A Whole Lotta Sunshine!

Last week I was lucky enough to spend some down time in St. John in the Carribean. I had scored two free airline tickets (after being bumped from a flight to Florida last year and they thought I was really nice about it, which I didn't think I was cuz I whined a bit). Some very good friends of ours invited Houston and I to spend a week at their condo in the Westin resort. How could we say no?!

The resort was beautiful of course, with plenty to do. 

Our friend's daughters, Marike and Sylvie had their hair braided in the island fashion.

Every Sunday the Crab Man shows up with his ginormous hermit crabs for the crab race.

The crabs climb over the 'wall' then over the 'hill's to reach the final hurdle for the win. The person who picked the winning crab gets a prize.

It was very exciting, but in slow motion.

Spending lunch by the beach, being served margaritas and delicious food, well, that was paradise.

But my favorite thing was snorkling. It's fun to just bob along the top of the water, with fins and a mask looking at colorful fish, coral, and the ocean floor. We took a 10-hour tour one of the days to Tortola, St. Gorda and some other small islands to snorkle, hike, swim and look out at the beautiful mountainous islands.

I'd never been on a beach that had such huge boulders. Absolutely beautiful.

(not my photo)

You could swim amongst the rocks, finding nooks and crannies to explore.

We had fun on the boat. I so enjoyed spending time with the kids, Marike, 10, Sylive, 6 and Theo, 7.

Years and years ago, KK, Scott, Houston and I played Ultimate Frisbee. We met at the University of Virginia on the field. We spent years traveling up and down the East coast competing in this fun sport.

We've remained friends with over 20 of the players, most who met their future husbands/wives on the field. Now 34 years later, we get to take a sun-filled holiday with Scott, KK and the kids.

It was a full time job keeping these very fair children from getting sun burned. Some lotion comes in bright colors so you can tell where you've put it and it also stays on longer. One of the colors was bright blue and Sylvie looked like a little Braveheart jumping into the pool.
The sad thing about sunscreen is that it helping in the demise of the coral reefs.

We got to wear these floaties while snorkling. I thought they looked like ripe bananas.

'Wild' Burros inhabit the islands, looking for a hand out.

 Love the colors of the Carribean!

The entire island is rock so many buildings are made of stone.

Smiles all around.

We had our fair share of fruity and rum drinks.

This is a perfect emotional look for how we felt on our very last day on the island.

Goodbye St. John, till next time.