The Bermuda Triangle!

What fun we had with the Shumways in Boston…then the YPOers in Bermuda and then the Eyres in NYC!  You’ve seen our fun with Shumways but here is a glimpse of our good time in Bermuda.  We did two workshops…one called “Love More” and another one on “Empty Nest Parenting” because so many of the YPOers are getting older.  Of course we had a fabulous 5 star hotel called Tucker’s Point Hotel and Spa.  Pretty nice digs I must say!

 

This was the view from our balcony:

They had huge feather beds with four giant feather pillows under these Shams. That was a LOT of feathers…poor geese! 

The only bad part was that we never saw the sun!  Well we sort of saw it a couple of days like this:

One day we went to a deep sea laboratory where they took us scuba diving to see the coral…except that it was pretty cold and blustery and murky because of the clouds, but it was worth the ride because one of the cute girl guides actually lent me her wet suit and because I got talk to a wonderful woman who looked to be about 45 and had one fourteen year old boy and 8 miscarriages!  She said that after trying absolutely everything else, she had gone to a class with 14 other infertile women who had also tried everything and after four months of sort of “relaxation therapy” 10 of the 14 got pregnant.  Interesting! What a valiant woman!

We met lots of interesting people and learned some fun and fascinating things!  We had a delightful gourmet dinner one night with a group of eight at the home of one of the Bermudian YPOers.  Always such interesting stories! 

This was Dad’s favorite event as he got to sail this 110 foot yacht that they have recreated for school kids who get to go out on it for five days at a time to learn about the history of Bermuda and how to sail a ship with teamwork. 

Here’s the big man  at the wheel!

and his “mama”

as you can see by our coats tightly wrapped around us, it was NOT warm but very fun!

We left blustery Bermuda at 68 degrees and landed in NYC where it was a warm, sunny 68 degrees for two days running. Absolutely fabulous weather!  We had SO much fun with Noah and Kristi and those adorable kids! 

We were so fortunate to get there on a Sunday night when Noah had been asked to speak at the Priesthood Preview for the stake.  He had a fabulous talk prepared and got there about ten minutes to seven only to find out that it had been announced wrong in church and it actually started at 6!  Just as Dad and I got there at 7:05, they were having what we thought was the opening song and prayer but after the prayer, everybody got up and left.  Poor Noah was red as a beet and sweating like a pig!   Laughing afterwards, President Buchner promised Noah that he would have a chance to give that talk in the future…not to worry!  Today they called Noah to the High Council.  I guess he’ll be able to give LOTS of talks from now on.  Kristi….hang in there you great one!  We’ll be cheering you on and remembering you both in our prayers!   

Kristi taught Joy School on Monday morning.  What an absolutely amazing mother that Kristi is!  There was a little worry about having it at the church so she entertains and teaches joy to five little kids for three hours in the ten square feet of their living room.  The living room is totally transformed into a learning center with something new and fun every few minutes! 

This day was complete with an obstacle course and making granola!

Keep in mind this is four VERY active boys (a new one just started that day) and one strong-willed little girl. Kristi is magic with them with her very calm demeanor and great ideas like playing the memory game during “free play time” when it turns out to be a little too “free”!  She is amazing!

While Kristi was teaching I had the great opportunity to go on a little nature walk with Lyla!  What a totally adorable child! She was soooo interested in everything on East 89th street in NYC!  From the grates…

to the dogs…

to the flowers….

to the leaves in the dirt!

McKay absolutely “owns” the neighborhood!  He whisks into the dry cleaning shop a few doors down from their apartment where he finds the lady who he has trained to promptly give him rice crackers. He loves the park down the street, knows how to negotiate deals with a kids who has a big wheel which he wants to trade for his scooter for a spin around the park and loves playing in the leaves…(already dark at 5:30):

and thinks the restaurants in the neighborhood are like his back yard as he races around on his little scooter:

 

On Monday night I got to go to Madison Square Garden for the first time in my life!  The Jazz were playing the Knicks:

I must say that the score was pretty wild…as usual:

BUT we DID win!

After two fun-filled days in the great Big Apple with the Eyre family, we completed the Bermuda triangle and headed for home.  How we love visiting these great families on our way to and from a really tough assignment…somebody’s got to do it!  We are truly blessed!