St. Thomas

This is the documentation of one of the best weeks of my life, therefore I want to remember every minute of it! Beware... this is a humongous post!  You have been warned...

Since we have never taken a trip before I knew our 10 year anniversary was a great excuse for our first one!  We planned for months, trying to figure out where to go and what to do.  We were talking to our friends, Rich and Katie, and casually suggested they come with us!  They agreed!  I was so excited they were coming with us because a. they are so much fun and b. Katie served her mission in Puerto Rico and could show us all the fun stuff to do!  We began planning everything and it all just fell into place so well.  My sweet mama came to watch the kids.  She is the best!

We woke up super early on May 7 to catch our 6:50 AM flight.  Here we are on our way!

We had a layover in Florida for a couple hours.  We were messing with Face Juggler and were all DYING over this picture... 

We got to Puerto Rico in the evening, and then had to catch a plane to St. Thomas.  Only it did not go so seamlessly.  It was about an hour and a half late, and for a minute there we weren't sure if we would be leaving on our plane that night.  When they called our flight number we were so relieved.

Here we are landed in St. Thomas, the first main stop on our trip!

We drove to our hotel in the dark, on the wrong side of the road!  It was so crazy!  Hard to get used to.  We stayed at Marriott Morning Star.  The rooms are set up like 3 story condos.  This is what it looked like when we walked up to ours, except it was dark.  Of course we had to go take a walk along the beach first thing!  The water was really warm which is something I've never felt before!  We just lounged around in beach chairs for a while, then went to bed.

The balcony on the left is ours.  It was like a dream waking up with the ocean right there.

Here's the view from our balcony

We got up, got breakfast at an awesome breakfast buffet in the marriott, then got ready for our day trip.  We were going to go zip lining!  We got really lost finding our way there.  The maps don't even work there and neither did our GPS's, so we had to rely on the zipline workers to get us there!  When we got there it was just our luck that a HUGE disney cruise was there for the day so there were a lot of people, so lots of waiting.

on our way up the hill in this crazy jeep thing

There were the most amazing views up there.  The water was crazy pretty.  The zipline guides pointed out some famous people's houses

This was our last zipline of 6 and was super high!  You basically drop down a couple stories before you start gliding.  It was a little scary, but super fun once you just jump!

 We drove down to Magen's bay and it was the most beautiful beach I had ever been to.  The water was so clear and calm, and the sand was white.  We rented some snorkeling gear from our hotel that morning, so we took it out.  We didn't see much since it's not really a snorkeling destination, but we did find lots of pretty shells which is what I love!!  I just love snorkeling so much, it's so relaxing.  Then the boys did their own thing, and Katie and I bobbed around in the water.  I didn't know I could tread water for that long, but we did it forever!  It was so fun and a great workout!

Here is Magen's bay from the zipline...

When we got there it was raining, but soon after the clouds went away and it was nice and sunny.  So perfect.

 We went to a grocery store on our way back and bought some crazy expensive food!  Scott bought a $6 bag of doritos!  haha I tried to talk him out of it

We ate some dins while watching this cruise ship leave the island, and then spent the rest of the evening just hanging out.  We were all pretty tired.  I read a book on the balcony with the beach right there and it was heavenly.

 The next morning, we headed for some breakfast at the buffet again, and on our way there we saw this Iguana just hanging out on the side of the path!  I thought it was pretty cool since it was the first I had seen, but come to find they were ALLLL over the place you just had to know where to look!

This day was the most relaxing day of my life, and one of the best days as well!  We first went snorkeling right by our hotel and we actually saw a lot of pretty fish and all kinds of other sea life.  It was awesome!  It was so relaxing holding hands and finding things together.  I could have done it alllll day!  One of the highlights of our marriage I think!

I love this picture of Katie and Rich!  haha

We ate lunch at Coco Joes, which is right next to our beach and hotel room so we were super lazy!  I loved it!

 After lunch we just hung out on the beach for hours.  We layed out for a while and I took a nap, then we relaxed in the cabanas.  Hard life.  We also swam for a long time, and the boys boogie boarded in the 1 foot waves.  It was hilarious and they were talking like they were pro surfers.  

Here's our beach.  It was overcast for part of the day, but then sunny!

For dinner we ate at Coco Joes again.  Then we spent the rest of the evening in the pools and jacuzzis talking and playing games.

Katie and I hanging out in the pool while the boys were exploring

 Here we are in the "adult" infinity edge pool

The boys enjoying the view the next morning (I love Rich's ponytail!)

Funny story... we saw these adorable asian tourists that were making hearts like this in the pool taking pictures of each other.  The hilarious part is how long they stood there making their hearts... in the exact same spot, doing the exact same pose.  It was so funny... and so awkward...

Last time walking through our beloved Coco Joes...

 Since we had some time before our flight, we decided to take some pictures, and then go exploring.

Then we went into town and stopped at some shops, and while we were walking we talked to a local guy who told us a bunch of stuff to do, and then invited us to his restaurant for lunch.  So we walked up the "99 steps," which was so pretty...

Then we went to Blackbeard's Castle.  It wasn't even open that day (no cruise ships in), and no one was around so we just walked in, and went right up the castle!  See the Iguana on the ground next to Blackbeard?

It was an awesome view up there!  Such a gorgeous place...

They had a statue of Jack Sparrow.  It was fun to read about the different pirates

Then we ate lunch at the restaurant and it was really yummy!  I had a sandwich with mango and a yummy passion fruit smoothie.  Then we headed to the airport.  It was SUCH a good trip to St. Thomas that I would have been satisfied going home then, but it was SUPER fun knowing we still had 5 more days in Puerto Rico!  Bring it on!  Here's the view from our airplane of St. Thomas...