Our trip to St. Lucia

While we are on hiatus from posting home improvement projects (we are working on a big one though!) I wanted to make sure I chronicle our trip to St. Lucia.  We booked this trip back in October of 2012, not having any idea how things were going to change over the following six months.  A promotion for me, putting our house on the market, accepting an offer on that house on my birthday then spending a week or two sweating it out while we worked out details and tried to secure a house we loved that would allow us to not have to move in with family temporarily.  We were lucky enough to get a 30-day settlement on this place, so we settled, moved in and two weeks later took off on vacation.  Out of the country.  With an almost 4-year old.  Insanity, right?  Maybe so, but it was worth every moment on so many levels. 

For our first time traveling, everything went super smoothly.  All of the things that had me worried (airports, security, long flights) were a non-event.  TSA really does handle families well, even at 4 AM.  Kayla was happy and cooperative and napped on the second (longer) flight on the way down.  During the week we ate and drank our fill, enjoyed the lazy river and pools, and had a blast with our friends.  Every now and again, Kayla asks me when we're going to go back to St. Lucia. 

First Family Vacation

After a nice long weekend of family picnics and warm weather, Shaun, Kayla and I took off for a few days at the beach.  Tuesday morning we packed up our car and hit the road towards OCMD.  We stopped at the Gap Diner for breakfast and continued on South and East.  After a quick trip across the street for a baby flotation device and some adult beverages for our evening, we hit the indoor pool at the hotel.  I wish I had brought my camera down for that, because I've never seen Kayla smile so big as she did while floating around the pool in one of these:

After a while we headed back upstairs to get ready.  After showers, baths, blow-drying and dressing, we made our way to Phillip's for Shaun's favorite treat - the seafood buffet.  Once we'd eaten our fill, it was off to the boardwalk.

And I realized during this time that it was Kayla's 14 month day.  *sigh*  She is getting so big. 

So we walked and we enjoyed the evening breeze coming in off the ocean and were happy.  So happy that someone was completely exhausted by the time we got back.  Oh - and Kayla was pretty tired too. 

We settled into the room for the night, with her completely conked out.  That is, until the lovely hotel decided to give us a "welcome call" AT 8:30 PM - she was inconsolable for nearly an hour.  Thanks so much Holiday Inn...

Anyway - Wednesday got off to a great start.  We had an amazing breakfast at the Bayside Skillet, followed by some beach time while the sun was not too hot.  Kayla was very excited to play in the sand. 

Not so excited about the water...

But still liking the sand.

We did a little more pool time after the beach, followed by lunch and a family nap.  We had dinner out at BJ's on the Water, then Kayla and I did another walk on the boards.  Today we were up and at 'em early for the ride home, and we've been getting back into our routine.  I can't believe this mini-vacation is all but done already, but we have a lot to look forward to in the next few weeks.