Exhausted!

When your child thinks that 4:15 am is an appropriate time to come in to your room to ask if it's morning yet, this happens at 10:45...



Passed out hard on my lap. But not before almost losing her shit for reasons unknown. So now I am trapped under a sleeping monster who is still gasping for air from her straight up meltdown more than an hour ago. Good grief.

Ugh.

This kid got pneumonia for his half birthday.



Feeling "thumbs to the side" today, but sure enjoyed paling around with his momma while the rest of the crew was healthy and at school!

Now if we all can manage to not lose our minds during his five day, 1/2 teaspoon daily dose of antibiotics...

No school day!

A big thank you to all of our presidents--both great and otherwise--who gave us this picture-perfect day off of school! We had plans to go to the zoo with some friends. And so did the rest of Illinois. Ugh! A 45-minute trip took almost two hours before we took a detour and had a tailgate style lunch in the parking lot of a forest preserve sorta near the zoo.



Big sticks are fun until they scratch you. And then you over-exaggerate the injury because you are Mason.


"I'm so beautiful." That's the pose these two girls learned in their ballet class. One pose looks more beautiful than the other...


Snapping a quick picture by the river before we hiked the rest of the way to the zoo, jumped a fence, and dodged parking fees. Ninja style.

The zoo was so crowded that I honestly don't believe that these kids actually saw--or cared to see--any animals. Bust.



But these two girls had fun either way. A candid moment that we caught several times throughout our hour-long stay at the zoo. If it weren't so cute, it would be weird. Yes, Cam really is that much shorter!

Summer, is that you?

You know, just a typical Midwestern February day when you are dressed for summer and eating Popsicles next to the snow blower.


Side note: There was a fight for the shade because apparently 65 degrees is too hot. Geesh!

And then this...

One legit puker and another with a fever and a tummy ache. Welcome home, I guess!

Side note: Mason woke up at 5 this morning with a tummy ache. Jacob barfed at 5:30. We ordered and watched Trolls by 10:30. Both boys were on my nerves shortly thereafter. Jacob made us all scrambled eggs for lunch (big man on campus!) And there was a constant loop of this question: When is school out? We want to play! Hopeful that whatever they had is short lived, and we can play with friends tomorrow after they get home from school! Until then...

Vacation: The end.

We came home on Sunday because we had to. But if you must leave paradise, flying home first class softens the blow. Highly recommended!









And then our first day back:



A tuckered out little girl snuggled in tight with some souvenirs. I sure had fun, but I sure did miss the little humans!

Vacation: Day 7

Our last full day. And we spent it at Simpson Bay Beach. The beach was beautiful, and the water was warm and clear. So many shells and sea glass on this beach. It was fun to search for them in between waves! The perfect way to spend our last day on the island!



This was the view from the restaurant where we ate lunch and spent the day. Not bad!
Then we came back to our hotel to lounge and catch our last ocean sunset. But first we got a picture with the hotel parrot, Gizmo!






The sunset was perfect, and we watched it from the end of the hotel dock.



Goodbye for now, St. Martin. Until next time...

Vacation: Day 6

We hopped an early morning ferry to St. Bart's where we witnessed a grown man barf. No sea legs for that dude! St. Bart's is where celebrities take their big fancy yachts and pose for the paparazzi. Though we didn't see any famous folks, we saw plenty of mega yachts and just as many rich-people shopping stores. This is a very hilly island with many very secluded beaches. We opted for a four-wheeler as a means of transportation on this island!



And we weren't alone. Nearly every vehicle parked outside of the school was a quad. If we lived there, we would definitely have one. Caleb's dream come true!
We stopped at nearly every beach on the island. Starting with Shell Beach.



The tiny little beach tucked at the end of a dead end street is one of only four like it in the world. No sand. Just shells. The water sounds really cool as it trickles back through the shells into the water! We collected some shells and sea glass and then headed for St. Jean Beach.



The most popular beach on the island, though quite empty while we were there. Beautiful colors and calm waves, this beach is located directly off of the airport, so we were able to casually watch planes come and go. After a couple of hours we hit the road for Gouverneur Beach.



Here it is from up high. A tiny little bay nestled between rocky cliffs, this beach was a little more crowded with Caleb's favorite beachgoers: the topless variety.
Directly on the other side of this beach is Saline Beach.









A steep climb up a rocky path, this beach also didn't disappoint. But really, has any beach in the Caribbean ever been an upset?

Though it was fun to visit the island, sample the {uber expensive} food, and take in the French flair (the island was mostly non-English speaking. Side story: The guy who was going to show us how to run the 4-wheeler asked us if we spoke English or French, and then proceeded to give us all of the instructions in French. Oui. Oui!)--this was an island I am happy to have visited, but feel no need to see again. Perfect for a quick day trip!

Vacation: Day 5

On Thursday we started off our day with massages, and then headed in to town where we shopped till we dropped!



A picture with a 'Mingo. Always thinking of my Camryn, my pink bird lover!

We then returned our rental car and parked ourselves on the beach of our hotel for the first time since checking in. Before calling it a day, we ended up at this spectacular infinity pool up on the cliff of our resort. Perfect!

Vacation: Day 4

On Wednesday we hopped a ferry ride to Anguilla to spend the day beach hopping.

But before we left, we woke up to this rainbow. Perhaps a sign of our day ahead!









We rented a moped on Anguilla to get us where we needed to go. Just because.


















That view was real. Can you even believe the colors?!

Anguilla is not commercialized, and there are literally zero street signs on this island to direct people where to go. This coupled with the fact that you drive on the opposite side of the road made it a lot less easy to find things. Like everything. So we took a complete tour of the island several times before we were finally able to plant our feet on the sand of Shoal Bay.



















So worth it when we finally got there! This beach isn't ranked among the best in the world for no reason. White sand, beautiful water, and a huge beach. Loved it! After spending most of our time there, we set off to find Rendezvous Beach only to give up after traveling past the same landmarks several times with no luck. I'm sure it exists, but so far only in our minds...
So we filled the ol' scooter back up with gas and headed for home.








I have no idea if this is accurate or not, but whaaat?!

A highly recommended day trip for sure!!!!

Vacation Day 3

On Tuesday we tried our skills at extreme zip lining. It was awesome! We met up at this swanky place: Loterie Farms. From there we took a very bumpy and steep "bus" ride straight up the side of the mountain. I use the term "bus" very loosely as we were actually just bumping around on benches in the back of a truck while being chased by a stray dog. Lots of stray dogs on this island. And goats. And roosters.



Here we are before heading up. Never have I seen palm trees and cacti on a mountain side right next to each other!





Here we are at the top of the zip lining course. It was beautiful to look out over the entire island before zipping down through the rain forest. The entire course took just shy of 2 hours to complete, and it was way more than just a couple of zip lines. We had tight ropes to cross, log ladders to climb, and trees to get around. It was a serious workout! So fast! And so much fun!

After finishing the course we decided to check out the rest of the French side of the island. St. Martin is pretty unique in that half of it is French, while the other half is Dutch. You can freely travel between the two sides, and no one is threatening to build a wall. Hmmmm...
You can certainly tell when you have crossed to the French side as buildings change, street signs change, and languages change among other things.






I have no idea what this sign means...

Next in our list of adventures was kayaking to Pinel Island. And, darnit, too windy for kayaks so instead we had to hop on the 5-minute ferry.



And we got super soaked!



We grabbed a French lunch (of pizza and hamburgers. Haha!) under this tiki hut.


And shared our lunch space with this little crab!


This is the island. It is literally a sandbar island just off of St. Martin. The water was warm, calm, and beautiful. My happy place! There were tables set up in the water and even an ice cream boat that visited the dock! And in those cages were lobsters that you could pick out for lunch. If that's your thing...

On the way back to the hotel we stopped at Orient Beach. Stunning! The water was brilliant. And the waves were huge!


Pictures just don't capture the crystal clear turquoise waters.


And one thing about Orient Beach: It's clothing optional on the north end and completely nude at the south end. So we should be glad that the dude in the background was walking away from us when we snapped this picture! We did not cross the line to the south side, but grabbing a drink thiiiis close to the nude side was too close for comfort. Ewww...

Vacation: Day 2

Our first full day of vacation, and we were off to a running start. Or should I say boating start?
We took a jet ski adventure out to Creole Rock to do some snorkeling.



No cameras on board, so we were forced into purchasing this beauty as a keepsake. The ride out to the island was awesome. We went up the coastline and saw many of the beaches. We also went through the lagoons where we saw more mega yachts than I could count. Rich people have it rough....

After we were done snorkeling, we headed to Maho Beach to grab some lunch, and a view of the planes.






Background: The landing strip to the airport is literally 20 feet after the edge of this beach. And people flock to this beach just so they can experience standing behind a plane as it takes off, or standing under a plane when it lands. It's like nothing I have ever done before. The power of the plane taking off creates a very high speed wind that blows hats, clothes, and small children back several yards. If ever you want some free microdermabrasion, this is the place to come! Holy sand storm!
And it's funny to look back on the picture we took as we landed the day before because you can see people taking pictures of our plane. A total tourist trap, but so worth it!

We rented a car for the trip, and by the end of the day we quickly realized that Chicago traffic is nothing like island traffic. Snail's pace. All. Day. Long. But unlike Chicago traffic, people cut you off all the time with a friendly honk of the horn and zero road rage. Refreshing!

An early night with more big plans to come the next day...

Caleb and I hopped a plane on Sunday and fled the country for a week in St. Martin without kids as a way to celebrate 10 years of marriage. Wowza!
Day1:


Ready for takeoff! And sandwiched between a family with small children and what appeared to be a wedding party. This could be a long flight!



Coming in for our landing! More on this beach later.






This is the backdrop for our Super Bowl party (wink, wink). And what we will call home for the next seven nights. I will take it!