St. Maarten more pictures

Olivia made lots of friends on this trip.  This couple from Tobago was so patient and sweet to her.  Napping doesn't get better then the picture below.  Poolside, at the beach, in the shade with Mimi.  Mom loved it too.

How this woman wore this sweatshirt in the carribbean sun I don't know... but she did.  Every day.  She came asking if we wanted our hair braided but instead Mom asked her to pose for a picture. 

My men in the pool.  Gavin looks like he is getting ready to plant a big kiss on his Dad doesn't he?

We took an early morning road trip to the French side of the island and came across this restaurant row right on the water.  Getting there early meant that we were there to watch them preparing all the food for the day.  Everyone sitting around peeling potatoes and peeling shrimp, cutting up chickens and making lots of sides.  The best part about it was that when we got off the boat a few hours later we got to eat lots of this good food we saw being prepared.

Smoke, smoke and more smoke as everyone fired up there grills and smokers.

Olivia made yet another friend.  Kids are kids all over the world and even with a language barrier they still have fun.

The boat we took out to the reef holds several people on the upper deck but the real surprise is that once you get out there you go below deck where the walls are all glass and you get to see all of the fish, turtles and coral as the boat makes it's way around.

Below is our lunch being prepared.  Mike and I had the lobsters and then I had the snapper and he had the ribs.  Mmmmmm.

(note the tray table...hee hee)

St Maarten mon

My children are great travellers ... and good thing they are or I suspect Mike would be taking us nowhere!  =-)  Olivia loves everything about flying.  Watching for the planes to take off, to land, the attendents, the tray tables, the views, did i mention the tray tables?  (apologies to those that sat in front of us)  hehe.

We flew from Raleigh to Miami and then down to St. Maarten!

Gavin is excited to go on vacation!

A little goofy Daddy time in the hotel to rest up for ...

The Beach!

Views from our room.

Outdoor barbacue at the poolside restaurant.

The heck with hair gel, sunblock is great for mohawks.

We ate most of our meals at the hotel but we couldn't resist trying the new Hard Rock Cafe that just opened.  Mike added a beer glass to his HRC collection which almost made up for their broken A/C.

I can not even think about how hot this woman must have been selling her wares in the sun.  She needs a kiosk.

One of the day trips we took was to the French side of the island where we took a small ferry to Pinel Island.  It is an island so small it only takes minutes to walk from one side of it to the other but look at this gorgeous water.  There are a few bar/restaurants and each has a section of waterfront where they rent chairs/umbrellas and bring you drinks.  It was wonderful.  The water was shallow and clear without any waves to contend with.

Olivia is still talking about her friend Jean Carlo.

Olivia and Patricia relaxing in the lobby.

View from the lobby.

Leaving was hard to do.  Sylma seeing us off completed our trip.

This last picture is obviously from here at home.  I joked with Lynn that we'd be coming home with a "crawler" so I had to post this one.  He's not actually crawling yet but it won't be long.