Carnival, Homecoming and a Goodbye

It's been a busy couple of days.  We enjoyed the final "pretty mas" parade, marking the end of Carnival and, as was the case for the first parade, Isla tried to get in on the mix.  This child loves herself an audience and was not a smidgen shy about going right up to the paraders and trying to dance and march alongside them.  I was constantly having to chase her down (have I mentioned she is running now?) amidst the throngs of carnival revelers and partakers and, despite getting in the way more than once, she was quite a hit with everyone.   Carnival was three days of frenzy, fun and mayhem and while I'm super glad to have been able to experience some of it, I am looking forward to a night of sleep free from the pulsating rhythms of soca music blasting across the harbor.

The highlight of the past couple days, however, was not the booming parades or costumed beauties - but the fact that our ship came in last night!  That's right, Scott is back from work and we have him all to ourselves until his next rotation in November.  Sadly though, when one door opens another closes, and his homecoming marked my mother's departure.  It was sad to wave goodbye to her this morning - Isla has fallen head over heels in love with her - but it's all good because we're going back to the states in a couple weeks to visit family and friends, so what would typically be a tearful parting was merely a "see you later".  We prefer those around here.