St. John, Part 1 - Getting there was half the fun

We headed off on our trip on Thursday, March 20. We had a layover in Atlanta, then in Puerto Rico. We then took a Cesna propeller plane from Puerto Rico to St. Thomas. Of course I was a little nervous about this. J.Paul and I were the first ones to board. The plane holds 12 people, including the pilot. When we got in, the pilot asked J.Paul if he'd like to sit up front, next to him. Of course!

I mentioned I was a little nervous. Well, as we were preparing for take off, my nervousness escalated. Our young pilot, as we were taxiing down the runway, takes out a "Before Take-Off Checklist". He skimmed down the list, seemed satisfied everything was done, then accelerated down the runway for take-off. I'm thinking, is this his first flight or something? After the flight I shared this fear with J.Paul. He said the checklist made him more comfortable because then he knew everything would be done right. What would you have thought about the checklist? This picture is of our young pilot with the checklist to the left of his left hand, by the window.

Then we took off! What a rush! It was beautiful looking down on Puerto Rico and the chain of little islands on the way to St. Thomas. Oh, and the beautiful, clear water.

Needless to say, we arrived safely in St. Thomas. Here's J.Paul, standing proudly in front of the plane he "co-piloted".

After arrival we had to quickly gather our luggage and get our rental car to be on time to catch the ferry to St. John. And so our next adventure began... (to be continued)

Easter bunny

The Easter bunny made a stop a little early at our house this year. He came on Wednesday. I can't believe when we planned out our trip we didn't realize we'd be gone over Easter. I guess we didn't think it would be so early. Well, it was sad to be gone on Easter, but it all turned out okay. I will post the kids in their Easter attire later, as we are having a few technical difficulties with that one. But here are the kids with their easter baskets, well, bags, as I didn't want to make time to go up in the attic and get the easter stuff down. They didn't know the difference and loved it.



















That morning Amzie came into my room and said, "The Easter bunny didn't come!". I got out of bed and followed her in to the living room where she was standing by the front door looking around. I guess she thought he'd open the front door and place the baskets right inside. When I directed her toward the kitchen table, she got so excited. Evan's favorite part was, of course, the candy.

We survived!

J.Paul took the boards and feels that he did well. Results will be in in a couple of weeks. We spent a nearly perfect week in St. John, in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Although I have nothing to compare it to, I would definitely recommend St. John to anyone. When I post pictures, you will see why. There is also nothing to compare to spending a week with no one but your spouse! Highly recommended as well! Also, Grandma and Grandpa and Nanna and Poppy seemed to come out okay, and of course the kids did. They loved it and the reunion was great when we came home. Back to reality...

Glad I'm not the aspiring dentist around here

For those of you who don't know, J.Paul is studying for the dental board exam. The board is a national liscencing test you have to pass to be able to practice. You get 2 tries and if you don't pass, you basically are out 2 years and $50,000. Pretty big deal. J.Paul has been doing some pretty hard core studying for the past 3 weeks and will take the boards on Monday. Usually I steer clear of J.Paul in his studying (unless I need something that I can't reach or help with the kids). The other night I popped in the office and J.Paul was taking some of the old boards. Trying to get a good laugh at my expense, J.Paul asked me to start reading some of the questions out loud. We both ended up getting a pretty good laugh. Here are a few of the sample questions. If you're feeling pretty smart, you can try and answer them.

1. Which of the following identifies the cell that produces interleukin-1 and the cell affected by interleukin-1, respectively?
a. T cell-B cell
b. Macrophage-T cell
c. Macrophage-monocyte
d. Dendritic cell - B lymphocyte

2. Identify the permanent anterior tooth that most frequently exhibits a bifurcated root and identify the positions of the roots.
a. Maxillary canine - facial and lingual
b. Maxillary canine-mesial and distal
c. maxillary lateral incisor - facial and lingual
d. maxillary lateral incisor - mesial and distal
e. mandibular canine -facial and lingual
f. mandibular canine - mesial and distal

3. Number and arrangement of cusps, number and location of roots, developmental grooves and oblique ridges are similar in a primary maxillary second molar and a
a. maxillary second premolar
b. permanent maxillary first molar
c. permanent mandibular first molar
d. permanent maxillary second molar
e. permanent mandibular second molar

4. The large ascending bundle of fibers in the medulla that is composed of second order neuron fibers conveying proprioception and discriminatory touch sensations to conscious levels is the
a. medial lemniscus
b. reticular formation
c. spinal trigeminal tract
d. inferior cerebellar peduncle

5. The postganglionic sympathetic fibers to the vessels of the submandibular salivary gland arise from cells in the
a. otic gangion
b. submandibular ganglion
c. pterygopalatine ganglion
d. superior cervical ganglion

Lets stop there, shall we? I know you are having a great time, but I'm not. Typing all this is a drag. Here's the answers:
1. b 2. e 3. b 4. a 5. d

How'd you do? There are several ways to review your score. If you got them all right, you're a brainiac. If you got them all wrong, you're probably still extremely intelligent. If you just skipped over them, brilliant. If you could pronounce at least half the words, very smart. If you thought "peduncle - what the hell is that?", good job. If you suddenly realized that J.Paul is the smartest guy you know - wrong! Just kidding, but don't they say that behind every smart man is a dad-gum genius?

So go ahead, next time you see J.Paul, give him a hug, or a kiss, or a $100 bill, because really, doesn't he deserve it?

Blogging has paid off!

I got home from a playgroup to find a UPS box on my porch. I brought it in to find (wait for it, wait for it) 15 GRANNY B'S PINK SUGAR COOKIES!!!!!!!! This box was sent by my cousin Lisa who read about my love of the pink cookies right here a few posts ago on this very blog. And just as Kirk became my favorite sibling merely by sending me one pink cookie from the MTC, any fool can see that Lisa has sky-rocketed into the number one cousin position by sending me 15 pink cookies (this will not help my ab sitiation, but let's forget about it for the moment, shall we?) But you know, come to think about it, Lisa has never been far from my number one position.......It all started back when I was probably about 10. The year - 1988. We had a family reunion one weekend in Mesa (where Lisa lives). Lisa was the ultimate cool cousin because she was probably about 18 or 19 and she invited me and my sister to stay with her for the rest of the week. Mom said yes and we got to fly back to Vegas at the end of the week. We had a great time tubing down a river, seeing the original "Batman", bowling, and laughing a lot. Really great memories from my childhood. Fast forward to the year 2002, Lisa flies all the way to Memphis to come to my wedding. I didn't even get to really hang out with her because I was so busy getting married and all, but the point is that she came, all the way here. There are actually more reasons, but for this post's sake, that will do. So, Lisa McCain, I salute you! You're the best! (And to all my other cousins out there, don't give up, it's still worth trying to redeem yourselves.)

Memphis Snow

We had one of the best snows I've ever seen in Memphis on Friday. Usually we get ice but this was real, fluffy snow. Friday afternoon we played in the backyard.

Do you see the mommy and little girl angels in the snow?

What Evan looked like unless I was holding him.

Amzie and the mini snowman we made.

On Saturday we met all my brothers and their families at the park to sled. We had a great time.

This is almost all the cousins on a sled train.

After they went down. Good thing the snow wasn't a little slicker or they might have gone into the water.

The human sled.

It was snow fun. Can't hardly believe it happened as tomorrow it's supposed to be 70 degrees.

All Packed Up, No Place to Go

I explained to Amzie the other day that Mommy and Daddy would be going on a vacation and she and Evan would get to stay with Grandma and Nanna. She of course expressed that she wanted to go on the vacation too. I told her we'd be going on a family vacation pretty soon with all her cousins(we have a family reunion coming up in June and a Beeler vacation). Ever since then she has constantly been talking about the "family becation". The other day I noticed this...
She went ahead and packed up her stuff in her suitcase and put it by the door so she'll be ready when we go.

The Toothless Wonder

Evan is now 16 months and he still has only 2 teeth. Is the average 8 or 10 by now? I think for the most part, he just swallows food whole. I guess he doesn't have many other options. Poor baby. Can you see the lonely 2 teeth?

Abs?

I had hoped I would have these rock-hard, chiseled abs by now. I can definitely tell a difference, I am stronger but am still kickin a pretty thick layer of flab over said "stronger abs". Does anyone have any suggestions? When I say suggestions, that doesn't include suggesting that I change my diet because haven't you seen the post I did on snacks? Can't be giving up that snacky goodness. So if you have any suggestions, other than altering my diet, they will be welcomed here. J.Paul told me that the people that have abs like that do like 1000 crunches a day. That comment was not welcomed either. Basically I'm looking for a suggestion like "Keep your chin up, Mar, it'll happen" or "I know of this miracle pill that will instantaneously transform flab to fab!" You know, something along those lines. So, any suggestions?