Vacation in Review

I haven't gone through all the photos yet. I will keep posting some of the best ones over the next few days. I have deleted a few, but I still have about 150 to go through - some taken with the underwater camera and some with my regular camera.

May 8 - We left our house at about 6:50pm, but at about 7:15 Paul remembered we had forgotten to bring the pack n' play with us which Nadia was going to sleep in that night at Paul's parents. So we drove back home and therefore arrived at Paul's parents an hour later than we had planned to arrive. I went straight to bed as I knew we'd be getting up very early the next morning. Unfortunately it took awhile to get Nadia back to sleep and then she woke up at midnight and 3:30am. Since she was sleeping in the same room we were, we didn't opt to let her cry. So we didn't get much sleep that night. We had planned to get up at 4am, but since Nadia got up at 3:30 - so did Paul & I.

May 9 -We pulled out of their driveway at 4:15am. We somehow managed to get 4 suitcases into the trunk of my Corolla. We arrived at Newark airport at 6:30am and parked in the economy lot (which is still rather expensive - $15 a day!). After taking the shuttle to the terminal, we checked in and went through security and then had breakfast. Our flight landed in Antigua a little early as we had tailwinds on our way down. The process of going through customs and immigration was TERRIBLE. It took us 1 hour and 45 minutes! Usually when we land on an island in the Caribbean we are in the taxi headed to the hotel in less than 30 minutes (sometimes less than 15). After we checked into the resort, we headed to the pool. Nadia loved it! After that we went to a large grocery store which was about a 5 minute walk from our resort. We bought prepared food for dinner (they sold subs, pizza, burgers, roti, fried chicken, etc.) as well as groceries for snacks and breakfast for the week (soda, milk, OJ, cereal, bagels, yogurt, etc.). Every day we ate breakfast and lunch in our suite and went out for dinner.

Our suite was really nice. It had a fully stocked kitchen (blender, microwave, toaster oven, oven, refrigerator, dishes, utensils, waffle maker, etc.), living room, patio, laundry room, two full bathrooms, and two bedrooms. We put the crib in the laundry room so that became Nadia's bedroom (and we also did a few loads of laundry there as well). Our only complaint with the suite was that there were many mosquitoes that bit Paul & I in there. Paul's parents didn't get many bites, and Nadia thankfully only had 3 (all on one hand). Paul is allergic so his bites looked worse than mine although I still had many bites especially on my legs.

May 10 - We stayed at the resort all day. We spent some time at the beach in the morning (after Nadia's first nap) and in the pool in the afternoon (after her second nap). We ate at the Castaway's beach bar for dinner which was just a couple minute walk from our suite. I was pretty wiped out this whole day as Nadia didn't sleep well the first night we were in Antigua. She didn't get to sleep until 8:30 (very late for her) and then she woke up at 4:30 (very early). I definitely was aware of the fact that I was a mother on this Mother's Day as I would never get up at 4:30am on vacation otherwise!!! The latest she slept in was 6am (May 11). From May 12-16 she woke up every day between 5:05-5:35. We got into a routine that I would get up with her and feed her and play with her for about one hour, and then I'd go back to bed and Paul would take her for a walk outside in her stroller and play with her until it was time for me to put her down for her first nap.

May 11 - After Nadia's first nap we took the public bus into St. Johns (the capital). It only cost a little more than $1 per person. We toured a cathedral (see photo at left) and a museum on the history of Antigua & Barbuda, did some shopping, and had lunch before heading back. Nadia slept in her stroller while we ate lunch.


May 12 - We had planned to stay at the resort this day, but due to the heavy rains, we decided to rearrange our schedule and head to Nelson's Dockyard instead. This proved to be a wise decision. We were going to take the taxi there until we found out it was $40 one way. So we took the bus back to St. Johns and then took another bus to the dockyard. After touring the dockyard, Paul & his dad walked to a nearby fort. Then we all took a taxi up to Shirley Heights. We were planning to take the buses back, but at that point we decided to "splurge" and take the taxi back instead. We had dinner at Castaway's after spending some time in the pool.


May 13 - We spent the day at the resort and had dinner at the Dogwatch Restaurant on a dock about 5 minutes from our resort to celebrate Paul's parents 42nd anniversary. :-)


May 14 - Paul & I were supposed to go on a day trip to Barbuda, but they called us the night before to say the trip was cancelled. We all spent the day at the resort and had dinner at a steakhouse about a 5 minute walk from our resort. This was our favorite meal. Paul and his mom had steak, and Paul's dad had swordfish. Paul's mom and I took home doggy bags as the portions were huge.


May 15 - Paul & I went on an Eco Tour that made a few stops - some involved hiking and others snorkeling. I have to say the water at Antigua isn't nearly as clear as all the other islands we've been to (although it's still much clearer than say in New Jersey!). The snorkeling wasn't that great either. It was a nice vacation, but it definitely wasn't our favorite island. Our three favorites so far have been St. Lucia (we want to go back some day), the British Virgin Islands (we did Tortola and Virgin Gorda), and St. Kitts. Our other favorite Caribbean location is Mexico where we also want to return some day (not right now though with the swine flu!). The underwater camera works very well though so I look forward to using it again some day! It was great to spend the day with my hubby although we often would be talking about what we thought Nadia was probably doing at that particular time. We picked up dinner at the grocery store (Epicurean) before heading back to the suite and were very pleased to hear that Nadia had been a very good little girl for her grandparents - even took 3 naps for them! One other thing we really enjoyed at the grocery store was the bakery. The croissants and cookies and other pastries were very inexpensive and very tasty. The strawberry shortcake cookies were one of my favorites. :-) We played our 3rd game of Pinochle after Nadia went to bed, and it was the first one Paul & I won that week.



May 16 - We had planned to take one more trip to the pool or beach in the morning, but we ended up just spending the time in our suite before heading to lunch at 11am and the reception area at noon where we were to meet the taxi taking us back to the airport ($24 - much more reasonable). The airport was again a rather zany place in terms of checking in. They opened EVERY suitcase and went through things very carefully by hand, but eventually we made it to our gate. Unfortunately we sat in the plane on the runway for well over an hour and we had headwinds so I was very tired by the time we landed in Newark as Nadia spent most of the 6 hours squirming in my lap. After going through immigration and customs, Paul gave me my shot and then we took the shuttle back to our car. The driving conditions were NOT good (heavy rain much of the way and dense fog at other times) so it took longer to get home. We first dropped Paul's parents off at their home, and then we finally arrived at our home about 2am. Thankfully Nadia didn't wake up until 6:45 am although that still felt very early as I had only slept 4 1/2 hours! She made up for some of her lost sleep last night as she fell asleep in my arms at 5:30pm and didn't wake up until 6:25am. She slept 13 hours!! Usually the longest she'll sleep is 11 hours. I feel much better today. Yesterday I was exhausted and lightheaded most of the day. Overall, it was a great trip!