Day 7

We woke up early, had breakfast and headed to the Butterfly Farm.  We had been told that the butterfly activity and the newborns were more most active in the morning.  Boy am I glad we did this.  They were laying the butterflies were every where and we saw several newly emerged butterflies in the nursery.  Sean got some great pictures.  We also went to this beach area that you could walk out to the little islands because the water was only ankle deep the whole way out.  While walking back we passed a couple, smiled & said hello.  About a minute later they called us back to them.  The woman had found a live starfish and wanted to make sure Hannah saw it.  It was amazing.  A highlight of the trip.

We were stopped on our way back to the resort by a woman on the side of the road.  She had these lottery tickets and gave us each one to scratch.  The one I had was a big winner, but there was a catch.  We had to go listen to a sales pitch for a vacation club.  Because she was so nice and we didn’t want her to lose a $200 commission (because we were big winner) we went.  Long story short… because we own timeshare (a points system) that we have been unhappy with from the start, and the maintenance fees has tripled since we bought it in 2005, we opted to sell them our timeshare in exchange for the vacation club.  It is actually a good deal and seems that it will open us up for more areas to travel.  It doesn’t just give us discounts on a resort but airfare, cruises (and we have already found a FAB deal on one), rental cars and hotel discounts.  We also found out this week that that we get two gift certificates a month to restaurants and four (some sort of) cruise vouchers a year.  We ended up getting two buy one/get one free vouchers on a cruise as our prize for the scratch off.  Any cruise.  Sean and I have discussed using one for either an Alaskan or Med cruise. 

We went to dinner at a French restaurant and it was wonderful.  Sean and I got the lobster & filet dinner.  It was yummy.  Unfortunately, we had to return to the resort to do laundry and pack.

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Lilly’s meal Hannah’s meal  Our meal

Lilly is a bit of a drinker… she had a taste of Sean’s Pina Colada. 

Lilly also decided to partake in the Banana Rum, the after-dinner drink the restaurant gives you on the house.

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Day 6

Well, since I had way to much to drink the day before, we spent Saturday doing a whole lot of nothing.  Sean & Hannah swam at the beach and pool collecting more shells from the beach while I read poolside.

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Day 5

Snorkeling!  This was the day we went on the catamaran for the snorkeling trip.  We got up early, ate a light breakfast and headed to the dock.  It was a wonderful day.  Well, the part I remember.  What no one tells you is they start serving you Rum Punch at 9 AM! I only had one until we actually snorkeled but then we had lunch.  They also serve you these shots (made for rum and some other stuff) called Donkey.  And yes I had a few … to many!  I really don’t remember getting back to the resort.  I did fall on the dock apparently because my elbow and knee were bruised and scraped up.   I would so do this trip again…. but would not drink as much and have a bigger, heavier breakfast.  I am bit embarrassed by the condition I ended up because I drank to much.  Especially considering my daughter was with me.  She has never seen me have more than a drink or two.  She has teased me greatly about it though, so I am hoping she hasn’t been scared for life.  And it is a lesson learned for her about not drinking to much.

Hannah did have a fun time.  That kid just loves the water.

      

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Day 4

Thursday was the day we promised Hannah would be spent swimming.  So after breakfast we headed down to the beach, then to the pool.  Then we decided to walk to get some ice cream then back to the pool for more swimming.  We decided to head back over to that wonderful French bakery for dinner.  Not much to write about really. It was a lovely day relaxing by the water while reading for me.  And Hannah enjoyed the water.

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Day 3

Opps… I have gotten so busy I haven’t finished my recount of our vacation. 

Wednesday Sean and I were looking out at our beautiful view when a storm moved it.  It was cool watching it move across the water from one side of our little “bay” to the other.  After breakfast, we drove out to Marigot for some shopping and to look for souvies. It was a lovely day and even though most of the vendors sold the same things we did manage to find a few really interesting souvies made from the Tagua Nut also known as Vegetable Ivory. 

We stopped by the little French bakery for lunch.  Oh my! It was so good. They didn’t have anything Hannah would eat on the menu, but when we told them some things she does eat, they made her a special plate up for lunch. 

Of course we went back to the resort for some swimming before heading out for dinner at an Italian restaurant named… Soprano’s! It was delish.  I had Spaghetti Carbonara that was the best I have had.  I dug right in and forgot to take a picture but the presentation was pretty.

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Vacation ~ Day 2

Since we were so tired from the day before, we slept in after turning in early.  Sean went to the resort gym to work out while I worked out in our room.  I had put a couple of workouts on the iPod touch, the screen is small but I really only need to hear it.  Our bedroom had an iHome even so that worked out great.  I also opened up the curtain to our amazing view.  After showers and getting dressed, we went down for breakfast.  I had the yummy Nutella Crepes with Bananas and we shared a quarter pineapple. 

We decided to explore the island a little and go to the Butterfly Farm.  three hours we drove around this small island to find the farm that was about 15 minutes from where we were staying.  We saw some pretty amazing sites though and only found the farm by accident, thanks to Hannah’s hawk-eye.  Along the way we saw horses, goats and beautiful water.  The Butterfly Farm was great  I am so doing a garden.  We learn lots about butterflies.

We headed back to the resort for swimming, then dinner and a little shopping.  Sean bought me a couple charms for my bracelet and a beautiful rainbow of sapphires necklace… except I told him not to spend the extra on the chain.  I was sure I had one at home to use.  However, none of mine will fit through the little tiny hole, so now I have to go find one so I can wear it. 

    

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Vacation ~ Day 1

We got up early… 3:00 AM …so we could leave before 4:00 AM to drive to the airport to be there two hours before our 7:00 AM flight.  We checked in, got our boarding passes, went thru security and headed to the gate.  Then we got something to eat at McDonald’s.  I had the oatmeal with a parfait.  The oatmeal was good, the parfait… well, it was okay, but has nothing on Panara’s.  After we sat down at the gate for boarding, our flight was delayed by 30 minutes.  We had a lay over in Charlotte, NC which is a big airport, so we were a little worried about making our connection.  We rushed off the plane and through the airport to make it, but we made the connection.  Our plane touched down in St. Maarten almost 30 minutes early! What a landing… you feel like you are going to take a head or two off the sunbathers on the beach.

The rental car company picked us up and we went to get our car.  Problems, problems, problems at this point.  While we were waiting to catch our first flight, I remembered that I didn’t order Hannah some new books for her Kindle, so I pulled it out and ordered a few.  Apparently this set the security department into motion, because at that point they called our house, but we weren’t home. So a hold was placed on our card.  They didn’t call my cell phone, even though back in May when we had something similar happen, I gave them my number so that I could be called, or receive a text, so that I could call and get it worked out.  Thankfully, Sean had another card (our checking/ATM/VISA) to use so that we could rent the car.

We get to the resort, check in, had no problem using the card, went to our suite and I sat down to make a collect call to VISA to get it worked out.  Over 20 minutes later I get the call to finally go through.  I talk with them, explain that we are out of the country and that I did use the card to make purchases on Amazon that morning before leaving.  She said she would make a note on the account and we could use the card with no more problems.  So we unpack, and head down to check out the resort.  We decided to book a catamaran/snorkeling day trip… and our card wouldn’t go through! I went back up to the room, finally got the call to go through, spoke with someone, verified the account, etc. and was told that I would be able to use the card.  Well, two more calls later, we were finally able to use the card without any further problems on the trip.

We went to get some dinner at a place across from our resort, then went for an evening swim. 

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Views from our bedroom and living room windows. (click for more photos)

    Hannah really wanted to take a picture with Daddy so she could give him bunny ears.

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