The Donkey At My School

The donkey at my school goes hee haw a lot. There is people that live at the house with the donkey and I think that the donkey wakes up all the people at their house in the morning. The donkey is tied up close to the road by my school. At school I hear him when I am working and I hear him when I have recess and I hear him when my teacher is reading a story and I hear him when the parents pick up their kids. And the donkey scared Odin. Some people in my school laughed.

The Cows

In our neighbour's backyard I saw three cows. They are on a leash. We see lots of cows in Guadeloupe, but no milk cows, only meat cows. And they are all on a leash. I've seen cows on the beach, and on the soccer field and beside the road. They are usually eating grass and there is a kind of bird that keeps care of the cows. The bird is white and looks like a crane. This bird stands beside a cow, and sometimes on the cow, and likes to eat bugs. In French he is called a garde boeuf which means take care of meat cow.

Busy in Basse Terre

School's out for the week so we loaded up the six seater Fiat. I've never seen this type of vehicle before, with six full size bucket seats - Peter suggested that Homer Simpson designed it.

Our daily excursions took us exploring in Basse Terre.  The Botanical Garden is located just outside Deshaies in the northern tip of the island.  The gardens were suggested to us by our first landlady Francine, and they were as delightful as she described.  A winding path took us through a goldfish pond, fountains, and beautiful landscapes. Each of the trees and plants were identified by species and country of origin. The kids loved reading the country names. This place is specifically designed for kids with a playground featuring swinging vines and climbing equipment plus a petting zoo. I was a little unnerved by the free range chickens wandering around the picnic area - I have a thing about birds.

Mammelles Parc - Zoo is a jewel of a find carved into the side of the mountain. Small in scope but well designed and thoroughly enjoyable. Best of all were the rope bridges winding through the tree canopy overlooking zoo exhibits. This was a little slippery as it was raining when we were trekking through the zoo, but so exciting wandering through the leafy green trees.

The Cascade aux Ecrevisses hike was not a challenging walk, but the dip in the clear fresh waterfall was so worth the stop. We do look forward to more hikes throughout the National Park however, I think we may wait until after the rainy season.

The Glass Bottom boat in the Jacques Cousteau Water Reserve was located at the Maldure beach, which is a dark sand beach and very touristy.  Second only to St. Anne in regards to buildings, and tourist shops and services. The boat was super and all the kids loved being down below watching the fish swim around us. At Pigeon island we stopped for a snorkel and swim.  Xavier went with Peter to snorkel around the rocks. Odin couldn't wait to jump off the boat and swim around.  He even went off the slide at the back of the boat - no lifejacket or adult needed - an adventurous 3 year old indeed.

Our Boat Ride to Desirade

We took a big boat to Desirade and our big boat was red. And in the boat two people puked in my family - My mom and my brother Odin.  Milo screamed his head off. When we were going to Desirade there were very big waves in the ocean.

On the island I liked the view of the iguanas and I saw an iguana that was camouflaging. I saw six iguanas. Two iguanas were grey, and all the rest were green. They were on the grass, and I saw two iguanas on the fence. And when we were going back to our boat we got les floups (freezies) and when we were back on the big boat we got to sit on the top of the boat. There was no puking this time.

Our New House

I  am swimming with my brothers and parents in our pool. I am at my new house in the country. Our neighbour has a cow.  My dog Stanley likes to bark at the cow. There are lots of bugs to see here. There is a mosquito net on my bed so mosquitoes won't bite me at night.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

Hermit Crab

My name is Xavier. I am working on a Hermit Crab. I saw one at my house and I measured him. He was small, measuring 3.7 cm. Hermit Crabs are born in salt water. They live close to the water. Hermit Crabs can live to be ten years old. He has two claws; the right one is smaller than the left. They can climb really good. The one I saw had a white shell and inside his body was red. They can move back and forth, and sideways. Hermit Crabs are amphibians. They live in the Caribbean. They are fun to watch but they can get scared easily of people. I like Hermit Crabs.

Anole

Anole

My name is Xavier and I am working on an animal named anole. They have six legs, their eyes are blue and they can blow a bubble with their neck. They live in Mexico, Florida, the Caribbean, Texas, Georgia and Venezuela. The male is green and and the female is brown. They eat little bugs like spiders and bees. Anole are reptiles. They live near houses and they are fast. If you see one, do not say a word, only whisper. Do not move an inch unless you are trying to capture one for a pet. It will scare them. I like anole. I do, I do.

Arrived :-)

It was a whirlwind, but the family has arrived in Guadeloupe!

Xavier, Quincy and I started the long drive down to Miami Friday August 26  to kickoff  "Operation Airlift Stanley". With the mini-van loaded up with boxes and street hockey equipment, we passed through US customs without incident.  Strangely, the US customs guy didn't question me much about taking two kids, a dog, and a car full of stuff without Samantha.  No matter.  After passing through 8 states and skirting hurricane Irene, we arrived in Miami on Sunday evening. 

Now here comes the complicated logistics for getting a large dog to Guadeloupe.

On Monday, Samantha and the two little ones took an early flight from Toronto to Miami, while original drive-to-Miami team flew down to San Juan, Puerto Rico ahead of Stanley.  Just before 10 pm, Stanley followed us to San Jan and was put on an overnight cargo.  Due to temperature restrictions when transporting animals, an overnight flight is pretty much the only way to get a large dog to the Caribbean by air.

On Tuesday morning, the drive-to-Miami team greeted Stanley at the San Juan airport.  Needless to say, Stanley was happy to see us!  And it was the kind of happy that only dogs can pull off - dog happy.  With Stanley safely in San Juan, it was a race to Guadeloupe.  Samantha and the little ones hopped on an Air France flight to Guadeloupe while the drive-to-Miami team flew on a 6-seater island hopper. Stanley was sitting next to me in the middle row.

By mid-afternoon, we had all arrived safely in Guadeloupe. Now it's time to get everything in order for day-to-day life in Guadeloupe.