Molly’s Staycation

My parents hosted Molly while we were in St. Thomas. And my mom kept a diary of their adventures. And then sent it to us in what Jacob described as the “longest text ever.” Here it is… 

Molly Dog’s vacation blog 

December 15: Molly comes for her first overnight at Mimi’s. She sat at window watching you leave wondering why she was here. The wind was fierce and noisy. We took a walk several times through the night. Neither of us slept much!!

December 16: took her home for a bit so she could relax. When I brought her back to my house she sat next to me on couch and glared at JoPa when he called her. 

December 17: worked on retrieving a ball. She drops it but makes you meet her half way. Work in progress! JoPa was sleeping on couch and Molly licked his forehead. A truce? We will see!!!!

December 18: Molly and I walked down the driveway and back. I walked her down and she took leash in her mouth and walked me back! I went and bought her some more chew toys and now she is crazy running around family room with them. She needs her kids to play with her!

December 19: fun start for Molly. There was a flock of geese in side yard and she cleared the field! She was feeling pretty proud of herself so I leashed her and figured we could do the park. As we rounded the bend in the drive I could hear drones in the park. So all the bravado from chasing geese quickly drained and we headed back to the house! Did another walk. She has memory for sure and I had to coax her past the curve! But she made it. A neighbor shouted to me that I had a beautiful dog🤗

December 20: I woke up at 5 am in pain trying to stretch out spasm in my left calf! Sadly I woke up Molly. Clearly I need to stretch out before I take her for a walk! I let her out to pee and we went back to bed until 6:30! JoPa had to be at hospital at 12:30 so I left her at your home from 11:45 until 5:45. She was so good! I took her to my house and fed her and she peed but no poop. Hope there isn’t a gift under my tree when I get home……

December 21: she got me up at 5:30 (probably pay back for yesterday’s day of solitude) I vacuumed and she helped…..I dusted and she thought that was a game too! 

December 22: 3:30 AM she heard JoPa up in house and alerted with an attack dog bark. I screamed! I didn’t know I could still scream!!😂😂😂 she came back upstairs and went to sleep. I pretended I was because I didn’t want to take her out at 3:30 in the morning😂😂😂😂

December 23: she lets me walk her to the park now. I think she had been concerned that I wouldn’t be able to find my way back! We played a game with the leash where she wraps it around her body while on a walk and I have to try unwrapping her.

December 24: I have walked her, she has walked me. I have played tug of war and fetch and pulled toys out from under numerous pieces of furniture many times. Now I am begging her to go lay down. She needs her kids!!!!

December 25: Merry Christmas! Molly is chilling out on couch! We walked to bridge in park and back. Her tummy must be off so made a rice meal for her. Went to uncle Joe’s for dinner and left her at our house. She had the run of the place and everything was perfect when we got home! Took her out after feeding her and when back in the house she was pixilated! She ran around, jumped on the couch, then on me and pulled my hair!!!! She is sound asleep next to me now!!

December 26: this is going to be a wild homecoming!

Thanks for having her!! 

St. Thomas: Day 11

The day we left. 

With a mid-afternoon flight out, we had the morning to waste, so we drove up to the top of the mountain and did some souvenir shopping. And then we drove back down and had lunch near the boat dock. 

{A quick pic of Camryn with her favorite palm tree at our condo.}

{Lunch before heading to the airport.}

{Taking in the warm air one final time before heading back to winter.}

{PSA: When you are traveling with kids and your tray looks like this, you should probably be drinking something stiffer than a Diet Coke on the rocks. But, really, our kiddos are airplane rockstars. Except that they all have to go to the bathroom just as the flight attendants have filled our trays with drinks and snacks. We are working on that…}

{Catching the sunset on our way in to the states.}

I didn’t ask, but I would bet money that the best part of everyone’s day was when we were reunited with Molly. That puppy went crazy when she saw us (after she stopped barking at us from the safety of my mom’s car…)

A perfect Christmas Vacation in the books, and I am already missing the sand, the sun, and the warm Caribbean air. 

St. Thomas: Day 10

Our last full day. And Christmas. 

Though it was strange to wake up on Christmas without all of the pomp and circumstance, most of us quickly moved past that without problem. A certain middle child dwelled on not having any presents to open, never mind that we already had Christmas before we left. We will be sure to leave him behind next time we have a beach Christmas. 

It was a unanimous decision to spend the day back on St. John at Trunk Bay, so we ferried over early and got a prime spot on the beach. The weather was perfectly sunny, but a bit windy. No bother, sand is a natural microdermabrasion, right? 

{Not many pictures. Just soaking up the moments of our last day!}

Favorites of the day:

Caleb: Going back to Trunk Bay and chilling.

Morgan: Seeing the stingray swim near shore while on our beach walk.

Jacob: Taking the ferry.

Mason: Making a town called “Hill Ville” in the sand. 

Camryn: Spending Christmas on the beach. 

St. Thomas: Day 9

With the hopes that Magen’s Bay wouldn’t be a total drag the second time around, we packed up the Jeep and headed over the hill to spend one more day at our favorite beach from 2006. And, well, womp-womp. It was a cloudy bummer. Seeing sun all around us, we decided it best to leave the clouds behind. So we headed back to our condo for lunch and then over to Secret Harbour to watch the sunset and have a proper Christmas Eve dinner on the beach. 

{Jacob made this sand dude at Magen’s Bay.}

Secret Harbour. Sunny!

{The kids worked hard on a handful of sand things throughout the afternoon!}

{Camryn devised a plan where she would rinse her feet off in the ocean, put on flippers, then walk up to our beach spot so that she wouldn’t get sand on her feet. There has got to be an easier way!}

{Sunset beach dinner! Our waitress took a liking to Mason, and we were thiiiiissss close to having parental rights signed over to her.}

After dinner we headed back to the condo where we all squished onto the tiny hide-a-bed and watched Home Alone. Merry Christmas Eve!

Favorites of the day:

Caleb: Seeing the sun set at dinner.

Morgan: Seeing the sun set at dinner.

Jacob: Having fun with Mason in the ocean.

Mason: Making sandcastles for the first time this trip. 

Camryn: Helping Jacob make a deep hole in the sand. And making sandcastles. 

St. Thomas: Day 8

With five cruise ships carrying a combined 18,000+ passengers set to dock today, we decided to stay low key and check out one beach right around the corner and revisit the kids’ favorite: Brewer’s Bay. 

First up: Lindquist Beach. It was a quick two-minute drive from our condo, and the beach definitely filled up with cruisers. No bother, the beach was plenty big to fit us all comfortably. The kids weren’t really feeling the vibe at this beach, so after a couple of beach walks we packed up and headed back to the condo for some lunch. 

This beach stretched much further than we thought. By walking around some bends and over some rocky patches, we were a stone’s throw from our honeymoon hotel. Though we couldn’t remember exactly which room we stayed in, Caleb and I are certain that our room was one of a few on this side of the building. A real shame that it’s abandoned now. 

After lunch we headed up to the lookout to see the cruise ships. We spied five, and the kids fantasized what it would be like to ride the top deck roller coasters and water slides. 

Then back to Brewer’s Bay for the second time this trip where we found more sea glass, watched planes take off (after waiting a hefty amount of time on the runway while a steady stream on planes landed), and the boys spotted a humongous crab and a stingray while snorkeling. A pretty fantastic afternoon! We stuck around to catch a bit of the sunset and watch the cruise ships leave before we headed back up to the lookout to watch the last two ships set sail. 

Favorites of the day:

Caleb: Seeing a stingray while snorkeling with the boys.

Morgan: Walking the beach with Caleb to get an up close view of our abandoned honeymoon hotel.

Jacob: Seeing the stingray.

Mason: Watching the cruise ships leave.

Camryn: Seeing the cruise ship move and honk. And walking on the beach and seeing your old hotel.

St. Thomas: Day 7

The best day so far!  

We hopped the ferry to spend the day in St. John. Caleb and I knew the day was going to be amazing, but it was AH-MAZING! 

{We took our Jeep with us. We were literally in a car. On a boat. Backing the cars on the ferry was no joke. Lots of casualties: one car bumped a car into another car, and a Jeep ran off the side of the ramp. Entertaining and nerve racking all at the same time. We had to pull the emergency brake a few minutes into the trip because we were rocking back and forth pretty aggressively.}

Twenty minutes later and we were off the boat and ready to explore the island. First up: Donkeys. These cute little fellas were wandering down the streets in no hurry at all as we were heading to Beach Number One of the day. 

Maho Beach was our first stop, and the kids wasted no time hopping in the perfectly clear water to snorkel over to a few sea turtles!

{Jacob built this sea turtle, and several beach walkers stopped to take pictures of it! My super humble kid was beaming, but outwardly showed zero emotion per usual.}

{A look at Maho Bay from above on our way to the next beach.}

Cinnamon Bay. This was my favorite beach, and I think it was because the color of the water at this beach sent Mason into a euphoric trance. He told me that this is the Caribbean water he has waited his whole life to see. I love that I got to see that water for the first time again with him! 

 

We didn’t spend a whole lot of time at Cinnamon Bay because we had planned to spend the majority of our day swimming and snorkeling at Trunk Bay. 

{The view of Trunk Bay from high above.}

Trunk Bay was pretty fantastic. The water was perfectly clear and warm. But the main draw to this beach was the snorkel trail set up a short swim off shore. Jacob ended up slightly disappointed with the trail, but I am sure it’s because he had already seen so many sea creatures that his bar was set too high. 

On our way back. Watching the sunset on the roof of our car. On a boat.

St. John really is beautiful, and we all agreed that it was worthy of another visit this trip, so we have planned to spend Christmas Day back on the island!

Favorites of the day:

Caleb: Hanging out at Trunk Bay.

Morgan: Going to Cinnamon Bay.

Jacob: Beach = Awesome

Mason: Seeing the REAL Caribbean water. 

Camryn: Going to St. John and seeing how clear the water is.

St. Thomas: Day 6

We went full on extreme today with a zip lining adventure high above the shoreline. Our tour guides, the views, the course, the fun. It was all perfect! 

{The rain was rolling in fast as we were taking this picture. But we were above the rain clouds, and it never actually rained on us though we could see it all around!}

{We locked up our phones before hitting the course, but one of the other zip liners was kind enough to take several pictures of our family and then text them to us. Turns out they were staying at the same resort as us!}

{This small fry was too tiny to zip solo, so she went down the lines with either Jacob or me. That was an ab workout!}

Not pictured: The last line where we could all go alone, and there were no rules to follow!

After zip lining, we headed down to Hull Bay on our way back to the condo. A fisherman let the boys hold his catch.

{Fun fact: Warm water lobsters don’t have claws. Follow me for more useless information.}

Then back to our condo where we would spend the rest of the first day of winter on the beach. Not a bad day!

{Jacob made this sand dude. Name’s Bob. Has some pit hair and chest hair, and the sleeziest of ‘staches. And he drinks beer.}

{This creep watched us hang out by the pool.}

Favorite of the day:

Caleb: Zip lining and watching the kids zip line. Morgan: The last zip line where we all got to go by ourselves!

Jacob: Zip lining, especially the last one where you could freestyle.

Mason: The last zip line course because you went super fast and didn’t need to hold on. 

Camryn: Zip lining. 

St. Thomas: Day 5

December 20.

It rained. A lot. But in between rain, we did the things.

{We went to Coki Beach. The beach is just as I remembered it. Clear. Loud. And filled with the smell of “skunk.” The kids loved the snorkeling here, but the rain kept getting in our way.}

{This is how I managed the rain.}

{There was a guy peddling puppies at the beach. Thankfully we have one at home.}

After a bunch of waves of storms blew past, we threw in our wet towels and headed back to our condo. On the way, we saw this: 

{Our honeymoon spot from 15 years ago. Vacant and abandoned since it was ravaged by back-to-back hurricanes in 2017. So sad. The kids say it looks like the Tower of Terror. Yikes, but true.}

With rain in the forecast, we decided it would be a good day to check out the sh*t shops down by the cruise port. So we did. 

{After seeing the ships from a lookout point far above the island, we went down to see them at eye level. This was the kiddos’ first time seeing a cruise ship in real life, and they were amazed.}

{A souvenir that we did not buy.}

After everyone filled up on cheap souvenirs, we headed out to dinner at a dive restaurant located in a parking lot. We loved it! We were seated outside until the rain pushed us inside the Love Shack. We all ordered drinks that came in souvenir cups. My experience with souvenir cups is that you get a glass tumbler with the name of the restaurant printed on it. I could have not been more wrong. We are now the proud owners of several glass animals, including a monkey, a shark, a marlin, a mermaid, and Moby Dick. Fantastic. 

{Camryn coined this as the most fun dinner ever. It was pretty fun. And we have the leis to prove it!}

Favorite Thing of the Day:

Caleb: Seeing the cruise ship.

Morgan: Two things: Having a fun dinner with family. Or being asked if I was the older sister. 

Jacob: Snorkeling at the big rock at Coki Beach. 

Mason: Finding sea glass and cool rocks.

Camryn: Seeing the cruise ship.