usvi-on-line
What's your childs opinion?
No travel planner. I'm comfortable doing the planning myself. My daughters both do partial French immersion. Half of their day from Grades 1-6 is in French. My oldest is taking AP French as a junior in High School and has three years of German. I speak all languages at a mangez/boisson/sommeil essen/trinken/zimmer eat/drink/sleep level, even if it just involves hand signals. My children are frequently appalled at my "atrocious accent." Son tout bon!pjayer wrote:RickG, are you planning the trip yourself or are you going through a travel planner? How many years has your daughter had French? The school where little Ayer went until 8th grade starts French in kindergarten, and it's always been one of her favorite classes.
I know if I give them a choice, the answer is going to be St. John. The $US does still rather suck against the Euro.
Cheers, RickG
S/V Echoes - Coral Bay - St. John, VI
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chicagoans
- Posts: 1586
- Joined: Thu Jan 18, 2007 2:51 pm
- Location: IL
We've only been to STJ once, and my kids loved it and love island vacations in general.
I guess you could say we have them brainwashed:
They will correct people who say "St. Johns." When we pass a local church called St. Johns, they say it's spelled wrong because of the 's'.
For my son's school 'family tree' project he made a palm tree (the ancestors were all coconuts - fairly appropriate!)
My daughter's 12th birthday party is this weekend and it's an island theme (murder mystery party on an island -- her choice.) For the last 2 nights we've cut out and painted 9' plywood palm trees that will go in our front yard.
My son (9) is convinced that the place he really wants to see is Fiji. I'm not sure how that started but he mentions going to Fiji at least once a week. I better bring him there someday!
I guess you could say we have them brainwashed:
They will correct people who say "St. Johns." When we pass a local church called St. Johns, they say it's spelled wrong because of the 's'.
For my son's school 'family tree' project he made a palm tree (the ancestors were all coconuts - fairly appropriate!)
My daughter's 12th birthday party is this weekend and it's an island theme (murder mystery party on an island -- her choice.) For the last 2 nights we've cut out and painted 9' plywood palm trees that will go in our front yard.
My son (9) is convinced that the place he really wants to see is Fiji. I'm not sure how that started but he mentions going to Fiji at least once a week. I better bring him there someday!
I work in the travel industry which has given my 9 and 6 year old the opportunity to become very well traveled kids. They have been all over the US & Caribbean. Hands down they love St. John more than any other place they have been. They too have picked St. John over Disney. This past March we were on a cruise which made a stop on St. Thomas. We were with several family members and friends. The kids all wanted to go to Coral World which has a "Shark Experience". You get in a tank filled with small sharks for about 30 minutes while the sharks swim all around you. Doing the shark experience resulted in us not having any time to get to St. John. Once the kids finished the shark experience, all they kept saying the rest of the afternoon was how they wished we were on St. John. They didn't say anything about St. John on any other island, but they knew how close we were while on St. Thomas and were bummed we were didn't make it to St. John. Within 2 weeks of our return pf the cruise we had already booked our villa for April of 2009.
Unfortunately, I have one kid who loves STJ and one who hates it! (blasphemy, I know!) This makes planning vacations difficult as my son, husband and I would go to STJ every chance we could. DD won't ever go again. In fact, she is staying with the neighbors next summer when we go to celebrate DS's graduation.
Just to clarify, she doesn't like beaches, sand or water. So, obviously, STJ isn't her thing. She LOVES Disney World and would go there every year if she could. We went to Siesta Key this past summer and she never set a toe on the beach or in the pool.
Oh well. When she graduates she'll get to pick where we go and I'm guessing it will be WDW, again.
Just to clarify, she doesn't like beaches, sand or water. So, obviously, STJ isn't her thing. She LOVES Disney World and would go there every year if she could. We went to Siesta Key this past summer and she never set a toe on the beach or in the pool.
Oh well. When she graduates she'll get to pick where we go and I'm guessing it will be WDW, again.
MCDomzal
My first born has been to STJ 3 times. She's 6 (at 3, 5 and 6).
My second has been to STJ 2 times. He's 19 months (at 10 months and 18 months).
They'll be going with me in June 09 as well.
The younger just likes to GO GO GO so anywhere we take him he's happy.
The older loves STJ. I think its the combination of family time/togetherness, the beaches, and the critters. She LOVES the critters.
She has suggested that we just move there because its always warm and we'd have a pool
My second has been to STJ 2 times. He's 19 months (at 10 months and 18 months).
They'll be going with me in June 09 as well.
The younger just likes to GO GO GO so anywhere we take him he's happy.
The older loves STJ. I think its the combination of family time/togetherness, the beaches, and the critters. She LOVES the critters.
She has suggested that we just move there because its always warm and we'd have a pool
How's the AP French going for her? TAD will have that next year too. This year is her first AP class...European history. It's been a big wake-up call. She actually has to think. hehe I'm impressed your daughter has added German. Mine is taking a Mandarin course this year from a young Chinese woman. The teacher left her 3 year old son and husband at home to come to the US for a year. TAD loves it.RickG wrote:No travel planner. I'm comfortable doing the planning myself. My daughters both do partial French immersion. Half of their day from Grades 1-6 is in French. My oldest is taking AP French as a junior in High School and has three years of German. I speak all languages at a mangez/boisson/sommeil essen/trinken/zimmer eat/drink/sleep level, even if it just involves hand signals. My children are frequently appalled at my "atrocious accent." Son tout bon!pjayer wrote:RickG, are you planning the trip yourself or are you going through a travel planner? How many years has your daughter had French? The school where little Ayer went until 8th grade starts French in kindergarten, and it's always been one of her favorite classes.
I know if I give them a choice, the answer is going to be St. John. The $US does still rather suck against the Euro.
Cheers, RickG
And back on topic, I forgot to mention on my other post that she has uploaded a lot of her STJ and BVI pictures to her Facebook page. She also has quite a collection of VI t-shirts, petroglyph earrings and a petroglyph bracelet she wears often. She's not as obsessed as her parents, but she loves STJ, too.
When the end of the world comes, I want to be in Kentucky, because everything there happens 20 years after it happens anywhere else. – Mark Twain
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Jessicasmom
- Posts: 7
- Joined: Tue Feb 13, 2007 5:56 pm
- Location: North GA
We have been going to the Virgin Islands, primarly St. John since our honeymoon in 1991. Our daughter was born in 2002 and she has been to St. John when she was 11 months, 3 years, 4 years, 5 years and she will have her 7th birthday on St. John in April. (sad to say we missed this year,we had a cabin built in North Georgia instead)Even though she will not get to have a party with all of her friends and gifts - She thinks it is going to be so cool to have her birthday on St. John. She loves St. John and like many of the other post, has drawn lots of pictures related to being on St. John. Once I was talking to a neighbor and told her we getting ready to go on vacation to St. John - she said - oh, will this be your daughters 1st time to go. I said no, this will be her 3rd trip. She said - can you adopt me. Another time we where talking to a family and they said they were going to the beach. Our daughter said - are you going to St. John. She has been to beaches other than on St. John, but she always thinks of St. John when she hears the word beach.[/img]