A year later

We've had our cabin for a few days over a year so it was fun to be down there this past weekend and really enjoy it. There are times I think we haven't done anything to it but looking over the pictures reminds me of how much it's changed.
Of course I had to run the lawnmower, keeping the jungle at bay helps keep the bug population down and when the mosquitoes are like amazon drones.... well every bit helps.

The clover blew around but much of it still grew and is filling in bare spots

There is a spring here, with a few small damns. We tripled the water holding pools.

It was a beautiful weekend to be in the hills.

We have a lot of plans for the next year, right now we are holding onto our money. We could easily pour a lot into a new bathroom, deck, windows, carpet, etc. but unlike most people we know or work with, we don't like debt. We have a good amount of emergency supplies and are diligently continuing our stockpiling. There are only so many good storage spaces but we are steadily filling everything up.

Father in-law isn't doing good unfortunately and we aren't sure if he has simply called it quits or not. He is on 10 medications, doesn't eat much of anything at all, is always off balance and can't remember a lot of things. He needs to be on oxygen all the time but the hose bothers his hearing aids. So not only is he not listening, he takes his hearing aids out and can't listen. After dealing with the entire ordeal with mother in-law, it seems like it's been a year of shit but we are continuing to be strong and patient. It's hard, it's very taxing on our relationship and I understand how these health issues in parents can take a toll on marriages.
That being said, we are all booked and paid up for our 20th anniversary to Rome in August. We also might head to Paris and Normandy in September. If everyone is ok at that time.

A much needed break

Life appears to be getting back to normal (our normal) finally. We hired a key manager at work and I hired an assistant. Both are working out great and the timing was perfect since 4 days after they both were hired we left for the island of Nevis in the West Indies.
It was time for R&R

This was our beach, I swam each day for about 2 miles, ocean swimming is so relaxing and I don't have to worry about turning every 50 feet.

I decided to get a new BCD for this trip, my old one works great but it's from a time when I was running a lot and didn't have as much mass. It worked out great and my allergies only bothered me a little. It was really nice to get some diving done. 

From our dive boat looking towards the island of St. Kitts.

One of the hiking/running trails we explored, looking at monkeys play in the trees.

The golf course one of the trails wraps around

From the dive boat looking back at Nevis. The volcano is rarely clear of clouds, this was probably the best picture out of the 2 weeks. It's thick rain forest and jungle with a lot of moisture. One of the dives had us at 100 feet checking out thermal vents (or hot springs as they called them).

Monkeys didn't care about us and most of the time didn't even get out of the way.

It's nice to be home, even if we are really busy with work this month. The schedule opens up in July and we are really excited to get some cabin and home projects done. It's been raining for weeks but even that looks to be clearing out starting today. the entire state is green and lush but the garden is stalled out a little due to the lack of sun.

We have been keeping up with the yard at the cabin and the clover is filling in holes and attracting a lot of wildlife. We usually have deer in the woods and even bedding down in the front yard plus there are always bunnies hopping around. We are still the only people in the area keeping their property in good shape. If we didn't keep the mowing up, the grass would be 3-4 feet tall right now.

We got out on the ATV's for a few hours and had to clear a lot of tree's out of the way, drive under a few leaning tree's and even make log bridges over some of the massive tree's that had fallen down. Next time we go out I'll strap the chainsaw down on the back rack so we can get the trail cleared out better. Being able to legally ride on the county roads is great, after a 4 hour ATV ride it's nice to be home in 20 minutes instead of backtracking.

The mountains at the cabin look amazing as always. 

I might attempt a summit on Saturday but haven't committed just yet. Rock needs some hiking and can't manage the summit attempts so I might spend time walking him around and getting some small projects handled. No matter what, it's nice to be back home and having our schedules getting back to normal. We are both still running and hitting the gym and Rock is holding down the fort (and me).