Trip Report 4/24-5/1 Part 1
Posted: Wed May 04, 2011 1:58 pm
To start, I'll tell you hubby and I planned this trip (our third, but first with kids) in the dead of winter with many feet of snow on the ground, when all we would do is dream of St. John. We decided to travel before our youngest child turned two and we could get away without purchasing a ticket. One of my most favorite St. John memories in laying on Trunk Beach and watching my daughter kick my belly from the inside for the first time, and we really wanted to share this experience with them. We knew we wouldn't get to do some of our favorite things like hike and snorkel, but just being on St. John would be enough. We picked a very child friendly villa - T'ree Palms in Fish Bay. I mailed down a package two weeks before with snacks, mac and cheese, their favorite oatmeal, and juice and milk boxes, and also an inflatable pool to use as a bath tub. Finally, our day arrived and off we went...
Day One- long travel day. Up at 4:30 am, nervous for the flight, but we all did fine and both little ones fell asleep on the plane. Called Discount Car Rental as soon as we had our luggage. They were definitely on island time, and we sat in the median waiting while everyone else drove away. When they arrived, we had a brand new Jeep Liberty with less than 2000 miles on it, but it was missing the car seat. Went to the office, picked up the brand new car seat, signed some papers, and headed to Red Hook for the car barge. The trip was easy, and the car barge was a piece of cake. We definitely recommend renting on STT, but the paperwork did indicate you were on your own if you have a problem on STJ. Headed to T'ree Palms, met our host, dropped our stuff, and headed to Starfish for food supplies, and the market across the way for Painkiller supplies. Came "home" and made dinner, took a dip in the pool, the kids passed out, and painkillers for us while admiring the view and then we passed out early too.
Day 2- Our hosts very graciously let us borrow a booster seat for our little guy to contain him at meal time. Otherwise, he was too busy looking for lizards on the deck and checking to see if the bananas on the tree were ripe. After breakfast, we headed to Hawksnest Beach to get our feet wet. I thought it would be a good choice as it was one of the closest, easy parking, facilities, etc. But, it was too rough for the kids and not so good snorkeling for hubby, so we headed home before lunch. After the little guy's nap, we headed to the Westin for a playground play date with our on-island friends.
Day 3- Made plans with friends for a beach day. After breakfast on the deck, we met up at Maho. Both our little guy and theirs napped on the beach, and then we all had a blast swimming with the fish, building sandcastles, and enjoying the scenery. Had a picnic lunch on the beach, then some more beach fun.
Our friends headed off to go apartment hunting, and we headed to the villa for some pool time.
Somehow we were half way through our trip and we started dreaming of how we could make it so we didn't have to go home ever. Even our 4 year old was saying "I love vacation!"
More to come after I do some more unpacking...
Sorry, didn't know I could make them bigger. Hope it's better.
Day One- long travel day. Up at 4:30 am, nervous for the flight, but we all did fine and both little ones fell asleep on the plane. Called Discount Car Rental as soon as we had our luggage. They were definitely on island time, and we sat in the median waiting while everyone else drove away. When they arrived, we had a brand new Jeep Liberty with less than 2000 miles on it, but it was missing the car seat. Went to the office, picked up the brand new car seat, signed some papers, and headed to Red Hook for the car barge. The trip was easy, and the car barge was a piece of cake. We definitely recommend renting on STT, but the paperwork did indicate you were on your own if you have a problem on STJ. Headed to T'ree Palms, met our host, dropped our stuff, and headed to Starfish for food supplies, and the market across the way for Painkiller supplies. Came "home" and made dinner, took a dip in the pool, the kids passed out, and painkillers for us while admiring the view and then we passed out early too.
Day 2- Our hosts very graciously let us borrow a booster seat for our little guy to contain him at meal time. Otherwise, he was too busy looking for lizards on the deck and checking to see if the bananas on the tree were ripe. After breakfast, we headed to Hawksnest Beach to get our feet wet. I thought it would be a good choice as it was one of the closest, easy parking, facilities, etc. But, it was too rough for the kids and not so good snorkeling for hubby, so we headed home before lunch. After the little guy's nap, we headed to the Westin for a playground play date with our on-island friends.
Day 3- Made plans with friends for a beach day. After breakfast on the deck, we met up at Maho. Both our little guy and theirs napped on the beach, and then we all had a blast swimming with the fish, building sandcastles, and enjoying the scenery. Had a picnic lunch on the beach, then some more beach fun.
Our friends headed off to go apartment hunting, and we headed to the villa for some pool time.
Somehow we were half way through our trip and we started dreaming of how we could make it so we didn't have to go home ever. Even our 4 year old was saying "I love vacation!"
More to come after I do some more unpacking...
Sorry, didn't know I could make them bigger. Hope it's better.
