Lots of Planning

Hi all, I took a little break from blogging and even updating my website.
Have lots going on and just didn’t have the umph to take the time to do updating.

We will be first time grandparents any day now. We love the kids but they are currently living with us….and it is a bit more difficult than any thought it would be. Have had other personal stuff going on as well and most is starting to wind down so I have a bit more spirit today than have had for a while.

We are looking to make a return to the islands in late May 2009. Hope I can survive that long…LOL. It is looking as if we will go to the island with a different set of friends this year. This couple is very experienced at travel to ST Maarten so would be more of someone to eat dinner with or have cocktails with in the evening. Perfect for us, allowing us lots of time to ourselves as well as some company. Both couples have started small businesses so we will spend part of our time working on our businesses as well as some time soaking up the sun.

Our business is getting off the ground, had a meeting with a business owner who has an on island shop but lives in Dallas TX. Flew down and spent a couple of hours with him. He likes my product and is coming to KC in October to view and make a decision on his interest level. All looks positive at this point.

We also have our yearly Pirate (don’t read this part Mary) and Wenches party. It will be October 25th. This is a hoot but takes some planning and costuming on our part. This year I have decided that part of the theme is everyone will be tattooed, this could be either a temporary or permanent or there is a third option…..a sharpie tattoo…
This will be a fun one and will be lots more coming on the party front.

Be careful what you write, you never know who is reading

Hi Mom!!!! LOL, that give you all enough of a hint??

I recently documented my adventures in adding a bit of ink and getting a new tattoo.

I didn’t give it a second thought…heck I’ll be 45 in a couple of weeks. I called my mom the other day and she caught me a bit off guard and asked “How come you didn’t tell me about the tattoo?” Wha???? Oh yeah I posted it on my blog…duhhhh

I laughed and she said that my sister was poking around on my site and gave my mom one of those…..”do you know what your son did” statements. Ahhhh sibling rivalry even at our advanced ages…LOL Just kidding ya, Princess Pontiac!!!!

Long and short is my Mom, sister and her friend have been added to the list of guests….now how about it Bob? You gonna dress as a pirate and come to the party too???

All is good, honestly I never thought that they would be interested. A great time will be had by all……and if not then; be it mate or wench they be walkin the plank….those scurvey dogs that they be.

We will be hosting in KC and will have pirates from Missouri, Kansas and possibly Texas as well.

Happy Anniversary to AXARob.com

Today is AXARob.com’s second anniversary. Yes two short years ago I first published the site with a few pix. It has grown up a bit since then and now has several stories, a few maps and lots of pix of ST Maarten, Anguilla and San Salvador Island in the Bahamas and my bit of local flare…Pirate parties. Have had just a bit over 18,000 hits in the two years the site has been up so must have something of interest here….

I do it for no other reason than I enjoy it. It is fun to create and hopefully my sharing will make others smile and get a few minutes of escape. I’m no Jimmy Buffett but I do enjoy that escape syndrome that keep so many of us coming back to the islands over and over and over again.

If I can share something that helps another smile or gives them an idea that may save them time or money then I have in turn done at least a bit of good with my little site for fun. Besides when I am messing with my site I am not finding any trouble out there..ha.

As I have posted several times we are on the verge of posting another site that will be on the business end in hopes that maybe just maybe I can sell some pix to help me find my way back to the islands and to share with others the beauties of the islands thru my eye.

Again happy anniversary to www.axarob.com

No Ink No Entry

Pirate party is set and an invitation has been posted to my website.
http://axarob.com/18.html

The party theme this year is No Ink No Entry and I do mean no ink no entry....but we will provide an "artist/ink slinger" armed with several sharpies. Refusal of ink means you dont get in! You can either have perma-ink like many of us or a temp you choose if neither of those works out...hang on for the sharpie..

Here is a sample of what one could display;




Several of us went out and had this permanently applied. Mine with a captains hat eldest son with a red bandana and his girlfriend with just the skull and crossbones. There is a fourth, one of son's friends with crossed rum bottle.

We are already discussing set up of the part. This year we are expecting a bit more diversity and a larger attendance too.

There will be plenty more to come on this subject....

Drink up me 'earties yo ho!!!!

Time to plan our annual party

It is time to plan the third annual Pirates & Wenches.

We have a title for the party and have two weekends in mid to late October chosen.
Still have to narrow to one weekend.

Title….. No ink, no entry.
I will provide temporary tattoos for all who have not dared to see a tattoo artist.

We will of course provide the grog again this year but the wench of the ship has convinced the ole cap’n to tone town the punch a bit. It is both very expensive to make as well as it catches some of the crew a bit by surprise…have warned all that a designated driver is essential but some didn’t listen so we will have to ease up on the quantities of liquor in the punch bowl.

Looks like this years party will be a biggun too. All the regulars from the past and sounds as if several more of our friends would like to attend…who knows maybe we will make the requirement for real ink. That would limit the crowd significantly. I know we have friends from Dallas and St Louis that are talking of making it out to the party.

I truly don’t understand how it has grown so much. The party has become a legend of its own. We enjoy hosting but I am honestly thinking this year we may have to open different parts of the house to accommodate all.

More coming I am sure

Piratude!!!

What is piratude? For me it is a combination of a few things…one that desire to be somewhere in the Caribbean sipping on some kind of rum drink with my toes firmly entrenched in the sand. Two is that devil may care attitude….life is short and I wanna live it to the fullest…sometimes that fullness spills over the edge just a bit. Three, fun, challenging and different are the keys…if it is fun then it is worth investigating…if it is something personally challenging I may be interested and if it is different than I can do or be here in flyover country it may catch my attention As long as what ever activity it is hurts no one else, is not offensive to others and isn’t illegal or immoral then I will consider it.

This can include a list like;
Scuba diving then going over 100’ deep, swimming with sharks
Repelling
Swimming in a cenote and underground river in Mexico
Ziplining
Tattoos
Piercing ..ok only ear but still

Basically I have faced some fears big or small and working thru them and for the most part found that I had a great time working thru them.


I did the piratical thing last night full tilt….I went out and got a new tattoo….one of a skull and crossbones…wearing a captains hat. I got inked with our eldest son who got a very similar tattoo as well as some of his friends. This wasn’t one of my most mature actions but I did it none the less. Have been talking of getting a new tattoo for years.

I don’t regret the tattoo nor its location….on my ribcage just below my arm pit. I will however say it was not the easiest place to get inked. It hurt a bit more than I expected it to but was not by any means unbearable. Pix to be posted later.

Good News!!

I want to keep all my friends that read this blog updated.....

All none of you…LOL!

I have finally filed paperwork with my home state and now am the proud owner of my very own LLC. Antilles Treasures LLC. My business will consist of photo sales…done thru a professional printing studio, calendars and a coffee table book or two about ….yup you guessed it. The Antilles, (specifically Anguilla and St Maarten at this point) I will also have some logo wear for sale. The offering will be hats and shirts with the logo stitched on them to start. Along with the logo the shirts will have a small lizard stitched somewhere on each shirt the stitching will be the same color as the shirt resulting in a camouflaged entity in a different spot on each shirt.

I am now moving forward to work on the website and delivery of the products. I have picked a vendor to put together the photo products and one to provide seamstress work too. Now it is up to Rob to get things up on the web and get things running. Yes I have already purchased the website name. The site will be antillestreasures.com There is nothing there yet but that is one of the next two or three things I have to do.

This will be a fun business opportunity. It may not grow much at all or it may take off.
I think the key for me will be to get product into some stores on the islands.

As I look thru the masses of my pictures I have recognized one thing for sure, I don’t have enough pix…LOL. This means our next trip will be much more of a working trip than even the last one was. Oh well, Mary has bought in on the business so back to SXM and AXA we will go. Woo Hoo and so the obsession with traveling to the island continues..