susie was not really out of commission, it was just for that one day. She watched the kids with Uncle Uldis on Thursday while the "young kids" went out to dinner at La Tapa. Susie then rallied even more and spent the day with us on the boat as we did the tour, Sandy Spit and Jost. Matt, Jen and Anna left early on Saturday morning for Boston. Susie, Mitch and Lanie left on Saturday afternoon. They were the lucky recipients of a ride to the airport. Once I dropped them off it was up to the stores for a quick replenishment before I picked up Jane at the airport. Jane is here for 3 weeks to help me at Summer Camp up at School.

So Camp started Monday and it was carnival week on St. John! We went to Carnival Village a few nights for food and fun. The kids went to Kids Carnival and the bouncy village a few nights and enjoyed seeing their friends. Jay and I went to Carnival Village on Thursday night, late to pick up Mary and John as they came in for the 4th. That was fun! Val and her electric lemonade are the best even though I did discover the Guava Love the next night!

The Carnival Parade on the 4th was awesome!!! I don't normally write about the kids at school but they all did awesome. Emily, Walker, Quinn, Ananda, Nadia, Maya, Lily, Oliver, Harrison, Winn, Katha, Arjuna, Allegra, Margo, Michael, Charlie, Bonishia, Lyric, Sammy, Jolie, and Vivica. They rocked the whole parade route never stopping even after starting a hour plus late! Those kids danced and shimmied I do have to thank Liz and Rosemary for all the hard work and dedication they put in to the float and the dance. Another thanks goes to all the parents for helping, especially Joe, Lori and Lori! The final and biggest thanks goes to Jane! I could not have done this without you!

SO after an exhausting day at the parade we headed home for naps before going to the Battery for the Governors party and to watch the fireworks. Beautiful as always.

Today we just sat around the house. It was cloudy and raining on and off. It was nice to have nothing to do! Tomorrow, camp starts again!

GHS carnival float

Not too tired to blog about this

Quinn has made a new friend in Camp. Its an older girl, 5 years older. She thinks he is the cutest thing. When we ask him about it he just smiles and raises his eyebrows.

Tired

I am too tired to blog. The family left, Jane got here, camp started and it's Carnivale week here on S.John. I will get an update up this weekend after the parade and fireworks.