Organized

I did ask Mark and Emily to post from the Bahamas. Normally our posts are a family affair but it looks like when the cat's away the mice will play. Yesterday Emily (she had the day off of school), Mark, Pete and Di spent the day at cabbage beach riding the waves. I spent the day in my sister's garage. Not that I have anything against her garage, it is turning out to be a very functional garage, it's just I would have rather been riding the waves on Cabbage Beach.

I think I am pretty organized. Or should I say I thought I was pretty organized... not as organized as my sister. She has 3 children. After spending the last few days in her home I am realizing that I could never have three children. My patience and organizational skills have a limit. Michelle's? None.

When Mark and I first saw the space that we had to move our business in to we were worried. Thanks to Michelle's organizational skills things are starting to come together.







Michelle's dog Abby thinks she is a bird.

Happy Anniversary Mum & Dad!

Lisa here... did anyone ever use "gotomypc"? It means that you can log on to your computer through the internet and use it from anywhere. It works like a dream - but has one major fault. It doesn't consider the problems encountered when you have a 10 year-old on your computer at the other end who thinks it is really funny to close the mail that you just opened - or open application windows that you don't want on screen. Stop it Emily - or I will be blogging all day!!!

Anyway - not the point of this post at all.

Although I miss Mark and Emily tremendously (yes even if she messes with my blogging efforts) , one of the bonuses of being in PA at this particular time is that I get to participate in events that I otherwise would have missed. We celebrated my nephew Jack's 3rd birthday - but there is an even bigger event.

Happy 40th Anniversary to my Mum and Dad! 40 years! I can't believe Mum has put up with him that long - and don't tell me you weren't all thinking the same thing. Here is to another 40 - and hopefully most of that will be spent fishing on their own lake in Arkansas.

Last night Dad treated us all to a lovely dinner at a beautiful local restaurant. The photo of Mum and Dad above is from that dinner. Here are the re-united Dowler siblings with some absences...(from left to right) Little brother Alan, Michelle's husband Ryan, Alan's wife Diane (pregnant with twins - we think they are girls), Me and sister Michelle. Mark is missing of course, as is oldest brother Con who was working his butt off pouring drinks in his bar (Sugar) in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Here are some other photos just because my Nan has learned how to download them off the blog. My new nephew Tommy in the first and Maggie, Grandad and Jack opening Jack's birthday presents.

Where in the world?

...are the Cabrelli's? We are around. Barely. After leaving the Bahamas - and leaving Emily in the care of our fabulous neighbours, Michael and Cindi - we traveled to Atlanta. We arrived in the evening, celebrated the twin's birthday, packed up the business and went to bed. The next day we drove 14 hours straight to arrive in PA.

Sister Michelle is taking over operations for Emily Rose after the exit of our business partners. We are thrilled to have her on board as we know she will do a fabulous job. It was a little tough fitting the business in to her busy 3 child household - but after much arranging, shelf-purchasing and clearing out (mostly done by Michelle and Ryan before we arrived) Emily Rose has a new US home. The next few days were spent unpacking, organizing and preparing. We also celebrated our nephew Jack's 3rd birthday (picture coming as soon as we are a little more organized).

This morning it was off to the airport at 4:00am (eek) for Mark to fly back to the Bahamas, leaving Lisa here in PA with her sister for the next few weeks while we work Michelle in to the business groove. Mark arrived in Nassau at lunchtime, meeting his brother and sister-in-law (Pete and Di) after their few days relaxing in Turks and Caicos. A flat tire on our car slowed them down a little (at least he didn't need to climb in the window!), but he picked up Emily and two of the 3 Musketeers (plus guests) are back at Water's Edge. Lisa is wondering how many of her herbs are still alive.

We will be back to normal soon - but in the mean-time the blog will be bi-country!

Leaving Home...

Just Lisa here today - It has been a very busy and stressful time over the last few days. Pete and Di finally arrived after being delayed more than 24 hours when their flight was canceled in London. We had a lovely evening last night but today is filled with packing, planning and preparing for our trip back to the U.S.

Something interesting happened to me today. I was packing suitcases and running around trying to remember what I had forgotten - which is always a challenge since having forgotten it there isn't much chance of remembering - when I stepped out on to the patio to breath.

The ocean always helps me breath. So many times over these last few months when problems and issues have just seemed insurmountable, I have stood on the edge of the expanse of blue green ocean and timed my breathing to the sounds of the tide. Calmness descends. Today calmness came, along with a unfamiliar and sweetly surprising feeling.

I have been back to the U.S. twice since we arrived here only 4 short months ago. Both times I felt as if I were going "home" and even spoke about the trip in those terms, "what will I need for the trip home", "I will call you when I get home". On this trip I am going back to my parent's house, which is the most "home" I could ever be in the U.S.

But as I stood in the salted breeze unknotting the anxiety coiled in my ribcage I thought, "I am going away - I am leaving home."

Home - at last we are home.

7 Random Things...

Tammy over at My Life tagged us for a "7 Random Things About Me" meme. Here are 7 random facts about the 3 Musketeers.

1. We are major animal lovers. Mark and Lisa don't like zoos - Emily does and wants to be a zoologist. We once all went to a tiny zoo where we used to live in Reston and after watching the baby camel cry for his Mummy for nearly an hour (he had just been moved to his own stall) hatched a plan on the way home to come back and rescue him using our convertible. Emily swore he could fit in the back with her.

2. We love to travel. We like cities and driving Holidays. If Lisa can get her way she squeezes in an occasional "all-inclusive", if Emily got her way she would live year-round on the Disney Cruise. Mark hates Disney World and we have only been because one of the companies that Lisa used to work for took us for free.

3. Mark can't resist free.

4. Emily "married" Mark and Lisa in their living room in Virginia in front of about 42 of her stuffed animal guests. She planned the ceremony in it's entirety. It included vows, "I promise not to work after I get home" (Mark's) and "I promise to do the laundry" (Lisa's) as well as each of singing our own assigned parts to Abba's "I do, I do" (Emily changed the lyrics and wrote them all out... "Lisa let's try it. You love me don't deny it"). This was after Mark surprised Lisa with a proposal and elopement at City Hall in New York City.

5. Although Emily enjoys a lot of time with her Dad, Mark and Lisa are not often apart. Mark was not amused when our friends (Grant and Miranda) nicknamed us "Meesa". This was after Lisa's nickname of "Yoko" was forgotten when Grant got married himself - oh how things change.

6. We love books and movies. Lisa reads out loud to the family at night (Terry Pratchett is our current favorite) although Emily has just informed us she is too old for that now. Waaaah! Emily is a total book-worm and would read through the night if you didn't make her turn her light out. It is not uncommon for us to go to the movies in the morning and stay all day moving on to the next showing. We haven't tried that yet in the Bahamas.

7. We all miss the Silver Diner. Life was good when you could plop yourself on to a stool at the bar and Diane or Marie would bring you a Salmon/Spinach Omelette, American Favorite or Chocolate-chip pancakes - depending on which of the 3 Musketeers you were. In the Bahamas you get hot sauce in your eggs and tasteless grits instead of potatoes.

We don't mind getting tagged but don't like to tag people. If you would like to play along consider yourself tagged and leave us a comment to let us know.

Mark's brother Pete and his wife Diane were due in from Edinburgh at 2:20pm this afternoon they are already delayed until 6:30pm. Ouch!

Dukes of Nassau...

We have a lot on our minds. There isn't much room in our heads for practical thinking. Why is Mark climbing through the driver's side window of the car? Yesterday - as he was thinking too much - he backed out of the driveway with the driver side car door open (yes his side, right next to him, wide open) and it slammed in to the garage pillar. Now the door won't open. All that talk about the state of the Bahamian roads and we manage to ruin our "new" car in our own driveway.
We keep crawling...