Turks & Caicos

What better way to enjoy the holidays than to say, "I got as much done as my could before Thanksgiving, now it's time to relax and say, 'screw it' to all the other preparations and spend time with family."

We joined my husband's family in Turks & Caicos (in the Carribean if you are as geographicly challenged as I am).  There were 23 people in our group! The 5 of us, his parents, his grandmother, his sister, her husband and her two girls; his other sister, her husband and her three girls; his step-sister, her husband and her 3 girls and one son (yeah, we're a little girl heavy on my husband's side of the family-makes up for the extremely boy heavy family tree on my side).

So last time we all met up there, Carter was 3, Henri was barely a year old and not quite walking and I was pregnant with Valerie (though we hadn't told anyone!)  This time was a little different.  We got the same set up we had last time... a 2 bedroom suite that has a kids' room with a door, sink, bunkbed with a trundle and an Xbox :)  The huge bathroom with jacuzzi tub (we never used this time) shower, double sinks is in between and then Paul and my room with a huge king side bed as well as a chair that can fold out and a daybed with a trundle.  Yes, theoretically this room sleeps 8 people!  Considering our children seem to have a heck of a time sleeping somewhere besides their own beds it worked out fine.  Henri always slept in the bottom bunk just like home.  Carter alternated between the top bunk and the daybed in our bedroom. Valerie alternated between the two trundle beds. 

How did the kids do? In a nutshell, Henri did outstanding.  He was happy, did whatever we wanted and puretty much passed out wherever he was when he was tired. Carter did as well as Carter does when he's tired and somewhere he can't control what food he's eating.  He had a great time and was for the most part his usual happy, helpful self, however there was some whining due to the great diversity in bedtimes while on our trip.  Valerie. Well, Valerie pretty much screamed and threw a fit whenever she was not either in the pool or in the shower AKA the water.  Bedtime was not great considering shes not great going to bed at home and in T&C without a door she cant open and sharing a room, she was a pain.  The first night, after having flown overnight and having a 6 hour layover in Miami (sidenote: we had 6 hour layover both ways and the kids did GREAT! We were very much thinking about changing our flights to prevent it but there weren't many options coming from the west coast, but it worked out fine).  Midnight she was throwing her swim gear and shoes at us screaming "SIMMING!!!!!!" 

I don't have the details handy of what we did every day and where we ate (important at a resort!) so I'll have to do anothe post when I have that, but for now I can share the pictures.  And yes, it turned out to be very relaxing even with 3 kids in tow. To start with, our room came with a spa credit which we used for a couples' massage.  Also, having our kids be the ones that no one ever gets to see, all of Paul's family were very nice about asking if the kids (esp the boys) would like to swim, play games, go for ice cream, etc. The little kids swam with Puddle Jumper floaties, so I could lounge by the side of the pool with a magazine and check periodically on them and felt like they weren't going to drown.  Frankly, any place where having a Pina Colada at the pool at 10am doesn't make you the mom they all whisper about is a relaxing place to be.

Hmmm... maybe we didn't have to buy tickets for the kids... looks like maybe they'd qualify as carryon!

Play area at SeaTac

We finally arrived and the kids got to enjoy the white sand:

Paul and his neice went parasailing

Which was good, because I really don't like height. Especially heights that involve me way up in the sky in a tiny harness.

Seriously, painful to get her out of the water. I looked every night for gills.

Valerie finally gets to meet Elmo. He's terrifyingly large for a monster who is supposed to only be 3 years old.

Henri's pretty happy with him, though.

 Henri's ready to try out the snorkel gear in the pool. Unfortunately there was a tropical storm that passed by the week before our trip, so although Paul and I did go out snorkeling once, we did not have the kids go as the water was pretty choppy most of the week.

view from the snorkel boat of the resort

Carter in his nest, the daybed next to ours.... after they put it back the next morning he left a note each day saying, "please don't brake"

We did the Sesame Street Character breakfast, which I think was worth the cost, especially since kids were discounted and Valerie was free, they got a small Elmo plush and a cup with a straw.

Elmo's not so scary from across the room. Her second favorite character was Ernie

Watching the Characters dance Gangnam style was awesome too... I may have a video somewhere from the Elmo Birthday party we attended. The kids also baked with cookie monster while they were in childcare while we were at our massage.

Trying to get pictures of Valerie before family photos. She runs way too fast!

after the first 3 days of not having to wear shoes she was just too cool and refused to wear them. This continued until about 3 days after we got home...

First thing in the morning our fun was to check out the cabanas and see how the towels had been folded....

A rare moment out of the water, she finally started napping about 1/2 way through our trip. Well, passing out randomly by the pool...

 Carter remembered the swim up bar that served milkshakes from last time (he was about Henri's age last time we were there) and was excited to introduce the concept to Henri..

Valerie got a braid and bead combo like her big cousin and examined it carefully before finally leaving it alone, though she thought it was fun on the way home to click the beads on her headphones...

The boys loved having so much time with their cousins B & C and would ask where they were anytime we were separate...

How do you spend 6 hours in an airport and then 6 on a plane with 3 small children? Electronics, baby. And have backups because if you have a delay you will run out of battery life.

 

 

So that's our trip, we made it, we relaxed.  Then we got back and realized it was only a few weeks until Christmas! (coming up next)