Aruba, Jamaica ooh I wanna take ya!

That song has been going thru our heads for the past month. So here is my Aruba trip blog. I'll probably blog thru pictures and captions to help jog my memory. Cuz let me tell you, as a parent of young children, you forget all about your vacation on day 2 of being home. Ok, so here we go. This first picture is taken in Miami at a yummy cuban cafe. We had to get up at 3:45 a.m. to make our flight out of houston. Ouch, but after sleeping on the whole flight, we were ready to eat, even in the airport. This is cafe con leche and some kinda spicy potatoes. Oh, I"ll warn you, I love food, and this trip was all about food. Mainly because it was an all inclusive and unlike other all inclusives, this food was awesome. So I ate and ate and ate. Literally had 2 breakfasts a day, two lunches... cuz it was there and free. Bad news for a foodie like me.

Breakfast was amazing, please let me tell you. There was a smoothie station where you could give this sweet woman any fruit and she turned it into a smoothie. Then there was an egg station, a carbs/fried food station, yes that is a homeade hot donut on my plate next to a fried plantain (cooked and carmelized banana), at this spot was also hot off the griddle pancakes, how you like them, banana pancakes, chocolate chip, whatever, with french toast, waffles, and oh yes, a big vat of Nutella, my friend emily and kelli always go on and on about it, this was my first experience and I literally covered an entire waffle with it. There was a bread area with any loaf of anything, a fruit bar an oatmeal, yogurt and hot chocolate area, espresso area, you name it. Ok enought, but like I said, food was the highlight of the trip. Not cooking and forcing food down 3 little ones, not cleaning up, not ever getting to eat sitting down, made this a vacation. Oh and lunch was so yummy too, there was always a station with some sort of ethnic food, the first day was a delicious paella!

We celebrated my birthday at this quaint little restaruant off the grounds that literally sat in the sand. Lobster that night, and chocolate mousse with a firework in it :)

Here is a view from our room, gorgeous. Aruba is a dessert island (despite the fact that it rained a ton while we were there). It is also like the wind surfing capital of the world cuz it is so windy there. I thought maybe it was a fluke, but no, super windy, but that means it kept you cool while on the beach. The first day we just spent by the pool and the beach. I even did a pool aerobics class and we played bingo. People watching on a beach and pool, especially one with a bar, is lots of fun. Let me tell you how american I felt in my "tankini" while even the heaviest and oldest of people are sportin their string bikinis. That water aerobics class was scary, one false move and huge bosom could be flung out for all of us to see. Speaking of which there was one solitary topless woman. I get that other cultures are down with that, but when you are absolutely the only one a beach with tons of people, I mean c'mon you know she had to feel a little odd.  More power to ya sister, I guess.

Another highlight of the trip was a catamaran and snorkeling cruise. It was a rainy morning but the last hour it got sunny. The boat ride was fun, lots of fun people on it, good food, gorgeous blue water. We got to snorkel at 3 different spots, but one of the spots was over a sunken ship. It was really kind of freaky, it came very close to the top of the water, so when i looked down some mast or something was right there, like a ghost ship with all these fish coming at you. Ritchey loved this part as he is fascinated with history and things gone by.

The last day we were there it rained all day, so we hopped on the public bus to go into town shopping. Aruba is a great island, very clean, wonderful people, 100% employment there. It is a dutch colony, but almost all the way to south america, they speak spanish, dutch, english and their own native tongue.

Oh, here is a picture of the hotel where Natalie Holloway stayed. That abduction took place 5 years ago, and is like the last murder they had. Super safe place and that poor incident hurt people's perceptions of the island. Ok, this post was really boring. I'll leave you with a two more pictures. One of the book I devoured while there and a funny picture from the arubian airport. I rarely read books, partially because I am an all or nothin kinda girl, like with food or t.v (why we don't have cable). And when I get into a book, there is no putting it down. This was a fantastic book.We had to wake up at 4:30 the day we left(2:30 LA time), but I slept on almost every flight. The sign below was posted in the Arubian airport, random. So now it is back to life here in cold Louisiana. It is very hard to get in the Christmas spirit when you are gone the first week of December and are leaving before Christmas to celebrate somewhere else. I so desperately want to go get a little charlie brown christmas tree and not do much else. But Ritchey probably wouldn't let me get away with that, and I would be eaten up by mommy guilt, so we'll see.