It's Sunday morning and after a run and three cups of tea, I have managed the motivation and courage to tackle our outdated blog. Seeing that my last update, however, was some seven months ago, I will no doubt jump around from story to story like I am changing channels on the TV. We have had a number of family visits over the past five months. In November last year, my parents were visiting with us for a couple of weeks before we all flew to San Juan, Puerto Rico to board a Celebrity ship for a seven-night cruise. The cruise that took us to St Martin, Antigua, St. Lucia, and Barbados was a lovely way for the three generations to travel together. We explored the ports together by hiring a car or taxi and then explored the various points of interest.
Returning to St Martin was fun with a drive around the island, stop at Orient Beach, croissants and cafes in Marigot and lunch and shopping in Phillipsburg.
Antigua, is a big destination for sailors where there is a huge race week in the Spring. The island is pretty with some typical Caribbean architecture combined with old churches and scenic vistas. The weather was a little unsettled the day we arrived so we enjoyed a taxi ride and tour where we saw a few of the island highlights.
St Lucia which had been hit but Hurricane Thomas just a few weeks before our visit was lush and volcanic with acres of banana plantations and vegetation. We did see some of the area that was impacted by the storm and heavy rains as we drove up some incredibly steep roads. We also went to the University which was situated high in the hills with some incredible views.
Going to see the shows was fun and the boys enjoyed the music and dancing.
Then it was Christmas which was filled with school concerts, parties and family events. Max's class did Humpty Dumpty and Julian had his first year of doing carol bells.
Over the Christmas school break, Mark's parents came to St Thomas.
Despite Mark and I having to work, the boys got to spend a lot of time with their grandparents swimming and doing beach outings. We took the ferry over to St John and explored some beaches and trails in the area. St John is a beautiful place to explore with 2/3 of the island a national park. We visited Cinnamon Bay - which has trails and a National Park Info Centre. More recently, I had the opportunity to be a parent chaperone with Julian's class to visit this beach and park. There was some very interesting history here and the students had the chance to do a "dig" and then sift through the sand and debris to find artifacts.
It's Sunday morning and after a run and three cups of tea, I have managed the motivation and courage to tackle our outdated blog. Seeing that my last update, however, was some seven months ago, I will no doubt jump around from story to story like I am changing channels on the TV. We have had a number of family visits over the past five months. In November last year, my parents were visiting with us for a couple of weeks before we all flew to San Juan, Puerto Rico to board a Celebrity ship for a seven-night cruise. The cruise that took us to St Martin, Antigua, St. Lucia, and Barbados was a lovely way for the three generations to travel together. We explored the ports together by hiring a car or taxi and then explored the various points of interest. 
Returning to St Martin was fun with a drive around the island, stop at Orient Beach, croissants and cafes in Marigot and lunch and shopping in Phillipsburg. 
Antigua, is a big destination for sailors where there is a huge race week in the Spring. The island is pretty with some typical Caribbean architecture combined with old churches and scenic vistas. The weather was a little unsettled the day we arrived so we enjoyed a taxi ride and tour where we saw a few of the island highlights. 
St Lucia which had been hit but Hurricane Thomas just a few weeks before our visit was lush and volcanic with acres of banana plantations and vegetation. We did see some of the area that was impacted by the storm and heavy rains as we drove up some incredibly steep roads. We also went to the University which was situated high in the hills with some incredible views. 
Barbados is a beautiful island, much more developed with a larger population (around 250,000 people). We had a highly informative (and chatty) driver take us around the island for the day. We visited the oldest church on the island, past all the resorts on the west coast and then over to see the beautiful beaches and vistas on the east coast. We had a great time walking along the beach and finding shells.
The onboard experience was fun for all of us. Among many great memories, Julian and Max in the formal dining room is among my favourite. The boys rose to the occasion getting quite used to having their chairs pulled out for them and all the attention. Julian ordered escargot EVERY night to start - and Max requested his regular tomato salad. 
Going to see the shows was fun and the boys enjoyed the music and dancing.
Over the Christmas school break, Mark's parents came to St Thomas. 
Despite Mark and I having to work, the boys got to spend a lot of time with their grandparents swimming and doing beach outings. We took the ferry over to St John and explored some beaches and trails in the area. St John is a beautiful place to explore with 2/3 of the island a national park. We visited Cinnamon Bay - which has trails and a National Park Info Centre. More recently, I had the opportunity to be a parent chaperone with Julian's class to visit this beach and park. There was some very interesting history here and the students had the chance to do a "dig" and then sift through the sand and debris to find artifacts. 
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