Dad turned the big 6-0 in December, and to celebrate we'd planned
a trip to St. Maarten for March. Brad, Ellie and I (plus Evan, Josh, Papa,
Gigi, Meek and Sec) all flew south to enjoy the warm, beachy paradise.
SXM is not exactly close to PHX, so to
make the travel easier on E, we flew into Miami a day before the trip began,
stayed overnight there, and then met everyone in SXM the next day. (We did the
same thing coming home.)
The trip was wonderful - we shared a
"villa" with Ev and Josh, so we each had a room and bathroom and had
a shared living room and kitchen area. Our days were spent poolside or
exploring different areas of SXM and eating at some quaint island restaurants.
Ellie did INCREDIBLY well - I could not believe how quickly she adapted to the
3 hour time change (4 hours coming back thanks to Daylight Savings) - it helps
the adjusting when she won't sleep on airplanes b/c by the time we get where
we're going she's exhausted and takes one quick nap before being ready for bed
around the right time.
Some trip highlights:
One of the days we took a full day boat trip out on the
ocean to a private island. Trip got off to a rocky start when I threw up over
the side of the boat...it was REALLY windy. Then because it was so windy they
couldn't take the dinghy to shore, so once we got to the private island, we all
had to swim in from the anchored boat to the beach. Thank heavens I'd brought
an Ellie-sized lifejacket! With the help of two of the boat crew (young women
who were both rescue divers/lifeguards/etc), I got Ellie from the boat to the
shore. Necessity, the mother of invention, strikes again. She was a little
freaked out, but bringing her back to the boat was much easier. I will never
forget the amazing sight it was to look up and see the entire family on shore
waving and screaming for us as we made our way in. Everyone loves them some
bug. Once on shore, she played and played and played in the sand for at least
an hour - happy as a little beach bum.
The boat trip also included a mud bath
which you then cleaned off by jumping in the ocean. It was HILARIOUSLY
entertaining. After basically the full day of being on Ellie duty, B took one
for the team and hung with her so I could partake.
Lesson learned that we should probably put
a pause on excursions like this until E and any future children are out of the
toddler phase (or at least really steady walkers), but it was a really good
time.
Ellie loves the water, and now knows the difference between the pool and the ocean (or "oshee" as she calls it). She is still talking about the oshee and wanting to go there.
She is also obsessed with Meeky, Secey, and Josh. Maybe because they're the ones on the trip who were "newer" to her - I don't know - but she is STILL talking them all three weeks later.
We had breakfast at a great spot aptly called Z'Best the last morning we were there, and it was TASTY. Savoy and sweet crepes, homemade pastries, all around heaven. The service was slow, but the French lady who waited on us was darling and loved Ellie. She kept saying "coo coo, baby" to her, and we finally asked her what it meant. It's apparently the French way of saying hello when you want to say it very sweetly. We are still saying this to E and she loves it. She says it to us, too.
There are so many amazing memories, and we feel so fortunate that we got to spend so much uninterrupted time with family in such a perfect setting. I'm working on getting a trip album together, so hopefully the photos should be up soon. In the meantime, here are a few teasers.
We have been wanting to visit the zoo for awhile, and so on March 21, we went with our friends Colleen and Olivia Beverage. They are zoo members, so got us in for free with some passes! Ellie loved it. I think she's at an age where she can pretty much see and sense what's going on and it'll continue to get more fun as she becomes a more steady walker. We decided to join, too, and a great member perk is being able to get in an hour before the regular open time. This will be AWESOME as it starts to heat up!
