One of my very favourite things to do at Christmas time is to go house spotting for the houses with the best light displays! There was always a crazy one in St.Albans near where I grew up and it wasn't Christmas until we had been to see that house! We even continued the tradition in Reading and used to spend ages driving around seeing which was the best house we could find. This year it didn't take up too much time to drive around and find any because 99% of the houses don't put any lights up at all! but we did find 2 houses in our area that had gone all out and this one with it's lights reflecting in the water was pretty special.
Of course we had to test out the awesome new milkshake glasses By got me for Christmas so the night before Mara left we made some tasty Mint Oreo shakes! Here I am showcasing a few Christmas prezzies actually...the spectacular glasses from By, the umbrella's and my butterfly top from Mara and my polka dot headband from my mom!
After the shakes we headed out for Mara's last night here and we spent it at Maskanoo.
It was a cultural event, that will be held annually going forth, but this was the first one the Island had ever had. It's name is taken from Junkanoo (which is a street parade with live music held in the Bahama's) and masquerade (due to the masks that people wore) producing 'Maskanoo'.
Our few pictures don't quite do it justice, you can see a little video clip of it on the local news website here and you can hear a little of the rake and scrape ripsaw music TCI is famous for.
They had quite a lot of dancers performing and some Island singers too, our favourite was Barbara Johnson with her 'Island in the Sun' song all about Turks and Caicos.
The advertising for the event had promised 'real island food', I'm not quite sure how the hot dogs and cheeseburgers fall into that category but they were welcome all the same! Here we are showing a little Turks patriotism by waving their flag!
Tuesday was a sad day as it was the day Mara went back to England, how we loved having her visit and miss her now she is back home, but we consoled ourselves with By making us some amazing chocolate log milkshakes. I had been telling him of a few of the Christmas treats from back home I had missed out on this year...one of them being Shakeaway's chocolate log milkshakes so he reminded me we still had some leftover chocolate log in the fridge and he whipped us up our own!
He enjoyed his whilst doing a spot of fishing, and I did a spot of tanning.
We then tried to embark on a little kayaking adventure with Sunny on board, By assured me he would be fine since potcakes hate water so he wouldn't try and jump in...
well a minute or so after this was taken, he went overboard!! we weren't really sure how well he could swim or how far and so By was trying to get me to jump in after him! but luckily he made it back to shore himself...
here he is looking a little bedraggled, he really wasn't impressed with us and sulked for the rest of the day that we'd made him go through such an ordeal!
We kayaked around to a secluded beach (and left Sunny behind!) and found quite a few conch shells embedded in the sand with the conch still inside! I'd never seen a conch alive before, look at those weird little eyes!
By finally got to have his BBQ, just a week late on New Year's Eve instead of boxing day. We had it down at the dock and it was perfect way to kick off our celebrations.
Later we moved our celebrations on to the beach and had a giant bonfire to keep us warm!
I was reminded after seeing this picture never to stand near Byron again! he makes my tan invisible!
Nothing beats cooking up some s'mores...
We had the telephoto lens on all ready for snapping the fireworks so this is a bit of an extreme close up of By enjoying his s'more!
I never knew I was so animated during conversation! Telling stories around the campfire with Milah, Ashley and Grason whilst we wait to ring the new year in...
As the clock struck twelve, it was also extra special for Joelle and Neil who got married on NYE 11 years ago...
and so the fireworks began, and we were actually pretty impressed! Our spot on the beach was perfect as we were able to see 5 different firework displays from 5 different resorts happening all at the same time!
Hope everyone else had as memorable a New Year's Eve as we did! and here's wishing everyone an even more memorable 2011! Happy New Year!
love the fireworks pics - ours are going to look a bit lame by comparison! By got some great shots i think the second to last firework pic looks a bit like a palm tree! Sunny does not look impressed after his dive! Wish I could have tried the chocolate log shake!
ReplyDeleteOOH I might know the house your talking about, or there maybe quite a few crazy christmas decorated houses around here! Your mint shake has me very jealous, went to Byron the other day for an oreo milkshake - one word, amazing!How is that water such a gorgeous blue in the picture on the kayak?!And i love the photography skills with the 2011 picture! Happy 2011 Gem and By, love Nicola X
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year Gem! Reading your blog and looking at those amazing pictures always puts a smile on my face! Fran
ReplyDeleteHi - I'd like to use your Conch image in a presentation. Can I email you a copy of how I would like to use the image for your approval ? I will add photo credit to the presentation as well. Agnessa Lundy
ReplyDeleteyes of course Agnessa, no problem. You don't have to email me, you can just use it :) Thanks!
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