Isabel's 1st day at her new school (Montesorri Centre)

Isabel had her first day of "pre-primary" at the Montesorri Centre. This album has photos of her and some of her friends (Sky and Kadir) at the school.

Isabel's 1st day of school - 2007

Isabel's Trip to VT (August 2007)

Isabel spent close to 3 weeks in VT with her grandparents this summer (1 with Sasha and 2 on her own). She did lots of sailing, hiking, and splashing around with her friends the ducks in Lake Champlain. And... she caught her first fish ever (a bass that had to be tossed back because it was too small), while wearing a tiara!

Isabel's VT Visit

Pachelbel's Bedtime Rant

Ok, so not related to our life in Saint Lucia, but this hit close to home and had me in stitches.

Sailing with Nana and Grandpa

Isabel is becoming quite a talented "first mate!"

Weathering Hurricane Dean

Dear friends and family,

Greetings from Saint Lucia. Ramzi and I have weathered our first “Caribbean Hurricane” without a problem. Hurricane Dean was a Category Two when it hit Saint Lucia on Friday morning. The eye of the hurricane was located just north of Saint Lucia, in between us and the island of Martinique. We live at the very north of the island, so our area got the worst of the storm. Basically, this translated into really intense winds (90 mph) and a lot of rain. The electric utility (LUCELEC) shut the electricity down island-wide around 2 am on Friday morning and much of the island had its electricity restored last night. We just got it back in our neighborhood about 30 minutes ago (about 34 hours later). We lost a rain gutter and a lot of branches, but really no serious damage. Unfortunately, one person did die in Saint Lucia. On Friday morning, a 62 year old man in a rural area went into a river to save a cow. The cow survived, but he did not. Some homes were destroyed and roofs taken off, but it is not as bad as it could have been (or as it appears might be in Jamaica in the Gulf of Mexico).

So, Ramzi, Iggy and I hunkered down inside the house from Thursday night through Saturday morning, with the exception of an invigorating walk in the rain on Friday afternoon, and actually slept through a lot of the worst of it. Isabel, luckily, is still visiting her grandparents in Vermont and was happily oblivious to the storm in her country of residence. We spoke with her a few times over the past couple of days (as we do normally when she is away from home) and she was having a blast at summer camp (ironically, the theme of the camp this week was “weather) and feeding the ducks near her grandparents summer home.

We hope that you all are well, and thank you for your calls and concern.

Sasha and Ramzi

Hanging out with Tim and Becca

A couple of photos of Tim, Becca, and Isabel hanging out in McLean. Click below.

Viisit to Grandpa Abe and Grandma Lee

We visited Isabel's Great Grandparents on her 4th b-day and had yet another celebration. Click below to see photos.

Viisit to Grandpa Abe and Grandma Lee