5/07/15 Thursday
Carolyn and Holly arrived at our place yesterday afternoon. Taylor and Blake were excited to have them spend the night.
Brett and I got up at 5 am and drove to the Waterloo airport. Our flight was on time and going through security was a breeze, smallest airport EVER! We boarded our flight at 6:10 am, departed at 6:30. Got to Chicago early and made our tight connection. We boarded the plane, it was a non stop flight to San Juan Puerto Rico. After we had been sitting there for almost an hour, the pilot finally spoke. He said there was a fuel issue and we had to deplane, but the good news is that they have a plane ready to go for us at a different gate. So we deplaned and walked to the new gate, H9. We met a nice couple from Michigan, Patty and Ken. Brett sat by Armando on the plane. He was really nice, from Mexico, but his wife is from Puerto Rico. Our seats were 30 A and B right next to the toilets for the 4 hour flight :( We realized as we were flying that we actually lose an hour with the time zones. So thinking we still had a chance, we soon figured out we already missed our flight from San Juan to St. Thomas at 3:30.
Landed in San Juan at 4:45, talked to the American Airlines lady at the ticket desk. She gave us a hotel voucher for the airport hotel and food vouchers for $12 each. Brett and I were so disappointed. I was sad and Brett was mad. Lost a night in St. John with Bryce and Jenny and instead had to eat and sleep in the airport. Tried to make the best of the situation; after all we were on vacation and kid less. So I took a shower, which was lukewarm at best, I wasn't able to enjoy my half hour HOT spa time. Meanwhile Brett was hitting up the airport bar, and I thought bringing me a drink. An hour later he appears, feeling no pain with a pathetic looking sex on the beach in plastic to go cup.I asked why he was so late, he told me there was a guy at the bar also from the states that wanted to buy him a couple beers. No problem, I'll wait here in the crappy small airport hotel room by myself trying hard not to cry. THIS IS SO FUN RIGHT!! I paid for this, I wanted this?? Kidless, husbandless, friendless, St. Johnless, Bryce and Jennyless, beachless.
Ok I'm done feeling sorry for myself. Tomorrow oh tomorrow will make up for today! We crashed at 8:15.
5/08/15 Friday
We woke up at 4:45 am which felt like 3:45 to us. The hotel manager told us to make sure and get up early to leave plenty of time for security and etc. So we got down to the American Airlines ticketing agent, which now we actually needed to talk to the Seaborne Agents, who by the way weren't even there yet. We looked at each other like what? The nice American Airline agent said, "Yeah they'll arrive around 5:30." Perfect, why did we wake up SO early, when I only had to take an elevator down to my gate? Standing there still trying to be positive in another bad situation, I saw a café shop, well actually it was the only café store in the airport. So I decided it was time to get an Americano, which was labeled a cup of coffee here. It was the smallest cup of coffee I'd ever seen, and definitely stronger than our typical American grounds. Just what I needed, it was delicious.
While we waited another 30 minutes for our ticketing agents to show up for work, I sipped my San Juan super strong coffee dreaming I was on a beach. We are so so SO close. The Seaborne crew finally arrived and they made up for Brett's negativity. They were really laid back and funny, I know they thought we were entertaining. The guy tried to confirm our tickets, but he had to wait and get approval from his boss who just happened to not be responding on instant messaging. Ahhh. Finally, by 6:15 am we had our confirmed tickets on the short flight to St. Thomas. We got on the plane at 6:35 am. You had to walk outside to it, I was really excited. It was big enough it didn't scare me and I knew if we were boarding this plane I would soon be at St. John with Jenny and Bryce sipping drinks on the beach. Get out of my way I'm climbing on, get me on that PLANE!
Shortest flight I've been on besides the one to St. Barts on our honeymoon. Twenty minutes total with take off and landing. We touched down in St. Thomas at 7:25 am. Rushed to the taxi area pickup and met our friend Emmett. He had lived on St. Thomas for 2 years. He told us everything in the van ride to the ferry. Which was terrifying, people here on the island are very laid back and slow to work EXCEPT when they are driving. Watch out we might die! It looked like we were going to have an accident three times. But we survived, no crashes today. The ride took 40 minutes since it was on the other side of the island to Red Hook Ferry. We had plenty of time before the 9 am ferry took off. So I put my contacts in freshened up in the ferry bathroom and Brett and I walked over to the Red Hook Ferry bar. We ordered a painkiller and bloody mary, because of course 6am to 10 am is happy hour here. What?!? YES! Feeling no stress anymore and walking onto the top of the ferry. We finally got super excited, we could see St. John and the ferry ride was only 15 minutes. Brett had turned on his cell to text Brian and Bryce and Jenny that we had made it! They arrived one minute after we got there. So SO happy to see them!!!! I can't emphasize that enough :) Our bed and breakfast is amazing, beautiful, lush plants and flowers all around. Our view from the balcony is breathtaking.
You see St. Thomas island and a huge part of the ocean. We also got the balcony with the sunset view! Brett and I made it just in time before the breakfast ended. They serve fresh fruit, hard boiled eggs, french toast, bagels, and freshly squeezed juice. We gobbled it down quickly, since we were all eager to get to the beach. We got beach ready and carried the chairs back pack style Lindholm Estates also provided. The first beach we went to was Honeymoon beach. It's close to our place, just a small hike away. The walk wasn't too bad, a little rocky but mostly downhill.
Honeymoon beach was perfect. White soft sand and turquoise clear water. I guess we lounged by the best snorkeling in the area.
Brett and Bryce enjoyed looking at the fish and coral with goggles that Jenny brought. While Jenny and I laid out and caught up on life. Our two favorite people to vacation with, we're going to make this a yearly or every other year tradition. Jenny and I walked to the mini snack bar café and the guy there told us to go to Caneel bay for lunch. So after laying out a little longer, we packed up and headed down to Caneel bay for lunch. It wasn't busy at all and the waitress, Hannah, gave us the best seats in the restaurant. Roof top lounge overlooking the ocean with a pavilion to shade us and a love seat and comfy chairs to sit on. 
They are known for their sushi. They ordered the Geisha roll and I got the hummus, side salad, and pomegranate mojito. Everything was delicious and I even tried to sushi, my first time ever! It wasn't bad. After lunch we hiked down to Caneel Bay beach and basically had it to ourselves. The man working there was sent by his boss to tell us we couldn't use our chairs on their beach. So we packed up and headed back to our beach, Honeymoon. This time Jenny and I put the goggles on and swam around looking for fish. It was heaven. I love being in salt water, you float so much easier and it felt wonderful. The water was a perfect refreshing temperature not too cold and not to warm. The boys smoked cigars and were feeling no pain. They started throwing the frisbee and football. Jenny and I enjoyed watching them be brothers. I haven't seen Brett this happy and relaxed for a long time.
Around 4 we decided to pack up and head back to our place. I was leading the way and took a wrong turn, so the hike ended up taking longer. The poor guys were chaffing bad too, oops :( It wasn't too much longer and we were back in our rooms, where we enjoyed taking cold showers. Ahhh. Our bathrooms reminds me of St. Bart's and our bathroom in the Villa there...walk in shower, window in the shower. I can't get over these views!
We got dress and started the walk down the hill to the restaurant Beach Bar. Emmett told us it was really good and they have happy hour from 4-7.
Jenny and I got painkillers and ordered chips and salsa and guacamole. The boys had set up a nice table overlooking the ocean on the beach. They ran to the market to get beer and snacks and when they got back we ordered dinner. Jenny and I shared the fish and chips, it was so good. The boys had burgers. Their hot sauce was delicious mostly curry flavored. After dinner we walked downtown to the bamboo shop, where Emmett said he bought his island hook bracelet. I tried them on and really liked them, but not for $250. We got ice cream on the way back at St. John's Scoops. The guy made homemade waffle cones and you could smell them all the way down the street. Passion fruit and guava flavors were the best. The hike up the street was a little scary in the dark. Jenny was prepared and had a flashlight, so Bryce led the way with that. Wiped after a full day in the sun we went to bed. I slept like a baby.
5/09/15 Saturday
Woke up at 5 am, had my quiet time read 2 Peter and caught up in this journal. I wrote about 20 pages overlooking the ocean on our private balcony. It was so peaceful, so calming just to watch the sky light up with the sun. I liked watching the ferrys come across the ocean from St. Thomas. So SO excited to be here!
We went down to the patio for breakfast. I just love all the landscaping they did here. The trellises with pretty pink flowers, all kinds of plants and trees and cacti, it's so pretty. Jenny and I talked to Suzanne and she gave us the names of beaches to snorkel at. We got the snorkel gear, changed into suits, and packed up. Then got a taxi to drive us all the way to Water lemon bay.
It was a long drive at least 35 minutes with very cool views of the sweet beaches and old ruins on the way. After the taxi driver dropped us off, we started the walk to Water lemon bay. We didn't realize how far of a walk it was, .08 miles took us about 30 minutes to get there. The closer we got to the beach the less impressed we were. We met an older couple on the path there and they said the best snorkeling was right in water lemon bay, all the sea turtles were there. The boys were pretty eager to start snorkeling, but Jenny and I were taking our sweet time.
We followed the boys around the shoreline and kept close to the rocks. We saw a couple turtles, a sting-ray, purple coral, and rainbow colored fish. They wanted to snorkel all the way around the little island too. So we kept up with them. I was proud of myself. I was also trying to impress Brett now since I conquered my fear of snorkeling a year ago in Mexico. Jenny and I were gagging up salt water, getting splashed in the face with waves, and bit by sea lice. Once we finally made it around the little island, I was ready for LAND! Us girls started the long swim back towards the beach, I think it was about a mile swim. We enjoyed the views on the way. I was pretty much done with my snorkel gear and wanted to see everything around me without it on.
Got water, beer, and granola bars and collapsed in our beach chairs while we waited for the guys to get back. Not long after they came back, this really long barracuda swam right to Jenny's feet and I couldn't help but scream. And when I say scream, it was probably the loudest I had ever screamed in public. I couldn't help it, the scream came from deep inside me, it was my instant reaction. We scooted our chairs back. The island squirrel found our bag of peanuts in Brett's back pack and took it out and ate them all. We didn't stay too long at this beach, because it wasn't as nice as the other ones we've been on. A couple on a huge sailboat came all the way from Sweden, the sailboat's name was Old Mermaid. I can't imagine sailing that far. We packed up and walked back to the road where the taxi driver said to wait. So we waited, and waited, and waited. It was probably 45 minutes later that we decided it'd be best to start walking back. Did I mention it was hot, and we were kind of lost. We just kept walking back in the direction of our bed and breakfast. Finally a taxi saw us and asked if we were lost or stranded. YEP pretty much. He was doing a tour and said he'd come back to pick us up. So we walked a little further and kept coming to forks in the road not knowing which road to take. So we waited again for the taxi to come pick us up. Thankfully we heard the taxi's horn, he saw us! Our saving grace, we were SO relieved to get a ride. I really enjoyed riding in his taxi. Richie continued his tour and told us all about the Island's beaches, ruins, history, and more. I found it very interesting. Got a few cool pics at the landing spot of Trunk Bay. 
He dropped us off at Lindholm Estates and we went to our rooms to freshen up. We wanted to check out Solomon beach which was right next to Honeymoon beach. So we trekked down to Solomon. Jenny and I were in heaven, the boys really liked it too. They snorkeled and we laid out laughing until I was crying. We did some yoga, swam, and searched for sea shells for Taylor. This was my favorite beach, it had the softest sand and coolest palm trees right on the beach.
5/10/15 Sunday
Happy Mother's Day to me! I woke up early again and wrote emails, had my quiet time and wrote about yesterday in my journal. Jenny came over and handed me a bright pink present, they were beautiful unique silver hoops...I LOVE them. Brett gave me a card that Taylor and Blake made. It had their thumb prints on it. Seeing those almost made me cry. I do miss them. We had another wonderful day touring St. John. Today we were smart though and rented a jeep for the day. Brett and Bryce went to go get the jeep while Jenny and I packed up.
We were going to Trunk Bay early before the charter boats came. Suzanne didn't think we'd like it, since it's a touristy beach...but turns out it was one of the best beaches oh and we ARE tourists :) By far the largest beach we've been to. Brett and I took a long walk on the edge of the waves up and down the beach. I drew a heart with our initials B & K. Bryce and Jenny threw a football and also took a walk.
Brett and I jumped into the ocean, it was a perfect spot for a swim. The beach wasn't very busy and we were able to get some good pictures.
Trunk Bay even had a café snack bar. So Bryce and Jenny went and got a guava smoothie and she and I shared that. We were still hungry, so we had the boys order lunch too. Brett got fish sticks and fries and I was scared that the seagulls would eat it because I had just witnessed one swooping in and taking a guys burger from his hand. So we ate lunch at the picnic tables quick and shortly after that packed up and headed to Maho Beach. Another amazing beach. This one is shallow and all the locals with little kids come here to teach them how to swim. It has smooth black stone near the edge of the water, looks really pretty. We found the perfect spot in the shade. Jenny and I swam a little and laid out, but not too long since the sun was pretty intense and we were there during the hottest part of the day. We joined the boys in the shade and read a couple magazines. I enjoyed watching a 2 year old little boy run up and down the beach, he reminded me of Blake. They were locals, the other baby was only 2 months old and the mom held him naked butt on her hip :) We packed up again and I needed to use the bathroom, so we drove by Cinnamon bay and saw restaurant signs and shops. Pulled in and found a big pavilion in the woods with a kitchen, café, and smoothie area. PERFECT! I ordered onion rings and a Caesar salad and peach smoothie. Bryce said a sweet prayer for mother's day, almost made me cry again. The onion rings were the best onion rings ever, or maybe I thought so because I was starving. Cinnamon bay is also a camp ground. I met a couple from Virginia, about our age. They told me they had been camping the past few nights, I can't imagine doing that in this heat. No thanks, I'll take AC and a balcony with sunset view, thank you hubby!! 
After checking out Cinnamon bay's beach we loaded in the jeep and took off towards the north side of the island to find the van on the hill that sells smoothies. We found it...Colombo's! It was busy, but worth the stop. Only one girl was working there, we felt bad for her. Some of the customers weren't very nice. The north side of the island was disappointing and smelled terrible. So we drove back to Cruz bay to check out Starfish market. Brett and I picked out an almond pastry and pistachio muffin and mocha almonds for tomorrow. After that we were all wiped and drove back to Lindholm so we could shower and rest. We got back just in time and we were able to watch it downpour for about 20 minutes. Perfect afternoon for a nap relaxing in the AC. Here's a few pictures from our room.
The boys drove down to Cruz bay to pick up dinner so we could eat it on our balcony again. They brought back swordfish and wahoo with a couple sides. They dinner was pretty pricey, $85. Jenny and I opened the wine and pretty soon Bryce started playing a song on his iPad and the 4 of us were dancing to the music. We had popcorn and chocolate with our wine. They boys were still hungry, so they got some more shrimp and brought back passion fruit and guava ice-cream and butter pecan ice-cream in a waffle cone. Yum! We crashed at 10 pm.
5/11/15 Monday
Last full day :( Brett and I enjoyed our pastries we bought at the starfish market. The pistachio muffin was the best, it had an almond flavor. We ate them with coffee overlooking the ocean on our balcony. I took a shower, while Brett fell back asleep. Bryce and Jenny waited for us to go eat breakfast with them. We had to return the jeep in Cruz bay by 9 am. So we headed down to return the car and shop a little. Jenny and I found a cute jewelry store where I got Carolyn a Larimar pendant and Taylor a heart shaped larimar necklace. I got Larimar square stud earrings. Larimar is the natural gemstone found in the Caribbean. Brett came back with a strawberry candle in a coconut shell and I said that's perfect for Holly. So I just needed to find Blake a gift. Jenny wanted to get her tank top, so we walked over to the souvenir shop. I found a perfect lime green 3T shirt for Blake. It says, "Sometimes crabby, but always cute, St. John." I got a charcoal light sweatshirt for the Lake house! Guys were getting impatient by this point, or should I say Brett. We stopped by the smoothie shop on the walk back up to Lindholm. Best smoothies yet! I ordered the coffee loverz, coffee ice-cream, chocolate, and Kahlua. Brett got Guava, strawberry, and banana. 
Once we got back to the rooms, we packed up and changed into suits for the last time on Solomon beach. I finally got smart and wore my tennis shoes for the hike and wow what a difference that made. Brett and I even passed an older couple on the way down, the lady had stopped to tie her shoes. I ran to get the last palm tree. Jenny's dream come true! We claimed the middle palm tree of the only 3 palm trees on the beach. I had to jump in right away because I was so sweaty. The water was so refreshing. We noticed a huge iguana walking in the woods towards Brett and Bryce, it wouldn't go away. Brett started throwing sticks at it. The boys snorkeled one last time and we talked again about everything from my labor and delivery stories to Jenny's mentally ill patients. Brett and I took a stroll over to the huge rocks and I found a few more small sea shells for Tay Tay. I know she'll love them. Jenny was getting uncomfortable in her heat rash, so we said goodbye to Solomon and started the walk back up hill.
We were all excited to take showers and rest before our nice dinner reservations at Zozo's. We walked down to the pool, and enjoyed the pool side deck overlooking Cruz Bay. First time we've enjoyed the pool deck, it was so nice and relaxing. Around 4:15 we went to the office to get arrangements made for them to drop us off for the 6 am ferry the next morning. We talked to Brian for awhile and met his girlfriend. I hurried back to change for dinner. Bryce decided we should taxi to and from the Zozo's restaurant, since we were all dressed up. So glad we did! Caneel Bay resort is so beautiful. It used to be a sugar mill. The restaurant and everything is surrounded by lush green grass, palm trees, and random donkeys roaming around. We got some cool pictures of us by the old ruins. 
We were a little early, so we sat at a café patio for a few minutes. At 5 we walked into Zozo's and got to sit in the lounge area. Jenny ordered a mojito and I got the Island Blossom. I was in my element....rich life, rich food, luxury atmosphere, and breathtaking views. We got the best table overlooking the ocean. I ordered the grilled sun-dried tomato swordfish with brussel sprouts and orzo topped with a mango sauce. Jenny got Mahi Mahi, Bryce got the steak, and Brett ordered the special pasta and red snapper. The waiter brought garlic bread and the pasta early, so yummy! Our food was delicious, we couldn't stop talking about how good it was! We sat there for a long time, stuffing ourselves until we couldn't eat anymore. I ordered the 3 sinful flavors of ice-cream for us to all share for dessert. After all we were celebrating my 30th birthday! Coffee lavender, honey, and chocolate fudge ice cream scoops, they were delicious. I've never had a lavender flavored ice cream before, but it's surprisingly good. We took a taxi back to Lindholm and went straight to our balcony to finish the wine and chocolate. We didn't stay up too long though since we had to leave early in the morning. Saying goodbye and goodnight to Bryce and Jenny we promised to plan another trip soon. My FAVORITE vacation yet! We had a blast and it was hard to leave St. John. But I was so eager to kiss my sweet Tay Tay and Blake Blake...Cedar Falls here we come! And a HUGE thanks to Grandma Randall who watched the kiddos so we could do this vacation, love you Carolyn!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I mean look at the color of that water! Interested in going to St. John? I recommend staying at Estate Lindholm you'll never want to leave.
