There's no place like HOME

Homeward bound! We headed to Raleigh, North Carolina on Wednesday afternoon and couldn’t be more excited about it.  We took home a total of 4 suitcases but out smarted American Airlines by packing 2 suitcases in one suitcase! Smart thinking on our part? I’d say so! We first had to fly through Miami.  Which, by the way was awful!  If I had known that we would have to walk 13 miles to get to a first custom check point. Oh and it didn’t end there! We had 2 more custom check points as if the 1^st and 2^nd weren’t enough! We walked 10 miles after that until we found a Chili’s.  Had I known we were about to walk a marathon I would have worn sneakers instead! Having not had fine American cuisine for 4 months the Chili’s was in fact mouthwatering.  I guess it goes without saying that we cleared our plates that night.

                Raleigh bound we were and couldn’t be happier about it.  Our flight went as most flights do, uneventful (I’m not complaining!).  Side note: My mom always says she would like to sit next to the little box on all her flights because if the plane was to crash, they always find the little black box, thus they will find her! Oh Katfish! Anyway finally home.  We landed in good ole Carolina! My parents had planned to pick us up so I knew to be on the lookout for them once through terminal but our sweet surprise both our families were there! Complete with siblings! It was so touching to have everyone be there to greet us and welcome us HOME! We are so blessed to have the families that we do.  Thank you all for being there, it meant so much to us.  As if our families being there wasn’t enough! Duke was waiting patiently in the car for us as well! Duke Duke was tired and didn’t give us the grand welcome we had expected but was still excited nonetheless.  Oh and for the icing on the cake! Two sweet teas ready to be sipped were given to us by Daniel and Michael (Andrew’s brothers).  Sweet tea never tasted so sweet!

                We must waste no time! Thursday morning came and was filled with a few dentist and doctor appointments and eating of course! Also I was able to go out and see my sweet Sissy and Will.  No I did not get the grand stampede that I had envisioned but more of a “oh it’s you…” instead! But that was fine because I didn’t care all I wanted to do was love on them and they let me as long as the carrots and peppermints were plentiful! Sissy looked great, so I thought; Daniel on the other hand didn’t seem to agree! I said something like “Sissy looks soo good! Doesn’t she? Especially since she just turned 32!” Daniel then said something like...”32? Looks more like 100!” Oh Daniel! So she was little dirty…but we took care of that.  Being back at the barn with the horses was so nice; it’s good for the soul I think. 

Wasting no time we had made plans to have dinner with our friends and family Thursday night at one of most favorite restaurants in Raleigh, Centro( Dos Taquitos Centro).  It was such a delightful evening! It was a night full of good food, wonderful margaritas, and incredible fellowship.  Thank you to Centro for letting us share such a wonderful night with you, it was so special.  And thank you to all of our friends and family for being there with us, you mean so much to us.  We are blessed beyond words.  We ate, drank a little or a lot! And enjoyed each other’s company most importantly. What an amazing night! Oh and secret! I stopped at KrispyKreme on the way home and got a cream filled doughnut! Shhhh! It was soo delicious!

Friday came quickly! Mom and I started our Friday with a quick stop at Chick-Fila for some buttered biscuits, hash browns and sweet tea before heading to the spa! Dad, Andrew, Michael and Daniel headed on down to the coast to ready the boat for the weekend.  Mom and I took our time at the spa and had facials and pedicures! Which were both extremely necessary!  After that we too headed to the beach to join the boys.  But we took the liberty of doing a little shopping first! We clearly were in no hurry to arrive! Andrews’s parents and sister joined us later Friday evening as well!  What a treat! So we geared up for a fun weekend.  We spent the whole day out on the salty sea Saturday.  Though we didn’t hook up with any big fish we all still had a great time! I even drove the boat a little! I have a picture as poof! My sweet dear friend, Justine and her amazing fiancé Eric even joined us for the rest of weekend too! We had such a great long weekend down at the coast and cherished our time with family and friends so much! We boated (or yachting as Katfish says), fished and enjoyed good company the whole weekend!

Back to Raleigh we headed after a nice long weekend at the coast to spend a few more days there before heading down to Lexington.  I spent the next few days in Raleigh soaking up my time with Sissy and Will.  It is amazing how good a horse can look when you brush them 5 days in a row!

We continued our food crawl through Raleigh while we were still there.  If it wasn’t nailed down we were eating it! Oh and errand galore! We ran to Target about 300 times.  Just so you know, St. Kitts doesn’t have a Target and I adore everything from Target, so it was absolutely necessary that I spend hours in Target looking at things! I love things!

We wrapped up our time in Raleigh by spending time with my parents, brother, friends, and of course Sissy and Will.  I loved on Sissy until she wouldn’t let me love on her anymore, which was really long time! As our time in Raleigh came to an end…it was time to leave the BIG city and head to the country! We headed down the road, excited about what Lexington had in store for us! Oh something great! We shopped along the way! Who loves outlet shopping? I do! Only a few stores though….

Once in Lexington we knew we could rather relax! Raleigh was so busy! Between all of our Target runs and all…Andrew’s parents were having a Ranch Horse Show with Ricky and Nancy Johnson down at the Johnson Ranch on Saturday, so naturally were we excited.  My butt didn’t leave a saddle that day if it didn’t have to! Also my toes had missed my boots something awful!  The show had an incredible turn out and was a lot of fun! Our friends Justin and Kara even came up for the day to hang out and ride with us! What a treat it was! We were able to share Justin’s birthday with them! We all had a blast!  Oh and this team sorting thing I could get into.  So the ranch horse shows are pretty awesome and are full of lots of calf cutting, no not really cutting cows, youtube it you’ll see. Hey Cow! Hey Cow! Andrew and Justin even took home money and won their team sorting class.  What an awesome day. 

Sunday came and we had a nice church service and then had family over to visit afterwards.  Nothing like good ole front porch sittin’ on a North Carolina farm!  Back to the Johnson Ranch we went for some more riding Sunday evening.  Thank you again Ricky and Nancy! We had a blast!

Well our days went too quickly in Lexington even though we were supposed to be relaxing we still managed to fill our days. Mostly we were just horsin’ around! We spent time with family and ate…a lot…Oh and Andrew even got to help his Dad castrate a few of their yearlings! What a privilege!

My Dad and brother, Matt, even came up mid-week for visit.  It was so nice having them.  We had these grand plans of shooting skeet but instead we all just sat on the porch and chitchatted.  Which I would not have traded for the world! Needless to say we had sweet teas in hand!

Friday night came too quickly, our last night in North Carolina.  But we were able to have our families there with us.  It was so nice to have everyone together before we headed back to the rock that we call home now. The evening was bittersweet.  Bitter because we knew we were leaving tomorrow and sweet because we had what was most important to us with us.  Saturday came and we said good bye…Everyone was there to wave us off and wave us off they did! Like 500 times! Tears flowed, hugs were given, and prayers were said.  Gosh I can’t get over what an incredible time we had at home.  It was good for our souls to get back to our roots.  Though our rock is home for the next few years we know where our hearts belong.

For those of you who want to know about our food list.  Here is what all we were able to conquer. Don’t judge…

Raleigh List:
Dos Taquitos Centro
Bojangles (For Andrew)
Chik-fil-a
Carrabba's
Tuscan Blue
PF Changs
The Draft House
Mellow Mushroom
Cooney Island
Schlotzsky's
Moe's
Mom D's Apple Pie (please!)
MT. DEW
SWEET TEA

Morehead City list:
Beach Bums
Smithfields - Sweet Tea
Circa 81
Poppa Duke's cooking
El's Drive In
Fish Tales
Jersey Mikes
Coldstone
MT. DEW

Lexington List:
Mom C's Home Cooking
Ricks
Biscuit King
Mr. Gatti's
Hunan
Macaroni Salad (fingers crossed)
Zaxbys
The Village
MT. DEW
SWEET TEA

Only in St. Kitts

I do not take credit for the phrase"Only in St. Kitts" but it has become a regular one in the Cope household since moving here.

We like to use the phrase when.....

• we find bugs in our pasta
• we buy 3 month old expired cream cheese
• brake for monkeys crossing the road 
• we see cows riding in the back of dump trucks
• beer is cheaper then water
• goats look both ways before crossing the street
• small children come from nowhere and suddenly appear in your passenger seat

Though the pictures might not do the phrase the entire justice that it is due, they come close.

Beer Transport

Sticks support wrecked cars

Looks like a piece of Steak to me. Not Chicken Nuggets?

Limin', ridin', and talking on the cell phone

Donkeys wear Santa hats and Monkeys ride Donkeys who wear Santa Hats

Have to love the billboards of St. Kitts

Seriously?

Hey why not? It was easier to just do it this way.

No Thank You!

My personal favorite - I was informed though that she was found.

Couldn't pass it up

Oh yeah and then there's us!

Only In St. Kitts

Thank you to all of my friends who took these oh so great photos! Click on the photos to view larger!

They truly are one of kind!

Dedicated to Daniel

This is what was written on my facebook page today:

Daniel: i see how matt and i get left out of the blog pictures... hmmmmm

So Daniel...here you are dear, enjoy!



and of course the one picture I have on my own brother.  Hey Matt! Let's take more pictures!

Good-Bye March and Hello April

March has been a long month for us! I think it is because we are so eager to go home. Just 2 1/2 weeks now! I CAN'T WAIT!

I have worked about 2 1/2 weeks now full time for the Dean of Research here at Ross. We have a great team and I think I'm going to really enjoy my little island job. Andrew is finishing he classes strong and looking forward to next semester. But before next semester comes we first get to come home and back to reality (this whole island thing just doesn’t seem real sometimes...)!

Make fun all you want but we have compiled a list of activities for when we are home. These fore mentioned activities consist of eating, shopping, target going, couch laying, TV watching, horse playing, dog petting, family spending, friend hugging good times. None of these are to do be in any said order per se but eating will consume a large amount of our time. Along with our activities list we have devised a strategic plan to optimize our time at home. We will have exactly 16 full days back in North Carolina. 8 days will be spent between Raleigh and Morehead City and the other 8 will be in Lexington - this way we get equal time with both families, how perfect! Oh and we are also able to cross off a several food venues.

A strategic plan will first consist of my parents picking us from the airport on Wednesday night, late, like 10 pm. This however, will not stop us from making a late night CookOut run for a couple of sweet teas and a CookOut Tray for Andrew. Oh and I'm sure my parents will bring Duke along for the ride because as Dad likes to say "It's a Family Outing, Duke should be there".... Don't worry I won't give you a play by play I will just highlight the good stuff! Thursday I wake up early and go see my sweet Sissy girl and spoil her lots of love and carrots; oh and Will can have a few carrots too! After I get my horse playin' in we will meet our friends for in down town Raleigh for dinner. We figured it was the easiest way to see everyone! Friday morning we will head down to Morehead City for some good ole North Carolina Coastal livin'! Here we will eat, boat, fish, shop, and just enjoy each other’s company!! After a nice long weekend we will head back to Raleigh for more Sissy and Will time, target browsing, couch laying, and TV watching, oh I forgot eating, yes of course always more eating.

We will wrap up a final few days in Raleigh doing what we love and then head on down to Lexington, where people claim to have red-neck dogs...true story...as if the owners weren't already....

Here we will spend time with family, ride a few horses, muck a few stalls, mend a few fences, and my favorite, chit-chat late into the night. Maybe we will even have another bonfire and shoot a few Skeet! Andrew's parents will even be having a horse show the Saturday that we are home! YAY! Saddle up - It's Cuttin' Time!

And when our two weeks of home are over we will head back to St. Kitts. I know our hearts and our bellies will be full.

Our List of Food Places...Don't Judge...

Raleigh List:

1. Dos Taquitos Centro
2. Bojangles (For Andrew)
3. Chik-fil-a
4. Carrabba's
5. Tuscan Blue
6. PF Changs
7. The Draft House
8. Mellow Mushroom
9. Cooney Island
10. Schlotzsky's
11. Moe's
12. Mom D's Apple Pie (please!)
13. MT. DEW
14. SWEET TEA

Morehead City list:

1. Beach Bums
2. Smithfields - Sweet Tea
3. Circa 81
4. Poppa Duke's cooking
5. El's Drive In
6. Fish Tales
7. Jersey Mikes
8. Coldstone
9. MT. DEW

Lexington List:

1. Mom C's Home Cooking
2. Ricks     
3. Biscuit King
4. Mr. Gatti's
5. Hunan
6. Macaroni Salad (fingers crossed)
7. Zaxbys
8. The Village
9. MT. DEW
10. SWEET TEA
    
11. We realize that will we have to prioritize.....

Back Where We Come From

Rebekah!

Love my ponies!

What a Stud! (no, really he is riding Stud)

Skeet Skeet

A day in the life of Duke

Ask and you shall Receive

My goodness March is upon us already! And boy did March bring several good things along with it...

Over the last several weeks, well I guess since we got here! many prayers are been lifted up for many different things. And my how God works in such special ways to answer our prayers. Like when Andrew was doing the whole vet school application process I prayed for an adventure...boy did I get one big adventure. Though nervous about the adventure to St. Kitts I knew God wouldn't have given us such a big adventure if we couldn't handle it. It has been hard at times but He has continued to answer our prayers, both big and small. Though overwhelming, many prayers were answered this past week....

We started off our week with finally deciding where we will be living next semester and hopefully for the remainder of our time here. We picked this awesome house up in Fort Tyson Rise. We overlook the Atlantic but can also see the Caribbean! Hopefully our back porch will be the prime location for all of the whale watching I intend to do. Apparently a few were spotted last week but I clearly did not see them! Our house has 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, large kitchen, fenced in yard for Duke, and a sweet little swimming pool! Our new home will be shared with Leann and Brayton Hill. They are simply an amazing couple and we can't wait to share in all of these wonderful vet school adventures together. Brayton is the student and Leann the spouse which is just perfect! They are in their second semester down here and are enjoying it. Leann is a teacher at the Prep School on campus and teaches 1st and 2nd grades. They are from New York and were married down in the Outer Banks last summer - AMAZING! We are truly excited for this next chapter and are very blessed to have made such great friends.

What's next? Oh yes! We test drove a few cars last week and settled on the cutest little blue SUV - wanna be. I say wanna be because it is truly a very tiny little SUV, but it is a perfect little island car for us! And Andrew turns out to be quite the haggler too! Andrew talked him down $1500, which is good for an island car. The steering wheel is on the opposite side, which is taking me some getting use to.  Andrew is a pro, of course. Oh the little blue car has this little mirror on the hood that looks like a snorkel, funny. Another funny aspect about looking for vehicles down here is that the superficial things didn't matter at all to us like they would back in the States.  We didn't care about color, interior, features, dents, etc none of that mattered! All that mattered was reliability and if our potential little island car would make it up certain hills; funny how those things change.  We were both very nervous to purchase the car. It was the first time either one of us had made a purchase that large, especially without our parents, but we did just fine. We drove our little island car to the grocery Saturday morning and then took her to the beach that afternoon. It's funny though, we both keep expecting something to break or for her not to turn on! We are told with island cars "it's not if they break, it's when they break!" - Oh boy! But we talk sweetly to her and cross our fingers that she behaves!

The grand news of the week, especially for me, is that I was offered a job last week working for the Research department at Ross U. How cool is that??!! I'm over the moon about it. I think it will be a perfect fit for me while I'm down here and will only help mold me for a career in research. I will speak to HR this week to confirm the details. It truly was a God send and I am blessed with an incredible opportunity that will open many doors.

Aside from the amazing job opportunity, I have also been asked to join a research team here at the university. The project is out of this world and truly the neatest thing! I have a strong interest in reproductive physiology and plan on going for PhD when I've finished my masters. I don't know exactly what area of reproduction but I think something with horses or pigs ( I do love pigs!) But this oh so incredible research project will be dealing with lionesses in Zimbabwe! Now I have no promises of going to Zimbabwe, which is fine, but I would go tomorrow given the chance! For me the privilege is to work on this project and be a part of so many aspects. To be on a published paper would be absolutely phenomenal! Oh I'm getting excited just writing about it! And I get to work with some pretty incredible and brilliant people that I know I can learn a lot from!

Now Dad! Don't go getting worried about grad school! I am doing awesome! And plus I do much better when I have more on my plate! Ask and you shall Receive....

View from our back porch - Atlantic Side

Caribbean Side

More Atlantic - Where I plan to see my whales

Our little blue island car

See the Snorkel?

An Under the Sea Engagment

Wow! So I have really fallen behind on our blog! The short and sweet of the past couple of weeks is that Justin and Kara came to visit us! Justin is Andrew's best friend from college and Kara is Justin's girlfriend, oh excuse me...Fiance`!

To play catch up a little bit...Andrew had his second round of exams and was a rockstar! He did so well on all of his exams. I had my first graduate school exam and did very well too.  Go us! I had to take it in the music room at the prep school.  Let's just say the first graders were not the only ones who got a music lesson that day. 

Back to Justin and Kara.  Andrew still had to go to classes but we all managed to enjoy each others time.  We ate great food while they were here and had a blast.  I played tour guide barbie and took them around to all of our local haunts during the day.  We hung out at Shipwreck on Thursday and the Marrriott on Friday.  The highlight of our weekend was going scuba diving on Saturday.  So Justin and I had been scheming for weeks for his big surprise under the sea proposal to Kara.  Justin and I had been coordinating with the dive shop ( Dive St. Kitts) and they told us that they could make it happen.  Everytime Kara left the room or took a shower Andrew, Justin, and I would have a quick meeting about the details of the proposal! We were very sneaky!  Andrew and Justin even were able to sneak out two afternoons and go to the dive shops to make arrangements.  Justin had Captin Crabby, our boat captin, make an sign that read "Will you marry me?" to give to Kara under water. Justin, Kara, and Andrew aren't dive certified but we were still able to do a discover dive experience.  That consisted of a very informative pool session where we learned basic dive skills and then the true dive in the great big ocean! So at the end of our dive we all huddled around our dive instructor, Tony, to watch him feed the fish.  This in when Tucker, our other dive instructor, passed Justin the sign.  Without asking of course, Justin held the sign for Kara.  We even heard her squeel under water! She was so excited you could tell! Her mask started to fill with tears and she almost spit her regulater out of her mouth; Tony had to quickly put his hand over it so she didn't. Justin gave her the ring and boy did it shine even at the bottom of the Carribean Sea! I know Kara couldn't wait to get back up to the surface to kiss her fiance`! What's really funny was when Kara was trying to hug Justin under water and their masks kept bumping..it was sweet but really funny too.  Kinda hard to hug with all of your gear on... Aside from the amazing proposal we saw lots of pretty fish and went about 40 feet down. Our dive was near a wreck so no reef but still awesome. 
Once back up and on the boat we celebrated the new engagement.  How excited they were! The crew at Dive St. Kitts really made it happen and were great to work with!
We enjoyed the rest of the weekend with Justin and Kara by touring the island and celebrating their engagment.  Congradulations you two! We couldn't be happier for you!