Monday and Tuesday on Provo

The kids are in bed (exhausted, again), so it's time to do a little catching up while sitting by the pool, listening to the waterfall from the spa and enjoying the breeze off the ocean below. You might hate me right now, but you haven't seen my sunburn - it will definitely make you think twice about wanting to be me!

Monday:
We spent the day at the villa. I'm not sure why I even bothered to pack clothes for the kids. Pretty much they put their swimsuits on right after breakfast and didn't take them off until bedtime. We started out at the pool - both the "baby pool" and the "deep pool" as well as the spa. They basically just rotated which spot they played in as the day progressed. Charlotte mostly sat on one of the floats and presided over the festivities, telling Mommy and Daddy where to sit on the float and yelling at her brother and sister when they splashed her. We also went down to the dock and did a little swimming in the ocean. Our villa is located on the southern side of the island and we do not have a beach associated with our property - instead, there is a ladder that drops down from the dock (which is nestled in the rocks) directly into the ocean. Brannon also launched one of the kayaks and took Madeleine along the shoreline for a bit, then came back and I took Madeleine's place on the boat for a tour of the shoreline in the other direction. After putting the kids and grandparents to bed, Brannon and I had a relaxing soak in the hot tub.

Tuesday:
We loaded up the car after breakfast and took a 20 minute drive to Grace Bay Beach (on the north side of the island). The sand was fine and white, the water a beautiful blue. Since there is a coral reef just off shore, there really are not many waves on the beach - perfect for young children. We built sandcastles, played in the surf (even James!), and searched for seashells. Brannon went on a walk down the beach in search of a HobieCat to rent - they are sailing all up and down the beach and he has been dying to try it. After more than an hour of searching, however, he discovered that you need to rent one early in the day and he came back empty handed. I an pretty sure he has not given up his dream of sailing here though - stay tuned. Madeleine and I did find several large conch shells buried in the sand and we came back to the villa with quite a large selection of shells. We had a picnic on the beach, played a little longer and then stopped by the grocery store on the way home for a few more items we decided we needed... Lotion for sunburns, mangos (SO good here!), and cookies. Back at the villa, Madeleine and James played in the pool while Charlotte napped. Then it was dinner, playing with Legos, reading books and time for bed.

We've had a few afternoon clouds and evening showers, but otherwise the weather has been great. In fact, even the clouds and rain have been great - they have kept the temperature down and given us a break from the rays of the sun. And it is always an experience to watch a storm roll in from over the ocean!

All of my pictures from Monday and Tuesday are on my Nikon, so I don't have any to post here yet. I'll be sure to get them uploaded when we get back. And I'll try to take some more with my phone the rest of the week so I'll have something to show you...