Wild & Wonderful World of Whitesides: It's Beginning to Look a lot like Christmas...NOT really!

It's so weird to me that it's December. We have been listening to Christmas music for at least a month now and watching Christmas movies as well. But when it's 86 degrees outside it doesn't feel like Christmas at all. Christmas if my favorite Holiday out of the year, by far! I love everything about it! So I have been worried that I would get super homesick and down this holiday season. Now I know that Christmas is still a few weeks away, but so far so good. I think that EVERYTHING is so new that I don't really have anything to compare it to. PLUS my sister and her hubby are coming here for Christmas!! So I will have some extended family here for Christmas!! I really think that the Lord is strengthening me, and already HAS strengthened me to be able to handle/accomplish more than I ever thought I could as a mom. So even though there is no snow here and we are far away from family and family traditions, we are still feeling the Christmas spirit!

Now speaking of accomplishing hard things.... Today I went downtown with a group of about 7 of us S.O.'s from the Branch down here. We each had at least one child and we were checking out the different shops downtown. Now downtown St. George's is hard to explain. I will have to get pictures sometime of the streets and shops and such. But the roads are narrow, people drive crazy here, and the sidewalks (if there ARE sidewalks) at narrow and inconsistent. So strollers are out of the question, so you carry your kids or they hold your hand as you walk. OR if you're like me with TWO littles, then you carry one AND hold the other's hand. Then you're walking around from little shop to little shop in the heat and after about 30 seconds you can feel the sweat start to drip... in quite literally places you didn't know was possible. Add to this the mamas that are still nursing and would have to stop and find a place to sit to nurse for a bit... I have met some SERIOUSLY AMAZING mama's!

We were quite the spectacle in town. So many white girls and all in a group. There wasn't a cruise ship in today so we appeared to be tourists and kept getting asked if we needed a taxi and such. After a few inquiries as we walked by people kept say "SGU students. SGU students." haha We were laughing.

When I took this picture the girls were beyond done (mostly Ruby), and Hazyl was a CHAMP and didn't complain once! Even after I had to basically throw her into the gutter to avoid a car from nearly hitting her! Let's just say that I will NEVER take for granted AMAZING sidewalks in America!! Or that MOST drivers will slow down when kids are near.

Oh and of course there is marijuana everywhere. We literally had to walk right by a group of men who had the biggest pile of weed I've ever seen and they were just rolling away. "Girls don't look as Mommy walks you by drugs!" :0 I've gotten used to smelling it more frequently than I would like. It is actually illegal here, but I'm not sure how strictly it's enforced.

The BEST part about downtown are the smoothies!!! You can see the remains of what is my favorite, Chocolate, banana, peanut! Yum! Ruby enjoyed it as well!

What's a better way to cool off after a hot day downtown?! Oh yeah Beach Friday! (Sigh) The beach just makes everything better!

I think the kids enjoyed themselves as well! Seriously one of the best beaches ever! The sand here is so so soft! I love the color of the clear blue water, and it feels SO nice!