Held Hostage on the Island

You may notice the glaring lack of photographs from our Florida getaway in this posting. The reason is simple...Bermuda wouldn't let us leave! We were all set for a few days with just the four of us lounging around the hotel, dining in our favourite Dunedin and Clearwater restaurants, shopping up a storm at Target and splashing in the hot tub. We really needed a break after a fair number of stress-filled days brought on by a few illnesses, a bit of family drama and some fairly unprofessional and mean-spirited colleagues. Alas, it was not to be.

Tuesday rolled around and the winds began to pick up. Our flight was scheduled for Wednesday and by then the hurricane force gusts were in full swing. Every flight coming or going from the island was cancelled for most of the week and we were stuck in a house with no food, staring at a week with no plans. We made the most of it, hosting a family games night with friends of ours and their children, playing at the gym at the school, puttering on the computer, watching movies and spending whole days in our pajamas. I even managed to escape to the spa for an afternoon with some girlfriends and have lovely, glowing skin to show for it (as well as a large hole in my bank account).

Even with all of these things, we all remained pretty disappointed to miss out on our getaway, but we are looking forward to our rescheduled vacation in early April.

Better late than never, I guess.

A Busy January

Ahhh! January has been so filled with action that there hasn't even been time to update our blog! There are so many things to share, I hardly know where to start. Perhaps just some highlights will have to suffice.

Biggest highlight

• Mary-Kate and Bodhi came for a visit. We had an amazing time showing them around Bermuda and enjoying their company. Everyone has been very welcoming since we moved here, but there is nothing like having family around. We took them to all of our favourite locations: Hamilton, St. George's, Shelley Bay playground, John Smith's beach and the zoo-quarium (0f course). Bodhi got lots of "boy time" with Morgan and Quinn and they played cars, trains, ball, chase, and got food all over themselves to their hearts' content. We were all very teary when we dropped them off at the airport and we are counting down the days until summer when we will see them again.

Other highlights

• Jim amazed himself and others by running a half-marathon during Bermuda's international race weekend. He finished in two hours even, proud to have kept a faster pace than he expected and prouder to beat most of the other Somersfield competitors.

• I had a great New York getaway with my friend Julia, shopping up a storm, dining out and taking in an amazing Broadway show, "Wicked". We've decided this must be an annual excursion and have plans for another trip to New York in December (shhh, this is news to Jim!).

While January was flurry of battling a colds, the flu, workplace drama and travel for work, we have made it to February. Upcoming highlights will certainly be our quick family vacation to Florida early this month and, before long, our much anticipated visit from Nanna and Grampy at Easter. Let the fun continue!