St. Lucia - part IV

We had planned 2 excursions during our week and figured we'd space them out a bit with beach/pool days.  That means today is another resort day!  I'll let the photos do most of the talking. 

Maybe.

We started out with our 3-mimosa breakfast cliffside then hit up the pool.  It is super hot so we pretty much spent the morning in the water on floats. 

We hit up the good ole' pizza place again.  Except this time I changed it up with some sort of BBQ hot dog.  It was gross.  Should have stuck with the pizza!

We had had a pretty lazy morning, so after lunch we decided to get a kayak and go out for a little while in that.  We did the ziploc baggie camera thing again and fortunately there was no falling out of the kayak.

We didn't stay out long, but we just took a quick little ride across the bay where our resort was located and then went back. 

Of course we had to do our foot print pictures on the beach.  (We did our first one of these in Hawaii in 2009 and it is now prominently hung in our house)

After all our kayaking and taking footprint pictures we were kinda exhausted.  Vacation can do that to you, you know.  (on a serious note, these sand pictures took no less than 127 tries - its all very technical.  seriously.  and now that i look at this one, i realize the cropping is all janky so I'll have to fix it again)  So, we spent the afternoon at the pool.

We did manage to get the coveted sunset picture this evening!  (6:15 is the magic time.  this one was taken at 6:20 and by 6:25 you are just plain SOL) Probably my favorite photo from our trip.  At least top 5. 

We had dinner at the most popular (I think) restaurant at our resort -- and it was amazing.  I had the best jerk chicken ever.  Ben had Mahi Mahi and loved it as well.

We also had these fun cocktails -- called a Kiss Kiss.  Very sweet and coconut-y. 

We discovered a whole new 'area' of our resort this evening -- they have this great piano bar area which we enjoyed for quite a while.

Ben even got up and sang with the guy.  Walking in Memphis!  Ben isn't your typical karaoke singer.  I mean, don't get me wrong he LOVES to sing, but the difference is he's actually good. 

Tomorrow's installment was my very FAVORITE day of the whole trip.  Stay tuned so as not to miss any gratuitous vacation pictures! 

St. Lucia - part III

I hope yall aren't getting sick of this yet because I still have 4 more days to go ....

So, when we were initially planning our trip we were very close to going to Costa Rica.  We've actually wanted to go to Costa Rica for several years, really for many reasons.  One of those reasons is for the zip lines.  So, when we found out that St. Lucia also has some excellent zip lines we were all for it.  I have to admit that this is probably one of the things i was most looking forward to about this trip.

So, the day starts early with a bus ride into the rain forest.  Everywhere you go in St. Lucia takes quite a while because the middle of the country is all rain forest and there really aren't many roads (if any) through the middle of the island. 

We arrived in the rain forest, took a few 'before' pictures (that gear isn't terribly flattering to anyone)

Then got suited up

We got a quick lesson on technique.  Not sure if you can tell or not, but I didn't quite get it right on my first try -- you're supposed to be facing forward the entire time and right after takeoff I'm sideways. 

Ben had the camera for the first few lines, but you'll just have to take my word for it that he got it right from the beginning.  (I, on the other hand, ended up having to muscle myself in on the first line or two)

I eventually got it right!

We had a blast.  Really, just such a cool experience. 

There was quite a bit of hiking involved, and I of course kept my eyes peeled for snakes and bugs and such.  Didn't see any though :)  We paused for a little self-portrait.

We had a fantastic time and I think we both agreed that this is something we would definitley do again! 

This was our tour guide, Simple.  He was hilarious .... and also insane because if you look closely there is a tarantula on his head. 

I actually didn't take any pictures the rest of the afternoon, but we went back to the resort for lunch (more grilled pizzas ... yum) and spent the remainder of the day at the pool and beach.

That evening we got fancied up, but not quite in time for a sunset picture.  We had a lovely dinner at the Japanese resturant and then took it back to the pub for more Pitons and Football! 

St. Lucia - part II

We woke up pretty early on our first full day -- as much as I like the idea of sleeping late, I also hate the thought of missing out on anything.  So, we were up early and out the door and on a shuttle to the top of our resort for breakfast.  We ate a leisurely breakfast and enjoyed this view.

I could seriously get used to that.  And also the mimosas .... I'm pretty sure Ben had three EACH morning.  Coffee is to me as Mimosas are to Ben. 

After breakfast, we went to the cliffside pool and enjoyed the same view + pool.  We were up early enough each day to get a prime spot under an umbrella and in the pool in time to get a float.  So, all morning we pretty much lounged in the pool or in our chairs. 

It was Sunday, which is a sacred day for anyone who is into Fantasy Football so around lunch time we made a quick stop by the room so that Ben could set his lineups and I could change into a dry suit. 

After the important lineup decisions were made, we went to one of the beachside resturants for a little lunch.  We had Piton beers (local beer -- very good) and delicious wood-fired pizzas. 

Oh and we saw your dad. 

We saw all these people paddle-surfing while we were eating lunch and it looked like so much fun.  It also looked easy so we figured we would go out and try it that afternoon.  

So here I am ... I look like a natural, right? 

 And here is Ben ...

Because we're ALL about the pictures, we decided we should take our camera out with us so we could get some action shots.  We did put it in a ziploc baggie, but the goal was to NOT fall.  Well, within about 32 seconds of being on the board I fell of course.  Fortunatley Ben had our camera at the time.  We paddled a bit more, he took photos and handed the camera off to me.  Then he fell.  Lesson learned : paddle-surfing isn't as easy as it looks!  (But luck was on our side that day, I suppose)

We spent the afternoon down by the main pool and just relaxed and enjoyed the views.  And also the swim-up bar.  

We weren't ready for dinner in time to get a well-lit picture.  The sunsets are so pretty, but also EARLY.  We enjoyed dinner poolside and then went to the pub for beers and football. 

And Ben won his fantasy game!  (But technically he didn't win until Monday night)

Stay with me .... tomorrow we go on the zip line!

St. Lucia - part I

I still haven't blogged/posted pictures from Labor Day weekend and I'll get to that eventually.  Once Mom sends me the pics :) (hint hint ...)

Anyway, we just returned from a fantastic trip to St. Lucia.   This was a belated 5-year anniversary celebration, so our parents gracefully offered to keep Wyatt while we were away.  He stayed with my parents for the first half of the week and then with Ben's parents the second half.  I'm not sure who had a better vacation -- us or Wyatt .... he was VERY well taken care of, entertained, and spoiled rotten and he loved every minute of it!

I'm breaking this down day-by day .... so its kindof like you're on vacation too, right?  No, seriously though I love being able to look back at recaps of trips and events and this is the best way for me to remember all the details.

We flew out of ATL on Saturday morning prepared for a 4 hour 45 minute flight.  It ended up taking only 4 hours, so total bonus there :) (How does it take so long to get to the caribbean??)  We arrived at the airport and were picked up shortly after landing.  We hopped into a van prepared for another long transfer to our resort.

Our nice driver did stop on the way so we could get a few pictures.  Check the view!  In the interest of full disclosure, this picture was actually taken on our very LAST day on the way back to the airport after we learned to use the panoramic feature on our camera.  But still ... gorgeous, right?

We took photos of each other first.

Then someone offered to take one for us.

They aren't real skilled at using a camera ................

Seriously ... I'm not saying I'm some great photog or anything but I wish I could clone myself to take photos of us because of things like that.  Oh well.

We arrived at the resort and sipped champagne while we waited to check-in to our rooms and looked around the resort for a bit.

We did go out to the pool for a little while, but didn't take any pics of that or of our dinner that evening.  I promise the remainder of our days are much more exciting!

Stranded.

I'll start off this post by telling you about what I did last Wednesday.  I managed to lock myself out of my house.  Fortunately Wyatt was upstairs in his bed, asleep so that was not a huge concern.  What did concern me and cause me a minor freak out was the fact that I had chicken in the oven cooking.  I stepped outside to deadhead some roses really quick and thankfully was on the phone when I walked out.  After my quick freak-out, and reminding myself that I needed to remain calm, I called my parents to come down with a spare key.  My dad was there within 30 minutes, and all was well.  No fire or anything -- just burned chicken (for the record, I ate it anyway .... pretty much lost my appetite after the whole episode).

The following weekend, Ben kicked W and I out of the house for fantasy draft so we went to the lake with my parents.  It was overall a fun weekend and an enjoyable trip to the lake.  We did have a little incident though.

See this picture?   Looks totally innocent, right?

 Well, it was.  We were having a nice little ride -- it was a little cloudy and we were slightly concerned about a rain storm but we weren't too far from the house and figured we could get home ahead of the rain shower.  But then, Wyatt decided that in addition to driving the boat he should play with the keys and he reached up and turned the key mid-ride.

This was no big deal, right?  Dad figured we'd just start the boat back up and head on back home.  That would have been fine, but the battery had died and we couldn't get the boat to crank.  (Also, this is SO unlike my dad - Mr. Cautious - but I don't think he realized that the battery was that weak or he never would have taken the boat out).

Did I do that??

We all freaked out a little bit, but realized that with a 2 year old in tow we needed to get our emotions in check and after a few minutes of trying dad called the marina.  We weren't far away, and they had a towing service that they dispatched right away.

I think the Marina guys were probably there within about 20 or 30 minutes of dad calling, but the thing that took this whole adventure up a notch was the fact that it started POURING rain right about the time the guy got there. Dad and the man changed the battery and Mom, Wyatt, and I huddled under the canopy to avoid the rain.  Poor dad got pelted in the face the whole way back to our dock, but really it could have been much worse. 

You know who didn't care?  This kid .... he was dry and comfortable and went to sleep on the way back. 

I've always heard that wives tale about things happening in 3's so I'm waiting to see what will happen next ....

Online Shopping

Computer access can be a dangerous thing. 

Today, I was innocently going through and deleting my junk email when I came across a 'Target Daily Deals' email.  Naturally, I was curious so I opened it up.  Today's deal was BOGO dresses plus free shipping.  Now if there are two things that entice me they are BOGO ($19.99) and free shipping.  So how was I to resist?

I probably wouldn't have caved this late in the summer to cotton summery dresses but since it stays hot until October AND this is the type of clothing that I typically wear to work AND we have a little tropical vacay planned in just a few weeks AND I've been craving new clothes AND I happened to have a gift card I gave in.  I succumbed to the power of the mighty Target.

And it feels good!

Scuse' the quality of these photos ... they're fuzzy but you can get the gist, right?

I wanted this in red, but by while I was contemplating my purchase it mysteriously disappeared from my cart!

I always need yellow for home football games, so this was an obvious choice!

This was another one that mysteriously left my cart, but I got her back!

I think this will actually work into fall for those days that you don't know what to wear because its cool in the morning and hot by afternoon.  I can put on a little cardigan and BAM! Man I'm starting to long for those days ...

Since it was already free shipping and I was trying to spend the whole gift card, I added a couple pairs of shoes to my cart as well. 

I love wedges lately, but its very hard to find ones that don't look like stripper shoes so when I saw these they went into my cart without much question.  I did violate my rule of not buying shoes online (they never fit right) but I can always return them.

Another violation of that rule.  And are red shoes even fashionable?  These clowns were only $9 so for that I'll take the chance.  But tell me if they're not cool .... I don't want to be all frumpy mom or anything. 

I may not like half this stuff once it comes in, but I guess I can always return it, right?

Wyatt-isms

Wyatt is at the cutest age right now.  I think I probably say that at every age and stage, but there are just so many things he's doing right now that I will want to remember one day.  I'm not very good at writing this stuff in his baby book, so I know this blog will have to serve as my reference when I actually do sit down to catch up with that.  So with that, here is what W is up to lately .....

•  When he wants to be held he comes over to me, holds his hands up and says "hold you" (ahhh ... so sweet.  and its pretty rare when he actually wants to be held)

•  We were looking through a costume catalog the other day and he saw a little boy wearing a prisoner costume.  He pointed to the little boy and said "ZEBRA!!!".  Nope kid ... definitley not a zebra. 

• He has pretty much retired his high chair (which, I guess will give me a little extra space in the kitchen now).  If I tell him its time to eat, or that we're going out to eat he immediately looks at me and says "big boy chair?"  Its taken some punishments (i.e. - putting him in his high chair) but we're pretty much at the point where he will sit and eat his whole meal in the big boy chair.  The caveat to that is that I have to be the only one in the room at meal time, and I have to sit there with him and "coach" him to eat. 

• He is slightly spoiled.  Or maybe naive?  I'm not sure what the right word is, but every time he asks for something that we don't have he tells me to "go buy it".  Here are a couple recent conversations:

                 W:  I want to go beach          
                 K: Sorry, bud, we aren't close to the beach. We'll go again next year
                 W:  buy beach!

                 W: I want cupcake
                 K: We don't have any cupcakes at home. Sorry!
                 W: buy cupcakes!

• He is a negotiator.  If I am trying to bribe him with something I'll say "I'll give you 2 goldfish if you do ____" He will sometimes look up at me and say "pise goldpish" (five goldfish).  However, sometimes this works in my favor as I'll offer him a certain number and he will negotiate with a lower number .  (He knows how to count to 10, but I don't think he totally knows what the numbers mean)

• Another example:  I usually warn him when he's about to have to do something that I know   he won't want to like go inside, or leave the pool, or go upstairs for bath -- I typically give him a 5, 3, and 1 minute warning.  So now, after he's had his warnings and its time to move on and I say "come on Wyatt, time to go get a bath" he will look up at me and say "one minute" or "pise (five) minutes".   

• He loves his treats.  And gets them pretty much on a daily basis for various things (although to him one jelly bean is a major treat).  Anyway, several times a day he'll look up at me with the sweetest, most innocent smile and say "treat??" Its hard not to give it to him, but I usually wait until I need to bribe him!

• If he asks for a skittle (we have a jar in the guest bedroom) and I say no, he will say "one?"  As if to say "just one skittle momma, what does that hurt?" For the record, I usually do give in to that ....

• I don't know of any nice way to say this other than that he is starting to get slightly bossy.  He tells me where to sit, what cars I can (and can't) play with, etc.  If I'm trying to pick him up to make him do something he doesn't want to he'll say "momma back".  And sometimes, he'll tell me "momma go bye-bye".  He's a handfull! 

• He likes to "take".  Whenever we go anywhere -- from inside to out, upstairs to down, and from the car into the store, etc he has to take something.  Sometimes its his water, sometimes its his bagel, sometimes its a toy.  Sometimes all 3.  But he always takes something -- even to bed!

• He LOVES to jump on the bed.  Several times a day we hear "Wyatt jump bed" or "I want jump bed" ... and we typically let him as long as we can supervise.   

• He has an elephant's memory.  It amazes me.  Last night I took away one of his cars because he hit me with it.  (He acted like I had killed his dog).  This morning the first thing he said was "need car" and pointed to where I had left it on the counter.   I gave it to him because that is the rule - he gets toys back the next day.  As soon as I handed it to him he said "no no.  no hit momma" At least I know that he understands why he was punished ....

• For the last few weeks, his favorite books are "Llama Llama Mad at Mama" and "Very Hungry Caterpillar" .... we read these every. single. night.  

• Because I love his mis-pronunciations ... I need to keep track of them. There are probably more but these are my favorite ones ...


• Horse = ro or rody
• Motorcycle = quey or motorquey
• Umbrella = umbre-bre
• Five = pise
• Firetruck = poitruck (he cant say his f's yet ... which is good since his daddy slipped up and used the f word the other day ... AND WYATT REPEATED IT!)
• yellow = dedow 
• fall down = pall down
• hamburger =  hamburburber
• chicken = cinken