Saba Vacation in Hurricane Season

Despite dire predictions that travelling to Saba during the peak week of hurricane season is an act of insanity, I can report, safely from the confines of NYC, that one cannot only travel during hurricane season, but have lovely weather to boot! Let's face it, if no one travelled during hurricane season the entire Caribbean would be a ghost town from June 30 to November 30, and that would just be a shame.

Although I had high hopes that a change of scenery would suddenly cause Eliza to eat so much that we would need a miracle rivaling the fishes and the loaves to fill her belly, no such luck was to be had. However there were sightings of Eliza eating some ice cream, a bit of bread, a cube of cheese and a few strawberries.

Overall though Eliza had quite the good time, swimming, discovering that salt water does not taste like fresh water, saying "heeeyyyyy" to everyone and everything that she ran across, covering every surface (including her Nana) with stickers, picking every flower in sight. She threw a few fagairies (Saba-speak for tantrums) and her sleep was better than usual. Eliza had a grand time sharing everything with cousin Pete and faking out cousin Matthew. Eliza's vacation ended with a trip on a private plane, which was pretty darn sweet!

Since we were lucky enough to have Pete and Matthew along as our dual family photographers, I have another great collection of Eliza vacation photos to share.

Enjoy!

Who's hiding behind those shades?



Keeping her fingers crossed for good weather:



Indoor bike riding:



The Well's Bay:



You can never have enough sun block:



If the sun block doesn't work, wear a bucket on your head for protection:




Trying out her Elmo panties ... a nice combo with her baseball cap:



Who says Eliza is too big to ride in her doll stroller:

Vacation

Eliza Grace and I returned from our vacation about two weeks ago but Eliza's recent refusal to sleep has thwarted my efforts to post sooner about our vacation.

The plane ride to Saba entails taking a 19 seat plane from St. Maarten for a twelve minute flight. The ride is a bit harrowing and some folks prefer to take a 2 hour boat ride rather than the little Winair Twin Otter:



Eliza slept through the two attempts that it took the pilot to land due to bad cross winds, but soon enough we were at our little house:



From our house we can see the islands of Statia, St. Kitts, Nevis and on a clear day, Montserrat:



Our house, in Hell's Gate, Saba, comes complete with its own burying ground, as do most of the older homes on Saba. The gravestones of Eliza's great, great grandparents make for interesting climbing:



Quite a few of Eliza's days were spent swimming in her pool since the ocean was a bit too rough this time of year for much ocean swimming:







Car spotting at the gate with Nana and cousin Alma was also a favorite activity. Although Eliza lives in the city, you would think she had never actually seen a car before:





Eliza celebrated her second birthday while we were on Saba with about 40 or so of her cousins and had a grand time dancing to old style Calypso music, which you can see in the new videos.



















A special treat for Eliza was having her cousin Pete come spend a week with us. Pete was Eliza's first "nanny" and I am not sure who is more devoted to whom.



We both had a great time on vacation and miss Saba and our extended family very much. If anyone wants to see the other 500 photos from vacation, just let me know!

The Long Lost Vacation Pictures

As you may remember last month Eliza and I went on a short vacation to Williamsburg, Virginia, where I had gone to college. We met up with my old roommate, Marilyn, to see what had become of the 'Burg.

Lucky for us we were reminded that in Colonial times children who refused to eat were publicly humiliated by a few hours in the stocks. We tried this public humiliation with Eliza:



Clearly this just made her mad, but not hungry:




We did get to see some old friends:






And Eliza got to make some new friends:



And we found the dopiest excuse for a theme park, "Presidents' Park" where you too can see larger than life busts of all the presidents, sort of like an American version of Easter Island:



And we also got to spend some time on the James River:

Vacation and Vomit

Eliza and I spent the past few days off on a nice mini-vacation with my old roommate visiting our college, William and Mary, and seeing some old friends. Eliza did pretty well with the change of environment, except for the mini-hunger strike she went on. Despite getting only about 600 calories a day she had boundless energy. Of course the people on the return flight wished she had no energy as we sat on the runway for an hour while Eliza screamed non-stop. Did I mention she hates being confined in a car seat, stroller, baby sling, etc?


Despite hardly eating, we had a vomit-free vacation. Of course the return home is another story. Since getting back we have had a nightly vomit-fest. It usually occurs about an hour after her nine p.m. bottle once she has been asleep. Despite Eliza's GI insisting that her reflux is under control with her current dose of Prevacid, I suspect this vomit-fest is reflux related. She does not vomit this particular formula during the day and the vomiting starts about 3 to 4 hours after her last yogurt which is supplemented by Benecalories. I am doubtful it is the Benecalories causing this since the vomiting doesn't start until several hours later. So tomorrow the GI shall be getting yet another phone call from me.


Photo: Eliza Grace September 2007, Future Somalier