Back from the Beach

As most of you know, we just got back from spending a week in St. Thomas. Thankfully, we all made it home safely after driving on the opposite side of the road all week…what a scare at times! It was truly a wonderful vacation!! Getting up this morning for work was extra difficult since I was getting used to not setting an alarm and just waking up whenever I felt like it…not to mention that all last week I could just wake up and go directly to the beach! On Monday, the whole Kerby clan (me, Tim, Matt, Ian, Val, Steve, and Karin) went on a seven hour boat trip that included two stops for swimming/snorkeling off the coast of St. John (I saw a sting ray!) and a wonderful lunch on board the boat. I had only tried snorkeling once before (on our honeymoon) and was a little reluctant about spending a full day on a boat, but it turned out to be a fabulous day!

One day, Karin, Val, and I drove into town to do some shopping while Matt and Tim were playing golf. It was such an interesting shopping area with high end stores as well as a vendor tent area where you could try to bargain with the locals. Most of the stores were jewelry stores and all three of us ended up with some jewelry by the end of the trip. While Steve and Karin took a dinner cruise, the rest of us found a local restaurant called Iggie’s, where we ate on the beach and had some of the best crab legs ever!! I’ve never seen Ian eat so much! On another day, we all went to Coki Beach where we could snorkel from the beach and we also walked to the nearby Coral World aquarium where we say sharks, barracuda, sting rays, etc. Ian loved this experience!

I probably spent the majority of the vacation lying on my beach towel out at the beach and I am proud to say that I have the best “tan” I’ve ever had! Of course, now the peeling begins! I have to share one of the numerous cute things that Ian said to me last week…when I was showing him that my nose was red and was starting to peel, he said, “Oh, just like a banana!” I said, “Well, sort of.” Then later that same day, he asked me if my nose was going to peel off…as if the whole thing would disappear! Part of his questioning was probably due to the fact that Steve decided to shave off his moustache mid-week so his snorkel mask fit better. Ian kept talking about Papa’s missing moustache and asking us where he left it!! Don’t you love three-year old’s thought processes?! One of the most “interesting” things about St. Thomas is that there are iguanas and lizards everywhere. They especially love to hang out with you on the beach! Believe it or not, I didn’t freak out about them, but I definitely had my eye on them the whole time, making sure they didn’t get too close.

Not every vacation is perfect…we had a few issues with the resort and the mosquitoes loved biting me and Tim (I think we both ended up with over twenty bites…not fun!), but all in all it was a great trip! Now back to reality!!