All moved in!

We are finally moved in and almost settled in our condo. I think we are both glad that this will be the last move for a couple of years! No matter how much or little stuff you have to move, it is still a big pain. Our condo is small, so we will be pretty cozy for the next couple of years, but we have our own private pool and great view of the south shore. The casino is also walking distance just down the hill.








We are settling in well and still enjoying the island very much. We are meeting lots of new people and having a great time. The weather in December has been really nice. High's are low to mid 80's and there is a constant breeze (often called Christmas winds). We are happy to not have to run our A/C at night with the high cost of electricity on the island! Although it doesn't feel like Christmas, we have been busy this week with Christmas parties where we continue to meet lots of new people. Last week was the annual boat parade. Owners can decorate their boats with Christmas lights and enter the contest and they circle around the harbor for everyone to see.



R spent two weeks off island for training in South Carolina then work in Dallas, so H got to tag along to Dallas for a week. H also took a trip to Arkansas to see her family. It was nice to catch up with family and friends, but unfortunately there wasn't enough time to see everyone this trip. We were both ready to get back to St. Croix for warmer weather! We both caught colds while we were there!

Our biggest news is...we bought a boat!!! We went together with S & L and bought a Sea Ray powerboat. We took it out for it's maiden voyage last weekend! We are trying to decide if we are going to rename it (we have heard it's bad luck to rename a boat). The current name is Limin' Time. Limin' is the St. Croix slang for relaxing or hanging out. The new name may be Per Diem meaning "by the day" also known as the amount of money given to R & S for living expenses for the first few months. We are also going to be joining the St. Croix Yacht Club where we will be keeping the boat.

The End of the Good Life!!

We're famous!! Well, not really, but our picture from the Halloween party was in the St. Croix Avis newspaper! We went to one of the annual Halloween parties with our new friends L & B, and it was so much fun! Some really creative and interesting costumes. Definitely a must do for next year!



H finally made it to Puerto Rico for some retail therapy. She shopped 'til she dropped at the largest mall in the Caribbean. We had a blast and H is ready to make that their next move. Well, maybe if we knew a little more Spanish, but she did really like it! We also spent some time with R's boss and his family. It was fun getting to know them a little better. The boss's wife even took H on another shopping adventure. We tried visiting the old Fort in San Juan, but got caught in the rain, so we didn't get to see much of it. It is quite impressive and something we will have to do when we return.



Our time in temporary quarters is sadly coming to an end. We moved from our first villa into another villa (http://www.vacationstcroix.com/CasaDelMar/Casa_Del_Mar.html) for our last month. We are enjoying the new place for a few more weeks before we move into our condo on December 1.

Our belongings from our sea shipment were delivered Friday, and we spent the day unpacking and putting things away. We are thankful this is our last move for a couple of years. R leaves town on December 1 which is actually our move-in date, so we wanted to get things moved in early so H wouldn't have much to do by herself. We met the owner of the condo we are renting last week, who is from London. He came to pack up a few things before we move in. We had a nice lunch with him and found out that he is moving to Plano!! What are the odds? Such a small world. We will post pics of the condo when we get moved in.

R decided to go on a lobster hunt yesterday. Last week he snorkeled out the back door and saw a lobster, he has been determined to catch one ever since. Yesterday, one of his friends came over with a lobster snare, and the hunt was on. He was successful on his first try! Even though the lobster wasn't that large, we did cook it and H had it for dinner!

Finally, we want to remind everyone that we are TWO hours ahead of Central Time as the Caribbean does not do daylight savings! The worst part of the time zone is that television shows come on REALLY late!

Peace and Quiet!!

All of our visitors have come and gone. It was lots of fun having everyone down, and H is now known at all of the tourist attractions on the island! We are counting down our last days at this nice villa. We got an extension to our temporary quarter living, so we will be moving into another nice waterfront home for a month before we move into our condo.

R's big highlight was his encounter with the iguana. We were in the pool, and what do you know, here comes the iguana right up to the side of the pool. R decides to give him a couple of splashes and next thing we knew, he had jumped right in. Not knowing if iguanas could swim or not, and not wanting him to drown (well, H anyway), we scoop him out with the pool net. R decides to play around with him a bit before he chases him off. Needless to say, they have not been back since then, but it has only been a few days.

We have finally worked a dive into our schedules and made use of the equipment and dive package we bought when we moved here. It was a great dive and we are looking forward to more diving soon. Our dive was in Salt River Bay which is where Columbus landed. Another fun thing we have done in Salt River was a kayak tour. We left at dusk and kayaked around the bay. When it finally got dark, we went over to a smaller bay surrounded by mangroves where there are a lot of plankton in the water. Plankton are microscopic organisms and when disturbed, light up in the water. So as we were paddling, it was like we had a flashlight on the end of our oar. It was so cool how the water lit up when we were paddling!

R is staying very busy at work. He has already traveled to Puerto Rico about four times and St. Thomas once. H is very excited about his next trip to Puerto Rico since she gets to tag along and go shopping! R also has a couple of trips back to Dallas for trial prep and trials in the coming months. H is very jealous, but hoping to go back in January for a couple of weeks. H is working about two days a week and her schedule is usually very busy. On her days off, she is hard at work on her new tan!

R's newest co-worker and his wife arrived on the island a couple of weeks ago. We are looking forward to getting to know them better and hoping to go together on buying a sailboat! We'll keep you posted on that one!

Our Exciting Day

So we had a very lucky and exciting day today. H's mom and her friend were out by the beach when they noticed our neighbors heading out to their sailboat. They were determined to get a ride, and floated out on a inflatable floaty and chatted it up with the couple. Fortunately, we have great neighbors (who knew) who were more than happy to have us with them. So we spent the day sailing around the island on this great sailboat.
R got right to work learning how to sail and man the jib!!! (We have no idea if that is the right terminology but we're learning)!!!
We headed out to Buck Island, which has one of the greatest beaches in the world.
On our way back in we passed another small boat...well ok, basically a cruise ship!! Our neighbors have been on this boat and said it has a hot tub in the front, a revolving dance floor on the 3rd deck, and is normally trailing a small dinghy boat which itself has 2 decks!!

After we stopped at a little marina for lunch we headed home and sailed past the house that we are thinking of renting...we put a red arrow on the picture so you can see it...sort of!

Once again, we've been lazy and waited weeks to publish a new post...at this point, you all have likely given up and stopped checking for anything new! Oh well, we'll keep giving you updates!

We are adjusting to island life and getting into the flow of things. We have also had our first few visitors! First was one of H's friends and her boyfriend, and we currently have H's mother and her friend here. Our biggest relief is that Sophie is adjusting to the heat, and life without air conditioning rather well. While we are away during the day she just lays around the house on the tile floors...but she's also found plenty of pool time in her new suit!!!
A couple of visitors we could do without are a couple of pesky iguanas. They stop by the pool each day and do their "business" on the pool deck! We do our best to chase them off but there's not much we can do while we are at work...Sophie is not much of a guard dog anymore...ok ever!
H and her mother went for a horseback ride the other day...yes R was hard at work!! They really enjoyed it and recommend it for anyone making a trip south! The rides are on the west end of the island, and as you can see it is a very short distance from beach to rainforest.
We also got in our first SCUBA dive a couple of weekends ago. We purchased our dive equipment so now we are all set to go out anytime we want. The dive was really good as we saw several sting rays, one of which was over five feet wide!

We are also still searching for a long term home. We thought we had it all worked out, however, as we learn more about the island we think we may be able to find something better for the same price. We'll keep you posted on our plans!

R was in Puerto Rico for a couple of days this week and will be again next. He actually gets to fly back with his parents on board next week! They will be staying for ten days and then after a couple days' break, R's brother and his family arrive. We are very much looking forward to both visits!

A New Job and Private Plane Ride!

So the big news on the island is that H has a job!!! It is not full time as yet, but we are hopeful that she will continue to get more days as time goes on. One of the perks of the job is the Dr. has a private plane and he took us out for a ride! It was very nice of him and we really enjoyed it...although it was a bit of a tummy tickler at times! H took some pics while in flight and they turned out great. The first pick is of us standing by the plane:
Next is a good picture of the island, taken from the east side, you can actually see Point Udall, which is a park area situated on the Easternmost point of the United States:
Here is a picture of the town of Christiansted. This is where R works. It is a very old town, with most of the buildings around the harbor being built in the 1700s:
Finally, here is a picture of our temp quarters home as seen from the air. It is the home sort of in the middle of the picture with a somewhat pink roof:
We'll add another post to fill you in on other items of interest!

Temp Quarters Living

Hi all, sorry it has been so long since we've last blogged. Things are going really well here, we are enjoying many aspects of island living and are dealing well with those things which are strange!

Our house is great, and we are adjusting to life without air conditioning (although we do turn it on in our bedroom at night). We try to get in the pool or sit by the beach at some point during the day. We have an iguana who comes to the edge of the pool each day and takes a poo! We've been unsuccessfull on finding a way to keep it away! Since we are living in "temp quarters" we get extra money for meals...so we have been frequenting all the fine dining establishments on the island. Well, there are not that many, but H has been making a list of those worth returning to!

Our biggest news is that H has a job interview tomorrow! The Dr called today and asked if she could make it in tomorrow. We are both hopefull that something will come of it.

The other bit of news is that we received some of our personal belongings today. We had about 450 pounds of goods air shipped to us, mostly clothes...but also our MARGARITA MACHINE!!!

R has been getting settled at work. There is plenty of cases to be found, seems that most of the residents here are up to something, especially the local politicians! He had his first trip to Puerto Rico last week and has two more planned next month.

We are having a bunch of Rs coworkers from different agencies over tomorrow for dinner. We are hoping to meet some more friends. More on how the party goes on Sunday...

Getting Settled (Part 1 - Island Living)

On Sunday, we picked up a few groceries and realized just how expensive this place can be. Although we did buy many things that you need when your pantry is completely empty, we
didn't have nearly as many items as we should have....for a $380 bill!! It's funny because somethings are priced very comparable to the states, but then other items are way more. For instance, a regular box of mac-n-cheese, normally like $.75 at most, was over $2!!!

We also joined two of Rs coworkers and ventured out to the rain forest. Up in the middle of nowhere there is a really unique watering hole! Although there were only a dozen or so people there when we showed up, we've heard that they can have a couple hundred when they have a band on a weekend night. Their biggest attraction is the beer drinking pigs!! No really!! For a few dollars they will give you a non-alcoholic beer which you can take to a pen and give to a HUGE pig...and not a farm raised pig...a really wild pig with tusks!! Check these pics out...







We had a busy Monday, the first work day since arriving. We started by having Tropical Depression Ana visit in the middle of the night. Everyone on the island said it was not much of a storm, but R was up closing shutters and making sure our shack was still standing.

Then we ventured out. We opened a PO Box, then swapped our Texas drivers licenses for VIs. After these two surprisingly easy, and fast, stops (we had heard nightmare stories about how long it can take), we had lunch with R's coworker. We then picked up our library cards and opened a bank account!

As you can see, Sophie loves having our own pool!! We are trying to get her in the water once a day so she gets used to it (our permanent housing has a pool which she will have access to and we don't want her to fall in without knowing about the stairs)!

Getting Settled (Part 2 - Our Home)

It took us a day or two longer than we said, but here are some pics of our temporary quarters. We will be staying here for two months, and LOVE IT!!! Just when we thought the place was perfect we turned on the pool lights and discovered the lights change colors and really add to the atmosphere of the patio. Have we said, WE LOVE THIS PLACE!!! Check it out...

Main house

Living Room from Entry

Kitchen

Looking from Beach to House

View from Balcony

Private Beach

Guest House (as if we didn't have enough)!!

1st Wake-up in Paradise!!

After a long day, we turned in early last night, and we're glad we did. The sun starts shining well before 6am and by 7am you'd think it was noon!! I guess that is a good way to keep from being a bum and sleeping all day!

We organized our closet. R has the top row, with H on the bottom, but R is not sure H packed properly...can you tell what she thinks she'll be doing for two years...

We had a great evening with R's new coworker and his wife, we are both really looking forward to getting to know them better over the coming months, although they don't arrive permanently until October.

We'll get some pics of our house uploaded today - you've got to see this place!

Sounds like everyone is meeting up for lunch in the rain forest at a place where you can feed pigs beer!! What an island!!

We made it!!!

It has been a busy last few days. Movers spent three days at the house packing things up and moving us out. The movers definitely had their work cut out for them, but things went pretty smoothly over all. We are having just under 500 pounds air shipped to us, which should be here in about two weeks. We have more items being sent over on a boat that will arrive in a couple of months. Most of our things will be stored in Dallas in a storage unit until we return. We are shipping one vehicle that should arrive in two to three weeks. Until then, we have a rental car to get us around the island.

We have had about one showing a day on our house since it went on the market Monday afternoon, and now need to decide between two offers. We are very thankful for that considering it has not even been on the market for a week.

We said goodbye to our car on Wednesday. The husband of the couple who bought it had a sweet Ferrari. He took R for a joyride and let us both sit in it and take a picture. It isn't every day that you will get the chance to sit in or ride in a Ferrari! It was pretty cool!

Talk about waiting until the last minute, about a half hour before the movers finished, and we went to the airport hotel for our flight out, R finally sold his motorcycle!! He was sad to see it go, but relieved that he got the deal wrapped up before we left.

We got a couple of memorable going away gifts. H's BFF's four year old wrote a sweet note to all of us. A few things he mentioned was that he hoped Sophie didn't poop in the sand, and that he hoped R didn't kick Sophie out =) So cute coming from a little guy. I think he is really concerned about Sophie! We also got one last going away meal from our neighbors...one of his famous steaks! They have been so helpful and we are so thankful to have them as neighbors. They also gave us a "contract" that said we had to return to our house in two years, so I guess we will be back in Allen in two years =)

So get this...last night as we are getting ready for bed at the airport hotel (turning in early as we had to be up at 5am to catch the flight) and had the news on the TV. The last bit of the show was the weatherman giving a hurricane update. Seems there is a tropical storm just east of, but heading westbound towards, St. Croix!!! The guy actually mentioned the Virgin Islands are in the storms' path!! What are the chances!! It is supposed to come through on Monday but at this point doesn't appear to be a major storm for us.

So today was the big day. As much as H has been worried about getting Sophie on the plane, it was no problem at all. They didn't as much look at her or ask a single question. She got to sleep in H's lap on both flights and she did so awesome! I'm not sure we want to try our luck again anytime soon, but we were so impressed at how smoothly things went.

We finally arrived at our tropical paradise. We had dinner with our new best friends for the next two years (the other new agent and his wife), and we have already found two hermit crabs crawling around near the house. They are fun because as you approach them they curl into their shell and fall over! Sophie wasn't sure what to think about those guys! Sophie has already taken a stroll along the shore at the house and gone for a dip in the pool! Now we are sitting here with the doors open and the ocean breeze blowing through the house listening to the waves crash on our private beach! We think we can handle this for two years...

Pre Move - 4 Days to Go

Another week closer to the big move, and a thousand more things to worry about!

We made some big steps closer to being ready. We sold our Acura (although they are letting us keep it until later this week). We may have R's Harley sold, but the buyer has been a bit skiddish. The movers came a few days ago to pick up the Rodeo (which we are having shipped to the island).

The biggest news is that our house is now on the market. It went on today around 3:30, and we had our first showing before 6pm!! You can see our listing at http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/1432-Mckenzie-Court_Allen_TX_75013_1111681887

We are so thankful for our neighbors who have had us over for dinner and are grilling steaks the day before we leave as we will not have any cookware. However, they are also making us sign a contract promising to come back to Texas in two years!!

Movers start their packing in two days!! However, H being H, we started packing our bags tonight!! Then, of course, Sophie saw us get our suitcases out and now she is on alert! She's been wondering what's going on for a few days now. We are both still worried about getting her down there safe and sound, keep your fingers crossed that they let her chubby self on the plane!!

Pre Move - 12 Days to Go

Since arriving back on the mainland following our house hunting trip we have accomplished a lot, or so it seems. However, we have so much left to do.

We don't have the house on the market nor do we have the car or motorcycle sold. However, we had the movers to the house doing their "site survey". They seem to be a very professional outfit and will keep all of our belongings (which we are not taking with us) in climate controlled storage. We are now in the process of deciding what to take and what to put in storage, not an easy decision considering the two years until we have an opportunity to get at anything we place in storage.

R had a guys day on Saturday, playing golf and then poker with a bunch of work buddies. H has her last Bunko night tomorrow night (although they are not playing Bunko just having dinner and drinks)!

R's Mom and Dad, R's brother and family, along with one of H's friends have all already booked their flights to visit us in paradise!

Time to get back to worrying about things!!

House Hunting Trip Completed

We made it back to Texas in one piece! We left St. Croix at 10 AM heading to San Juan, Puerto Rico. The first leg was fine, very short in fact (less than 1/2 hour in the air). However, this short flights leaves a very long 2nd leg (about a 5 hour flight). Just when we were close to DFW the captain gets on the horn to let us know a storm over Dallas shut down the airport. So we diverted to Oklahoma City for fuel and then back to Dallas.

The night before we had a very nice get together with R's two coworkers and their families. We had them over for supper. The day before we purchased steak at a butcher shop on the island which raises Senepol cattle. Anyway, it was a nice evening and we're looking forward to many more!

Looking back on our trip, we are feeling rather strange about our pending move. We alleviated many worries about the move by getting to know the island better and having some idea of what the long term housing market is like. However, other fears popped up when we realized that there are not many places to live which are unfurnished, thereby demanding we leave our belongings behind. R really enjoyed the history of the island and is looking forward to getting to know more about the historic building he will be working in. H, on the other hand, is feeling much better about her shopping options on the island. In addition, she heard from several agents' wives about how they travel with their husbands to St. Thomas or San Juan when they need a change of pace.

We've also realized how much work we have to do in the next month, from getting the house ready to lease to deciding what to pack and what to store. In addition, we have a few large dollar items (car and motorcycle) that we still need to sell. So we better get at it!

House Hunting Trip - Villa Bambooshay (Day 7-8)

We finalized our first 60 days of living quarters on Thursday. We will be staying at Whispering Winds (http://www.vacationstcroix.com/WhisperingWinds/Whispering_Winds.html). We both feel very lucky to have the opportunity to spend 60 nights in such a place! The best part of all...visitors are welcome!!

We also traveled to the Carambola Beach Resort on Thursday, spending some quality R&R time on the beach! For dinner we went to the west end of the island and ate at the Sunset Cafe. We had a table for two in the sand no more than 10 feet from the water. Even though the service was horrible, it is still a great place to watch the sun set over the water.

Although we had been warned of such poor service and rudeness in the service industry, this was really our first experience. In fact, everyone we have encountered, even the fast food workers and strangers in the street have been super nice and willing to give directions or advice.

Today we looked at several more condos, some nice, others not so much! We are hesitant to commit to long term accomodations when we are still three months away from moving in. However, the last few days have provided us with a much better understanding of the housing market on the island, and has raised our hopes of finding suitable housing for the next two years!

H also found time to shop for a "St. Croix Hook" bracelet today. A must-have for all visitors to the island.

This evening we joined another couple and their kids for dinner. He is in R's line of work and she in H's, so we have a lot of similarities. We met up at a resort bar which was having crab races! For $2 you picked out a hermit crab, gave it a name (ours were Cranky and Sophie - guess who's was whose), and then watched as they were dumped from a bucket and allowed to run. The ones who ran the farthest won...and Sophie won!! H won a gift certificate for another bracelet and a free dinner!

We have about emptied our second tank of gas since arriving 8 days ago...not bad considering the size of the island. We have attempted to see every inch of the place. R is getting very good at driving on the left side of the road (a tradition left over from when St. Croix was ruled by the Dutch)! H has even started figuring out the layout of the roads and could probably drive from our house to the K-Mart without getting lost (quite an improvement from Day 1)! Other funny facts about the island are that you can legally drive while drinking (assuming you are not drunk), however, you are not allowed to drive while using your cell phone. The joke we heard today was "after being pulled over you can ask the cop to hold your beer while you sign your ticket for talking on your phone"!!

House Hunting Trip - Villa Bambooshay (Day 5-6)

We've had a couple of exciting days. Yesterday we met with a realtor and looked at our long term living options. We are concerned at the small number of available places, but were pleased by the quality of the places on the market. Unfortunately, it looks like we will be leaving most of our belongings behind, as most of the rental properties come furnished.

Then we met with the vacation villa property manager who rented us Villa Bambooshay. She showed us four EXTREMELY nice places which are available for us during our two month temp quarters. The least luxurious of these is also listed for sale at just under $2M!

Today we played tourist! We set out at 9:30 this morning on a glass bottom boat heading for Buck Island. It was about a 45 minute boat ride to the island which sits along St. Croix's north shore toward the eastern end. It was a bumpy ride out, not sickening as much as a fun mild roller coaster! Just before reaching the island H spotted a school of dolphins! The captain manuevered the boat and soon we had dolphins on either side of our boat - one was a small baby!

Buck Island, a national park, is best known for it's great beach and snorkeling area. First we snorkeled (which is nowhere as exciting as SCUBA diving so I was a little let down). Then we traveled to the beach where we were both very impressed. The beach is ranked among the world's ten best by National Geographic. July is the beginning of the turtle egg laying season, so we were asked to stay close to the water and not venture off onto the sand for fear of stepping on a nest of eggs.

Our return trip was very calm and relaxing. We spent a majority of our time speaking with the captain about island life. We try to do this with every local we meet, most questions posed (what type of cell service is the best) are unanimously agreed upon, but some questions asked (what part of the island is the best to live) have resulted in a wide variety of answers, leaving us even more confused!

House Hunting Trip - Villa Bambooshay (Day 4)

Today was job hunting day for H. Together we traveled to all the dentists on St. Croix to drop off her resume, we believe there are 8 dentists and we hit 7 so not bad. No offers as yet but we're hoping someone will give her a call in the coming days. We traveled all the way over to Fredricksted, the other "town" on the western side of the island. This evening we traveled to the south shore and had dinner at the Divi Casino Resort...so overall we've seen a good deal of the island today - not hard considering its size!

We also met with a realtor and have realized that finding an unfurnished condo will be nearly impossible. That along with the fact that only one condo complex allows dogs, we are thinking we may be stuck with renting a house. We are ok with the house idea, but we both have security concerns since R will be traveling off island from time to time.

House Hunting Trip - Villa Bambooshay (Day 3)

We arrived on the island on Friday and were escorted to our rental villa (see pictures). It is much larger than what we required but is very nice. One thing we are having to get used to is the lack of air conditioning. Our villa has an A/C unit in each bedroom but the main house is cooled by the constant trade winds - open aired!

Thankfully we are up on a hill and more than enough breeze, and the location offers excellent views of the north shore. Just to our north is Green Cay a small uninhabited island just off the coast. Further east is Buck Island, a place we are hoping to get to while here. It is one of a few underwater national parks in the United States.

We spent yesterday touring the island and getting a better understanding of where people shop for groceries and everyday necessities. Last night we had dinner with a coworker at a very nice restaurant which was "off the beaten path". Dinner is expensive here, each night thus far we have spent just under $100 for our meals and drinks...maybe we just drink too much!! :-)

Today we were invited to a beach party at Chenay Bay, a small beach area a mile or so from our villa. It was actually a going away party for one of R's coworkers. We drove right up to the sand and parked, not more than 20 yards to the water! We each tried our luck at snorkeling but it wasn't very good at this particular beach.

A little info about the island

St. Croix is the largest of the U.S. Virgin Islands, measuring 28 by 7 miles, approximately twice the size of Washington DC. The Virgin Islands are located between the Caribbean Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean, east of Puerto Rico. The total population of the island is about 60,000, and there are two main "towns", Christiansted and Frederiksted. It has a varied terrain, from a dry and arid East end to a lush and green West end that even includes a small rainforest! The average temperatures are between 83-88 for highs and 71-77 for lows. The easternmost point in the United States is actually in St. Croix and is known as Point Udall. St. Croix is 40 miles from St. Thomas and St. John, and you can get there by ferry or seaplane.

English is the most common language on the island and St. Croix lies in the Atlantic Time zone, but does not follow Daylight Savings Time. During the spring and summer we are on the same time as the East Coast of the U.S., but are one hour ahead in the winter. Compared to Dallas, there is little shopping on the island. Most shopping is done at the two Kmarts or a Cost-u-Less (the island's version of Costco).

St. Croix is home to Hovensa, one of the world's largest oil refineries. It is also home to the Cruzan Rum distillery and the only casino in all of the Virgin Islands. St. Croix's outstanding beaches are open to the public, even the beaches adjacent to St. Croix's resorts.

Big News...

We are moving to the United States Virgin Islands!!

Over a year ago we were laying on a beach in Mexico and thought to ourselves, why don't we find a place like this to live. After arriving back in the states R began checking out some of their offices in the Caribbean, and learned that they had two agents on St. Croix. Last April we traveled there to see what it was like and came home with mixed feelings. We had pretty much given up on the idea when his agency announced an opening there a couple of months back. The traditional three year assignment was cut to two years, which we thought was less of a risk in case we really hated it. He applied, was interviewed in Miami, and was offered the job! The transfer is all paid both there and when we return at which point he can pick any office in the US to return to. It's an opportunity that we couldn't pass up and will be moving in the next 60 days or so. Until then we will be getting our house sold, along with two cars and several toys including his beloved harley! We are very nervous about the move, but how often does one get an opportunity to venture outside of their safety-net with a guaranteed return in two years. It is a perfect time in our lives for such an adventure and are hoping that when done we'll look back and be very thankful for the opportunity!

Blog

I am going to attempt to keep up with this blog to update our move and life on the island for the next couple of years.