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I try to talk Kari into visiting as much as possible. As a single gal she’s got a little more flexibility to “up and go” when she wants, and her job is flexible enough to make it happen. Thankfully our good friend Julie was able to find the time and money in her schedule to also make a trip to the island and together they not only had a fun time, but they actually got a lot of work done in the process.
I booked the girls here as a “team” for the school and that means working in the morning and recreation in the afternoon. So each morning both of them helped with our final phase of the restoration of the shed’s footers. Except what took the 4 Romanian guys 2 days to accomplish only took Kari and Julie 1 day! They literally mixed and poured the belt in about 4 hours! At around lunch time I suggested to them that they could stop and for them it was only a break to go back out and finish the job.
However, after triumphing over the cement, it was on to the real work. To get the shed’s foundation level we would need to “chip” out a large portion of rock in the ground, and all we had to accomplish this task was a little detail chipper (which mind-you is better than nothing). But where Kari and Julie kicked the cement’s butt, the chipper kicked ours (I got to help them quite a bit with it).
But Kari and Julie are tenacious. Instead of giving up on chipping out the rock, they suck with it. Even through a down-pour! While the rest of the school was in class and I was teaching, they were out their working in the rain. My students would look at me in bewilderment as the rain loudly came down on the rooftops, all the while listening to that chipper going and going with Kari holding an umbrella over Julie. After two days of wrestling with that rock, we finally got it done.
But the trip was certainly not all work. The most recreation came with Kari turning into “ReRe” with little Micah. Even from the moment she stepped off the airplane, Micah was running circles of excitement to see her. They really had so much fun together. Micah can play nonstop and because Kari only gets to seen him once every many months, she keeps her engine going almost as fast as his to play all the time. And that’s exactly what it was, “ReRe, will you please play with me… I REALLY need you to play with me!”
Kari also always brings new “trendy clothes” for her little nephew. And now Micah is sporting a little Michael Jordan hat that makes him look like a little stud. I’m not sure how I feel about her playing “dress up” with my boy, but I’ll admit he does look pretty cool with Aunt ReRe’s outfits.
The girls also when on an amazing tour with our friend Julius. They made conch salad, caught enormous starfish, saw a spotted eagle ray, snorkeled with lobsters, and the highlight of the trip was Julie catching a sea turtle with her bare hands, and yesterday we had a early birthday celebration dinner with them.
One of the other highlights from the trip was Kari and Julie taking on the Windermere boys basketball team. Three of the “best players” (or so they like to think they are), wanted to see if they could beat these athletic girls at their own game. I had to join Kari and Julie’s team just to make sure everything stayed fair. Although the boys made a very good run at it (one of the actually beat Kari in an early pickup game of 1 on 1) we soundly tromped them each time, even shutting them down 11 to 2.
I think whenever Kari and Julie come it basically our favorite visit of the entire year. They’re both so much fun and they have the best attitude the entire time. I get to see my sister and Micah gets his favorite person in the whole world and Emily gets two girls to have girls time with her. We are so thankful for not simply their contribution to the school but their contribution to our lives, and we can’t wait to have the come back down and visit again soon!