Hidden Paradise

When we arrived in Antigua, it was a typical island arrival. Tiny airport that smelled musty with a small baggage claim area and lots of people happy to see Americans coming to spend their money.  The people were SO nice.  We were whisked away to a car that took us to Hermitage Bay 40 minutes away.  The entire island was something like 60 miles in circumference.  It was not that it was 40 miles away...but minutes.  The picture I have here of the road to our resort does not do it justice.  The roads from the airport to the dirt road turn off were OK.  The people drive like they all do in the Carribean....you hold on for dear life!  And, because it is a British Island, they drive on the left-hand side of the road.  I finally decided to just not look where we were headed.  Babe has video.  And to say the least, it gives you a headache to watch.

Then, there was this turn off.  The pot holes were enormous.  The shocks in this SUV were certainly shot from driving back and forth on this road.  At this point, I just wasn't sure exactly what we had gotten ourselves into.  We eventually heard that the resort had not had the mile long road paved in an effort to keep locals out.

None of the 365 beaches in Antigua are private.  So, anyone could come to our beach that was local.  By not paving the road, they are making their best effort at keeping our beach private.  It works!  Fo sho!  The front of our resort...still not so sure, but seeing "the light."

Then, we entered paradise.  This is looking up at the 17 cottages on the hillside.  Ours is one of the ones on the right toward the top.  It was a hike.  A BEAUTIFUL stone trail covered in all varieties of island flowers the entire way.  We actually enjoyed the hike after our fabulous meals to feel like we worked a little of it off.  The view was priceless.  Would not take a beach cottage.  Would rearrange a future trip there to ensure we got a cottage on the hillside.

Every meal we ate was delicious.  The chef was fantastic and they grow an onsite organic garden.  They use as much from that garden as possible for every meal.  No reservations required.  The resort was full while we were there, but you would never know it.  We just showed up to eat and sat where we liked...always with a breathtaking panoramic view of the water...

We really only took a couple pictures of us and none of them turned out cute.  However, I have to document in some way that we were actually there!

Oh, how I miss this trip already!

Our Antiguan Home

It would have been quite possible for us to stay in our cottage for the entire trip.  I failed to mention that upon our arrival to Hermitage Bay (our hotel), they told us there had been a mix up and they did not have room for us on our last night.  A very long and stressful story short, they ended up with an unheard of cancellation, but we had to move to a Beach Cottage from our Hillside Cottage.  Hands-down, the Hillside Cottage rocked.  I do not think I would be as in love with this resort if we had to be in the Beach Cottage for the entire trip.  In fact, we didn't like the Beach Cottage at all.

The Hillside Cottage was quite a hike up the hill, but SO worth it to have the view and the spaciousness of our cottage. I think I read that our cottage was 1000 square feet, porches included. The porches, however, were like outdoor rooms. This is a view from the beach of the cottages.  There were only 25 cottages in total, so no more than 50 people on the beach at a time...and that never happened.

Our Cottage..#30!

Entering our cottage from the trail...

When you walked thru that door, you walked in to our open air living area...

With an unbelievably FABULOUS "dipping pool"...all to ourselves with this great view.  Dreamy!

The pool is directly on the other side of this bench in our open-air living room.  The door to our bedroom is to my right.

The view off our balcony of the bay...

 And a view to the left was Jolly Bay...There were always sail boats there...

 My apologies, as the only picture I have of our room is with our cameras dumped on the bed.  Mosquito net was free :)  We didn't actually have to use it, but I am certain as it warms up this summer the mosquitoes will be nasty...

I took this picture when I woke up one morning.  My view from the bed.  Waves crashing, birds chirping.  Life was good!

I don't have a picture, which kills me, but our shower...was outdoor.  It was amazing!  We walked thru a locked door in the bathroom to our outdoor shower, covered in vines, total privacy and a gorgeous view of the ocean.  Heavenly...

If you are looking for a great vacation, RUN! don't walk to Hermitage Bay in Antigua.  The Hillside Cottage is a must.  The employees could possibly be the nicest people on earth.  I don't like to visit the same place twice, as I like to keep seeing the world.  Hermitage Bay just might change my philosophy.

Renewal

Babe and I have been blessed in so many ways. I fully believe it and am so grateful for those blessings. I want to make that very clear before I put it all out there and say the last three years have easily been the hardest three years of my life. We can definitely be blessed and endure trials at the same time. Time after time, over the past few years, I kept telling Babe that God REALLY must love us because he prunes those He loves. There were days that I felt like we had been cut back to the ground and Spring was a long time away.

Moving was hard, but certainly not the worst of it. Babe's job was very stressful. Moving, Bear Stearns collapse, new job with JP Morgan and a lot of other factors left me wondering if it was possible for Babe to have a bad day for one, two, then three years straight? There were days that the end was nowhere in site and I had no idea how to support him any further. I came from the medical world and helping in the world of finance is certainly not my forte.

Then, there was me. My health has been on a downward spiral since we found out we were moving in 2007. I am certain the stress of moving brought about a lot of it, but new issues just kept croppng up and still do. I feel like a major financial drain for all the medical bills. Babe would never say that...ever. But I pay the bills. I know it.

In the middle of all the craziness, we had our precious WHS. He has been a champion child...easy, stress-free, fun, good sleeper, great baby. Having three boys has been an absolute blast. However, my poor health coupled with the fatigue of a new baby and 2 toots added to the daily stress. Babe has definitely pulled more weight than he should have many times over. It has been hard, but he has been amazing thru multiple hospital stays and bad health days. Quite gratefully, his work was just as understanding and great in accommodating his schedule to help me and the boys at home when I wasn't well.

I carry a lot of guilt for being ill and being an inconvenience to my entire family. I know they all love us and want to help, but being a mom, I don't want my kids to hear that I am sick. And, I certainly want to be able do it on my own. That is very hard.

I am here to tell you that, after all that deppressing narative, we can see the light at the end of the tunnel! Praise the Lord! I am certain Job suffered more, but I have looked to the book of Job many times in the last years for encouragement. It has been a long winter, but God is faithful and has grown us in ways we never knew possible. We are certainly stronger for the trials. Around the time that I got so sick last year, Babe eliminated a couple big sources of stress from his job. The change in him was remarkable as things started looking up at work. While I am still fighting to have good health, we have learned SO much about my health and being healthy that we never would have discovered in Oklahoma. We have a plan...a good one, for improving my health. I have 100% support from Babe and my family, but to eat the way I need to eat, I need supernatural intervention. I do choose to be a mom and to be healthy for my family. They need me. I can do this!

In celebration of all these turned corners on top of so many others, Babe and I decided three weeks ago to go on vacation...alone. We have not been alone, apart from a few dinners here and there, in five years. All our plans worked out perfectly for our boys to stay with Grammy and Big Daddy at the lake with the cousins and we booked our flights to Antigua! As we flew across international waters, I watched as Babe relaxed and left his worries behind. We arrived at our resort and I waited to hear, "De plane! De plane!" as I was certain we had arrived on Fantasy Island. It was heavenly. The week was heavenly, relaxing, fun, refreshing...exactly what we needed to conquer some more world!

We returned home refreshed and excited to reclaim our kiddos and our life. We still have stresses and health issues, but we have renewed strength to endure. The Sampler family is back in the game!


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My Gym

I have never been one to love the Mommy and Me classes. JBS and I did Kindermusik and loved it. JLS kept me up all hours for two and a half years, so I was never awake enough to do a Mommy and Me.

When we moved to Houston, I considered a swim class together for about two seconds. Then, the thought of 4 year old JBS, 2 year old JLS and me all soaking wet and changing in a teeny locker room made me cringe. The best part about having boys is that you gotta toughen them up, right?

Then, I had WHS. Not only is he the baby, but I sometimes feel like he is an afterthought. He runs errands and goes to baseball and tennis and birthday parties. And none of them are for him. Both big boys are in school 4 days a week, so WHS and I have some quality time on our hands. The kind of time you need to go to My Gym.

 

I thought signing him up at 11 months would get him off his knees and walking more quickly. Ha! Even though that didn't work out so well, he loves it. I love that he loves it. He has certainly perfected his climbing abilities in the class and he loves the attention from me.

We get there each week because I know how very much he loves it

And after six months in the class he did finally learn to walk...

Ok...still haven't mastered posting pictures from my ipad. Headed home today and will do much better from home.

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I Speak!

Granny! I am here! It has been a crazy month or two... Lots of guests and help with the kids and not much "me" time. I have loved having Gambo and Grammy with us in Texas. I will post you on all the happenings soon.

I got an iPad! This is big news for a girl who loves her PC and Blackberry. There were a few features I liked about the iPad for my new business. I mentioned it to Babe and he gave little resistance...I think he wanted one, too! So, we waited until the new one was released on Friday. I went to the mall at 3pm when they started sales at 5pm. I was "one of them". I was probably about the 100th or so in line. Even more surprising were the 2-300 people behind me in line. I got what I wanted though and I was home by 6:30pm! Apple really does have crowd control figured out.

We started Spring Break Friday and I have been playing with it and discovering new apps ever since. Now I am one of those I teased that talked about their new "apps" all the time. I was told to use this app to be able to blog from my ipad and this is my first shot at it. I hope it turns out well. If it does, then I will be posting quite a bit over the next week to catch you up! XOXO


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