Heaven at Hermitage

Hermitage Bay, Antigua . . . indescribable . . . words and pictures don't do it justice. This is how I picture heaven ~ exotically beautiful ~ serene tranquility ~ romantic seclusion. Just the sound of the waves on the sand, and the refreshing feel of warm breezes. I wanted to melt into the surroundings and live there forever! Literally, paradise on earth.
We were so excited to share this special place with Jackie and Connor (August 2nd - 9th). They stayed for four nights, while we were lucky enough to have seven nights. If pictures are worth a thousand words, actually being there was worth a million. The flowers and vegetation were beyond beautiful with the most vibrant colors. Our cottages were a short hike up the hill, and offered amazing views. Everyday was a mix of relaxation and adventure ~ sunbathing ~ soaking in the pool ~ reading under the umbrella ~ eating and drinking to our hearts' content ~ snorkelling ~ kayaking ~ hiking ~ collecting sea shells ~ and of course, photography!

this is our amazing view ~ with afternoon sunlight reflecting on the ocean . . .


our view from cottage #38 . . .

view from our deck . . .

our daybed, beside the plunge pool . . .

our room . . . and no, we did not need the mosquito net

soaking in the view with a glass of wine . . .

evening pictures before dinner . . .

the pool and bar/lounge area at night . . .

Hermitage beach . . .

view of pool and beach . . .

On our second day (Monday), we decided to hike to Rendezvous Bay . . . unfortunately, the taxi ride was 50 min to get to the drop-off point. Not to mention, it was blistering hot, and we were carrying our picnic lunch along the way. I think Connor and Jackie were a little loathe to leave the paradise at Hermitage Bay, but they made the best of it! Rendezvous Bay is actually one of the most beautiful beaches I've ever seen.

Here we are on our way there . . . Jackie seems to be the only one smiling!

exotic views on the way there . . .

our first view of Rendezvous Bay . . .

After the strenuous hike, we all adjourned to our hillside plunge pool . . . to soak the warm water and have a much needed drink!

Afterward, we got ready for dinner (soaked in the bath while listening to music and drinking wine . . . ahhhh . . . ) and of course, took some pre-dinner photos . . .

twilight in the bar/lounge . . .

side view of cottage #38 . . . sitting on the edge of the world . . .

looking down on cottage #38 . . . Jackie and Connor stayed in cottage #39 just to the right . . .

morning/daytime picture of the plunge pool . . .

the incredible view from our cottage . . .

view from behind cottage #34, on the walking path down to the beach . . .

Matt at the lounge beside the pool . . . probably waiting for a frozen fruity drink . . .

here, we're visiting with our new British friends, Nikki and Steve . . . they were a lovely couple, and we hope to keep in touch with them . . .

I know, I keep posting this same picture . . . I love this view of the afternoon sun reflecting on the water . . .

Dinner on Jackie and Connor's last night . . .

morning rainbow at Hermitage . . .

morning on the beach . . . take your pick of beach chairs . . .

the water was an amazing color . . . every shade of blue and green imaginable . . .

lots of jellies . . .

hermit crabs at hermitage beach . . . what a wonder!

beachside and hillside cottages . . .

Jackie and Connor didn't want to leave . . .

After their sad departure, Matt decided to take a nap on our daybed . . . how anyone could sleep with that incredible view behind them is beyond me . . .

enjoying the view with a nice glass of savingnon blanc . . .

this is the view from above/behind cottage #38 ~ note the green hill to the left . . . Matt and I hiked around this hill . . .

During our hike around the green hill, we discovered six or seven "secret" beaches . . . this was one of my favorite mornings . . .
Here you see the trail that wound around the outside of the hill, along the coastline . . .

Matt standing on the red rock pennisula (you can see this from Hermitage) . . .

Carly's favorite secret beach . . . she's picturing her dream house on the hill above this beach . . .

here I am going for a swim . . .

have you ever seen such clear water? it felt like bath water . . . (with jellies!)

another picture of my beach . . .

the next morning (much to Matt's chagrin), we took a kayak trip back to my secret beach . . .

view of the "secret" beach from the kayak

Coming back to Hermitage on the kayak, we passed around the red rock pennisula . . . you can just barely see the cottages . . .

View of Hermitage from the kayak . . .

late morning shower (when we returned from kayaking) . . .

yes, I have a hundred of these pictures . . . (this is where we spent all of our late afternoon hours . . in the plunge pool, listening to music, drinking wine or mojitos or pina colodas)

what a life . . .

admiring the view . . .

spectacular sunsets . . .

the last morning, we spent our time by the pool and the beach . . . relaxing and wishing we could stay here forever . . .

we had a beautiful sunset on our last night . . . antigua wishing us farewell . . .

Our last dinner . . .

Before leaving, we vowed to come back to Hermitage before too long . . . I only wish I could bring all my family and friends with us! This is the most amazingly beautiful place I've ever been, and we loved every minute! It was hard to leave . . . but I still have the 600+ photos I took (and lots of incredible memories)!

Family Together-ness

the Wilbur Family Reunion 2008 . . . in Charles Town, WV . . . what a wonderful weekend! I only wish Matt could have joined me there. On Thursday (7/24/08) I flew to Baltimore, and Jackie met me at the airport. Jackie and I had a lovely afternoon (with adventure at Panera Bread . . . we're glad she still has a car!), and by early evening, the rest of the family had arrived at Jackie's. Dad, Mom, Grandma, Wayne, Aunt Diana, Aaron and Kristen all joined the festivities. Jackie, Dad, Grandma, and I all pitched in and made chili with corn bread for dinner (best chili Aaron has ever had!) . . . and desert included way too much wine for me (savingon blanc with a grapefruit flare)! The night flew by with everyone's stories of recent events . . . Aunt Diana's nursing tales (and mine), Aaron's recent girlfriend trouble, Jackie's recent nanny-share nightmare, Wayne's itchy health problem, the hoped-for sale of Grandma's house in Florida, and so on . . . Lucky for us, Jackie and Connor had plenty of room at their house for us to sleep, and plenty of wine, white russians, keg beer, etc for us to drink . . .
Friday morning we journeyed to Charles Town, which was about an hour and half away from Jackie's. I rode with Aaron in his new car (not too scary), and we all arrived at the hotel by 1:00. That evening the whole family kicked off the weekend reunion at Valerie and Rich's house . . . a beautiful historic estate in downtown Charles Town.
First picture is from Valerie & Rich's estate . . . Jackie waiting for the rest of us by the hydrangeas . . .

We spent a good part of the evening enjoying their gorgeous house and grounds . . . dinner was excellent (fried chicken, baked beans, potato salad, fruit salad and chocolate cake for desert). After dinner, the entire family returned to the hotel and carried on the festivities, with lots of alcohol. (Yes, too much drinking . . . with a complaint from another hotel guest about a certain family member running up and down the hall, dancing and singing . . . and no, it wasn't me!) Saturday morning came too early for many of the party-goers, as the tee-time for playing golf was 8:00am. Jackie and I had a leisurely morning, which included a light run around the downtown area and breakfast at the hotel. Saturday afternoon, a group of 12 decided to do white-water tubing . . . what an adventure! Jackie and I flipped our tubes over as we were hanging onto each other going over a mini-waterfall (scared us both . . . and we ended up with many bruises and scratches). The river we were sailing down was breath-taking . . . a deep ravine carved in a valley of green lush forest and peaked rocky hilltops. It was heartbreaking to see litter in the river :-( By the end of the trip, I had done multiple head-counts to make sure everyone made it down . . . with Paul and his girlfriend bringing up the rear . . . hummmmmm . . . anyway, the tubers included Connor, Jackie, Dad, Aaron, Uncle John, Daniel, Leighann, Kaitlan, Kristen, Paul, Brittney, and me.
Saturday night, we had dinner at the hotel (leftovers from Friday night and pizza) and we did the gift exchange . . . mom ended up with playboy bunny boxers! Then some of us journeyed over to the horse race. What fun! I lost ten dollars on my first bet that Danai Landing (horse#2) would place . . . Danai Landing came in dead last! I made $1.40 on the second race, as I bet on Sid's Star to place, and this horse won his race! The race track was a lively place, and we stayed until 11 pm watching the horses race. Dad made $27 on his $5 bet . . . I obviously need to take tips from him! I was exhausted by the time we got back and went straight to bed, but other family members stayed up until 3:30am (I heard this included Grandma!).
The whole weekend went by way too fast, and this morning I said good-bye to my relatives (most of them from NY). Hopefully, Matt will be able to make it next year! Here are a few snap shots from the weekend that went by in the blink of an eye:

Valerie & Rich's backyard

Valerie's back porch . . . Jackie greeting new comers . . . Aunt Pat, Daniel, Aaron, Grandma . .

the front of Valerie and Rich's house . . .

their kitchen . . .

their newly restored library . . . (Matt would have loved this) . . .

the next day (Saturday) . . . Grandma and Aunt Diana at the pool . . .

Jackie and Kristen by the pool Friday night . . .

Mom with Noah and Aaron swimming in the hotel pool Saturday morning . . .

Jackie and Wayne by the pool . . .

Cool shades . . .

Just before the tubing adventure . . . Aaron has donned his tubing attire with his lucky socks . . . behind him, Uncle John is weighing the risks of white water tubing . . . to tube or not to tube . .

Jackie and I . . . after our scrape with death on the river . . . good thing we're such strong swimmers with an amazing ability to float in the water (ha!) . . .

Back at the hotel Saturday night . . Jackie, Noah, Aaron and Paul are gearing up for the exciting gift exchange . . . who is going to the lucky one to take home the bunny boxers?

Who knew that Aaron could play kiddie songs?

Fun at the gift exhange . . . tell us how you really feel . . .

Grandma and Wayne at the gift exchange . . . both look a bit concerned . . . Grandma did not want her Panera gift card getting taken away!

thanks to all of our family members who attended this year's reunion . . . especially those who travelled long distances . . . it means a lot to see everyone! until next year . . .

Richard's graduation tribute

The urology chief resident at Tulane is graduating! Congratulations to Richard! And hello to Matt, new chief resident . . . with lots more work and responsibility. From left to right, you see Luke Fifer (3rd yr resident), Richard Matern (graduating chief), Brian Richardson (2nd yr resident), and Matt Raynor (4th yr resident).

In honor of the graduating chief, Luke, Brian and Matt made a video clip of "A day in the life of Richard" - there are seven scenes, and they are all posted on You Tube. Click on the following link to see the video clips:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9B_432fZ86c

Once you are on the website, click on "More from: carrenee" (on the right side of the screen) to get to the other scenes.

To drive . . . or not to drive

We opted not to drive in this flood . . . many of the roads were also flooded, not just our parking lot! Two weeks ago, we had such a storm - lightening, thunder, torrential downpour - and it lasted for several hours on Sunday morning. The drainage system must have been clogged with debris and pine needles - the water level in the parking lot kept rising - until finally, something broke loose and all the water began pouring down the drain (as you see in the picture below). The water came up over the curb, over the speed bumps, up onto the grass - almost up to our neighbor's knees! That's what you get when you live in a city below sea level!

Here is our (crazy) neighbor . . . contemplating a swim?

Here is picture during the storm . . . as you see, the water is creeping up our tires.

As Dr. Fox would say at Tulane, . . . Unbelievable!