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.

Blue Oaks Walk-A-Thon

The Kern kids are fundraising and this time there is a Paypal option so you don't even have to write a check if you don't want to! It's our 3rd annual Walkathon!!! It's exercise, helps the PTC and teaches students empathy and community care via CMN! Highlight last year was CMN patient, and teacher's child, Casey -age 4, telling his story about heart surgery and showing his scars to students totally improv. Even the smallest donation is welcome! Please note teachers: Karly/Ratcliff and Kyle/Wells so the kids get credit for their classroom competition. All donations are due by next Wednesday the 10th.

Here's the link! Click here to see more! Blue Oaks Walk-A-Thon

Here's some pics of the kids from past walks!

Oh CANADA!!

To say that this family enjoyed the Olympics is an understatment. We lived the Olympics here at the Kern house these past few weeks.....well, except maybe for Karly who is way more into American Idol these days than snowboarding, curling or hockey. And, it's true that with each Olympic contest that has come through our 16+ year marriage that my husband leaves behind his US citizenship for a short time to become a man of the maple leaf. So for two weeks Kent has cheered on the country of his birth and Kyle, who idolizes his Daddy, goes right along with him. Of course the US gets many a cheer, but the Red and White trump the Red, White and Blue in their book.
After a fantastic hockey game, which is way more exciting and stressful than I ever gave the sport credit, Kent not only put the whole family in his Canada Hockey jersey, but stood and sang the anthem, "Oh Canada" with pride. What a great country it was to host the events and we here love the fact that people got a better look at the wonderful people that share our continent with us!
Karly and her little pal Lauren actually fill out this jersey the best!

Yep, even the dog!

Well done hosting Canada. I think you won the hearts of many!

Congrats to Karly!!

She's done it again! Our Karly made it through a handful of written test rounds and has qualified for the Placer County Oral Spelling Bee. She is estatic and we are quite proud of her accomplishment! She has a gift with language and no doubt we'll be watching to see what is ahead for her in life. For now, it's a huge packet of words to study and nerves to tackle at the oral Bee on March 17th! What a kid!

The Bicep

How bad is it? This bad. Yuck!

The House, a Cruise, the Kids and a Bicep

Latest Scoops:

The HOUSE- The house is on the market. Day four as of today. We'll see what happens. We are offering something different than most. Easy sale and move-in ready, unlike most short sells and foreclosed homes. We are hoping for the right buyer! Someone who needs to move in on their time-line and doesn't want to hassle with bank issues or fixing up neglected homes/yards etc. No doubt though, we are outnumbered by homes that are bank owned and priced for a bargain.

We are hopeful but cautious. If we stay here for a while longer, we will make the best of it! Kent did an awesome job putting in new appliances and landscaping. I've got the paint touched up and everything as clean as is possible. About three weeks of prep, but we figure even if we don't sell, now we've got things well updated and all those little jobs we put off forever, done.

Our CRUISE- We are growing more and more excited about our upcoming Spring Break cruise! We have never really vacationed during Spring Break, so it's throwing us for a bit of a loop in regards to anticipation and preparation. Hard to think about bathing suits and flip-flops when it's raining and cold outside. Our islands of destination this trip are St. Kitts, St. Lucia and St. Martin. We are actively pursuing our port plans and looking forward to the rest and family fun it will bring.

The KIDS- Karly is hard at work with Thumbelina. She's got her lines down and is a star as always with her stage presence and projection of voice. Grammy is making the Thumbelina costume and Karly has a great solo she's excited to sing. I haven't worked as closely this year with the school play but look forward to supporting the cast backstage as I have done in the past. Props, scenery and who needs to be where will be at the top of my to learn list this next month or so.

Kyle just found out he'll be playing on the Phillies in the Majors this year. He'll be the only nine year-old on his team. We are very excited for him to play at this higher level and anticipating the changes that will come with it. Probably he won't have as much playing time as he has in the past, but the learning will be maximized. Plus, he'll be able to fire a ball into 1st base knowing that it will most likely be caught! Just today he watched a show on Albert Puljols and how he learned a lot playing with older kids who were better than him. Kyle instantly drew the parallel that while these kids are older, his skill level will be encouraged by playing with kids older than him.

The BICEP - Superbowl Sunday I head to the gym and come home to find Kent in serious pain. He and Kyle were playing baseball out front. Kent tried to climb a wall to retrieve a ball, but instead both Kyle and Kent heard an audible ripping sound. Kent managed in pulling himself up to tear his bicep. His entire right bicep, upper arm is purple, blue and black. Nasty bad hurt. He saw the doctor Monday and it will be four weeks until he can try to any lifting or pushing/pulling. How perfect is it that we finished our last house project just the day before.

That's what is up here. Lots of crazy business, and yet I'd be sad to have it boring anyways! :)

Pre-teen sleepover

I'm sitting at the computer as Karly has six girlfriends over for a sleepover/birthday party. The girls are eating pizza and talking all at the same time with contagious laughter and a few prideful belches in the mix. It's hillarious! They think they are so big and yet they still sound like little girls trying to make sense of their in-between status. Lots of remember whens, songs sung and key discussions on who will be the one to stay up the longest.

The beauty of it, it's so free and easy. What a gift such innocence is!

Not a sleeping beauty...

Kyle has to be one of the strangest sleepers I know. He talks in his sleep almost nightly and has to have a bright light on to fall asleep. Usually too, he falls asleep with a blanket over his head that we have to pry back when we head to bed ourselves because he gets all hot and sweaty. Recently, we creeped upstairs to find him like this. Totally asleep. We had to get a pic. What in the world?

FOUND: Las Vegas pics!

So in the craziness of life, I just found these pictures still on our camera from our Las Vegas trip months ago! Too funny! We very much enjoyed Vegas, but I'll still pick a beach trip first anyday!