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Christmas 2010 Newsletter

PUPPY!

So I thought for those who only get to hear from us via my rarely updated blog that I would also post some pics of the yellow lab puppy we got in February. He is not so much of a puppy now, but so much fun, and a really good boy... mostly.... So here he is, our puppy Milo

Not a post for the squeamish

Close to the end of our vacation Kris picked at something on his knee, by that evening it was inflamed, the next day it was bigger, and by the next day, as we traveled home his knee was the size of a grapefruit and he was in severe pain. We dropped off the boat the night before in St Martin, then walked to the fairy dock, took a fairy to St Lucia, an hour cab ride to the airport, and two plane rides to get back to Salt Lake. The last hour of the ride to Salt Lake Kris had a fever over a 100, was in incredible pain, and was blacking in and out. I have never seen anyone so sick. We landed, and headed straight for the Emergency Room. After a rough night and day where Kris crashed during the middle of the night, and wasn't responding to antibiotics we finally had a guess that he had MRSA. MRSA is a highly resilient Staph infection that doesn't respond to normal antibiotics. If we had waited any longer I think Kris would have lost his leg, or worse his life. It is a very scary bug. He was kept in the hospital until Wednesday when they put in a pic line to his heart and sent him home. I had to administer his antibiotics through the pic line every six hours. He was really really sick. On Thursday he went back to the doctor who opened up his knee ( no anesthesia!) and cleaned out a lot of infection. The photo is included. We were so unimpressed the the Homer Simpson of Doctors who I never even saw, and gave us no clear understanding of what was going on or what to expect that we decided to switch that day. Luckily our neighbor and friend Betsy Johnson worked for a doctor and knew one quite well that was willing to see us that same day. After visiting with him, having him repack and wrap the knee, and giving us a clear path of what to do and expect we all felt much better. He went in for surgery on Monday morning to clean the bursa sack out. Luckily the infection stayed isolated to that part of the knee only. They took out the pic line and put him on oral antibiotics. He has been slowly improving since then. It is a pretty bad infection to get so best case scenario it will be a month before he really feels good, but each day is a little better. We feel so blessed to have such great friends who have offered their services during our time of need. The meals, visits and other favors were deeply appreciated.

Update

So I am obviously not a great blogger since it has been over six months! Kris and I have enjoyed a vacation to Aruba for spring break, family reunions, and another sailing trip in this time.
This last trip to the Caribbean sailing for three weeks was a lot of fun. We started in St Lucia with a boat of ten people; my mom and day, Jason and Michelle, James and Whitney, and Mike and Elizabeth. We sailed to Martinique which had beautiful beaches and lot of French speakers, then to Dominica where we hiked to the boiling lake, saw Trafalgar falls, and Syndicate falls and took a canoe ride up the Indian River. It was all fun, but I think the Diving along the reef was the highlight for me. The non scuba divers like the diving at Champagne beach where bubbles seep out of hydrothermal vents. We then turned south again and sailed back to St Lucia where some of us hiked up Petite Piton. I think we all decided that the hike was a suicide mission when near the top we had to scale steep slops and cliffs with wet ropes. Fortunately we all live to tell about it. The view from the top is incredible though.

August first Kris and I spent our anniversary by hiking the Piton, then heading up to Ladera resort for massages followed by relaxing at the pool and a fancy dinner overlooking the bay between the Piton. I have been a lot of places, but this view was easily one of the top ten. Of course we didn't have our camera with us....

We dropped of our first crew and said our goodbyes, restocked the boat, cleaned it, and picked up the next group the following day. Jaimie, Amy Bailey and her friend Karlie, along with Chris and Brittney Lamb, Nicole and Chris Forsey and Dave Neilson came along for the next ten days. Instead of North we headed south to the Grenadines. This was basically the same trip we took in January of this year, and everyone loved the beautiful remote beaches, neat snorkeling in crystal clear water, and incredible sunsets. It was an amazing trip, and everyone who came I think had a good experience. I know that I did, and it ended pretty scary for Kris and I...

Caribbean Vacation

Another new decade and Kris and I have tried to start it out right with a sailing vacation to the Caribbean. We took off on January 15th and Embarked out of St. Vincent. The beaches, the snorkeling, and best of all, the weather, was beautiful and amazing. We just want to share some of the high lights of our trip with our friends and family. Perhaps maybe we can convince you to come with us in July when we head south again!!


Our first stop was the island of Mustique which is has homes of the rich and famous and a very pricey resort. That being the case, very few people are on the island at any given time, and we enjoyed the luxury of having beautiful macaroni beach all to ourselves. Of course, we didn't have to pay out the nose for it either since we just dropped anchor here for the day. :)



MACARONI BEACH: RELAXIN' AND BODY SURFING

















While on Mustique we also stopped to eat at the world famous BASIL"S BEACH BAR






























The Tabago Cays was our next anchorage. We spent a couple of days in this marine park. The water was beautiful and clear, the snorkeling was amazing. We saw turtles, eel, sharks, squid, and all kinds of fish including a unique "flying Grundin" It sits on the bottom and will fan our if you get too close. Really neat. Here are some highlight picks. We absolutely loved it here!



















Also part of the Cays is the famous "Jack Sparrow Island" This is where Jack Sparrow was marooned in Pirates of the Caribbean. It was a long dingy ride to get there, but pretty cool.




We Sailed down to Union Island to Refuel and Anchor for the night. There are lots of little Islands around Union that we spent the day exploring. Petit St Vincent is another ritzy island that would cost you an arm and a leg to stay on, but we once again enjoyed it's spoils without the cost. We dropped anchor and headed into enjoy excellent abandoned beaches and a delicious fruit smoothie. Annette and I also got spoiled enough to buy some cute sun dresses at the boutique here. ;)



Another fun island we explored was the Mopion Sand Bank. The smallest registered Island! It is only like 50 yards across, and there is a nice thatch umbrella for you to sit under. What a funny little spot in the world!






















Our last stop was in Bequia. This is also a small Island, but also inhabited. We walked the streets of the haber town looking at what they had to sell to the tourists and enjoyed the great snorkeling and pretty beach. We had to share the beach here since it is a more populated island. By sharing I mean a couple of other groups....

















Beautiful and relaxing. What more do you need in a vacation?

Cairo

June 29 2009


We got up early this morning to go see the pyramids before it got too hot. We hired a very nice lady named Somer (Summer) to be our guide for the day. She is only a year older than me and recently married, so we already had a lot in common. We first stopped at the Great Pyramid, and it was great. The pyramid is pretty weathered, but very very large. We also saw the two next to it. We took a lot of pictures because they were very cool. The last thing to see in the area was the Spyhinx. A lot of people think it is much larger than it actually is. I still thought it was pretty big, and incredible to look at. We also saw the room where they mummified the bodies and all the older tombs before they started building huge monuments to bury their kings. We got back to our hotel around noon and set out on foot to find a place to eat. We settled on a sandwich shop called Cilantro. The drinks were good, the food was just okay. It was too hot for me to be interested in doing much else so we hung out in our hotel for the afternoon. Once it cooled down below 100 degrees we set out on foot again to see the Nile in Cairo. I am sure it was once very nice, but now it is a very dirty river. We had dinner at a Pub by the Mariot and walked back to our hotel. The city here is so large, and the sound of car horns is never ending. I like it!

June 30 2009

Today Kris and I slept in, but it actually worked out in our favor. We checked out of the hotel at noon and made our way over to the Egyptian Museum. It was a very hot walk, but I actually enjoyed it. Kris help a guy push his car over part of the bridge too, so he's done his good deed for the day. The museum was really dirty inside, just like the city. There are thousands of ancient artifacts, but the ones that we found interesting were in the room of Tutenkamun (King Tut). His death mask is made of solid gold and incredible. It is interesting to see how much stuff they would put into these tombs!! We were not allowed photos in the museum. We then headed to the Kahn Ali Bazzar. It is the most famous market in Egypt, and for good reason. The street seems to go on forever and there are so many shops! We haggled our way to a fair price on quite a few items. I had fun doing it. Kris just laughed at me spending 40 minutes in a textile store, but I got what I wanted for a good price. Sweaty and tired we have finally found our way back to our hotel to wait for a cab to take us to the airport. We are heading to Kenya for our safari, so we will see you all in two weeks time!!