Panama: Day Two

Panama: Day Two

Off to Contadora Island!

We took the ferry from Panama City to Contadora Island today.  Its about an hour and a half boat ride; the island is about 30 miles off the coast.  

We didn't realize what a treat pulling out of Panama City would be.  We went out the very way all the huge ships come in and out of the Canal.  We were finally able to see just how big these ships were.  It was unreal! 

Panama City.  That hill is Ancon hill, the one we hiked the morning before.  We were all pretty proud of ourselves that we had hiked to the top of it.

A Japanese whaling ship we passed.  A guy we sat next to on the ferry does business on Contadora Island so he was familiar with the ferry ride and told us that this ship had been anchored for a few weeks.

When the ships arrive to go through the canal, they have to call in and reserve a time to go through (large ships and little ships have different times).  Most ships prefer they have to wait a day or so because Panama City is Party City.  They all go in and party the day/night away while they wait.  I guess its all a part of the Canal experience for them.  

Survivor films a lot on the small islands surrounding ours.  We passed this set.  Over time we realized that is was the Turkey Survivor they were filming.  All the set crew comes over to our Island and stays the night or they fly back to Panama City for the night.  We were wondering why they were all foreign and filming the American Survivor.  When we realized they were all from Turkey it all made sense.  

This is the main "dock" of the island.  There is no dock.  They ferry you from the ferry to the island on another small boat.  They do have a small air strip and that is mainly how they get all their resources on Contadora.

Our first meal on the Island.  Kevin asked around and found the local eatery where it only costs $5 a plate.  We ate there every day for lunch.  Once you got used to eating rice and beans (that mug is beans) for every meal, it was delicious and I was craving it long after we got home.  The only sad part was that we couldn't eat that delicious looking salad.  You couldn't drink the water on the island or anything that had been washed in un-boiled water. 

This was when we met Éric, our frenchman.  While we waited for our hotel to come pick us up at the beach with all our luggage, the boys noticed another man with a spear gun.  This got them all sorts of excited and Kevin went up to talk to him.  He then told us that the conversation was very awkward and that he wasn't sure what language the man had spoken to him.  Im sure Éric had thought the exact same thing.  Kevin was speaking spanish to him.  Éric was trying to understand him and speak portuguese back to him (since the two languages can have some similarities).  But really, Éric spoke french.  Oh it was fun getting used to this for the remainder of our trip.

We ended up talking more to him at our B&B and the boys figured out some language they could talk to each other in.  They decided that they would now be spear fishing buddies to save on cost for the boats.  And of course they decided they would go out that afternoon.  So while they went out for a few hours, me and Shalane went out to explore the beaches.

Our very own private beach that we soon found out to be the "nude beach".  Awesome.  Also, some crazy wild wave caught us of guard and put most of our stuff in the ocean.  We luckily didn't lose anything and with my crazy cat-like reflexes I grabbed our camera before anything horrible happened to it.  

Oh yeah and today was our 4 year anniversary!!  What a great way and place to celebrate it.  We tried to get a cute kissy picture and this is what we got:

Ok. Here is a better one.  

Love this adventure man of mine.

Next year we will have a baby (yikes!) but I still hope we are somewhere awesome celebrating. 

When the boys got back we decided to check out the whole island.  You can walk around the whole island in about 45 minutes.  It is tiny.  But we still didn't even get to see all of it.  

This is one of the 3 or 4 small hotels/ B&B's on the island.  We ate here for dinner every night and it was delicious!!

Villa Romantica

three years

Happy three years to us!! We both had to work tonight, so we decided to have a day date today, and have a more celebratory date Friday night.
We started with pickleball. It was too windy outside, so we decided to go to our ward house and see what we could manage. Being the Relief Society Secretary has its perks...
We made a net out of chairs, used the lines from the basketball court and wallah! a homemade pickleball court was made.
Kevin won 4 games. Out of 4. Roar.
The worst part is the paddle of shame at the end of each game. We decided that whoever wins gets to paddle the butt of the loser.
I got four paddle butts.

I then got to go and pick out flowers. Tulips for me please.

We ended our day date with an afternoon movie before work.

It has been a happy three years, a happy three years indeed.

A quick trip

Read Unbroken out-loud for a good portion of the drive to St. George.
Once we arrived, we decided tennis with potato chips was sounding good.
All of the treats I brought for our trip. I tend to go overboard...

A morning in St. George. I am already missing that king sized bed with the view.

Went on a morning run in Entrada to get out all my vacation energy I seem to always get when we get away. This was where we were first introduced to our new favorite sport: pickleball. Never heard of it? Don't worry; I am dedicating an entire post all to pickleball.

One of my new favorite apps: MapMyRun. I have used MapMyRide for biking and loved it, so I decided to try this one out. This takes running to a whole new level: fun.

Razoring Day 1.

My safety handle that is a life-saver when Kevin drives. Also my already dirty pants from minutes of driving. We got filthy dirty this first day.

We found some hieroglyphics.

While driving around we found dinosaur tracks! It was really neat to see them in their element and not in a museum. Kevin showed me what a Raptor looked like and then continued to show me what that past Raptor was doing by running along the tracks.

We decided to splurge one night and try a new restaurant in St. George. We both decided on Sakura. The sushi was awesome and it was the perfect meal to end our little trip.

Valentines Dinner 2012

Late Valentines was awesome this year. I got my husband back; and we spent the entire day at home being lazy. Once we got hungry for dinner we decided to make a grocery run. Like all men, Kevin hates to grocery shop. And like some women, I love to grocery shop. But he knows it makes me extremely happy when he goes with me so he obliged tonight.


For dinner we decided on:

-Broiled Ribeye steaks with sauteed caramelized onions on top
these turn out the best when you generously season with kosher salt & pepper, drizzle with olive oil, and make sure the oven has warmed up on the broil option for a good 10 minutes or so. And then broil for 3 minutes per side. Top with sauteed sweet onions that have been sauteed in olive oil and sprinkled with kosher salt for 20 or so minutes. I start on a medium heat, then turn it to low for the last 10 minutes to help caramelize them.
-Roasted asparagus (drizzle with olive oil, kosher salt and roast for 15 minutes @ 400)
-Creamy, garlic mashed skin-on potatoes (for him, I do not like mashed potatoes)
-used this recipe
-Sourdough bread with olive oil & balsamic vinegar
-Shrimp & cocktail sauce

We then ended our special evening with the documentary Buck on Netflix. It was pretty interesting. We knew nothing about "breaking" colts so it was fun to learn. It was nice to know that they don't use such harsh practices in "breaking" horses these days.

the best day of my life

I'm going to do a lovey-dovey post. Beware.

A lot of people say that their wedding day was the best day of their life. Mine wasn't. It was a great day, but kind of stressful and a lot to take in for one day.

The best day of my life was when Kevin told me that he was falling in love with me. I remember it exactly. I remember where we were, what we were doing, what I was wearing, that we went and got slurpees right after (ha), and how it felt. It was the best feeling. I remember being on such a high. I felt so loved, and felt so much love towards him. It was then that I knew I was going to lead a happy, love-filled life with him. That, was the best day of my life.

Happy Valentines Day Kevin. Love you.

a compliment

Last night while talking to Kevin, he says:

"I really miss your cooking."

This is probably one of the nicest compliments my husband could ever give me. Ok not really, but it is up there.

So he planned what he wanted to do for our Valentines dinner (and Hooray-You-Are-Home dinner), that we will be celebrating Wednesday night.
He wants to cook a meal together. So cute. This man never wants to cook.

So now I am even more excited for Wednesday.

"wife day"

A few days before Kevin left, I wanted a "wife day." I have to allot myself "wife days" or Kevin will forget to do stuff with me. No not really, but he can be a busy guy. This day I told him I wanted to go snowshoeing. He said o.k., I will give you two options:

1) "I go shooting with my photographer."
or
2) "We go snowshoeing."

Hes so funny.
So I chose #2.

We started out with getting donuts from Daylight Donuts. I love this place. We each got two donuts. I ate both of mine. He only ate one. I win. He said he got a sugar sickness. I told him to train his body to enjoy sugar better.


We then went up Big Cottonwood and chose to do the Lake Blanche Trail. I had never hiked this trail before, snow or no snow, so I was excited. It was beautiful. And there was snow! We didn't have the time to do the whole trail, but one day, when we are feeling up for the climb, we will do it again.

But I did feel up to a photo-shoot:









And that was my "wife day".

what we have been up to today...

While I made these today:


Kevin was up to this:


It rained one night so it froze all the snow.


On the prowl for some better snow.






They stayed in a poorly lit cabin.


Two words: Cabin. Fever.

Alaska

Kevin is in Alaska right now, skiing and shredding. He got invited by Powder magazine to do a magazine spread. When Kevin told me about this, I was excited until he said "10 DAYS."
"10 days, what do you mean 10 days!?"
Are newlyweds (yes, I still consider us newlyweds) even supposed to be away from each other that long? I'm pretty sure not.
The longest we have been apart since we got married was 3 days.
So I was a bit saddened by his extremely exciting news.
But I wasn't going to be one of those wives that is like "You can't go and have all the fun!" "What about me!?" "But I NEED you home!" "This isn't fair!" Nope I sucked it up and said "Oh baby, Alaska here you come!"

After I snuck little Valentine goodies and a card in his suitcase, I tried to zip it up when Kevin goes "Oh wait, I'm not done." And then he found all his goodies he was supposed to be surprised by. Oh well. You can't have your cake and eat it too. Whatever that saying means. I mean, If I have cake, I am going to eat it.



A few days before he left, he, again, told me the story of the book/movie White Fang. He told me the part of him throwing rocks at his dog/wolf he loved and yelling at him to go away. He then said this analogy was going to have to be used for when I dropped him off at the airport. He was just going to run for it.
Well that all went through the roof once he got all his bags ready.
He had to give me the big 'Goodbye' hug and kiss. Then I lost it. Then he gave me more hugs and the "Don't worry about me, I'll be safe" talk. And then it got worse. And then I just got into the car and left. Ugh. Tender moments at the airport. I only like them when they don't involve me.

And this is for Lorna. This is what Kevin has been up to lately (Thanks to iPhone photo stream):






And tonight he is staying in a cabin (with heat!) on top of the mountain. Its close to heaven for him right now.