Saint Lucia: Day 2

It was another busy today!

Thankfully we all slept really well - Clara included! We woke up, breakfasted (you should see CB devour a yogurt, banana and some cheerios - where does it all go??) and then attended the resort's "orientation" which basically means they tell us when things open and where they are and how to book excursions around the island, etc. 

Orientation

Meemaw!

Papa & Papaw

Hello, friend! You came on vacation too!!?

After that wee missy took a nap, and then we met up for lunch. Bryan and I had to walk through a pretty good downpour to get there - thankfully we took a stroller for the tiny one so she didn't get wet. 

Lunch

Ready to say bye bye for a little while

After lunch Dad, Grady, Bryan & I went to go snuba!! Snuba is a mixture of snorkling and scuba diving. You don't have your own tank, instead you're connected to tubes on a raft to a group tank. We were all tethered together and each of us had 20 feet we could go away from the raft. One of the amazing things about water activities in my opinion is that they don't hurt my joints at all! And we didn't go more than about 15 feet deep so there wasn't the air pressure problems you can run into when you scuba dive.

Our guide's name was "Starfish." Starfish and Blue Marlin hooked us up with our gear and then we got started. Other than some mild panic the first 5 minutes or so while I learned how to breathe using the equipment, it was neat! Unfortunately, Dad ended up swallowing a ton of seawater and had to head back early. Thankfully he felt better quickly.

Instructions

Grady set up his crazy cool camera

The raft

Dad and Bryan

Me'n'Bryan :)

Dad and Starfish, the guide

Grady holding a sea urchin!!

Bryan and I

Grady communicating "I'm okay" to me

Bryan playing in the water

me

Fish and floura

Discussing the experience and re-hydrating!

Once we returned we showered and watched the video Grady took with his fancy-pancy video/camera that can go underwater and do all sorts of cool things. From the video I took a couple of snap shots which are the pictures above.

In case you were wondering where little missy was while we were off exploring the ocean, she was hanging out with my mom, Meemaw and Auntie M. It sounds like they had a ball walking in the rain, reading books and wrestling with pillows :) Thank you guys for watching her!!

LuLu, Clara & Uncle G

Watching the video of our dive

Some dinner (and very hard breadsticks) later, it was time to put the wee one to bed. She is out cold right now, and Bryan and I are lounging on our patio enjoying the evening for just a bit longer. 

Meemaw and Papaw

Yummm

Tomorrow is a big day full of activities, so I need to get some rest. Goodnight!

Saint Lucia: Day 1 Traveling

It's vacation time! And guess what - our hotel has wifi! It's a little ify, so I'm not sure if it'll be reliable all of the time, but at least I can check email, and show a few pictures from the day. 

Last night Grady, Marissa & Murphy came to stay with us at our house so that it would be easy to take Maverick & Murphy to Willow Creek the next day, and quicker for them to get the airport in the morning. This turned out to be a great idea and worked really well. 

This morning we all got up, got ready, dropped the puppies off and headed to the airport to board Air Anadarko! Talk about traveling in style :) It was wonderful! 

Mommy & Baby Girl

On our trip we have Meemaw and Papaw, my parents, Grady & Marissa, and me, Bryan and Clara. It's a full crew. 

LuLu, Mommy and Baby Girl

Bryan was asked to sit up front in the jump seat during take off, and he was stoked about it!

Awesome!

It took about 4 1/2 hours to fly here. To pass the time we played, explored, ate, took a very brief siesta (shoot), and stared out the window.

Playing tug-a-war with peanuts with PaPa

Snoooooooze

Gorgeous view over the Carribean

Yumm, cake pops

So much to explore

Saint Lucia out the plane window - the two volcanoes!

Look Daddy!

Upon arrival we boarded up the bus and drove an hour or so to get to the other side of the island to our hotel, the St. James Club at Morgan Bay. It's really nice and has a gorgeous view! We settled in, dropped our luggage off and went down to find some dinner. Clara made friends with the waitstaff and any nearby diners. I wonder what gene she inherited to make her so friendly?

Landed

G & M

PaPa & baby Clara

After dinner we finished up the evening with a drink at the bar (minus pregnant Marissa and underage Clara, of course) and went to bed. Clara was EXHAUSTED and fell asleep within minutes after her bath.

 

View off of our balcony - lovely!

Sleeeepy baby and gorgeous sunset

Cheers!

Hopefully we all get a great night's sleep tonight so we're ready for fun tomorrow!

Don't miss me too much!

Well, dearest readers, I'm off on holiday until Sunday! I have no idea if I'll have internet connectivity or not, so you may not hear from me for several days. Never fear, I'll be back in blogging action next week if I don't get a chance over the next several days.

Until then, love from Bryan, Clara, Maverick and me!

Shower for Baby "T"

There are THREE pregnant ladies on our tiny street right now.

Note: do not drink the water!

Jenalie is due in May, and our neighbors threw her a shower Springcroft style this afternoon.

There were some games, gifts & of course, food. (Kristin makes an incredible banana pudding cake!)

Looking forward to meeting a teeny tiny baby boy in just a few weeks!!