Sail Away Sail Away Sail Away

I am proud to say that we are the kind of parents who don't typically leave the babies at home.  Besides business trips and an occasional three day weekend here and there we almost always take the kids with us no matter where we go.  That was up until now when we sailed off all on our own.  The trip was planned for months and months and months and we were absolutely ready to pack our bags and go.

GG and Pap arrived on Friday nigh with just enough time to eat pizza, get a quick review of the girls routines and then Saturday morning we were going to officially be out of the house for 8 whole days.  Saturday we woke up, got the girls dressed and were ready to walk out the door on our way to the airport when panic started to sink in...all of the excitement came to a screeching halt when I didn't know how I was going to leave the girls for longer than I had ever been away.  Just as a note, I was not the only one feeling that way.  We quickly remembered that our little girls were in good hands and off we drove to the airport.  

Saturday was off to an excellent start, no lines at the airport and our direct flight was leaving on time. We arrived in San Juan jumped into a cab, checked into the Hilton Caribe and were on the beach within an hour.  

View from our room

After a few hours lounging on the beach it was time to head into the Old City.  We strolled around, did a little shopping and ate a fabulous dinner at Marmalade where we indulged on the tasting menu that included one of the most fabulous appetizers I have ever had, white bean and truffle soup.  This place is a highly recommended if you ever find yourself in Puerto Rico.

Now this is how you shop in PR

Round 1, yes that is real popcorn shrimp

You won't find any high chairs here as you aren't allowed to dine if you are under 8.

A little cigar rolling after dinner 

After our evening stroll it was back to the Hilton to rest up for the rest of our adventure. 

Poor us, we had to sit by the pool again on Sunday morning because what else are you going to do while wasting time before heading back to Old San Juan to board a cruise.  There they were, Leah and Rich were already one drink in when we showed up to our lunch date.  We had lunch, indulged in happy hour and next thing you know we were checking in to get on the ship. 

Of course there were priorities when getting on the ship which meant the first stop needed to be the ice cream machine.

This is for you Russ.

Hold on to your hats, it's time to sail.

This would be a great time to tell you about team Suck It Troy.  A few years ago when I was pregnant with Penelope we went on a family cruise.  While we were on the cruise Grant and my brother-in-law Troy would have ping pong tournaments and unfortunately for Grant, Troy ended up with the shiny ship on a stick and not him.  You can see the sad picture of Grant's defeat here.  SO long story short I think G has been a little jealous of Troy so when we needed a team name after our first victory it was a no brainer that our team had to be Suck It Troy. 

Our first victory on night 1.

Just a few people attended the deck party on the first night.

First stop on our itinerary was St Thomas and oh how sweet it was.  We didn't go shopping or dine on fresh seafood, instead we decided to spoil ourselves and take a private sailboat around St Thomas and over to St Johns.  We arrived at the marina that we were being picked up from and we knew we were in for a great day because we didn't want to leave there.  It was quiet, the sand was soft and you can see the view we had in the pictures below.

A little pretan photo for Rich, maybe I should say preburn.

Here we are, ready to set sail on a smaller boat this time.

 After a full day of lounging, getting a sunburn, drinking prosecco for our "10 Year Honeymoon" according to Grant, eating a fab lunch and accidentally snorkeling with a barracuda it was time to head back to the ship we arrived on and leave Jester Sailing behind.  Of course we highly, highly recommend Jester if you ever find yourself in St Thomas.

Formal night with Kevin, he was our favorite mostly because when he saw us he would yell Suck It Troy!

I am sure this was geek talk being captured.

Stop number 2 was in Barbados.  We walked, bought a painting from a street vendor and just relaxed by ourselves.

Second win, this time it was sports trivia!

Stop 3 was in St Lucia, we split from Leah and Rich and did a full day island tour with 2 other couples.  We tasted all kinds of products made from bananas, ate fresh baked bread that was delish, saw beautiful views including the pitons, played on the beach and took a mud bath.  What we learned on our tour was that the whole island was upset because Matt Damon was there renewing his vows and he had turned the best public beach into a private spot for a week and that we will pass on the banana moonshine in the future.  Oh and that you couldn't pay us enough to try and drive around this island.

Yep, we crossed that bridge in a large van.

Pitons.

Rich or poor everyone has a beautiful view. 

 Oh yes, a true mud bath with scorching water and a hint of sulfur in the air.

I think he enjoyed his day.

here is our boat

This shows you why there isn't a lot of car rental on this island.

I love him, 14 years of togetherness later.

Feeling short, but here is our little group.

 Next stop was in St Kitts which was by far the best port when it came to shopping right off of the ship.  G and I spent a few hours on the ship relaxing before joining the festivities.  By the end of the trip we had shared our cruising secret with Leah and Rich and that  is that the best time to be on the ship is when it is docked and everyone else is exploring the port.  No lines for food, all of the deck chairs are open and it is quiet.

Everyone needs a little time on a ship stage.

We were all surprised when Grant jumped on the karaoke stage.  This may have been alcohol induced, but it was hysterical.  

Oh and we played a little trivia.

All in all we had the best week with Leah and Rich.  We have no more guilt about leaving the girls behind as we now know how relaxing and recharged we were after a week of no diapers, temper tantrums or messes to clean up.  Can't wait to see what happens on the next trip!