the st. thomas adventure

well, we've been back for a week so i think it's about time to summarize the trip.  we still aren't fully re-settled back home, which is ridiculous, but we've been super busy and we're almost there.  i just finished all the laundry (it didn't help that i had to wash every towel and blanket in the house, since ollie took it upon himself to sleep wherever he pleased while we were gone....), and i think everything else is about in place.

st. thomas was a little disappointing, which is sad.  jb and i had a blast with each other, but the hotel we stayed in was really a let-down.  it was dirty, worn-down, and the service was HORRENDOUS.  then, the package we booked was all-inclusive, and the food was just not good.  since i'm really into eating these days, this was a really sad state of affairs for me.  but, we did make the best of it, even though we overpaid and wouldn't recommend this place to anyone else.

the highlight of the trip was our day excursion to virgin gorda.  we booked a charter on a boat and it took us to st. john (briefly), past lots of islands and lovely views, to marina key (the smallest island in the caribbean, where we had lunch), virgin gorda (where we toured the baths and swam in devil's cove), and jost van dyke, a little island that has about 50 residents and one or two bars, that's IT.  it was a great day.  the baths (short for batholiths) are these HUGE rocks that you hike through, with water and animal life all around.  super cool natural formations.  pics that jb took are below.

other than that, we spent the majority of this trip being super lazy.  it was incredible.  i've really never taken a vacation where i just didn't DO stuff, and this might be our last one for quite some time.  jb is a funny guy, so he kept me entertained all day.  we floated in the lovely ocean, hung out and napped by the pool, read books, and watched the french open sometimes.  we also became obsessed with the iguanas that are everywhere and saved all of our drink accoutrements for the little guys.  jb has plenty of video footage of that, so i'll wait for him to edit and post that.

anyway....all in all, it was really nice to get away and to spend some quality time just the two of us.  it's been a long three years leading up to this trip.

the biggest bummer happened when we got back to our house after a LONG flight home (delays, delays, delays).  we had gotten some neighbors to watch the dogs, cat, chickens, and garden.  i figured it was better to pay them and have everyone in their own environment than to board the dogs and let everything else fend for itself.  well, i don't think the neighbors had bad intentions, but they certainly didn't treat our house the way we might have expected.  despite asking them not to let the chickens out, they did (two days after we left), and their dog (a 90-lb. chocolate lab) killed our hen, bettyrene.  she was our favorite, and this was exactly a year after octavia died mysteriously, so we were pretty bummed.  plus, even though it's a chicken (i think you have to have a little bit of perspective when it comes to chickens), it's still hard to know that a pet died in such a horrible manner.  anyway, she was a sweet little hen and she will be missed, but bixby and bernadette and still going strong, so hopefully they'll be safe from neighboring dogs for a while.

in addition to the loss of a chicken, our garden was completely ignored/neglected.  super bummer considering all the time, money, and energy jb has put into it this year.  we lost our pumpkins and our squash and all the tomatoes that should have been picked while we were gone.  fortunately, we have gotten some good rain this week and it looks like most everything else will be salvageable, if not the bumper crop we were hoping for.

finally, the lab chewed the arm rest of one of our outdoor teak adirondack chairs.  super bummer.  it's not completely ruined, it just has teeth marks in it now.  the chairs were a surprise gift from justin about a year ago, and were not cheap.  we had debated getting them for about 4 years before we finally bit the bullet.  anyway.  jb is hoping to contact the manufacturer to see if we can just get a replacement arm rest, but it was a huge bummer.  oh, yeah, and their dog dug a big hole in our front yard, but i'm sure our pups probably helped with that a little bit too.

so, we're in the market for a new/different pet-sitter.  i know it's a big responsibility, but i feel like you should maybe just decline the job instead of saying you'll do it and then letting our house and pets get worked over by your dog/neglect.  that is harsh, i guess.  i really really don't think there was malicious intent, it was just hard to come home to all of that.

finally, in baby browne news, i felt the little monkey move last saturday, june 5.  very exciting!  we have the 20-week ultrasound this wednesday (my dad's birthday), though we're still not planning to find out the sex.  i am so excited to see the little face and arms and legs and all that.  i haven't felt him/her move every single day since then, but here and there i do feel it.  i think it's like a goldfish doing flips in there.

inside the baths in virgin gorda

someday, we'll own a sailboat....

the view from our hotel room (the best part of the hotel)

one of our new iguana buddies

one of the few super sunny days we had so you can see how blue the water is

rest in peace, bettyrene