Christmas in the Caribbean the final days

Merry Christmas! All the kids got their own set of goggles. What was so incredible is that they are actually all posing for the picture. Seriously cute kids if I do say so myself.

The end of our trip was filled with some wake boarding, snorkeling, beaching and just hanging out with cousins. The kids loved the little inflatable pool the crew set up on the back of the boat. They seemed to prefer that over the salt water. Then when we were done with whatever water excursion swimsuits would come off and Shane would hose them down, one by one they'd get a towel and Amy or I would dress them. Great teamwork and very efficient assembly line. On a particularly sandy day we put them all in the tub for a scrub.

Christmas Day in the Caribbean

Christmas eve I gave the chef a recipe for sugar cookies and frosting. We let the kids frost their own cookies and when I got on for myself I could see the consistency was not normal. Turns out they don't have plain old cream cheese so he substituted something that goes in meringue. I'll just say it was super sweet and not a favorite but I'm not much of a frosting person. The kids liked it.

We then had a Christmas caroling program put on by all the cousins. They stood on the back table of the boat and screamed...sang all their favorite chirstmas carols.

Christmas morning we woke to our first stormy weather. We had some rough seas and rain in the afternoon. The captain began moving the boat to Anguilla as we opened presents. I don't think the kids noticed we were moving at all, it was mostly the adults trying to pass out presents and the stewards bringing refreshments trying to maneuver around us. No one got sick so that was a bonus. Then as any normal christmas day the kids ran off with hoards of toys and the adults sat around and tried to decipher instruction manuals of misc. gadgets. Ah, Christmas.

The captain finally found us some calm waters (or the storm finally moved) just in time for Christmas dinner. It was still wet outside so the adults ate a table and the kids had a picnic on the floor, so as not to spill on the WHITE carpet. (I was nervous) The chef appeared to carve the turkey, which was delicious. We had all the standards, turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes & gravy, sweet potatoes & cranberry sauce. All with a little bit of a french twist. I think maybe the best part of the trip was that after the huge dinner I didn't have to do any dishes!!! I just got to veg out on the couch with everyone else.

Christmas in the Caribbean Day 4

We decided to go to port and find a beach on the back side of St. Martin. I believe it was called Elsa Rock. It was gorgeous! Our favorite thing to do with kids is sit on the beach. They are old enough now or in life jackets that you can actually lay out and occasionally tell someone to stop throwing sand. Beach days were my favorite part of the trip. This beach had a restaurants a little ways down and Shane went to get us lunch to go. Nothing like sitting in the warm sun eating a smoking hot panini. Literally it was burning my fingers but still delicious. He did bring a Caprese salad that helped cool me off.

At the end of the day we took a taxi back to meet the tender. There is a covered area with lots of magazines to read. Most of the magazines are covered with lots of skin so we tried to pull out some Dr. Suess type books for the kids to look at.

Christmas in the Caribbean Day 2,3

St. Barth's started out with testosterone building event. Shane decided to dive off the third level of the yacht and Robbie (owner) felt the need to prove his manhood and went next. The crew seemed a little nervous seeing someone flying off the boat but I think it was because no one was stationed at the back to have fresh towels when they climbed back on board.

The kids had fun watching the jest ski's cruise around. They were very good at waiting their turn and surprisingly they didn't push anyone off the boat. There was a huge inner tube with 3 seats in it. We pulled it behind on of the jet skis and they were having tons of fun until Shane submarined it on a corner and they freaked out a little.