Sea Urchins NOT GOOD

Day one of vacation found my recently accident prone husband kicking a sea urchin.  Yep, you read that right a F*CKING SEA URCHIN.  Let me show you what that looks like:

So what does one's foot look like after kicking said sea urchin?  (Keep in mind this is AFTER we tried to dig out the spines which all snapped as soon as we touched them)

99% of most people we asked said "GO TO THE HOSPITAL" but Chad decided to listen to the ONE person who said "heat and grease" who also tried to SELL him something after his said advice.  So needless to say that we did NOT go to the hospital.  (Even though CRISTEN begged him to go...and I think she would have paid for it too)  So sea urchin spines are still in my husband's foot...and we haven't had to amputate it-so score one for Chad?? (But the Sea Urchin is still score 5)

Chad decided to pound a couple more of our favorite drink of that day-a "killer bee"

and then proceed to go back to the house, soak his foot and drink and drink and drink to kill the pain....Here's how my night ended...

Nevis Part One

I'm not going to lie.  As I sit here and type this blog, I am trying to figure out how I can afford to buy a house on Nevis and rent it out all the while vacationing down there multiple times a year.....Dream on Charleston Hokie, dream on...

Nevis is a gorgeous island in the caribbean located just south of St. Kitts.  So we went from CHS to CLT-St Kitts.  And in our layover in CLT picked up our two friends, Cristen & Phil who were vacationing with us!  (Yeah for bringing friends on a trip!)  Once we arrived in St. Kitts, we were taken via taxi by "Seamoss" to Reggae Beach (re-named by me & Cristen "Boobie Beach" as in Chad and Phil were going to see more boobs there then they were the whole trip!)  We had a private boat take us from St. Kitts over to Oualie Beach, Nevis where our house concierge, Rita, picked us up and took us to our amazing house.

Our view from the house-looking towards St. Kitts

One of the coolest things about where we stayed (other than the awesome central location and proximity to the beach) were the animals that you saw.  We had goats, sheep, donkeys, piglets (which I heard but never saw), cows and MONKEYS that hung out around the house.  The monkeys were pretty cool.  They are African Velvet Monkeys and while the islanders hate them (because they take their fruit from the trees, eat one bite, and throw it away) us tourists loved them!

How about I mention the gorgeous sunsets...those were pretty darn spectacular...

But my goodness-the beaches, the gorgeous, gorgeous beaches...Miss them already..

My camera really did absolutely no justice to the beaches.  Next trip-HD lens for sure.

I've been so slack posting my pictures and have lots more to share....I think my problem is if I post pictures, my vacation is officially over....sigh...I just can't accept that....

And we're off

After a ridiculously busy summer last year and some bumpy roads along the way we are off on a vacation.  It is our first real, big vacation in almost two years and we can't wait.  Phones are not going to work where we are going and I think that's pretty damn cool!

We are going to one of these-care to guess which one?

We have just a few activities planned but I plan on spending most of my time here with a cocktail in hand!

Hope your week is as fun as ours!

Cake baking

If you know me, you know I love cake.  And damn cake-it has gluten which I've been pretty good about giving up since my detox back in Feb.  I decided to bake a cake for our Mother's Day dinner and force "gluten" free upon my in laws.  They were pretty good sports about a gluten free cake.  And the taste wasn't too bad, however, that sucker weighed about 25 pounds. 

I tried two different gluten free cake mixes-ok fine-it is really b/c I wanted to make a layer cake and totally forgot to buy the second box.  And the second grocery store I went to didn't have the same kind...So there-busted.  Mistake number 1. 

Cake batter number one-looks so nice and smooth-right??

Cake batter number two-LUMPY LUMPY LUMPY and the mix to the left is the home-made raspberry filling. 

The two cakes out of the oven-lumpy on the left, smooth as butta on the right

You must try this gelato-Heaven..seriously...

 Layer of raspberry filling-check!

 Mommy's little kitchen helper

 Finished product

Overall, this isn't such a bad alternative to real cake.  Eat small pieces as a big old hunk of cake will feel like a bowling ball in your tummy!!