We are leaving for Florida again on Thursday. We are going by plane this time. We have been in Canada for about 6 months. We think we might go to mexico belize abd guatemala this time instead of the bahamas. It will be fun to go somewhere new but i'll miss the bahamas.

Christmas break is over and today is my first day back to school. My Mom and I are going to the Lucaya Market today. We are going to do school there and look for a bathing suit for me.

On Christmas Eve we went to a candlelight service at The Lucaya Presbyterian Kirk (church). There were lots of flickering candles and a real decorated Christmas tree. We sang Christmas carols and there was a short sermon.

On Christmas day we opened our presents on the boat. I got two webkinz, some art supplies, candy...My brother and I got Trivial Pursuit for kids. Later we went to a Bahamian family's house for supper. There were more than 50 people there. There was a ton of food there too. The dishes included peas and rice, potato salad, coleslaw, garden salad, turkey, stuffing, ham, chicken wings, ribs, cracked conch, fish, three different kinds of cake and my Mom's pudding pie. We also brought 36 candy canes. I had somewhere around three. I like candy canes! There was Bahamian family dancing in the living room. We stayed till around 11:00 pm.

On Tuesday December 30th we went to a British couple's house for tea. They had another couple over who was very musical and they played the Irish whistle and the mandolin for us. The lady also played an Irish flute. They had a Russian exchange student with them. We had Christmas pudding, sandwiches, scones, cookies, and rice crispy squares. The day after, the lady who had played for us gave my Dad a guitar lesson.

We went back to the British couple's house for New Years Eve. They had the musical couple over again with their Russian exchange student. We played a game called Dictionary. One person had to find a word in the dictionary that they thought no one else would know. Then they had to write the definition down and tell everyone else what the word was. Each person had to make up a definition and write it down. When everyone was finished, the person who picked the word read out all the definitions including the real one. Everyone had to guess and try to figure out which one was right. You got a point for guessing the right answer and a point for each person you fooled. It was a really fun game. There was a lot of laughing involved. At midnight we blew little plastic kazoos and the cry of "Happy New Year" sounded. We also pulled Christmas crackers. In mine was a stamp that made a picture of a weird looking bird. We went outside beside the pool and watched the fireworks coming from Lucaya. We had fun and it was finally time to go home.

On New Year's Day we went to the house of the Pastor from the Presbyterian Church. His name is Scott and his wife's name is Anita. They have two girls. Their names are Priscilla and Sarah. Priscilla is twelve and Sarah is ten. They took us to the beach near their house. We played soccer and a catching game called donkey, and then we went in the water and played Shark. When we were done at the beach we walked to a canal. We jumped off a wall into it. It felt warmer than the ocean. Scott found a Lion fish on the bottom. They are poisonous. We think they tend to just stay still and leave you alone unless you threaten them. Scott went down to poke it with his flip flop. Back at their house we had supper. The adults visited for awhile longer and we kids hung out in Sarah and Priscilla's room. Then we went with them to Junkanoo. It's a parade that is held on the streets downtown. Groups from different islands compete against each other. Each group has its own theme. We only stayed for Grand Bahama's group. They had an Egyptian theme. Their costumes are very elaborate and some of them weigh incredible amounts. They are made of materials such as paper machete, cardboard, and feathers, and are covered in bright paint and sparkles. There is Bahamian music, and each group plays instruments. Some examples of instruments they use are tubas, cowbells, and drums. When the pastor and his family took us back to the boat we showed him and Sarah the inside of it (Priscilla has already seen it). Sarah really really reeeeeally liked it.

Some friends of the British couple we know lent us a car. Now that we have a car we can go more places without having to take the city bus. Yay! Yesterday we went for a drive to check out some of the grocery stores that we can now go to because we have a car.

We have already been to two Christmas Festivals. On Friday my Mom my brother and I went with a little girl named Mia and her Mom (they live in one of the apartments near us) to the Christmas Festival at Mia's school. The Festival is called Christmas City. All of the grades did some sort of presentation. There were also games, popcorn, candy, and cotton candy. They even sold full meals. We got conch fritters (pronounced conk) and another meal that had chicken, ham, peas and rice, and baked macaroni and cheese. We had to wait a long time for our conch fritters. I also got candy! Yummy!

On Saturday we went with some of our other friends to the 2nd annual Holmes Rock Christmas Festival. They had races and contests. I got a 1st place medal in the egg n'spoon race. Ben was in the tug-a-war. The rope broke so both sides won. Everyone in it got a free t-shirt. There were some girls who performed a Bahamian dance. They wore Bahamian flags on their heads. There was also a maypole. The Bahamian police marching band came and performed too. There was a building that was not completely finished. We got to climb up some stairs onto the roof. It was a little windy. We stayed at the Festival fairly late. On the way home we went to a couple of stores.

Jacquie.

Earlier today I saw a crab out on the dock. I got my camera and took pictures of it. My Dad and My brother came with me. The crab tried to crawl down one of the spaces between the boards. My Dad attempted to get it out so we could have a closer look at it. The crab got away and my Dad accidently pulled off one of his legs (The crab's leg that is). We know their claws grow back and we hope their legs do too.

Monday Dec 1, 2008
24 days 'till Christmas. Today we are going to decorate the boat. We have already put up our two foot tall cardboard Christmas tree and a couple of origami decorations. Our tree has sparkly cardboard ornaments. It came in a box and we had to put it together. The box is the stand for the tree. Mom said she has some decorations that we don't know about yet. We think we will probably stay in Freeport until a little after New Years.

It has been overcast and rainy yesterday and so far today. The basketball net in the tennis court got knocked over.
I have a cold. I had trouble falling asleep last night because I had a stuffy nose. I hope my cold goes away soon.

We are having trouble finding Christmas presents here. We think lots of people go to the States to find them. One of the people we know told us that there will be more stuff as it gets closer to Christmas. There will even be people selling things on the sides of the streets.

We are in Freeport on the Island of Grand Bahama now. We have been here before. We came here on a cruise ship from Florida in the summer. Before that in April my Mom and her friend went on the same cruise and stayed in the same hotel and everything. My Dad also came here and to Nassau once on a Christian cruise. He was teaching Christians how to tell others about the Gospel. Then they actually went out onto the streets and to schools and talked to people.
This time we are staying on our own boat. When we came over it was kind of rough. There were seven foot waves (plus swells). I didn't sleep very well and I threw up twice! We left Bimini on Friday at about 3:30pm and we arrived at Freeport on Saturday at about 7:00 or 8:00am.
We are staying at a marina behind the dolphin apartments. My Dad met a pastor on the Christian cruise who lives here in Freeport. He and his wife arranged for us to stay here for a lower price.
There is a pool here and we went swimming in it a few days ago. It was cold!
My Mom, my brother, and I went for a dingy ride. We explored some of the house lined canals. We saw a big boat tied to a dock that was half sunk. I think it was behind an abandoned yacht club.
The man who sort of takes care of the marina and apartments drove us to the market. It is right by the hotel we stayed at in the summer. We ate at Zorba's. It's a Greek restaurant that we really like. We've been there a few times before. We also walked around the market for a little while