st lucia 2015

So after Puerto Rico, we came home for a week, celebrated my 35th birthday, went to see Brad Paisley kick off his new tour, painted the kitchen, played with the kids and got on a plane to go to St. Lucia for a week. We really don't ever travel like this and it was almost hard to tell people that we were leaving our kids again. But this was a trip that we planned strategically to celebrate our 15th anniversary (a few months early) and the end of our sabbatical. Some very generous friends helped make this trip possible.

We traveled on a plane full of newlyweds.  It was pretty impressive how many there were actually. It was fun hearing them talk about colors and flowers and wedding planners and such. Listening to all the conversations around me, I thought about the song "Then" by Brad Paisley. We both love that song: "We've come so far since that day. And I thought I loved you then." True.

We had the BEST week. I think partly because we didn't need to spend the whole time resting. We've rested and I wasn't about to lay on a beach chair the whole time to get a tan that would be gone in a week when I got home and put on my sweaters and boots. So we played. We did some lounging and reading (I read the best book!), but we also ziplined, swam, snorkeled, sailed, kayaked,  got massages, ate, drank lots of boat drinks, and had the best time together. We laughed, we cried, we talked about the most significant things in these years - good and bad. It was truly the trip of a lifetime for us. 

I uploaded a bunch of pictures in no particular order:

Every morning I opened my eyes to this view from my BED. (Add in some waves crashing in the background and that equals perfection!)

 

The view from our breakfast table. The the ocean behind the pool.

You have to take a feet picture at the beach. 

Continuing with my country music theme, many times during the week I thought of the Zac Brown Band song "Toes" that says:

"Toes in the water,

Ass is the sand,

Not a worry in the world,

Cold beer (or boat drink) in my hand.

Life is good today."

Sorry, but not really, if that offends you.

The resort where we were was like a little village - kind of spread out and super cute. It was fun to walk around to get to restaurants, pools and different views of the sunset.

Mimosas for breakfast. Five years ago I went to Clearwater with Adrienne and Stacy for a girls weekend and we had "Mimosa Monday." Thought of them every day.

The most gorgeous sunsets every single night.

Ben bought himself a new hat. I'm still looking for a beach hat. The search continues.

We stayed in one of these blue buildings. We had a room on the top with a great porch. Loved it. It was perfect.

There was a lot of outdoor eating which meant birds. Ben survived . . . barely!

We did the Zipline Tour. Super fun! We had the best guide who took videos and pictures for us and even went tandom with me a couple of times. He just held on to Ben's cell phone and did all the work so we didn't have to. Loved it.

Marvin - our guide extraordinaire!

Lots of cruise ships in and out of the bay.

Ben playing Bill Hybels as the sailboat guru.

We bought a life proof case for Ben's phone which is super fun!

We were able to go to the two other resorts on the same island. The beach at our resort was red flagged a lot with bog waves. It made for great noise at night but not so much play during the day. So several days we spent at the other resort with crystal clear water and the best beach. That's where we sailed, kayaked and swam.

The view was much prettier through Ben's polarized sunglasses so we tried to take some pictures through them. Didn't work so well.

We came home to this nonsense. But the only good thing about leaving the beach - no humidity. My hair still has several more months to look decent before humidity season hits again. So I'll take what I can get in the way of feeling better about cold weather.

A big huge thank you to our parents who split the week keeping the kids. And Joanna who helped out on the snow day for the Puerto Rico trip. We realize that not everyone has parents close enough or willing to keep their kids so they can go on fantastic adventures. Thank you to all of you for being so gracious and for making memories with your grandkids.

We've lived out of our suitcases since Christmas and we've still got more to go. But we're sticking to the continental US from here on out. Best January ever.