The Wedding:
We all boarded the (thankfully air conditioned) bus and headed off to Mary Star of the Sea Catholic Church, which was absolutely adorable. The entire wedding was beautiful, unfortunately I got zero pictures at the church and only a few at the reception. Kaelyn was a perfect little flower girl and did a great job walking down the aisle. While Brennan looked darn cute, he didn't make it a step down the aisle before running back to Maya. But they were both well behaved during the entire mass. At least as far as I could tell from my view up on the altar. I was actually a little worried Bren would try to run up on the altar when he saw me. But he was perfectly content sitting with his grandparents. I think doggy paci and lots of goldfish helped a little.
Here's Brennan sitting nicely with Buppa (photo courtesy of Maya).
Oh yeah, and I almost forgot, he did not wear shoes. That's right. Care Care even bought him some cute little flip flops just for the wedding but he
was barefoot for the entire wedding. Truthfully he was barefoot most of
the trip. His feet are a little on the chubby side and with a little
extra swelling from the heat some shoes didn't fit at all and others he
just didn't want to wear. I guess when you're one you can get away with
going barefoot to a wedding on an island.
The steel drums during cocktail hour were a big hit. Brennan couldn't resist the opportunity to dance.
And Kaelyn even got to show off her steel drumming skills.
Kaelyn's dress was actually made from the material from Nana's wedding dress. I thought that was pretty special. Here she is party rocking with the beautiful bride.
And teaching Care some moves, no doubt.
The entire wedding was gorgeous and so much fun. I must say they did a phenomenal job, especially considering they were planning it from another country.
Kaelyn and Pop sharing a sweet moment by the pool.
And there was a lot more dancing after that.
The DJ booth was "conveniently" located right outside our bedroom door. Luckily for Maya and Buppa we decided to move Bren's crib to their room on the opposite side of the house for the night. (Sorry! and Thank you!) We let Kaelyn stay up as late as she wanted, but even she decided to go to bed before the party was over. She must have been so tired that the music vibrating throughout the room didn't even seem to bother her.
Sunday: Karakter, take 2
The next day it was back to "the Bus" for brunch and beach time with the bride and groom and some of the other wedding guests.
Brennan learned his lesson and was content playing in the sand this time.
Kaelyn made up a very interesting game. Here are the rules. 1) Grab as much sand as you can. 2) Run down to the water. 3) Throw the sand in the water. 4) Run back up giggling and then repeat as many times as you can.
Monday: Pinel Island, aka Heaven on earth
Pinel has become our absolute favorite destination when we visit St. Martin. (Speaking for my husband and myself only, but I'm sure there are others who would agree.) It's a tiny little island off the French side of St. Martin. It's about a 10 minute ferry ride and the only thing on the island is two beach restaurants, a small gift shop and a variety of animals. Our favorite restuarant is Karabuni. So it's always our goal to be on one of the first boats over and get a big group of chairs right by the water and close to the restaurant. They serve probably some of the best food I've ever eaten. The views on Pinel beautiful and serene and the water is so calm and shallow. It's great for the kids. Seriously though, words cannot do this place justice.
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| One of the many beautiful views |
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| Just chillin' in the water |
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| Some goldfish in the shade |
Hmmm... what should we get for lunch? So many tempting choices.
So I guess I tap my finger on my lip in an exaggerated manner when
trying to make decisions, as evidenced by Brennan's new habit of doing
the same thing. When we sat down and I said, "What should we have for
lunch?" Brennan started hmmming and finger tapping which was quite
humorous.
The kids have turned into quite the seafood aficionados. If only I was
better at cooking seafood at home. I think they both ended up eating
Mahi here. As did I. It was delectable. As usual.
After lunch was more swimming. And then Kaelyn got a turn in the kayak courtesy of Dada and Uncle Joey's strong rowing arms.
Tuesday: Philipsburg
We decided we needed a little break from the beach. So we headed to Philipsburg, the capital of the Dutch side for a little shopping and lunch. Here are some views from lunch at Chesterfield's, Pop's favorite lunch spot.
Wednesday: Mullet Bay
We've been to a lot of different beaches on the island. A few we try to go back to every time. This trip we decided to try something new. Mullet Bay can sometimes be calm but can sometimes be a little rough. After driving by in the morning and seeing that it was a calm day we thought it was worth a shot since it's pretty close to the villa which might be good in case we needed to get Bren home for a nap. We were not disappointed.
I adored the colorful, striped beach umbrellas here.
There was a little beach bar "shack" here. The food was simple - chicken, burgers, hot dogs - but good. And very affordable.
We met a little iguana friend on the beach.
And Kaelyn invented a new game. Mushy Mango Whoa. I have no idea where she came up with this name but this is what she said while playing. Basically, she sat at the edge of the water next to Maya and waited for a little wave to come up and wash her out a little. When this happened she would scream "mushy mango whoa" and giggle uncontrollably. Of course she was holding Maya's hand but they decided they needed a "catcher" just in case Maya got washed away too. Uncle Joey got that job most of the time but I think everyone else took a turn too.
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| Check out the cool pirate ship in the background. |
Thursday: Le Galion, aka Baby Beach
Most people call this beach Baby Beach. And for good reason. The water is super shallow, warm and calm. It's like swimming in a bath.
It really is the perfect beach for kids. They were both totally comfortable running around at the edge on their own.
Back at the villa. A view of the ocean with a cruise ship heading out for the evening.
Friday: Straw market, Sunset Beach Bar, departures and pool time
Buppa, Uncle Joey and Dennis (aka Dentist, oh my gosh I can't believe I almost forgot about that!) had to leave Thursday afternoon. We decided to hit the Straw Market in Marigot for some last minute souvenir shopping.
And then we headed to the infamous Sunset Beach Bar right next to the airport for lunch and plane watching before dropping the boys off for their flights. We did see at least one person get blown over by jet taking off. Kids, when you come when you're older, don't be stupid. Do not stand behind the jets. You could, and probably will, get hurt. And Kaelyn, you better not be getting any free drinks there.
Kaelyn had a good view of the incoming and outgoing planes thanks to Uncle Joey.
And then we took one last dip in the pool before we had to say good bye.
Saturday: Airports
We had a super early flight again, so we were up and ready to go before the sun. After repeated attempts to talk to people at the airport and airline we found no sympathetic ears and were stuck with an eight hour layover in Miami. I truly thank God that Maya decided to travel with the kids and me. I do not think I could have done it on my own. The kids were actually pretty good in the airport. It was a little difficult when they wanted to run around trying to keep track of them and all of our stuff, which was why it was definitely good to have another adult. The flight from Miami to Indy was another story completely, but I don't want to dwell on that.
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| Watching "Jasmine" while camping out at Miami Internationl |
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| Playing cars in the middle of the concourse to stay entertained |
So... when can we go back?
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