St. John's Post 4: The Last Days

All good things must come to an end, and the end of our vacation sadly came way too fast! We certainly lost track of days while playing on the beach, sipping frozen drinks and reading a few good books. Before we knew it we were down to our last days, but certainly made the best of them!

We successfully visited every beach on our must see list. The day after our sailing adventure we went to Trunk Bay. The snorkeling wasn't as great at this beach, but the water and sand made up for that! We literally sat on the beach until the mosquitoes tried to eat us alive, which happened at about 4PM everyday.

After the beach we all went home and showered for a nice dinner out at Waterfront Bistro. Of course, since we were all dressed up, I had to get a family picture before we left. I think this is my new favorite picture, hands down:)

Dinner was pretty good, but I certainly wouldn't recommend the restaurant. The menu was very limited and pretty pricey. However, the drinks and atmosphere were awesome!

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The next day was our last beach day so we were sure to get an early start.  We still had 3 beaches left on our list and were determined to see them all! First on our list was Caneel Bay.  The resort was beautiful and wild donkeys roamed the beach.  

We easily could have spent the day at that beach, but had to make ourselves leave in enough time to check out Hawksnest Bay.  Unfortunately, the "no-see-ums" bugs were terrible by the time we got there.  So, we played in the water and snapped a few pictures before heading to The Westin.  

The beach at the Westin wasn't much to see, but the pool was awesome.   Jackson and Amelia took long naps on the pool chairs while we swam drank more frozens:)

After our beach packed day, we made one last stop before heading back to the house to clean up for our night out.  This stop was a special stop for me...my loving Mr. took me to Jewels to pick out a new pretty for our anniversary! They had a lot of pieces from my new favorite designer, Marco Bicego, so  I came home with an exclusive Caribbean necklace! Love:)

Our last night was so fun and came to an end way too fast.  We laughed and enjoyed a nice evening at Banana Deck before heading home to pack everything up.  I love my family so much, I wish everyday was a vacation with them at the beach!

We spent our final day shopping in St. Thomas before flying back home.  Thankfully, our travel home was much less eventful then getting there!

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St. John's Post 3: The Big Surprise

On our third day on the island, my parents announced that we were to be packed and in our Jeeps ready to go at 8AM. We were told that we would be gone for the entire day, and that we needed to pack the baby swing, one pack'n'play, and Jackson's life vest.

So, like the good children we are, we packed everything up and anxiously awaited the big surprise...

And a big surprise it was!  Just when we thought that this vacation couldn't possibly get any better, a 42ft. sailboat with 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms - big enough for 20 people, pulled up to the dock.  Hello Snubadu and yummy rum drinks just for us, for the entire day!

We had no plan for the day besides sailing away in paradise and snorkeling in places only accessible by boat.  Captain Joe took us to some amazing places and we saw some incredible fish and coral.  I missed it, but a few of us even spotted a couple of sea turtles and sting rays!

Jackson started off a little unsure of the boat, and like the airplane, never quite grasped the concept that he was actual on one.  He took a little snooze with his cousin and woke up in a much better mood after lunch.

  I can't even begin to tell you how many times a thing of puff's saved the day on this trip!

I think this last photo says it all, what a day!!!

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St. John's Post 2: Which way to the beach?!?

Our first morning in St. John was an early one, unfortunately.  I was hoping that we would all sleep late to catch up on our rest from staying up all of Friday night...but between the light window sheers and bright blue, sunny skies we didn't have a chance of sleeping past sunrise.  At this point, I think we're we still running on pure excitement and welcomed the early morning start. 

We sipped coffee on the deck and overlooked all the sailboats, fed the fish in the fish pond and started to pack up for the beach! Packing up 9 adults and 2 babies takes some time, let me tell you! The bags of sunscreen, beach toys, beach chairs, towels, coolers, beverages, and floats made our 14 suitcases look like nothing:)

By the time we actually made it to Cinnamon Bay (even with our early start) and got settled, it was clear that there would be little "beach hoping" during the day on this vacation. 

Jackson started out very unsure of the sand and the water.  He hated his life vest and proceeded to throw tantrum #578 for the morning.  Luckily, it didn't take long for his uncles to snatch him up and get him used to the ocean.  By the end of the day, he was literally rolling in the sand and loving every second of it!

We stayed at the beach until the mosquitoes tried to eat us for dinner.  We only thought that Louisiana was bad...these things ate.us.up.  We tried everything and even resorted to pouring a bottle of Gin all over us, as suggested by the locals.

That night we left Cinnamon Bay and went home for an evening swim at our house and drank lovely frozen's in the hot tub until bedtime!

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The next day we woke up feeling a  bit adventurous drinking our morning coffee and decided that we would all hike to Leinster Bay to snorkel at Waterlemon Cay.  And by hiking, we thought it was just a long casual stroll down a path to the beach.  Well, it was a definitely a long walk, in flip flops, carrying all of our crap.  However, the "path" was anything but a walking path.  We were passed by quite a few hikers that were laughing at the site of us! 

After hiking over a mile, carrying my 33lbs. toddler the entire way there and back, my arms have never been so toned!  It was a good thing that the snorkeling was absolutely amazing and totally worth the hike.  It was breathtaking!

The shore was a rock beach which meant that we spent the entire day in the water snorkeling and swimming.  So to reward our tired legs and thirsty mouths, we finished off the day at Skinny Legs for hamburgers and you guessed it - more frozen's:)

We passed a few wild donkey's on our drive there, a pretty common site on the island!

Up next, the best surprise ever!!!

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St. John's Post 1: Getting there

The night before we left for St. John we basically pulled an all nighter, which is something I haven't done since college. Our flight left out of New Orleans at 6AM, so we had to leave the house at 2AM to check in by 4AM. By the time we finished packing and showering for our travels, we were way too excited to sleep:)

All 8 of us (we met up with my sister and her little family in Miami, making us a party of 11) made it through security and boarded our flight without a hitch.  Jackson was totally mesmerized by all of the airplanes and couldn't wait to go for a ride!

The early morning flight started out pretty good.  Jackson got a little antsy while waiting to take off, but we all took a snooze soon after we took off...until Jackson woke up and proceeded to puke on me, twice! It was a total mess and I only packed a change of clothes for Jackson, which won't happen again!

We said our prayers that Jackson wasn't coming down with a virus and kept him in just a diaper for the rest of the flight in fear that he'd get sick again and mess another outfit.  Luckily, this was just a one time incident and Jackson seemed back to normal shortly thereafter.

Our layover in Miami wasn't too bad.  I got myself cleaned up and we grabbed some breakfast while we waited for my sister to land.  I couldn't wait to get my hands on sweet Amelia, who is even sweeter now with her smiles and belly laughs!

The flight from Miami to St. Thomas was much better then our first leg, especially since I didn't get puked on:) Jackson kept pretty entertained watching Cars and Fresh Beat while eating an entire thing of Puffs!

By the time we landed in St. Thomas, collected all 14 of our bags, and loaded into the taxi-van - it was time for a drink! Truth be told, a few of us took the locals up on their welcome shots of Rum as we got off the plane, but it was time for a beach drink.  Our driver took us to Duffy's Love Shack and we celebrated the start of vacation with a lovely Bushwhacker, my favorite frozen!

After our quick drink stop, it was time to head to the ferry for our ride over to St. John.  If you've lost track, we've now been in a car, a plane, and now a boat! Total travel time was close to 18 hours, on next to no sleep...but once we picked up our Jeeps and arrived at Edin's Whim - it was pure paradise!!!

One of our 3 Jeeps parked outside the main house

This is right outside our room, we stayed in the "pool house"

another view outside our room

Kitchen, completely stocked before we got there, in the main house

View from my sister's room - wing off of the main house - our "pool house" is back left

pool, looking up at the main house

Yep, you could say the the travel was well worth it! We were even able to rent all of our baby equipment and had it delivered and set up for us.  The car seats were waiting for us in the jeeps and the beach toys, cribs, etc. were all at the house.  I highly recommend renting through Island Baby is y'all are ever in St. John, they were awesome!

Next up - Days 1 & 2 of beach hoping:)

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