Looking Back

Today we have 16 days left here on the island. It is so bitter sweet. I'm excited to be in the states again and around family, but I'm really struggling with leaving. This island has become such a huge part of our lives. We had our first home together, we got our two beautiful puppies, we got engaged, and on top of that we have met some of the most amazing people here.  I also feel like I have grown here so much. I hope that the humbleness I learned here, I carry it with me for years to come and don't just fall back into being a spoiled American. It makes me sad to think of leaving for good. This is home for us now. 

I know that the next chapter will be just as great as this one, and I am looking forward to the journey that is ahead, its just hard to let go of this. We have already promised ourselves to come back and visit in a few years. I'm really truly going to miss Dominica and all the memories I have made here. Even in spite of the fact that the power and internet go out and the brown water when it rains and the large scary centipedes, I will always look back with fond memories.

 A group of us went to Victoria Falls yesterday

 So fun!

 I love that we can be adventurous together!

 The beautiful view from our favorite restaurant/bar De Champ

 Aaron and I at the Sunday evening dinner at De Champ

Meeka's Kennel came in, so I had to get in again, Meeka must have grown quite a bit more because this time it was much more cramped!

Getting the girls kennels ready to fly

 I'm going to miss having fresh coconut to drink and eat!

We went to dinner at Red Rock Haven with Kelsey and Jordan. 

We love them!

This was THE BEST meal I have ever eaten in my life!

The love of my life

homemade avocado masks! We had a girls spa and wine night, it was soooo fun!

Some of the girls put together a bachelorette party for Kelsey, she was so surprised.

Aaron and I at Emerald Pool

This was from the RSO farewell banquet. They give awards to the people who are leaving the island and my award was "most likely to have their first child underwater while scuba diving" I thought that was pretty funny! 

This is where we go every Friday night for ribs. SOOOOOO yummy!

The LOOOOOOONG Road Ahead.....

Stress has been high here in the Robertson-Sliter household the last couple weeks. We are learning that August-September is NOT a good time to leave the island with pets. Getting them off the actual island and to Miami is not a problem because they will be flying Amerijet, a pressurized, airconditioned cargo jet. They will leave here and maybe go to a couple other islands then off to Miami where we will meet them.

     Note: if you know me, I'm sure you know these pups are my entire world, soooo....ummm.... yes, I am freaking out a bit at the thought of not being with them for 10-??? who knows how many hours of their journey home. Unfortunately this is the only reliable, and safe option for us :(


The only "problem" with Amerijet is that the flight is not confirmed until the day before, and they only fly on Tuesdays. So our flight off the rock is Tuesday August 24th. We will not know for sure if the dogs can, for sure, get on their plane, or if the plane is even coming that Tuesday, until Monday the 23rd. And as always with any flight, it's weather-pending. It is Hurricane season here in good 'ol Dominica... Luckily all we have had is a lot of rain and a couple tropical storms... Keep your fingers crossed for us that the weather stays like this!

Miami is where the real problem lies. American airlines along with every other american airline WILL NOT fly pets out of Miami, August- September. Period. End of story. No exceptions. In fact the only air line we found that would fly them, was Air Canada, but if we use them, we have to fly to Toronto then to Chicago then to Cedar Rapids.

SOOO.....drumroll please......... we will be driving from Miami to Iowa.


View Larger Map

1,503 miles, approximately 24 hours. With 4 suitcases, two huge kennels, and two scared puppies. Its going to be a long, tiring journey home. However, we can't wait to see you all and are very excited about coming home! We are planning on getting to Iowa on the 26th sometime. See you then!!!!!!!

A change of plans...

I'm excited to tell you all some great news! Aaron and I will be leaving "the rock" early! We are tentatively thinking August 24th. We are very excited and sad at the same time. We of course are incredibly excited to be around family and friends and to be able to go to the grocery store and actually get what we want! But we are sad to leave Dominica's beauty behind. I will also miss the fresh fruit and juices and rainbows and the people. We really have had a very positive experience here and are hoping one day to come back and see all the changes and hopefully revisit some of the people.

While we are in Iowa Aaron will be studying for Step 1 of the United States Medical Licensing Exam (USMLE) and is planning on taking it at the end of October.  Then we will be waiting to get his score back and to see where to go for  his first rotation. 

We will be driving to a small town called Calgary in Canada the last week in August/first week of September for our friends Kelsey and Jordan's wedding!! We are very excited! It will be a fun little road trip! 

I just wanted to update you all on this exciting new news! I'll be seeing you SOON!!

Kelsey, Jordon and Aaron and I at fresh water lake

Mermaids and a hybrid

This semester Aaron and I have really made some great friends. People that we are hoping to continue to be friends with long after leaving the island and after graduating med school. There is a couple here, Kelsey and Jordan, that are in fifth semester like us, but we had never met until the beginning of the semester! How our paths hadn't crossed until now we can't figure out. However we just "click" with them. We have an unbelievable amount of fun with them. Hanging out with them is just so easy and we can actually be 100% ourselves around them. We are actually really sad because they are going to be leaving the island on August 10th! We are all hoping to meet up again in New York and live in the same building if possible.

We were supposed to go on a hike Tuesday with them and a few other people, but it ended up getting cancelled because of the torrential downpour that had been happening all night and all morning. We decided to make the best of the day anyway and rent a car and drive to Freshwater Lake, which is a little over an hour away. It turned out to be completely cloud covered and so we couldn't actually see the lake at all from the hike so we decided to turn around half way through and go back down to the lake. Jordan and Aaron got in, it was pretty cold out where we were anyway so Kelsey and I opted to stay in our sweatshirts and rain jackets. After that we drove to Roseau and I got a pendant that is the shape of the island and has Dominica written on it. Kelsey got some fun fabric to make some pillows out of when she's back in Canada. We also stopped at the Save a Lot and picked up a few things, steak, yogurt, crab meat. By the way that is my new favorite store on the island, they have actual meat and produce sections that have reasonably priced groceries. A really nice steak is $10 or $11 EC (eastern caribbean dollars. 2.67 is the exchange rate) You can't even get that great of a price in the states! Anyway then we headed home and cleaned up and ordered pizza and watched a movie. It ended up being one of my top 10 best days I've had on the island.

It was FREEZING! I have two zip up hoodies and a rain jacket on!

Kelsey may actually kill me if she ever sees this on here :) She was stylin with her purple shorts, green shirt, and red hoodie.

Isn't the lake beautiful......?

Trying to think of the words to the potty song!!

We decided that there are most definitely Mermaids  in this lake. I looks just like the one from Harry Potter

Takin a dip

The view of Roseau from Morne Bruce. That is the Carnival Victory, in case you were wondering.

On Monday night Aaron and I went up to De Champ to have a couple drinks and eat dinner and on our way home we saw a puppy who looked exactly like both of our girls combined. If Lily and Meeka morphed in to one, this pup would have been her. She was soooo lovey and sweet. She ended up following us all the way back home which was a long way from where we found her. We offered her some food and water. We still have the cat kennel that we used to put Meeka in when she was much smaller, so we set that out on the porch for her to have some shelter from the rain. We said that if she was still there in the morning we wanted to find her a home because she is just way way too sweet to be living on the streets of Dominica. She stayed the whole night on our porch so we fed her again and tied her up so that when we got back from the hike we could contact PAWS, bathe her and work on getting this sweet little girl a home. Unfortunately when we had gotten back some one had unhooked the collar and she was gone. However we have seen her a couple times since then, so she is safe which made me feel better. I am just hoping that someone will take her home and give her lots of loves because she deserves it. 

Isn't she sweet!

She made herself right at home

"Scratch my belly!!!!" Her ears look so much like Lily's!

She loved having her chin rubbed

I think she looks exactly like Lily here!

She's got Lily's color and ears and Meeka's face, Aaron called her the hybrid.

This morning I dropped my baby Meeka off to go get "fixed." Her and Koa Toa are both being taken to Roseau today and having their surgeries.  When Meeka realized Lily and I weren't going and it was just going to be her  she started to cry and it broke my heart and made me start to cry :( My poor baby! This vet will be keeping them overnight and will bring them back in the morning. I'm glad that Dr. Paul keeps them over night so she can get some rest, maybe I'll sleep better than I did when Lily got done too!

Me and my baby Meeka <3 I love my girls!

Well thats all I've got for now, I'll try to write sooner than I did last time! I'll leave you with this picture I had forgot about and just found on Aaron's camera...

We went to cook breakfast one morning and this happened! We had never seen a double yolk before.

Help I'm an Addict.......!

I have a confession to make. I am an addict. I need help. I'm completely obsessed with finding and reading blogs! My poor Google Reader is in overload trying to keep up with new posts from all my favorites, and I'm in overload trying to read all of them! Its such a delima! Now I've known about this "problem" for a while now but I've been keeping it a secret. I love reading my fellow Dominican friends blogs, and craft blogs and food blogs and just random funny blogs. OBSESSED I'M TELLING YOU! Then one of my favorite bloggers posts something from another blog, which I HAVE to look at and end up loving! Its a terribly wonderful cycle! 

Currently one of my absolute favorites is called "The Art of Doing Stuff" The bloggers name is Karen and she is hysterical! Every time I read her blog I honestly laugh out loud. Aaron can tell ya, all of a sudden I just start laughing and he yells "What are you doing?!" To which I reply "OMG, You have got to see this!" Often times he ends up laughing too. She also has amazing ideas and projects that I cannot wait to try when I'm back in the States. I LOVE LOVE LOVE her blog. I challenge you to check it out and not laugh or find something useful.

Kevin and Amanda is another one of my favorites. Her blog is a mix of crafts, scrapbooking Ideas, fonts that are FREE, great recipes, her beautiful pups- Howie and Miley, and parts of her everyday life. She is a great writer and its fun to read. And her pictures....are......amazing! She takes absolutely beautiful photos. They are, in fact, one of my favorite reasons for reading her blog. Go take a look! By the way my number one ultimate reason for reading her blog, is someday I want a scrapbooking room just as amazing as hers! A girl can dream, right! :)

The last one I'll share with you today is called "Picky Palate". Jenny is the blogger's name and she is an amazing chef. She comes up with recipes that make you drool a little while you are reading them. I have only tried a small few, because of my limited resources here in Dominica. However, its on as soon as we are back in the states! Every recipe I've made of hers had turned out absolutely delicious!  Soups, Sandwiches, Breakfasts, Pastas, Pies, Cookies, Bars......you name it, its probably on her site.

Seriously go check these out, they are fantastic! Happy Hump Day!

P.S. I know, there is a logo from the cutest blog on the block at the beginning of the entry- If anyone can tell me how to get rid of the darn thing I'd reallllly appreciate it! Thanks a bunch and have a great day!