A Day on St. Thomas

The last 2 weeks have been the barely keeping afloat kind for us. My usually really healthy kids have not been at all so - both of them with different afflictions plus allergies meant lots of lost sleep for them and me. Every time we think we are healthy again, we find out that we're not. It's been frustrating and tiring. So, cross your fingers the road to good health is finally here...my sanity can't take much more! All that is basically a long way of saying, that's my excuse for staying so behind on blogging. Life happened.

As wonderful as our St. John trip was, it seems like really old news now. Not to mention, we are well into planning our next vacation. This blog is going to make it seem like our life is just a lifelong vacation! I assure you, it's not. There's a ton of regular, not interesting stuff that goes on in between. But, since this is the place to post things that are more interesting, you only get to see the best of the best of our lives. I'm going to hopefully finish posting this trip rapid fire style before the month closes out.

Day four of our St. John trip was actually a trip to St. Thomas. We loaded up Rachel's car onto the car ferry....well, Rachel made ME back up the car onto the ferry. She's a big chicken about it and we gave her lots of grief. But, in her defense, driving around the island is no joke and I give her big props for that. However, yet another reason it baffles me that backing the car on the ferry gives her anxiety. Seems pretty easy compared to what she deals with day to day. Anyway, we headed over there because Rachel had some errands to do, and there were a few things we wanted to see there too.

First up was Coral World. It was a small but pretty cool aquarium. We got to feed the sting rays and the Lorikeets. The highlight of the place, for me, was Franco the sea lion. We learned about him and saw him doing some great tricks at the sea lion encounter.

Feeding the Stingray
As Cade Said "AH! Him so cute!"

Franco

Blowing a Kiss Goodbye

I guess this was just the day for Rachel to be a chicken (Rachel, you know I love you!). She also opted out of going into the Lorikeet enclosure. I thought it was great. The birds were stunning and the boys both got a chance to feed them nectar.

Speaking of Cute

After Coral World, we took a drive over to the the town of Charlotte Amelie. Rachel gave us a bit of a tour by car. The one place we HAD to stop was Bumpa's. That's what the boys' call their paternal grandfather and we needed to check out the namesake restaurant. On the ride over, both the boys fell asleep, so Mike went into Bumpa's to get some sandwiches for all of us to eat in the car.

After that, Rachel drove us through her kids' school campus where I caught a glimpse of Ainsley on the baseball field. Totally by chance. Then a few errands for Rachel and we were back on the ferry. To avoid getting seasick (me), we took to the fresh air. The boys had a blast getting blown about by the wind.

Look at that view beyond the ferry. Stunning!

Nice Hair Cade

Boys On Watch

Puffy Windblown Shirt

And Another Puffy Shirt

Ferry Tracks

Mike Getting In On The Fun

I think this was their favorite part of the day.

Since the car ferries aren't quite as timely as the passenger ferries, we ended up racing Rachel's kids back to St. John. We made it back just in time to pick them up from their ferry and then went to grab a snack and a drink at happy hour. We ordered food to go. Back at the house, we enjoyed the views, pizza and all watched a movie together.

Hummingbird

Sunset

Dylan wasn't the only one excited about the treasure map.

My kids went to bed and Rachel's kids headed home to get to sleep at a reasonable hour. Rachel stayed over long after the kids were gone and hung out with us. It was a really nice night of chatting and laughing.

A Day of Beaches

We have finally had warmth in New England! It's been wonderful! It's also reminded me that I STILL haven't blogged about most of our St. John vacation. I haven't even gone through all of the pictures yet. I uploaded these about a month ago. Perhaps I'll find some time during this busy week to pick out a few more of our favorite pictures (hardest task about this blogging thing) so that I can post the rest of this vacation before our next one comes about.

Day 3 of St. John was all about beaches. Granted, that's not exactly a hard task when you're on a small island but after a couple of days of other "stuff" thrown in, we needed to dedicate a day to sand and water.

First thing early in the morning, after Rachel dropped the kids off at the ferry and returned to the neighborhood, she and I had a little solo hike to Reef Bay. She calls it her own private beach because she rarely runs into anyone else there. And, as is her norm, it was just Rachel, me and pup Toby hanging out for the morning.

All Those Black Spots Are Sea Urchins

Look at the cool backpacks we borrowed from our kids for the trip!

Reef Bay Beach From the Road

We headed back to the house, packed for the beach and then had to wait a bit for Rachel's AC guy to show up and give her some cold air (important stuff). Because of that, we got a later start than hoped and the top beaches Rachel really wanted to take us to were all filled up on parking. So, we kept going on the island road until we found somewhere we could park and ended up on Little Francis Beach.

While waiting at the house, we hung out and watched iguanas in the trees, 

humingbirds at the flowers

and good ol' injured Spike still sunnin' by the pool.

Little Francis Beach is, according to Rachel, not one of the best beaches on the island. It truly didn't matter a lick to us because we found it to be stunning and had a great time playing.

We splashed in the water, observed fish right off the beach in the crystal clear waters and practiced snorkeling. Cade even when on a little snorkel trip with me. I snorkeled and dragged him around with me with his swim vest and noodle.

Cute Boys Having Fun

Seriously if this is the "worst" beach, it truly is paradise.

This school of small fish attracted some much larger fish VERY close to shore.
It was pretty exciting to watch!

It was funny...the boys didn't even seem to take notice of the pelican hanging out nearby.

Pelican

Now, one of the things Rachel and I had to do VERY quickly when we drove by to pick her up for our beach trip is make a pirate map. She had come up with a fun pirate story for Dylan about a hidden map on the island. We rumpled some construction paper, drew some pictures on the map (quickly and not well thought out I might add) and burned the edges (and just barely escaped burning more than that). Rachel's tale for Dylan had some clues where the missing map might be. And wouldn't you know it, Dylan found an ancient pirate treasure map on that beach! Amazing!

Dylan and His Awesome Find

I cannot even tell you how ridiculously cute Dylan was with that map. He didn't show extreme excitement about it (because that's not his style) when he found it. But he did study it and observe his surroundings with it many, many times...came up with a lot of theories where the treasure might be and it really became a week long treasure hunt for us! More to come on that adventure in future posts.

After a long day at the beach, we spent the rest of the day at the house. Mike drove back into town for some food and supplies for us. While he was gone, we all got to witness the most spectacular sunset of the week. Photos really don't do justice to the beautiful landscape of the island. The beach pictures, while nice, aren't nearly as spectacular as the real deal. Same goes for the sunset. This sky was truly stunning. When Mike returned from town, the first thing we said to each other\talked about was how incredible the sunset was that night!

The Sunset From our Villa

Vacation in Paradise

Was it a dream? It almost seems like it was. We had this amazing vacation on the island of St. John just a few weeks ago. Our apple tv is actually scrolling the pictures of it across the tv screen now and I'm mesmerized by the pictures and the wonderful memories they stir up. Since we got back, it's been a flurry of activity just jumping into "real life" again and also delving into spring cleaning. But now, it's high time I properly reminisce and share some of our trip with you.

So the best way to vacation, in my opinion, is go where you know someone. It's the best multitasking. Spend quality time with the ones you love, get a glimpse into their daily lives and experience a new place with a local. I've known Rachel since I was 7. I have really fond memories of playing baby dolls, barbies and board games with her. We were pretty much inseparable until the high school years took us in different directions a bit. We stayed in touch as much as you could before the age of Facebook and regular email with the many miles that separated us allowed. We've seen more of each other in the last few years as she was living in NYC and was able to visit some family she has in the Boston area a few times and we also crossed paths on home visits in Dallas.

After living in NYC for a couple of years, Rachel and her family went on vacation on the island of St. John in the USVI and never left. Hearing from her about her love of the island made us want to see it...and getting to spend time with her and her lovely kids was a major bonus! And, after our brutal winter, getting to play in the tropics for a week wasn't a bad deal either. So, it happened that we made the trek down.

Getting there is not as simple as it sounds though. Even though it's a direct flight from Boston to St. Thomas, there's then a 45 minute drive to the ferry that takes you over to St. John. It was a long day getting to the airport, flying down, transport, ferry, jeep rental, etc. But, I have to seriously brag on my kids....they were incredible travelers! Seems like the last 5 years of tortured travel we have experienced with them have finally paid off. They know the drill and are now old enough to be entertained by electronics. Woohoo! A crazy thing happened on the plane. I sat solo with the boys (Mike was across the aisle) and I read a book. Did you read that?!?! I read a book. On a plane. Sitting solo with my kids. Unbelievable. And, sitting solo with Cade on the trek back to Boston I watched a movie! I watched a movie...on a plane...sitting next to my 3 year old who was awake the whole time. The future of travel is bright my friends.

If you've held on reading my ramble this long, you are about to see what you really want to see...pictures! Day 1 was a lot of travel, getting settled in our home for the week (which was really amazing and down the street from Rachel's place) and taking a quick stroll to the beach in the neighborhood.

Our Deck With Views of Fish Bay

Amazing Hammock Chairs We All Loved

The beach at Fish Bay was entirely made up of dried up coral. It was cool....not for the bare of feet, but really cool.

We were surprised to see cacti all over the island.
Not what you expect to see in a tropical landscape.
I just looked it up and found out they're called Pipe Organ Cactus (FYI, Rachel!).

Sunset Our First Day

Day 2 started out with more, very local, exploring. First up was just enjoying the scenery from our house. We had several hummingbirds that liked to visit our flowers. Those fast critters are hard to catch on film!

Hummingbird by Palm Frond Treelike Thing
When the wind blew and the fronds on these trees knocked into each other, it sounded like rain.
Every time I heard it, I would confusedly look around for the dark clouds that didn't exist.

The Boys Were Itching to Try Out Our Pool

It was a lovely spot in the morning. There was no direct sun so they didn't need to be slathered with sunscreen before going in. And with swim vests and their floats, I didn't feel like I needed to get in with them. So I chilled with my book right by them and enjoyed the morning.

Cutie With Major Goggle Lines

And since we were up super early (because, of course, that's how my kids roll even after a long day of travel and a late night), Cade and I still had plenty of time for another hike down to the beach we'd visited the previous day for some more exploring. We weren't meeting Rachel and her family until brunch time.

All Hatted Up

Cade had the most fun searching for these little snails.

And he had a special talent for pulling them off the rocks
(even though they were seriously suctioned on).

I asked him to pose. This is what I got.
(Don't mind the shortless legs....they had to go after getting the tiniest bit wet.)

After getting cleaned up, we hit the road and met Rachel, Payton and Aynsley in town for brunch and a tour of all the shops Cruz Bay had to offer. I somehow have no pictures of lunch or the town. Just a picture of what the boys were doing when hanging out with Payton and Aynsley while the grown ups were in a store:

These guys were serious water babies all week.

The rest of the day was pretty chill. It was a great way to settle into the laid back mood of the island.

While Mike and Cade napped, Dylan and I hung out on the hammock chairs.

Later, Rachel and her kids walked over to our house because her kids were dying to get in the pool as well. The house we stayed in had all exterior accesses to rooms and even the stairs were outside. The landing to the driveway was about half way down the stairs. Rachel's crew was arriving on said landing when a terrified Dylan was flying up the stairs towards them. While he was heading downstairs, he met another critter that was common on the island (but new to us) right by the bottom step....

Mr Iguana

We oogled and were amazed at him...my family at least.
Iguanas are old hat to Rachel's family at this point.

It was apparent that Mr. Iguana, who we later named "Spike," had been in some sort of kerfuffle. He was a bit beaten and bruised. And no matter what we did, we couldn't convince him to move on. We clapped, waved pool noodles at him, and I even pushed him around with the pool strainer:

Move along Spike!

He moved to the corner of the patio and stayed there. He got to watch the kids swim from his vantage point.

You can see Spike if you look closely.
The cuter ones in this photo are Dylan, Cade, Payton and Aynsley

My kids really took to Rachel's kids. And they were really sweet\great with my little guys. We closed out the lovely day with dinner and a movie all together. It was a great start to the week!

Oh, and as for Spike. I was a little worried we were going to have to call the management company of our rental about removing a dead iguana. He hung out around the pool for most of the next day too. He did, however, finally disappear. We wish him well and hope he has healed his wounds.