Here we are, back in Roanoke. We miss our sunny skies and warm weather. The cold and rain isn't going to help us keep our Carribean tans (ok, part tan, part sunburn) for very long. Still, it was fun to come back and see Ivy's cute new haircut and hear Rex's new found growling talents.
We got there all safe and sound last Saturday and relished the convenience of travelling from the Roanoke airport. First thing upon arrival was exploration. We walked to nearest beach and checked out the local shops, including a little grocery store that we visited several times. And the most important thing we learned from our initial exploration was that we needed a car. That evening, we went to a delightful French restaurant near our condo.
We were able to get a car on Sunday morning and the nice car rental man, "Winston Churchill" escorted us to church, which we never would have been able to find without him. We thoroughly enjoyed church with the branch there, several members of which are attending med school on the island. Though few in number, the members in the branch were very kind and the Spirit was very strong. Sunday afternoon we went on further explorations of the island in our car and drove the loop around the island, passing through French and Dutch sides.
We started Monday in true tourist fashion; going to Mullet Bay Beach and getting a sunburn. We also went to a larger grocery store and stocked up on food and snacks for the week.
On Tuesday we went on a grand adventure. We went on a group trip to a small, uninhabited island about an hour away by boat for a snorkeling excursion. The boat we took was a large catamaran with about 40 other people on it. We pulled up to the inlet and went snorkeling right off the boat, while the crew took our bags to the beach. Jon had a slight crisis with sunblock in his eyes but then he and Alex had tons of fun seeing lots of tropical fish underwater. Alex knew that Jon would just love snorkeling! Alex was scared of touching the fish but she held Jon's hand. She lasted longer snorkeling with Jon than she had before. After snorkeling, the crew of the boat served us a sumptuous lunch of barbecue. We then relaxed on the beach for a bit before heading back to St. Maarten.
Wednesday's adventures took us to the Lotiere Farm, an eco-adventure park on one of the highest mountains of the island. We declined doing the zipline adventure course and chose to hike the property instead. What we really wanted to go the park for was the food. And it proved to be just as good as the tour book said it was; we also dug the fresh fruit smoothies. Jonathan had a pork-stuffed banana leaf and Alex had the chef's famous spinash curry chicken. After our bellies could hold no more, we drove on a crazy, one lane busted up road to the highest point on the mountain. Luckily we survived making it up and back down the mountain. After a late siesta, we returned to Mullet Bay for sunset.
We went to the capital of the Dutch side, Phillipsburg, on Thursday morning. We hunted the myriad of shops looking for treasures. But since we were not in the market for duty-free jewelry, electronics, or alcohol the only treasure we found was an ice cream shop that served delicious crepes. We actually made two separate trips to the ice cream shop (one for each of us) on the same day. Thursday afternoon, we returned once again to Mullet Bay Beach.
Friday morning, we caught a ferry on the oppposite side of the island (the French side) to Ilet Pinel. Ilet Pinel was another small, uninhabited island but this one was only a five minute boat ride. The sand was white, the water was blue and the umbrellas were yellow. The water was shallow, Jonathan waded a hundred yards out from the beach and the water never got higher than his chest. Once again, our nose for adventure (our taste buds) led us to lobster salad and a goat cheese hamburger served to us in a little grass hut. When we weren't wading in the water, we were relaxing on the beach and reading underneath our yellow umbrella. We took one of the last ferries back.
After checking out of our hotel on Saturday morning, we decided to go on one last adventure to Marigot, the capital on the French side of the island. Jon was a litte scared to go there because driving there is absolutely insane, lots of little roads and crazy drivers. But we were well rewarded with a parking spot and a good time. The shops in Marigot were a bit more fun than those in Phillipsburg. We also happened upon a sidewalk sale that was fun to wander around. Can you guess what our success of the morning was? It has to do with food. The most inspiring culinary experience of the week took place at a French patisserie. Unfortunately, only Alex was hungry and could fully enjoy the fruits of the cafe. Still, the few bites Jonathan enjoyed have him baking baguettes as we type and adding baking supplies to his birthday list.
The trip home went pretty smoothly, despite our bags not making it to Roanoke with us. As much as we miss the fun in the sun, it is always good to be back home. With our bags, which made their way home today. The only thing that could have made this vacation any better would have been the presence of any one of you.
As you have already seen, we have included a few select photographs for your viewing pleasure. In case you want to see all 91 photos (or more than 4), you can go to jonandalexlubeck.shutterfly.com and enter the password "roanoke".
Love to you all,
Jon and Alex
Now she could turn the lights on and off with the flick of a switch. Cool, huh? There was just one problem. I knew I could do better. Lowes was calling my name to come get a door handle instead of a ceiling hook. I was annoyed that the cardboard door kept opening and I decided to put magnets on the door to keep it closed, but make it easy for little hands to open. Someone at church gave me the idea to put a doorbell on, and so I visited Radio Shack for a little buzzer (that's the red button in the upper left). I added some support braces to keep the house sturdy. 
Most of all, I decided that if one light switch was good, then 3 was better. So far, the lights were all blue (there were 4 in the top of the box). I figured if I added 4 reds and 4 greens, then the light in the box could resemble white light if they were all on, but I wanted to be able to turn each color on and off independently. 
This called for more wire! I didn't want to use 3 batteries, so I figured out how to wire all the switches to use 1 battery but still be independent of each other. 
Not that big of a deal and certainly not the first time anyone has done it like that (in fact I'd say electricians do it several times a day), but I thought I was clever to do it on my own none the less. There! Now all the groups of lights (grouped by color) could be turned on and off independently. I still have more LED colors (orange, yellow, UV (i.e. blacklight), white...) and I was considering putting them in, too, but I started thinking--I don't want a cardboard box sitting around my house forever and the more time I put into this, the harder it will be to get rid of it later. So I think I'm done now. I'll have to save the other enhancements for when I have a real house. By then maybe I'll move away from cardboard on make a cool tree house, instead....
glen is faster than a speeding train.
Uncle Dave, Aunt Jean, Elijah, Aubrey, Jonathan and Bruce 
Jon thinks Peter and Chrissy should get a vanity plate that says "2CHOOKS." 
We had fun celebrating Jon's birthday on Monday night with Peter, Chrissy, Ivy and Rex. It's a good thing that Jon had two good helpers to open his presents because he had so many. Here are the pictures we got before the camera died. Whenever we start taking pictures, Rex loves to walk up to the camera. We have several shots like the second one here. Which reminds me, we've uploaded most of our pictures to our shutterfly account. It's jonandalexlubeck.shutterfly.com and the password is roanoke.
