Flowers

Dominica is called the nature isle and there is no doubt how it got it's name. There is lush greenery, beautiful waterfalls, and colorful flowers everywhere! After Aba Wavine we stopped at Spanny falls, I have been there before but I love stopping there. The waterfall is right off the road and the little shop that is set up there has so many beautiful flowers growing there as well as some cute little handpainted signs. I love the flowers here and wish we could grow them back at home.

Kalinago Territory

The natives on the island of Dominica have a territory that is reserved as a area where visitors can visit and see a little bit of how they lived and the work that they did in eariler days. The boys and I went on a school field trip to this area called the Kalinago Territory. It was, of course, another really long drive to get there. The territory is on the other side of the island on the Atlantic ocean. While we were there we got to see how they weave baskets and the kids even got to weave their own little basket. We also saw how they make cassava bread, it is made using a grated up cassava root and other ingredients and cooked on a big curved piece of metal that is set out over an open fire. We also got to see the native dancers perform.

Sam weaving his basket

Ethan

Levi

Making cassava bread

Aba Wavine

I was fortunate to go on the coolest hike ever! Aba Wavine is the name of the waterfall that we end at. The waterfall itself was really cool. The start of the water is at the top of a cliff and it falls all the way down to the beach. The hike to get down there was what made this destination even cooler. Instead hiking to the waterfall we climbed down the cliff to the beach. The climg down was several hundred feet and straight up and down for a large portion of it. We hung onto exposed roots of the tress and at one point there is a rope ladder that you go down. Each step neeed to be done very carefully, it kind of felt like reverse rock climbing. As we got further down the cliff you could start hearing the waves crashing into the beach below and then the view once we were further down was so beautiful. A couple of friends and I thought it would be fun to have a picture of us under the waterfall. The water was so loud in our ears that we couldn't hear the warnings from the others that two big waves were coming in. They crashed into us and nearly took us out to sea. It was crazy, but such a fun day.

We climbed down this cliffside through the trees

We can see the beach

Coming down the ladder

Jay, myself, and JoEll

The waterfall

First Day of School

It seems weird having the everyone go back to school since it still feels like summer here. The weather doesn't really change and it back to school at home always had that "fall" feeling to it. Nevertheless it is that time and the boys are excited to start official school. Ethan is starting the third grade, Sam is going to pre-school and Levi is going to go to the Early Learning Center that is attached to the Prep School that the older boys attend. Ethan's teacher's name is Mrs. Fredrick, she is from Dominica and she teaches the 1st through 3rd grades in her classroom. Sam's teacher's name is Mrs. Charbonnneau, she is from the U.S. and her husband is also attending Ross University and is in the same semester as Tyler. The boys are loving school so far and they are learning so much. Levi really likes playing with all the kids at the ELC too. He is so happy to go there in the morning and just as happy when I pick him up at lunchtime. We have lunch together at the playground after which Ethan goes for two more hours and the little boys and I hang out on campus unto Ethan is done at 3pm. They do yoga and swimming for the P.E. class and they have Art and French class. I love when Sam tells me the French word for elephant. It is pronounced "el-ee-font", and way cute when he says it. They get to have some very unique experiences going to school here, they have two field trips each month. They have already gone to some really neat places and look forward to the future field trips.

Levi

Sam

Ethan

Whale Watching

The semester break is over but there was one more semester break activity on the Saturday after class started. Since Tyler was already back to studying, just the boys and I went whale watching. We went out on a catamaran boat and the boys loved sitting on the net and watching the water below us. We were lucky enough to see a rare whale called a Cauvier Beaked whale. It looked like a large dolphin and it came up and swam around our boat a couple of times. On the way back to the dock a large group of little dolphins started swimming with us. It was definitely the of the trip, the boys started naming the dolphins names like; "speedy", "leader", "jumper", "twin", and "stink". All in all it was a very fun day!

Cauvier beaked dolphin

Dolphins