St. Lucia

Rich with pirate stories and colonial history, St. Lucia welcomed us with a beautiful day. Once again the Kernteam had a plan. We knew we wanted to head over to Pigeon Island and we were quickly connected with a fabulous taxi driver, George. St. Lucia follows English customs, so the kids were fascinated to drive on the wrong side of the street. George was full of knowledge and gave us a St. Lucia education. The island was in drought. Much of what we saw, which to these Californians didn't look all that dry, he said was very dry and lacking in color. Trees were to always be colorful in St. Lucia and hillsides never brown. We did see a dusting of what one might call dry, but to them it was in a critical stage of drought. It's amazing to think they are surrounded by water, but none of it drinkable or helpful to their land. Once we arrived at our destination, we were greeted by the Atlantic Ocean. St. Lucia is unique because half of the island is on the Atlantic and the other half the Caribbean Ocean. The Atlantic had great strong waves.....and separated by only a small strip of land, the Caribbean was calm. Here's a pic from the top of the Pigeon Island that shows you both sides.Once a spot where pirates called home, now Pigeon Island National Landmark is a 40 acre protected park. Beautiful in landscape, I'm sure even more lovely when there isn't a drought, and all about the Island are what remains of an 18th century English Fort. The English used the fort to spy on the French on nearby islands and the boys were able to take a long hike to the top. St. Lucia was six times french and six times English with the English last in power.



Our day in St. Lucia was a little rough on sweet Karly. Badly sun burned from her time in St. Martin, I swear we kept lathering her up but her porcelain skin needed SPF 50+ clearly. Before we even got off the boat she was in tears with burning skin. So Mom and Karly spent the day in partial shade, but there was no keeping this kid out of the water and sun. She wore one of Mama's cover-ups and a hat -well clothed in the water too. You can see here, as she sucks on a lollipop, her sunkissed cheeks. We did all we could to try to let her have some fun but stay safe from more sun exposure. While we sat at the beach, some ladies on "holiday" from Britain told us all about the Russian Oil Tycoon who owned this amazing yacht.
The night prior to our St. Lucia arrival brought with it a storm, so much of the water was left murky and more unsettled for our day in port. No matter, the snorkeling may have been out, but the kids were happy to ride the waves for hours. With water so warm, one can just sit and enjoy it!

St. Martin/St. Marteen

One of the things we love about cruising is going to bed out in the middle of the sea and waking to the sprinkling of islands about us. After two days at sea, the Kern family was happy to pull into St. Martin! Land ahoy and lovely it was! We were greeted by a beautiful rainbow that extended full bow both extending into the sea.
With a full port of boats, this was our busiest day with other ships also arriving at our destination, but the Kerns were ready. We knew this going and researched our options to escape the crowds. Pinel Island was our destination of choice and after a 20-25 minute taxi drive, we arrived at the French side of the island. The boys rented a kayak and the girls waited for water taxi to make our way across. Note, these girls can kayak with the best of them, but it was just too expensive. One of my greatest complaints about St. Martin is that things were so expensive there. Kayaks were $40 each to rent and we had a couple of sodas and shared three appetizers for another $40. A hamburger......was $27 US. We said no thank you and ate when we got back to the boat.
The cool thing about Pinel island was the lack of crowds and the great beach and point that remained shallow for play. The kids would go way out, where I'd be nervous because they were too far....and then they would stand up. Perfect for their play, sand digging/shell seeking and wave riding. Snorkeling was not great, but Karly and Kent saw iguanas lurking about. We also saw the largest hermit crab I've ever seen. About the size of a large man's fist.

Heading to this side of the island we had read that taxi's can be a problem to get back to the ship. We arranged with our taxi from the morning to come back and get us, she never did. Luckily we started heading back well before departure time and eventually we were able to find a taxi to take us back to port. Overall, what's not to like. You are on a beautiful beach in the Caribbean without a care in the world. Nonetheless I do think it will go down as one of our least favorite travels thus far. St. Martin was lacking the charm that we've found elsewhere and the prices and people did not win us over.

Got me a ticket on an AIRPLANE!!!

Call us crazy or call us smart. This family literally left town within an hour of Karly's closing bow for Thumbelina. We jumped into the car and headed to San Francisco to stay the night and catch an early morning flight. When we travel, we do TONS of research and we were able to find a fairly cheap flight to Miami out of SF-direct! A huge plus! To fly direct without connections and the worries of luggage issues, we were stoked! We left our hotel on the 4:30am airport shuttle -had a crazy scary shuttle driver- but arrived safely with our two bags to check and 1 carry-on each. Baggage fees are a big bummer when you are headed cross country for nine days.

Our flight was easy and without issue. Our baggage on the other hand was the greatest snafu of the trip. At the gate in SF, the flight crew offered to check any carry-ons for free to speed boarding. We jumped at the chance thinking that it would be easier than having the kids have to wrestle their bags through the plane. When we arrived in Miami, we had all our checked luggage, but none of the bags that were checked at the gate. After about an hour in line trying to trouble shoot the luggage issue, mind you we hadn't eaten since SF really and were tired from getting up so early, they finally announced that our bags had been found.

The kids were GREAT! They in some ways faired better than us. The only thing that really got to them was the need for food. By the time we got our rental car and headed from Miami to Ft. Lauderdale....we were dreaming of french fries and anything that would remotely be considered food. It didn't matter, we needed to eat. We teased the kids that once we were on the cruise, they could eat any hour as much as they wanted. In the end, all would be good!

Kids, around 5:00am at the SF airport.

Star Struck-Thumbelina

The story of Thumbelina is not common to most, but the Kern house learned it well over the past five months. The kids school has a fantastic musical program for the 3rd-5th grades and this year our very own Karly played one of the lead roles as none other than Thumbelina. She sang, she danced and she pleaded for her freedom from Ma Frog and Walter Rat.

This production took months of practice and a week long crazy schedule or rehearsals, performances and staging practices with Mama working as Stage Manager. It was a lot of work for everyone but most rewarding to see the kids perform on the quite professional High School theater stage. We are very proud of our Thumbelina. Karly excels at her voice projection and theatrics, but most importantly she had a blast with every moment!

Applause to our super star Karly! So proud of you we are!

Walkathon

I'm running a little behind, yet again, but here are the Walkathon pics! So proud of all the kids and super thrilled that we had gorgeous weather for this event! Great things happen when 600 students get walking for a great cause cheered by an amazing 55+ volunteers. The theme for the Walk...."Be The Hero". Each classroom picked a theme or likeness to walk in. Some very creative! Still one of my most favorite events!

I love this shot of Kyle! Mr. Active at his best and hamming it up for the camera.



Kyle and his buddy -clearing having fun.
Karly and her teacher, Mr. Ratcliff.