A Day In Our Life....: St. John 2015

We just got back from vacationing in St. John. We had a lot of fun! My parents took my sister and I to St. John many times when we were younger, but this was my third time going with Mike and our second time going with the boys. Sam, Ella and Caleb were along this time and it made the trip even more fun!

The older kids spent more time in water, whether it was the pool or ocean, than they did out of water.

Our resort had a big pool and hot tub.

We stayed at Grande Bay and the view from our condo was amazing. I could sit on our front porch all day and watch boats.

Popsicle party on the porch.

To get from beach to beach you need to drive up VERY steep and windy hills. Most people drive Jeeps on the island and the speed limit is never above 20 mph. Most of the roads do not have guard rails and you need to watch for goats, donkeys, chickens, and cows that freely roam the island.

Our resort was only a short walk from the Beach Bar. We ate here a lot. Since it's right on the beach, the kids could look for shells, climb trees, and play in the water while we watched them from the Beach Bar.

The Beach Bar had fun games to play too!

There were HUGE iguanas all over the place. This was a picture from Paige. While they were eating lunch one came up to them and people were feeding it.

The beaches on St. John are incredible. The island is becoming more popular as more people discover how amazing it is. When I was little, our family would often be the only people on the beach.

Thankfully everyone seems to do a good job helping to keep the beaches clean. They are gorgeous!

I remember very little waves when we used to visit the island, but this time there was a strong current which made for some good sized waves. The kids LOVED riding the waves and Mr. Adam has no fear of being tossed around by waves and doesn't mind being covered from head to toe in sand either.

We had a good time snorkeling. We saw sea turtles, sting rays, and neat fish. I'm pretty sure Paige and I saw a barracuda while we were snorkeling together.

These 4 kiddos played so nicely the entire trip. I was anticipating some arguing here and there, but there was none of that. They all got along perfectly and it was so nice watching them play and explore together.

They are such good buddies and my boys are really missing their cousins right now.

We have a tradition of doing hermit crab races when we visit Salt Pond. There are hermit crabs EVERYWHERE!!! We each picked our favorite, gave it a name, and had a race.

My mom's birthday was on Thanksgiving so we all went out to a nice restaurant for dinner. Here's a picture of the entire crew.

And the next morning, we woke up to find our elf, Sam, and our cousins' elf, Doodle, both came to St. John! We were shocked that they made the trip all the way there.

Speaking of the trip- Mike said on the way home that St. John really makes you work for the trip. It took us a total of 14 hours to get there (including the layover) and 12 hours to get home. It's a full day of travel... two taxi rides, two plane rides, and a ferry ride to the island. But it's completely worth it. We were talking to a couple that was staying at the same resort and they had taken a trip to Italy last spring and said that while they had a great time in Europe, they both agree that St. John is better. I love this island.