3/6/09

Oh, vacation, how to describe you in one post?

We had a great time...made lots of memories! I barely know where to begin, so I'll just write and see what comes out!

  • Traveling was so fun with the 3 kids - seriously. I don't think I've ever traveled without a teeny one in 9 years - and we've traveled plenty with teeny ones - so that was a relief in and of itself. To have kids pack their own things, and carry their own carry-ons, and have no stroller or car seats (we weren't in cars except to and from the airport, plus one quick jaunt to town), was like heaven!
  • Even though Bill and I were at the same place, spending lots of time together, our vacations were really different! Bill= read four books, took kids to the pool, rested in the little cabana we were staying in, was on Nathan duty and liking it... Pam= read nothing, lots of kayaking and exploring, snorkeled as much as I could, stole time with the dolphins, spent a few evenings with my parents, had a few dance parties with the kids. Together we snorkeled (with Emma), rode horses (Bill twice when the kids did it too, I did it a third time with my parents), hiked to the top of the (small) mountain in the Botanical Gardens, took a crazy taxi into the closest town.
  • Our kids were really lucky. They had laid-back, let's-relax-and-do-things-you-like Dad, and crazy, let's-see-how-much-exploring-we-can-do Mom. Plus three grandparents on vacation with them! Between the treat from the gift shop and the visits to the snack shop with Grandma Sybil, and the fancy fruit punches and snorkeling trips with Bubba and Grandma Nancy - they were spoiled. And they were the only three kids at the resort from Saturday-Thursday, which made it very easy for Emma to win the limbo competition and dance competition Wednesday night! (Our other two kids were in bed...)
  • Here's a quick note to myself later, too - remember Pam, you don't like scuba diving. We did have a chance to dive twice on this trip (Bill was seasick and so only went once) - and I was interested to see how I liked it this time. When we were finished our certification 2 years ago on Grand Cayman, we never had a chance to dive without practicing/learning stuff (still had a one year old on the trip), so these were our first real recreational dives. I was reminded that I'm not afraid of scuba diving, but I find it to be a little annoying - like I am just floating around watching the National Geographic Channel on TV and getting colder (despite wetsuit). I so much prefer snorkeling, where I can be buffeted by the waves, swim around madly when I get cold to warm up, dive down and come up without worrying about my depth and nitrogen levels...so I hope I remember that. I guess I like having the option to dive once or twice, but it won't become a lifelong love.
  • Regardless of how I saw them (snorkeling, diving, or just looking through the clear water under my kayak), I did love seeing all the sea creatures! Bill and I saw a nurse shark while snorkeling, sea turtles while diving and snorkeling, I clandestinely pet quite a few dolphins (and also did it as part of the resort-sanctioned dolphin encounter), lots of starfish, we lived by some spiny lobster for the week (houses were on stilts over the water), fish, fish, fish, some eels, a sea horse...
  • I hope I do NOT forget the poverty, or the simple life of the island. Roatan was so different than Grand Cayman in that way - people really lived in shacks, there were stray dogs everywhere (not in the resort). But it was still so interesting. And every time I return from vacation I am so in awe of the fact that we lived with so few possesions and were still just fine and so happy. (And then when I come back to a place where I have to take care of all of these pets and all of our STUFF, it's a jolt!)
  • On the flip side of that, our kids love our home, and they LOVE those 7 pets. I sometimes think they don't, but vacations sure prove me wrong. Nathan wanted to see the pets (all of them) on the first night we were gone, and was homesick from the start. (Of course, now he wants to go back...) The girls, too, missed every single pet. Makes me relieved, and happy, since it is HORRIBLY ANNOYING to get 7 pets ready for us to be gone for a week, and these 7 pets are A LOT OF WORK *in case you didn't already know that.
  • I was so proud of myself that the kids and I came back the same color they were when they started their week in Central America - such a big sunscreen advocate that I am. But then I did yard work all afternoon here today and got a sunburn. Such an idiot I am. (Kids remain unscathed by the sun...I may not be preventing my own wrinkles but I'm careful to prevent theirs...)
  • More later, and some of our 800 pictures (seriously...that's the other thing Bill did while on vacation) to follow!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

ive ALWAYS wanted to stay in an over water hut! like in fiji! and i saw some that have glass bottoms so you can see in the water below your hut. and did you pet the wild dolphins????? i LOVE LOVE LOVE dolphins! did you see that article on the pink dolphin? if not...google pink, albino dolphin and check it out. cool!