Christmas...Bah Hum "Bug"

Christmas has come and gone. What did the Clowards get for Christmas this year? The stomach flu! Other than that, we had a great Christmas. We realized that we have spoiled Anna this year and we'll probably do it again next year! She loved all of her new presents and it was fun to hear her say "Oh" to everything that came into sight. She especially loved her new purse and triplet baby dolls that Mommy and Daddy gave her. I will post pictures when I get them loaded on. Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!

Winter Wonderland

Although winter doesn't officially start until Thursday, Mother Nature decided to let us have it! We woke up to about six inches of snow this morning. Dobber, being little and white, got lost in it a couple of times. I forgot how cold it can be! I had to dig my way out this morning so I could make it to church on time...Thank goodness for kind neighbors that came to my rescue. When I told Rob about it he had to let me know that he was suffering a little as well...It was raining. I didn't feel sorry for him in the least!
BTW...It has continued to snow all day and you can't even tell that I shoveled the walks. Good thing I have all of my Christmas shopping done because I'm not going out in this stuff!

Did I sign up for this?

Ugh! Today has been one of those days! Word to the wives and stay at home moms out there...If your husband wants a dog remind him that he goes away to work and you are the one to take care of him! Between Anna and Dobber I don't know who makes the bigger mess! When I am cleaning up the mess that one of them made, the other is creating a new one. And to top it all of, they were both throwing up tonight. So, Rob, if you are reading this...COME HOME NOW!!!

Christmas Tree Woes!

Well, since Rob is in the Bahamas still, I had to put up the Christmas Tree this year. Now I understand why he hates doing it so badly! First of all, I couldn't find the right instructions and spent more than enough time looking for them. So after about two hours and tons of scratches I finally got the tree up (with the help of my dad) and got the lights put on. The decorations will just have to wait until tomorrow!

Back in the Good Ole' US of A

After many hours of flying Anna and Krista have made it home. After doing a flight as a single parent I would like to make a recommendation...DO NOT DO IT! The child gets sick of being with you and you get sick of being with the child. It makes a long flight even longer. Anna did surprisingly well. She only got upset a total of twenty minutes. She managed to make friends with everyone around here...Flashing that cute little smile of hers. We are glad to be home, but definitely miss our best friend and daddy who, unfortunately, is still in the Bahamas. Anna has made great friends with Dobber and has even learned to bark. I, however, have learned that I need to baby proof the house.

Lost: City of Atlantis, Reward: 1 Million Dollars!

We spent the day discovering Atlantis. The weather was perfect...Not to hot...Not to cold. Anna loved going around and around the lazy river, flirting with all of the lifeguards. We found several different species of aquatic life...Including the big groupers that I thought had been sent away. We got a great picture of Anna "tickling" one. I even got brave and did the "Leap of Faith" where I screamed the whole way down. I am glad that I did it...Don't know if I will do it again!

Lazy Days of Winter

Today was a relaxing day. Jeri (our friend that is visiting) played beautician to Rob and the missionaries...Making it so they look handsome rather than pretty. We then sent off to explore the island. We went back to the Sacred Space (the place with the carved people). We discovered that it is the place where the slaves from Africa first entered the island. We came back and picked up Rob from work and then headed to the beach where Rob and Lee went snorkeling. They picked a good spot and soon had a friendly ray swimming right along with them.

Saturday is a special day!

Wow! We had a full day yesterday and we all paying for it today (sore feet). We were at first saddened when our boat trip was cancelled due to weather, but we shook it off and headed downtown. After all, it is the last Saturday Anna and Krista will be here. First stop...the Queens Staircase. This is a beautiful place and we would like to apologize to all of you who came to visit us and we did not introduce you to this place. Rumour has it that 240 slaves carved the staircase out of the "mountain" for Queen Victoria. The picture that is posted is in front of the waterfall there. We then headed to the Pirate Museum, Senior Frogs and the Straw Market. On our way home we stopped at Cabbage Beach, one of our favorite spots on the island. We came back and rested for about an hour and a half and then headed to Junkanoo. The evening had the perfect ending when the fireworks went off just as the parade passed us. All in all, it was a wonderful way to spend our last Saturday here and as a bonus Rob didn't even go into work at all!

Oh, The Weather Outside is Frightful?

I just read on the news that it is currently in the low 2os in Utah. I just have to brag that we are currently in the low 80s, with the air conditioner on. However, seeing as we are heading back to Utah next week, I thought I would prepare Anna for long sleeves, hence the pictures. She now wants to walk around with the socks on her arms and has started to get upset when I take them off. I guess it is a good sign that she is ready for the colder weather!

Around the Island in 1 1/2 hours

After church today we decided to tour the whole island. We figured we should see it before Krista and Anna head home in a week and a half. It didn't take too long. We figure once you see one part of the island you have seen it all. Attached are some of the pictures we took. The statues are a bunch of old trees that have been sculptured. They say it is a sacred area. Don't really know too much more.

Loyal, Stong and True...Wear the White and Blue!

Oh...How I wish that I had a picture of Rob's face when the Cougars pulled out the win! How great is it to defeat the U! GO COUGARS!!!

Anna Ballerina

It looks as if we have a new dancer in town. Anna is constantly "dancing" around now. We went to Burger King tonight (I know...real "Bahamian") and she really wanted nothing to do with the food. She just wanted to dance. Can't wait to enroll her in dance classes...only two more years!

Thanksgiving in the Bahamas!

Who would have thought a year ago that we would be spending this Thanksgiving in the Bahamas...Not us! It certainly didn't feel like Thanksgiving...It was about 75 degrees. So we headed off to the beach where Rob went snorkeling and Anna and I searched for shells. Rob found some rock fish and Anna and I saved a star fish from dying. Afterwards we came home and fixed a small Thanksgiving dinner. It ended up being a fun filled day. We missed our family and friends, but we will be with them again next year!
Happy Thanksgiving!

Blogging

Okay...so our friends Ryan and Michelle have convinced us that we need to keep up on our blogging. It has about done me in! Yesterday I couldn't log onto this blog, so I created a new one and today I couldn't log onto the new one but I can log onto this one. What the heck! So, we will see what one we can use tomorrow.

Life in Paradise!

Okay. So the power went out the other day for 18 1/2 hours. Now, without airconditioning and with all of the humidity we had a miserable night! Anna would not let us sleep at all. The next day we found out why we had the outage. I guess the union of the electric company is in the middle of contract negotiations. Well, things did not go the way they wanted so four guys broke into the plant and cut the wires to Paradise Island. Here's the kicker! Nothing happened to the men! I heard on the radio this morning that they are still not getting their way so it may happen again. Boy...I miss the US!

Watching Dobber

We dug out some of the home movies from last year. One of which has Dobber running around our yard like a crazy fool. Anna thought that it was so great to watch it. She doesn't really remember Dobber, so it was fun to watch her reaction.That smile just melts my heart!

Day at Atlantis

We were able to spend the day at Atlantis with our friends and Rob. Anna is absolutely fascinated with all of the fish tanks. Here is a picture of the shark tank, with a sawtooth sitting on top.
Here we are swimming in one of the pools. Anna actually took her first couple of steps today. It helps that she had the water supporting her.
Afterwards, we went to our favorite hangout, The Green Parrot in Hurricane Hole. It's a bar that serves some great food at pretty reasonable cost. Also, it sits in one of the bays, so the ambiance is incredible. Here are Diane, Anna and Maureen, with a couple of yachts in the background.

The Pirate Museum

Our friend, Diane, and her friend, Maureen, came to visit us for a week. We decided to go to the Pirate Museum today. It was pretty interesting. This island has quite the history when it comes to the pirates.
Here are Rob and Anna with their new found "friend". I was surprised that Anna actually seemed to enjoy herself.Anna. Rob, Diane and Maureen at the Pirate's Museum.
Rob and Anna in the stocks.
Our little pirate family.

The day ended when Diane and Maureen watched Anna so Rob and I could go out. We decided to see Pirate's of the Caribbean, part 2, which was partly filmed in the Bahamas. It was a great day!

Teeth

Anna had two teeth break through today. I can't believe how big she is getting!

Test

I thought that this would be the best way to keep everyone posted while we are here in the Bahamas. I'm not quite sure how it works, so I thought I would just test this. Here is a picture of Anna and her lamb. She loves it!

Random Stuff

So, we decided to head over and try it. It was pretty good food. I do love the fresh shrimp and it's huge! But you have to wait for quite awhile to get your food. I think they go out and catch it as you order. They also have some really good daiquiris, non alcoholic of course. Anyway, here is a great picture of Anna enjoying her strawberry daiquiri. She wouldn't let me have a drink myself. When we got home she immediately snuggled daddy and they both fell asleep. Rob has been working some crazy hours since we got here. He is not sleeping enough. So this is actually a familiar scene. As soon as he gets into one of these chairs he crashes.
Today we went to a fundraiser for the young men and young women. They had a car wash and a bake sale. They were a little confused on how it worked. They had asked us to donate some sort of baked good so they could sell it. One woman brought something and then asked to reimbursed for what she had baked. I guess they really don't understand the word "donation". We went to be supportive, had the car washed, and bought some cupcakes that Anna dove straight into. She loved it, but was a complete mess!

Bohemian Independence Day

Today was Independence day here in the Bahamas. We really didn't do much, just swam in the pool. Tonight we went to the dock and watched the fireworks. They weren't too bad, but nothing too exciting. They shot them off from an old fort on Nassau. It was pretty cool watching them as we overlooked the ocean. That's something we wouldn't have seen in Utah!

This was Anna's first experience with fireworks and she wasn't too interested in them. I think she was just too tired.

Happy Birthday America!

So we had quite the interesting 4Th of July. Rob took the day off, just like he would if we were home. We started out the day by watching the shuttle launch on TV. It was pretty exciting to watch it launch on the 4Th of July. While we were watching it we had quite an interesting experience happen. There was a knock at the door, which is pretty unusual since we don't know anyone on the island, and in walks Clobine. Clobine is the girlfriend of an inactive member in our branch who has a little girl, Sara, around Anna's age. Clobine doesn't speak English very well. So, she knocks on our door, brings the stroller in with Sara, mumbles a couple of words and then leaves, without her daughter! I was dumbstruck! I looked at Rob and asked if we were going to be returning to the US with a Haitian baby. He just shrugged his shoulders, looking as stunned as I was. We had her for about four hours before Clobine returned and picked her up. Just in time, too, since we had invited the missionaries over for a BBQ. We figured that they would be about the only ones we knew that would be celebrating this day as well. So, they came by and we had hot dogs, hamburgers and potato chips. It was a lot of fun, but nothing like hanging out with family. After the missionaries left we tried to find some sort of fireworks. We had heard a rumor that they were showing them tonight. We heard them, but couldn't find them. So there is our interesting 4Th of July.

Just Like my Uncles!

Like her uncles, Zach and Casey, Anna loves cheese and Pepsi (just kidding about the Pepsi...we don't let her drink that! If her uncles were here it would be a different story!).

Our Little Bahama Mama

Here is my sweet Anna at eight months. I actually found this outfit before we moved here and found it appropriate for this place. Isn't she so cute! She really is the love of my life, my little Bahama Mama!

The Bahamian "Zoo"

We went to the "zoo" today. Wow! It was quite the experience. It is not so much a zoo as it is an aviary. There are so many birds there. We really didn't see any exotic animals, there, but it was nice to go and spend the day with Rob. He works quite a bit, here, so we try and take advantage of his free time.
We did get to go in and feed some Lory Parrots. We fed them apples. They only drink the juice and spit everything else out.
I love the look on Anna's face in this picture. She loved them and giggled every time they came close. I was a little hesitant to try it but watching Anna's reaction, I had to give in. I ended up with about four of them on me (two of them flew away right before Rob took the picture). They were pretty tame and not afraid of people!
There were quite a bit of peacocks roaming around. This one flared right in front of us, so I had to take a picture.
This goat was hilarious! He became Rob's buddy when Rob gave him some food. He didn't want us to leave and kept trying to get more food from Rob. I think both Rob and the goat are giving me the same look in this picture.
To end the day we went to KFC to eat. The Bahamians love their fried chicken. It was interesting to eat in a familiar place, but not have anything taste familiar. The fries definitely need help. All in all, it was a good day and nice to spend some time with Rob.

The First Week Here

We have had quite the busy first week. First thing I did was get to work cleaning the house. It was an absolute disaster! I have never seen dust as thick as what I cleaned up. Luckily Anna was a jewel and let slept so I could. When Rob gets home at night he shows us around the island. It's like having our own private tour guide :). Our first night here he took us out to eat at a place called "The Poop Deck". They are famous for serving all sorts of celebrities, including Sean Connery. I took this picture of Anna right after someone told us that she looked like the Gerber Baby from the baby food bottles. I guess that is a compliment! The food was pretty decent, definitely a lot fish. I did love the ambiance. We sat out on a deck, overlooking the ocean. It was absolutely beautiful!The next day I got to experience the supermarket. All I can say is Wow! We are definitely not in the United States anymore. The milk has to be shipped in from Florida. It costs about $6 for a gallon of milk and it usually expires within three days, if it hasn't already expired. It is extremely difficult to find fresh fruit and vegetables. Oh, and there are birds everywhere inside the market. The traffic was terrible! They have a ton of one way streets and at 5:00 everyone quits and tries to head home. It is a big mess. They have traffic laws, but people treat them more as suggestions rather than rules. I have a feeling that the driving might push me over the edge. I already get road rage pretty easily! When we got back to our place we decided to go swimming. There is a pool in our backyard, which is nice when the temperature is about 100 with 90% humidity. Anna loved the water! I'm so glad that we decided to bring her frog floatie with us.Going to church was an experience. There are two languages spoken here, English (kindof) and Creole, which is a different dialect of French. I could hardly understand the people and couldn't tell what language they were speaking because the accents were so thick. There is only one room that has air conditioning and that is the Chapel. So we take turns with the Priesthood using that room. It sure gets hot in the other room! The people are very nice, though, and it is fun having missionaries in the ward!
After church, Rob took us to a place called Pirates Cove. The water is amazing here. It's warm and crystal clear. You can actually see the fish swimming through it. We just sort of sat on the sand and watched the sun go down. It really is a pretty place, but pretty overwhelming looking out and not seeing any other island out there. The ocean is a pretty big body of water!

A couple of days later, Rob drove us around the "big" city of Nassau. That didn't take long at all. We stopped at another lookout point around sunset and Rob took this picture of me and Anna.

A couple of doors down from where we live there is a place called Cloisters. It is this beautiful garden where several weddings are held. Across the street from here is a place called the Garden of Versaille where a whole bunch of statues are located. Rob then took us to watch a parade called Junkanoo. The only way I can describe this is having you picture the flashiest costumes you have ever seen and then listening to a bunch of men "trying" to play a tuba, drums, cowbell, whistles and trombone. Even if it is horrible music it is a lot of fun to watch. It just makes you happy. Unfortunately, Anna was done. It had been a long week for her!