Woo hoo! We see the light at the end of this tunnel….oops sorry that was the tanning bed lights I saw. Seriously, we are getting excited. My dear wife is showing signs that she is planning for our trip. She is making mental check lists of what needs to be done before we go….things at home that Rob wouldn’t think about. I as you know have been in trip planning mode for about a year, so between the two of us I think we will have everything covered….at least I hope so.
We did our Wal-mart run to pick up necessities for the trip. Things like snacks for the plane, travel size toiletries and sun tan lotions and sprays.
Tip for the day; We have found this to be a good way to avoid sunburn…other than not lying out in the sun…In the morning apply your first application with nothing on…. (Obviously this works better if not traveling with family) this gives you total coverage with lotion and a bit of help from your partner to get the spots you cant reach, let dry and then get dressed. Take a bottle of the continuous spray sunscreen with you for the day and re apply with that. There is no scratching from sand or dried sea salt, the spray on covers very nicely.
Our bedroom has become the gathering place for all the crap…er stuff we will be bringing. There are multitudes of books. If you want a spare book, hang out near us and I am sure the boss lady will have one for you at the end of each day. I on the other hand will be bringing along only 2 books. When not sunning I will be out walking and shooting pictures. Fear not folks, I am not a picture taker of people…I like to capture the natural beauty of the island. I usually photo-shop people out of my pictures unless of course the picture is of my bride.
Packing is a lot of fun, he says facetiously, Rob grabs 4 pairs of shorts, 4 shirts, 4 pair of underwear, 2 pair socks, 2 pair of swim trunks. My flip flops, sandals and tennis shoes. I am also contemplating a pair of linen pants with an aloha shirt for a nice dinner out.
For the bride….we had a swim suit fashion show, a shorts fashion show, then a tops fashion show to go with the shorts. Then a discussion about dresses and activities in which she would wear a dress followed by then the dress fashion show. Rob isn’t complaining…after all he got to watch the show as well as the model changing between runs on the catwalk. Then there is the discussion of correct undergarments to wear with each dress…. We haven’t even gotten to the shoes yet…which turn out to be the easiest part…she gathers up some flip flops for the beach, some nice sandals to go with her dresses and tennis shoes. All piled into a quickly expanding pile of stuff that is going with us. In years past we have done this trip carry on…I now see that I am glad we are taking a bigger suitcase for dive equipment as it too will be a bit full! I told her go ahead and bring what she wants as we have extra room and I wont be bringing much in the way of clothes.
I have been posting once a week but for any of you out there that may be reading…I bet the posts will be a bit closer together over the next two weeks.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Monday, March 24, 2008
Three weeks till lift off
The final component of our pre trip planning fell in place this weekend. The trip to the tanning salon to get some light on this pair of Midwestern WHITE bodies…..LOL.
I am already a bigger than average guy and would hate to have my big white body bobbing up and down in the surf and be mistaken for Melville’s great white whale.
At least this way the throngs of beach goers may only run into the surf yelling “Free Willy” as they amass to try and push me back into the ocean. LOL Ok I’m truly not that big but am larger than I would like to be. Lying in a tanning bed for 10-20 minutes almost daily till I become golden brown…is very relaxing and getting some color before we head out always cheers me. We have had like most of the rest of North America a cold long winter so I am ready for spring for sure.
The lady of the house ordered and received a set of new dive fins and is excited and ready to dive. This is a surprise to me as I have always seen her in the mode of going along to dive but not really wanting to explore too much. She even hinted at the idea of a dive vacation in the near future. That excited me since I went on a dive vacation last January and loved it.
My concern for this trip is last week’s big surf on AXA and SXM, I intended to take lots of pictures and still do but the beauty will obviously be different than what I remember……oh well, maybe a few ti-punches or a bit of good rum will make it all better. Honestly, just being on island(s) will be much better.
I am already a bigger than average guy and would hate to have my big white body bobbing up and down in the surf and be mistaken for Melville’s great white whale.
At least this way the throngs of beach goers may only run into the surf yelling “Free Willy” as they amass to try and push me back into the ocean. LOL Ok I’m truly not that big but am larger than I would like to be. Lying in a tanning bed for 10-20 minutes almost daily till I become golden brown…is very relaxing and getting some color before we head out always cheers me. We have had like most of the rest of North America a cold long winter so I am ready for spring for sure.
The lady of the house ordered and received a set of new dive fins and is excited and ready to dive. This is a surprise to me as I have always seen her in the mode of going along to dive but not really wanting to explore too much. She even hinted at the idea of a dive vacation in the near future. That excited me since I went on a dive vacation last January and loved it.
My concern for this trip is last week’s big surf on AXA and SXM, I intended to take lots of pictures and still do but the beauty will obviously be different than what I remember……oh well, maybe a few ti-punches or a bit of good rum will make it all better. Honestly, just being on island(s) will be much better.
Monday, March 17, 2008
29 days and counting!!!
I didn’t blog last week because there really wasn’t anything to blog about.
This week we broke thru the 30 day countdown and have actually re-visited our checklist of things to do and purchase before our trip. Without going thru the entire list…and with our weekend purchase of some dive equipment for the lady of the house we have completed our list of things to do before vacation. Only things left, get a base tan via tanning salon, hit the bank for a big withdrawal and of course pack.
Since we are bringing fins with us this year…..I am sad to say no carry on only. This will ad some significant time going down as we have to check in on two separate days as well as on the way back in San Juan when we will have to gather our bags for customs.
We have discussed a general vacation itinerary.
This is purposely vague, as in beach….we won’t know till the mood strikes us which beach we will hang out at. There are lots of folks that will only go to Orient Beach, we are not those folks. We will visit Orient but there are so many other beautiful beaches on island and we are not naturalists we feel that parking at Orient the entire trip would not do our souls justice so we go to a different beach daily.
We are not big foodies so we won’t plan but a couple of meals, one being our anniversary and the other is to meet some folks for dinner. Otherwise, what ever the mood strikes is where we will go.
Here is a fly over plan for our trip.
Day one; Leave KC for Dallas in afternoon, overnight in Dallas and meet a friend for dinner.
Day two; 6AM flight from Dallas to Miami and on to SXM will be on island before 2PM, cab to Marigot and then a ferry ride to AXA check in at Alamanda that evening.
Day three; Relax walk Shoal Bay East, shoot some photos and maybe snorkel a bit.
Day four; Our intent is to rent a car and tour the island, find some photo ops, hang out at a few beaches and catch a nice meal for dinner.
Day 5; Friends join us via a day trip, will dive and check out ….then check in at Flamingo on SXM.
Day 6; First full day on SXM will hit grocery store and then a beach, most likely Baie Rouge.
Day 7; Most likely head to Orient today and a snorkel to caye verte. Then again we may end up at another beach….who knows.
Day 8; Beach day but may get in a visit to Fort ST Louis in Marigot and a beach close by like…Friars or Rouge
Day 9; Take friends to airport then beach day, this is our Anniversary….wife wants to go to Peg Leg Pub for dinner…ok by me.
Day 10; Beach day will meet with two other couples for dinner. We have not met before but I though it would be fun as all three couples will celebrate anniversaries that week
Day 11; Beach day, we will pick our favorite beach of the week and spend the day there getting all the sun we can.
Day 12; End of a great vacation, early flight to San Juan on to Dallas and then KC. If all goes well will be home by 5PM.
This week we broke thru the 30 day countdown and have actually re-visited our checklist of things to do and purchase before our trip. Without going thru the entire list…and with our weekend purchase of some dive equipment for the lady of the house we have completed our list of things to do before vacation. Only things left, get a base tan via tanning salon, hit the bank for a big withdrawal and of course pack.
Since we are bringing fins with us this year…..I am sad to say no carry on only. This will ad some significant time going down as we have to check in on two separate days as well as on the way back in San Juan when we will have to gather our bags for customs.
We have discussed a general vacation itinerary.
This is purposely vague, as in beach….we won’t know till the mood strikes us which beach we will hang out at. There are lots of folks that will only go to Orient Beach, we are not those folks. We will visit Orient but there are so many other beautiful beaches on island and we are not naturalists we feel that parking at Orient the entire trip would not do our souls justice so we go to a different beach daily.
We are not big foodies so we won’t plan but a couple of meals, one being our anniversary and the other is to meet some folks for dinner. Otherwise, what ever the mood strikes is where we will go.
Here is a fly over plan for our trip.
Day one; Leave KC for Dallas in afternoon, overnight in Dallas and meet a friend for dinner.
Day two; 6AM flight from Dallas to Miami and on to SXM will be on island before 2PM, cab to Marigot and then a ferry ride to AXA check in at Alamanda that evening.
Day three; Relax walk Shoal Bay East, shoot some photos and maybe snorkel a bit.
Day four; Our intent is to rent a car and tour the island, find some photo ops, hang out at a few beaches and catch a nice meal for dinner.
Day 5; Friends join us via a day trip, will dive and check out ….then check in at Flamingo on SXM.
Day 6; First full day on SXM will hit grocery store and then a beach, most likely Baie Rouge.
Day 7; Most likely head to Orient today and a snorkel to caye verte. Then again we may end up at another beach….who knows.
Day 8; Beach day but may get in a visit to Fort ST Louis in Marigot and a beach close by like…Friars or Rouge
Day 9; Take friends to airport then beach day, this is our Anniversary….wife wants to go to Peg Leg Pub for dinner…ok by me.
Day 10; Beach day will meet with two other couples for dinner. We have not met before but I though it would be fun as all three couples will celebrate anniversaries that week
Day 11; Beach day, we will pick our favorite beach of the week and spend the day there getting all the sun we can.
Day 12; End of a great vacation, early flight to San Juan on to Dallas and then KC. If all goes well will be home by 5PM.
Thursday, March 6, 2008
On Island Photo session may be happening....
I had in an earlier blog commented on having a photo session done while on island.
We even kicked around the idea of a trash the dress scenario. My wife did try on her wedding dress and I kind of thought that was the end of that idea. She has since brought the idea back up and seems interested so I contacted photographer on island. Jerrol James at Jerrolsphoto@hotmail.com. He comes highly recommended by some of our friends that had an outdoor sitting with him a year or so ago.
I sent Jerrol a quick run down of our interest, as in the type of pictures….all outdoor and some may include the wedding dress my wife wore 25 years ago. I also expressed the desire for photo op location. Jerrol said he was interested and would check out the site I asked about and get back with me about if it is something that can be done or not.
My lovely wife is looking for ways to modify her dress. We were married in the early 80’s and though the dress is very nice some alteration may make it a bit less dated and lead to some fun shots. She said if we do go thru with the trash the dress component that she is truly willing to do some trashing as in getting it wet in the ocean….covered in sand and the likes. What a good sport she has been with this. Rob regularly comes up with hair brained schemes that usually lead to a …NO! for a response. She heard me out on this one and actually has given it some serious thought and is very much considering going thru with this.
I know Jerrol will do a nice job, have seen his works before. The site I have in mind may be the hurdle that we have to overcome here….as in can he get the necessary equipment to the location we are looking for without any “issues”. The usual way to reach this place is via jet ski but we may have to find someone with a zodiac to ferry us to our destination.
I truly believe that if this works out like my mind thinks it will we could have a lot of fun and have some incredible pix to cherish for the rest of our lives.
Stay tuned…there will be more, lots more to come on this issue for sure.
We even kicked around the idea of a trash the dress scenario. My wife did try on her wedding dress and I kind of thought that was the end of that idea. She has since brought the idea back up and seems interested so I contacted photographer on island. Jerrol James at Jerrolsphoto@hotmail.com. He comes highly recommended by some of our friends that had an outdoor sitting with him a year or so ago.
I sent Jerrol a quick run down of our interest, as in the type of pictures….all outdoor and some may include the wedding dress my wife wore 25 years ago. I also expressed the desire for photo op location. Jerrol said he was interested and would check out the site I asked about and get back with me about if it is something that can be done or not.
My lovely wife is looking for ways to modify her dress. We were married in the early 80’s and though the dress is very nice some alteration may make it a bit less dated and lead to some fun shots. She said if we do go thru with the trash the dress component that she is truly willing to do some trashing as in getting it wet in the ocean….covered in sand and the likes. What a good sport she has been with this. Rob regularly comes up with hair brained schemes that usually lead to a …NO! for a response. She heard me out on this one and actually has given it some serious thought and is very much considering going thru with this.
I know Jerrol will do a nice job, have seen his works before. The site I have in mind may be the hurdle that we have to overcome here….as in can he get the necessary equipment to the location we are looking for without any “issues”. The usual way to reach this place is via jet ski but we may have to find someone with a zodiac to ferry us to our destination.
I truly believe that if this works out like my mind thinks it will we could have a lot of fun and have some incredible pix to cherish for the rest of our lives.
Stay tuned…there will be more, lots more to come on this issue for sure.
Monday, March 3, 2008
Ahhh finally, a taste of Spring
This weekend Kansas City came out of it’s deep freeze for an, all be it too short, peek at what is around the corner. The weekend was the best we have seen weather wise since way before Thanksgiving. Friday thru Sunday were all in the 60’s or 70’s a bit windy but I don’t think anyone but the golfers minded. I did however see a few youngsters getting drug down the street by run away kites.
What a weekend. I haven’t in the past used my blog to document my weekends but this one is worth it. Thursday afternoon I was gifted with some logo wear direct from the seamstress that I have contracted with. I was very happy with what I got. So those of you that see us in SXM will get to see some of this merchandise. Friday being casual day at work and fairly warm allowed me to wear one of my new polo shirts to work. The logo got a warm reception from those who noticed. There are a couple of things I will do differently going forward but I like what was provided….Remember, be careful what you ask for you just might get it. I did and it proves that doing due diligence is worth while when being creative.
Friday evening the lady of the house (found out she isn’t fond of CB (child-bride), go figure) and I went to visit some friends that had returned from the island a week previous. We always have a great time with them so we listened to their adventures and shared some wine for the girls and rum for the guys. They broke out a bottle of MaDouDou Banana Vanilla rum. Mmmmmmm Several shots later the lady of the house…(mine) reminded me that I was the one that would be driving home. Oops. That meant a quick switch to water and a bit more conversation. I will not drive after drinking unless I know that time has passed and I am completely sober. Friday was wonderful.
Saturday I spent the afternoon with our youngest son at an Arena Football League game. We had a great time and had a very interesting concoction…No wonder KC is one of the fattest cities in the country. It was a KC dog. ½ lb hotdog with shredded BBQ beef brisket and fried onion rings on top and then had to wash it down with a giant beer. Now that will give anyone a bit of indigestion. But the game was fun and spending time with my son…priceless.
Sunday started great….warm and windy but ended with a huge deluge of rain and temps in the low 30’s The lady of the house and I ran some errands while it was nice then later in the day spent some time with eldest son participating in an Old Chicago St Patty’s day beer tour. Where we pondered the meaning of life and the future over a few pints of Guinness.
While out with the lady of the house we picked up some vacation supplies to add to the ever growing pile that we have in our room and then got the liver in tune with a bit of libations this weekend too. Nothing too much but a pretty good start. We have also scoped out tanning specials and will be snapping up some tans soon. We are down to 6 weeks so the focus of our free time is vacation based. Look out AXA and SXM here we come.
What a weekend. I haven’t in the past used my blog to document my weekends but this one is worth it. Thursday afternoon I was gifted with some logo wear direct from the seamstress that I have contracted with. I was very happy with what I got. So those of you that see us in SXM will get to see some of this merchandise. Friday being casual day at work and fairly warm allowed me to wear one of my new polo shirts to work. The logo got a warm reception from those who noticed. There are a couple of things I will do differently going forward but I like what was provided….Remember, be careful what you ask for you just might get it. I did and it proves that doing due diligence is worth while when being creative.
Friday evening the lady of the house (found out she isn’t fond of CB (child-bride), go figure) and I went to visit some friends that had returned from the island a week previous. We always have a great time with them so we listened to their adventures and shared some wine for the girls and rum for the guys. They broke out a bottle of MaDouDou Banana Vanilla rum. Mmmmmmm Several shots later the lady of the house…(mine) reminded me that I was the one that would be driving home. Oops. That meant a quick switch to water and a bit more conversation. I will not drive after drinking unless I know that time has passed and I am completely sober. Friday was wonderful.
Saturday I spent the afternoon with our youngest son at an Arena Football League game. We had a great time and had a very interesting concoction…No wonder KC is one of the fattest cities in the country. It was a KC dog. ½ lb hotdog with shredded BBQ beef brisket and fried onion rings on top and then had to wash it down with a giant beer. Now that will give anyone a bit of indigestion. But the game was fun and spending time with my son…priceless.
Sunday started great….warm and windy but ended with a huge deluge of rain and temps in the low 30’s The lady of the house and I ran some errands while it was nice then later in the day spent some time with eldest son participating in an Old Chicago St Patty’s day beer tour. Where we pondered the meaning of life and the future over a few pints of Guinness.
While out with the lady of the house we picked up some vacation supplies to add to the ever growing pile that we have in our room and then got the liver in tune with a bit of libations this weekend too. Nothing too much but a pretty good start. We have also scoped out tanning specials and will be snapping up some tans soon. We are down to 6 weeks so the focus of our free time is vacation based. Look out AXA and SXM here we come.
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