USVI-On-Line

Jim, Spending quality time with the kids at this age is a very special time. It was obvious that you and Janie were in your glory to have them there with you. And with all their happy faces, you obviously came through with an unforgettable spring break for them. (Great job Mom and Dad!) I didn't think it was too over-crowded; afterall, we still managed to run into each other here and there. (Maybe it was the Northshore swells that caused everyone to be in town rather than at the beach? We found this to be the case when we went to Skinnys for lunch one day too.) After reading your TR, I'm sorry that I missed Larry's Landing (something to look forward to for next time I guess), though a "pour your own" bar could definitely get dangerous. Well, thanks for the TR, great pics and for being on island the same time as this "female forum member from F.V. CT."

Need to finish up the TR so that mentally I can move on with my "Post St. John '08 Life."

DON'T MOVE ON TOO FAST.........Ali~

Thanks Ali---really appreciated your comments.

By the way, I'd never listened to a lot of Kenny Chesney, but I made a mix of his Caribbean songs for this trip (mostly Be as You Are plus a few others)and now I listen to it all the time because it reminds me of the trip. I realize I'm a little late to just now be catching on, but thought I'd mention given your clever screen name.

I have really enjoyed your reports. It sounds like you had a great time with your family and the rest of the group. We have a large group going with us in June, so I especially enjoyed your insight on all that goes along with that. It sounds like the pick ups at the ferry dock will be a challenge. I wonder if there is any good way around this. (Maybe meet somewhere near the dock ) I need to work on our dinner plans too. I'm trying not to plan too much, but to have a general idea of what we are doing, so we don't have all that indecisiveness when we are there.
Your pictures are wonderful! It looks like everyone had a great time. Thanks for sharing!

Best way we found for pick ups have them take a taxi to the weston and pick them up there

waterguy wrote:Best way we found for pick ups have them take a taxi to the weston and pick them up there

Thank you Tom! We might have to do that.
BTW(off topic) I made marinated flank steak using a recipe that you had posted on the off-topic forum last night. It was fabulous! I served it with some roasted red potatoes, tossed in CBGR and mango salsa. My family all loved it! Thanks

I really enjoyed each one of your installments. Sounds like a great trip. Thanks for sharing your party with us!

Great report!

I'm not going to let my teenage sons (16 and 14) see it, because, so far STJ has been Mom & Dad's "refuge", and I don't want them to know how poorly I'll be treating them if we don't take them and their friends there for spring break when they're in college!

Iowa Guy- Thanks so much for taking the time to post a trip report. They keep me going until Nov.

I'm going to put Larry's Landing on the list...sounds like fun.

I could never travel with so many people. God Bless Ya! I'm sure the college crowd keeps you young though!

Augie---I probably should have mentioned in my report that bringing the college friends was a bit of an accident. It started out as a trip with 3 families, each with their own house. I have 3 daughters, and the 2 older daughters had longtime "significant others." Janie told me to get a 4BR house and each girl would bring their significant other, and my youngest could bring a friend. The oldest daughter ended up not being able to come because she just started a new job. The middle daughter broke up with her boyfriend. That left 3 empty spots. I figured that since we'd already paid for a 4BR house, we might as well fill it up, so I told my daughters to invite a few friends and they could stay there as long as they got an airline ticket. Everyone in my own family had a FF ticket which made it more affordable. A 4th family joined later.

Kygirl---I was just looking back at Rick G's advice from his "Gang of 24" report. He suggested naming a beach of the day, and where he would be for happy hour, and people could join or not. Thats basically what we did, although Janie and I went our own way with our our smaller family group several of the days. Happy hour was optional but nobody ever missed

Such a great ending to a great report. I love all your photos of those happy girls. You and your wife did a great job of organizing such a large group. I have to agree with you on the point you made about the crowds. I found the beach to be much worse than town, probably because there wasn't much beach to sit on with the high tide. And the pick up at the ferry has been a joke for a long time. I'm with you, I always feel like I'm in the wrong place and I'm about to get yelled at.

Thanks again for sharing such a fun time.

I really enjoyed your reports.
It's always the two of us (me & husband) when we go to St. John. Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to go there in a group of good friends & family but never imagined "20"! Good job, Jim. The pictures confirm that you all had a fabulous time.

Thanks for the great TR. It was a crazy crazy week. It was fun running into all of the familiar folks. There was definitely a "Forum Reunion" feel. Larry's Landing? I never would have pictured you there with your turned-up collar polo, but I see it now.

But, that's a tough week to enjoy STJ. There were a freakin' lot of people everywhere, which was compounded by the North Shore being washed out. A lot of them were clueless newbies that would have been happier getting herded to a buffet by the cruise director. I think we'll stay away on future spring breaks.

That being said, it was great to see your crew and the forum gang. The core held together the island time and continue to get it.

See ya in November?

Cheers, RickG

iowaguy wrote:
Kygirl---I was just looking back at Rick G's advice from his "Gang of 24" report. He suggested naming a beach of the day, and where he would be for happy hour, and people could join or not. Thats basically what we did, although Janie and I went our own way with our our smaller family group several of the days. Happy hour was optional but nobody ever missed

Thanks Iowaguy! That is what I'm planning to do. I would love to try and hit 2 beaches/day, somedays, but that may confuse my newbies. I think I may have seen where Rick G had done it though, with the meeting time being around 11:00am. I need to work on that plan. We will definitely have a daily happy hour meeting spot!

Yep, we like to an early beach and a later beach. That way the slow movers can join me for my third snorkel of the day. 11 is a rendezvous time since the early birds are getting hungry and the late folks are ready to get some beach time.

Cheers, RickG

RickG wrote:Yep, we like to an early beach and a later beach. That way the slow movers can join me for my third snorkel of the day. 11 is a rendezvous time since the early birds are getting hungry and the late folks are ready to get some beach time.

Cheers, RickG

Sounds good to me!