Back to Reality...

Long time, no write and that's because we have been enjoying a little rest and relaxation.  We took a family vacation (with my parents and brothers) to the island of St. Martin.  First, a HUGE thank you to Stephen for coordinating all of the airfare.  There were some "sticky" moments getting there, but nothing a few tears to the gate agent couldn't fix ;)  Brock did well on his first airplane rides considering the long day of travel.  We woke up to news that our first flight had been canceled, so off to Birmingham, AL we went.  My tears were put to work in Birmingham to get us to Miami and from there we took a flight to St. Martin.  Buck and John did a wonderful job of navigating the streets of the small island at night and in the rain.  We settled into our accomodations and woke up the next morning excited for the beach, which was just steps outside our townhouse.  And....Brock was so excited he ran into the ocean.  He absolutely LOVED it!  Yay!  I am not sure what Buck and I would do with a kiddo that didn't like the beach.

Here, Brock meets the Caribbean.  Let me just say, Buck and I realize we are doing this all wrong.  When I was a young girl, my parents introduced me to the ocean at Galveston Bay and we slowly worked our way "up" to the beaches of Padre Island, Florida, Mexico, Dominican Republic and finally the Caribbean.  Brock is starting out at the top!  As you can see, he couldn't even wait for Mommy and Daddy to get their swimsuit cover ups off before testing out the water!   We can only imagine what was running through his head, "Look at this huge bath tub.....It is all mine to play in.....Where is my rubber ducky?" 

We relaxed on the beach, explored some of the island, sampled the local restaurants and rum, snorkeled, kayaked, played catch, threw a frisbee and even took a ferry to the island of Anguilla.  We were on the French side of St. Martin (the other half is Dutch-St. Maarten), while Anguilla is British.  Uh-hum, there is a huge difference in beach etiquette between the two.  Let's just say Anguilla was more conservative and leave it at that.  We had a wonderful time on the islands and could have definitely spent more days relaxing at the beach with the fam.  This trip was our first family trip in a while and much needed since Stephen is leaving good ole Texas to attend graduate school at Duke in the Fall.  Congrats bro and thanks again for the work you did getting us on the right airplanes for this trip!!!!

I want the beach!

Gigi we have a lot of work to do...

Throwing the football at Orient Bay Beach



Frisbee

Bubbles!

Lolo anyone?

He was too "cool" to look at the camera!

My Boys!

Brother John, what are you thinking about?

Sunset

Marigot Bay to catch ferry to Anguilla

Anguilla

Snorkeling

Dad bought an underwater camera we had to try out!

Chillin'

We left the beautiful beaches of St. Martin and boarded a flight to Miami.  We played on Miami Beach for the afternoon and then Buck and I explored South Beach that evening. 

We were finally headed home the next day.  It helped Brock to break up the flights over two days.  He is already a world traveler!!!

 

I owe you a couple of more posts....stay tuned!