St. Thomas to St. John

We docked in St. Thomas jumped right off the boat (after waiting in a huge slow moving line). We knew, from friends, that we wanted to go to St. John for some primo snorkeling. As we walked across the street, Clay asked where we could find a Taxi to St. John. The crossing guard yelled at Clay, "You can't take a taxi to St. John, it's another island." Ok, what we meant to say...can we get a taxi to the other side of the island so we can get a WATER TAXI to St. John. Our first sign that these people did NOT like us.

Found the taxis, directed where to go, directions a little unclear, taxi driver puts us in his truck. Director came over and yells directly at Clay(imagine it in a Jamaican Accent), "Does this look like a van? No, it's a truck! I told you to get into the van not the truck....blah blah blah." I tuned him out at this point. SO FREAKING RUDE! That's just a warning, in case you ever go there...they do NOT like the whitie tourist. This was confirmed by our boat captain in Florida who had lived and worked in St. Thomas for several years.

We warmed up our cab driver and found out his dad was 103 living on one of the other nearby islands. Cool.

They drive on the left side here, even though it's a US Island (In St. Maarten, they drive on the right...even though its owned by the French and the Dutch).

St. John's was amazing and gorgeous and amazing again. We rented a jeep and headed out to find snorkel spots.

Our first stop was beautiful. There is WAY more coral (fan types) here than in Hawaii...and lots of different kinds of fish that I hadn't seen before.

One bad thing, the mosquitoes. Holy Heck. Swarms. No joke. Non stop swarms. Then only safe place? The water. I counted over twenty bites on one arm alone. This is no joke people. The bites are STILL affecting me now...two weeks later!

There were quite a few other people at the next place...they had an underwater trail that gave a picture of the fauna/fish with a little explanation.

We all snoozed here for a bit, keeping our towels close to the water to escape the mosquitoes.

We saw Cinnamon Bay on a map and decided to go there...cuz a friend of Josh's had recommended it.

It WAS beautiful, but we were hungry and the mosquitoes were ridiculous...so we headed back to town to give up our jeep and find some food.

Our mosquito dance.

Before getting back on the water taxi, we ate at a little hole in the wall. Ribs to die for!

Back on the boat, we had a little sushi appetizer then headed to dinner in the dining room.
These are our table mates and new friends, Thomas and Michelle from Detroit. They were hilarious and way cool. We all had a great time talking at our dinners.

Michelle, Josh, and I got up to do the conga line through the dining room with our servers. Fun.

We saw the magic show that night, which was pretty cool, and very perplexing at the same time. How do they do that stuff?????? I made Sunny get a picture with me and the magicians. They were kind of lame in real life.

Pretty sure we just went to bed after this. So tired from a long day.

Disgusting!

Check it! It's no longer attached. I was freaking about weather I needed to take him in for stitches today...called our trusty brother Drew (even sent him this picture). He helped ease my fears and told me what to expect...it's gonna fall off...and that's OK.

Wyatt's First, and Probably Not Last, Trip to the ER

Wyatt slipped on a kitchen rug at grandmas last night and fell face first onto the wood floor. As I was attempting to wipe the blood away the chunk of skin that had been cut hung down. I gasped and said "stitches". Grandma agreed. So, I left Conner with the Grandparents and zoomed to the ER.
Long story short, by the time the doc got to us the skin had already reattached itself and the doc said he didn't need stitches.
Wonder how much those brilliant words will cost us...
These are pics from breakfast this morning. A little yogurt and Popsicles for breakfast.

QT's

By the way...I know my boobs are hangin' all over the place in our pictures. Get over it people...I mean...I'm sorry if they offend anyone. That's mostly for Josh...

I wanted to do a little insert about the kids. Conner handled our vacation well. He never brought us up. But if we were talked about or heard from he said that we went on a big boat and we'd be back soon. Wyatt, on the other hand, was mad. He was mad at us for two days after we got back (although he did have a high fever which could explain some of the grumpiness). He wanted/still wants to be on my lap ALL the time but he was not happy. Rarely smiled or laughed and cried a lot. Suddenly, it turned off and I think he realizes I am here to stay. He's a smiley jokster again. Giggling and running all around. Whew!

Conner got his first pair of flip flops today. He calls them sip sops. We got them from Old Navy. They were having a $1.00 flip flop sale (not for kids sizes unfortunately). There weren't any big enough for WoWos chubby feet. Conner's feet are a little wide for these as it is.

I've been doing a little gardening around the house and found a worm yesterday. It was Conner's first time holding one. He wasn't scared at all. He wanted to play with it but I made him put it back in the dirt. He tried to dig it up.

St. Maarten

We rolled off the boat in St. Maarten (our last port of call) at around 8AM and the city of Philipsburg was still sleeping. We (or Josh and I-thanks for humoring us Clay and Sunny) really wanted to get some snorkeling in...we were told to go into the city and find the Blue Bubbles shop.

We walked to find the shop and got hooked up to go to two dive sites. Most of the other passengers were "Snuba-ing". Which is a cross between snorkeling and diving (so they could go a little deeper than your average snorkelers).

The weather was quite uncooperative. Rainy, overcast, and the ocean was choppy. Our visibility was limited and the water was murky...but we saw some ship wrecks, a submarine, an old canon, lots of fish, and a little coral.

Not the best picture of us all, but wanted a pic with Leroy our hilarious guide who gave us the "One Love" when we left.

We headed to the boardwalk, by recommendation of Leroy. He sent us to the Harbour View Cafe for lunch. We encountered a little rain but dashed out of it under another restaurant eave. Again, not the best picture of me...but Sunny looks cute!

I had Red Snapper cooked with the head on, Josh had curried goat, Clay had chicken (breast meat to be exact-inside joke between Clay, the waitress, and Sunny), and I can't even remember what Sunny had...I was so distracted by the breast meat comments.

We walked on the boardwalk. Scorching to death one minute, then getting wet in the rain the next. We did a little shopping and even picked up a couple free necklaces thanks to Sunny and her coupon. They were different colored Topaz. Sunny gave me her white one and she picked up a blue one (purchasing some earrings to match).

We picked up the water taxi back to the pier where we could get back on the ship and our day in St. Maarten was done.
In retrospect, we should have done our homework before we left home...so that we had some ideas of where to go...we would have rented a car and did some exploring and snorkeling on our own. But we still had an enjoyable time with each other!

Dressing for dinner was fun. It was nice to get dressed up and meet everyone. As you can see, the sweater saved me again. The ship was soooo cold. They had the AC pumped up because it was always hot and humid outside.

Last Couple of Nights on the Ship

This is the last Formal Dinner we had on the ship. Josh didn't wear his suit this time but I got a chance to wear the dress I got in Puerto Rico and the necklace I got in St. Thomas. Fun. We had dinner...can't remember what I had...just assume that I probably ordered an appetizer (or two), an entree(or two), and a couple of desserts. I pigged out this whole trip and ended up feeling super bloated (I think from the preservatives they put in the food...or maybe just because I ate WAY more than I should have).
After dinner we sat briefly to watch an Asian band covering the hits. From Charlie Daniels to the Charleston...they did it all. The guy singing had a MAJOR accent and you couldn't hardly understand the words but he sounded amazing and played the fiddle pretty well too. Then we scooted over to the Rio Lounge for a little Karaoke.
Clay, Clay, Clay. What can I say about Clay. He's got cajones. And despite his pitch problem, he "performed" pretty well- I mean look at his enthusiasm. Ha Ha.
I, on the other hand, was so nervous that my voice shook and quivered as I squeaked out my first song. After Clays second appearance, I figured I'd take another shot at it with a little diddy by JT. Cry Me a River was a big hit...with my husband. He sat right up front and sang with me...so sweet.

Hitting the hot tubs (and eating ice cream) at night was a big thing for us. It was kind of the topper to the night. We didn't make it up very late on most nights. One night we stayed up to watch a movie on the huge screen above the pools outside on the upper decks. Another night we made it to the dance club...but we were there too early...at 11:30 at night if you can believe it. We heard the place didn't get started until 1AM! Whatever!! We can't hang anymore...not that that's a bad thing. At least WE were fairly refreshed in the morning.

The last dinner on the ship. Got a picture of our waiters/servers who made our dinners enjoyable. They danced and sang for us several times. We learned a little about each one which was really interesting. First guy: Indonesia, works 7 months out of the year on the same ship, goes home for other months, makes $42.00/month (we figured this doesn't include tips...which evens it up to a more average wage). Name:Patriottomo (I think)

Other guy(on right):David, don't think he spoke English, was very sweet, and hardworking, smiley.

And, as our (not pictured) Maitre de would say "Bon Appetite". Except you have to say it like he did...

Boooooone (long O) Apa-teeeeeeeet!