I don't even know where to begin describing our vacation to paradise, aka St. John, USVI. The week leading up to our trip was busy and stressful, between trip preparations and birthday celebrations, and then Evie came in on Tuesday night about 1am coughing like a barking seal. I knew this was bad news, and a telltale sign of croup. My mind was racing with anxiety, wondering if we could get her healthy enough to go on the trip and keep ourselves healthy at the same time. Thanks to many answered prayers, it all worked out, and we left our house at 5am Saturday morning for our trip.
The kids exceeded all expectations on the flights, and continued to be excellent during our drive on St. Thomas, on the ferry ride, and on one more drive on crazy mountain roads in St. John. All in all, it was about 14 hours of travel, and we were so excited to arrive at our beautiful house and see our dear friends. The first night was a little rough for the kids, because they were overtired and in a new environment, and Noah woke up with about 25 bug bites on his face. That didn't stop us from enjoying out first day checking out a lunch spot in Cruz Bay and spending the afternoon at Cinnamon Bay.
From there, our schedule fell into a comfortable pattern of going to the beach in the morning, then spending the afternoon at the house while kids napped and the grown-ups drank boat drinks (Rum-thirty?) by the pool. We visited a bunch of amazing beaches (Trunk Bay, Cinnamon Bay, Maho Bay), and everywhere you looked, there was a picture-perfect view. I had to keep reminding myself that it wasn't just a dream. The biggest surprise was how relaxing it was to be on vacation with our kids! At the beach, they loved playing in the sand and swimming, and even at the house, life was relaxing and simple. It was such a treat to be away from our normal responsibilities of home and have time to just enjoy one another! And, vacationing with friends made everything more fun. We all fell in love with Baby Caroline (Baby-line, as Noah liked to call her), and had great vacation mojo with Ally and Matt. It was perfect.
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| Typical breakfast scene |
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| Matt and Matt - the best bartenders (and husbands!) |
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| Annaberg Sugar Plantation hike |
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| Evie LOVED Caroline |
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| Dinner at Driftwood Dave's |
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| Last day at Maho Bay |
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| Matt made friends with the mermaid |
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| View from our house looking out at Cinnamon Bay |
The return trip was not quite as fun...everyone was tired from such a fun week, we nearly missed our flight leaving St. Thomas due to a late ferry from St. John and long lines at customs and TSA, and we literally had to run out on the tarmac to get on the plane 5 minutes before departure. On the flight, Noah was so tired that he was alternating between screaming, kicking the seat in front of him, and aggressively opening and closing the tray table. I went to change his diaper in the tiny airplane bathroom and he peed all over his outfit. About halfway into the flight, we caved in and (don't judge us!) gave him some Benadryl. The poor little guy needed to sleep, and that helped. We made it home around 10:30pm and fell into bed, exhausted and thankful for an awesome vacation.
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| There's no open container law, so we enjoyed a beer on our way to the ferry! |
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| So. Many. Bags. (Someone asked if I was carrying a piano on my back! Nope, just a car seat.) |
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| Benadryl starting to kick in |
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| We brought home a little taste of the islands |
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| Vermont welcomed us home with this lovely weather! |
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