The Last Day...

...of Mom, Dad, and Rachel's trip to Grenada.  And we ended it with a bang.

Our day started out at Annandale Falls. I have been to Annandale a couple of times, but on this particular day, two HUGE cruise ships were in port and so there were a lot of tourists at the falls. 

And we got to see Jack the Mona Monkey at Annandale.  I met him the last time I was there!

After spending a relatively short amount of time at Annandale, we drove up to Grand E'tang.  I had yet to make it up to Grand E'tang, mostly because when I say up, I mean UP!  The drive is pretty windy and very uphill and kind of hard on poor Toby Toyota and I haven't wanted to attempt the drive with just me and a bunch of girls in case of a problem.  But, Toby did just fine, like he always does and we made it to the top.  Grand E'tang is a nature reserve and is a submarine volcano that is no longer active.  The crater lake is about 1,800 feet above sea level.

In my opinion, the best part about Grand E'tang was the wild monkeys!  I use the term "wild" very loosely, because although these monkeys do in fact live in the wild, they are extremely used to tourists and have become very tame.

All you have to do is call out to them and they come down from the trees.  Oh, and having a banana or two doesn't hurt. :)

He tried to poop on Dad!

Give me that waterbottle!

 These monkeys were all little models!

We finally finished with all the monkey business and headed to Seven Sisters Falls, another location that I had not been to yet.  Seven Sisters has a bit of a reputation for being dangerous.  Many a student has hiked to the falls and jumped into the beautiful pools only to end up with massive bruises on their arms and legs or worse from the impact.  But don't worry, I made Dad promise that we wouldn't do any type of jumping on this trip.

Cliffon, our tour guide and Rachel's Grenadian husband-to-be.

Two of the Seven "Sisters"

Seven Sisters is probably my favorite falls that I have been to in Grenada.  The pools were perfect for swimming in or lounging around and they were just breathtaking.  I definitely need to find the time to bring Josh to see both Seven Sisters and Grand E'tang.

If you thought our day was done after our hike, think again.  When we got back to the apartment, we realized that Mom and Dad hadn't yet been to Lance Aux Epines Beach which is right down the street.  So we walked over for a couple last hours on the Caribbean Sea.

Walking down LAE road.

We headed to Prickly Bay for dinner and dancing and enjoyed the last night with Julie, Kevin, and Phyllis.

Love my BFF JuJu.

He's become such a dancer recently!

We had such a fun, exhausting week and I'm so very glad that some of my family was able to come and spend time on our little island.  We always enjoy having visitors!

Perfect

Josh has been busy studying.  Are you surprised by that statement?  My guess is probably not.

He has his first set of midterms for 5th term starting with Pathophysiology on Monday.  Which leaves me to do just about whatever I want with my days. 

This afternoon I spent it doing one of my favorite things on the island...relaxing on the beach.

A Diet Coke, Kindle, Towel, Sunshine, and toes in the sand are all that's required to make this girl happy.  It was perfect.

The only thing that might have made this better would be a husband that could join me.  I guess a girl can't have EVERYTHING.

The Beginning of the End...

...of Basic Sciences.

Josh began his last term of Basic Sciences this week.  It's absolutely crazy to me that in four short months, he'll be done with year two of medical school and we'll be off to the states for clinical rotations.

We spent the weekend before classes began together.  Just the way I like it.  We went up to the lookout point at the end of Lance Aux Epines to watch the sunset together with Julie and Kevin.  It did not disappoint.

So here's to 5th Term, may Josh do well in his last classes ever, and may we soak up every ounce of Grenada that we can.

First Visitors on the Rock

As I mentioned in my previous post, we had some visitors last week! Josh's oldest sister Kristin and her boyfriend Brandon traveled from California to spend a week with us in Grenada.  I had such a great time with them.  Josh was pretty busy studying all week, but that didn't keep the three of us from having lots of fun.  They arrived late Tuesday night.  So Wednesday morning, after they slept in a little, we headed to Grand Anse Beach.  We spent the afternoon soaking up the sun and then headed to Umbrellas for a late afternoon lunch of burgers and fries.

Brandon and Kristin

Sisters-in-law!

View from Umbrellas top deck

Later that evening, we went over to the school to watch Josh play in an intramural basketball game. His team won! Yay!  Although Kristin definitely takes after her Mom when watching Josh play sports.  Brandon and I had to keep telling her to be quiet! :)
 

Toon Squad

Thursdays are pool days at the University Club for all the SO's.  So I took our visitors to the pool for the day.  Brandon and Kristin kayaked around the bay and we all enjoyed the pool.

 I think Brandon was really in need of a vacation...

Relaxation at its finest!

We picked Josh up from school around 5pm, but he still needed to get some good study time in.  His first set of midterms are quickly approaching.  So the three of us took a walk up Lance Aux Epines Road to the lookout point to watch the sunset.

There are SO many beautiful flowers here in Grenada.  I tried to make a point of taking pictures of the ones along our walk.

And of course Kristin and I needed to pose by some of them.

Grenada really is such a beautiful place.

Once we finally made it to the lookout point, the sunset didn't disappoint.

It was gorgeous...as usual.  I just wish Josh could have enjoyed it with us.

The first two days were so much fun! But keep checking back for more fun adventures with our visitors!

P.S.  Who's coming to visit next?!?