Lou and I just got back from a wonderful vacation to St. Thomas. When I say wonderful, I truly mean it - it was fantastic, beautiful, relaxing, and more fun than we could have imagined. This was our first vacation together since having two children, and wow, did we need it!
Although we had been looking forward to this vacation for months, we both had a lot of anxiety about leaving the boys. Our biggest fear was if one of them got sick. Gabby, our nanny, was lined up to watch them from Wednesday through Friday, and then Grandfather and Grandmother were driving here to take care of them from Friday through Sunday. Tuesday night before we left, Owen had quite the meltdown, sobbing tears of sadness that when he woke up Wednesday morning, his Mommy and Daddy would be gone. Lou and I about lost it, and the parental guilt kicked in big time.
But, let me just tell you..... those kids did great! They didn't miss us for one second. They were having a blast with Gabby and then their grandparents. They were getting spoiled rotten, and loving life with a new set of rules and routines. We got to video conference them a number of times, and we took a lot of pictures and videos that we texted back to them. And, thank the Lord, they both stayed healthy the entire time we were gone! That's quite the miracle!
Last year, Heather and I went to St. Thomas on our annual girls' trip. Remember this
post? While we were there, we found ourselves saying over and over, wouldn't it be fun if we brought Mike and Lou here? So, this year, when planning our big trip, we decided to make it a couples vacation. We stayed at the same hotel, went to the same islands, took the same chartered trip to the British Virgin Islands, and even ate at a few of the same restaurants. That's how much we loved it! We even added an extra day to the trip this year.
Here's a rundown of our vacation:
Waiting on the airplane for takeoff. Lou already has his earphones in listening to music!
The flight down was uneventful, and we were greated with warm, sunny weather. We had an awesome room overlooking the ocean. Here's a picture of the setting sun taken from our balcony the first night.
Another picture of the sunset
These little critters are all over the islands.
On Thursday, we took the car ferry over to St. John. It was great having a car on St. John, as it allowed us to check out multiple beaches and tour the beautiful island. The ferry ride over was a lot of fun, especially the part when a huge wave came crashing over the side of the boat and drenched Heather and me. It was pretty hilarious!
The beautiful harbor of St. John.
The two of us at Saltpond Bay, St. John
On Friday, we did the tour of the British Virgin Islands again. The boat charter was the highlight of our trip last year, and we knew we wanted to do it again. Not surprisingly, it was the highlight of this year's trip too! We had a blast! The boat took us around the different US and British Virgin Islands - Tortolla, Virgin Gorda, Cooper Key, Jost Van Dyke and St. John. We snorkled into The Baths of Virgin Gorda, had lunch at a private island, and swam onto shore to get a Painkiller from Soggy Dollar Bar.
A view from the hike through The Baths. We are looking out at the Carribean sea.
Walking though The Baths
You can see here how we snorkeled in through the rocks
A picture of Heather and me on Jost Van Dyke. The only way to get to the bar beach is by swimming up to the sand.
That night, we went to a great pizza place on St. Thomas.
On Saturday, Heather and Mike had to head home early to take care of a sick child, so Lou and I spent the day driving around St. Thomas and checking out some of the "local" beaches. Let's just say that we prefer to stick to the more touristy places.... That night, we had an incredible dinner at Old Stone Farmhouse, and we got to sign the ceiling of the kitchen. It was pretty cool.
Saturday was spent walking around the resort, and then going downtown for lunch before heading back to the airport. This picture was taken from the marina of our hotel and is looking at downtown St. Thomas - Charlotte Amelie.
Walking along the boardwalk of our hotel
All in - a great trip. Many, many thanks to my dad and Catherine and Gabby for making this possible for us. It was a real gift to be able to relax and enjoy our vacation knowing that our boys were well taken care of.
