Our Last Day...

Our last day in St. Maarten was bittersweet--we had an amazing week on the beach. One that was full of smiles, laughter & family time and we were all so sad to see it come to an end. This day also happened to be Grammy's birthday--2 out of her last 3 birthdays have been spent on the beaches of St. Maarten--and that at least gave us something to celebrate.

Before heading to the pool we did some exploring. Kaden and Logan led the way around the resort. We visited a cute little private beach area that we had no idea was just around the corner. We found an outside shuffleboard table where Logan proceeded to play hopscotch before biting the dust.

After our morning walk we spent the rest of the morning at the pool & then we all started to get cleaned up. As the boys went down for nap, Janet and I had one more relaxing afternoon on the beach. We sat there under our cabana listening to the waves roll in and reading our books. At one point I am pretty sure I fell asleep. And just as I was waking up our dear friend Carol came over and asked if we wanted a massage. I had actually already showered and had my hair fixed but that didn't mean I couldn't get a foot massage.

For the next 20 minutes I sat there in almost complete silence just breathing. I was so thankful for this time we got to share as a family. For the memories we were able to make and capture. For two little boys who just make my heart explode with love. To be able to take the time where we can turn off work and give our complete attention to one another. As Carol wrapped up the massage, we thanked her, hugged her & took one last look at the amazingly blue ocean before heading inside for dinner.

We wanted to do something fun for Janet's birthday so we decided to head out the famous Sunset Beach Bar. Often times when you Google St. Maarten you will see a picture of a beach where plans will fly directly over the top of  people. We decided to give it a whirl. The boys aren't big fans of loud noises BUT they like airplanes.

We were there for two hours--we toasted to Grammy's birthday. We toasted to our amazing time in St. Maarten. We put our toes in the sand and our feet in the water----Kaden and Logan managed to somehow get completely soaked. I instructed them to just get their feet and legs wet but then Kaden fell in. He looked up at me with the "Oh shit" look but I just smiled and said, "Have fun boys." YOLO, right?!

We got to see a couple planes land and a couple more take off but we quickly figured out that we didn't come at the peak time for arrivals so what planes we did see were pretty small.

We also got to take a few more pictures before our car came to pick us up. My dad thought he was going to get out of pictures once we returned but that wasn't happening--we wanted to capture us in the same spot we took pictures a few years back. The sun was going down faster than I could snap but we made do.

We finished the night off with a little crab hunt. Grammy had brought the boys some magnifying toys with lights that made for the perfect hunting tools. We had seen crab holes all week but we never went out looking so we weren't sure what we would fine. Justin spotted the first one and I was able to catch it. It was just a tiny thing but then Kaden found the "mommy"--& both boys were so excited. They really wanted to keep them and bring them home but luckily we were able to persuade them into turning them loose so they could go and have dinner with their families. After our successful crab hunt it was lights out for an early, WAY too early departure. And even though we spent 16 hours traveling in three different airports to get home on Saturday, I wouldn't have traded it for the world. This trip meant so much to Justin and I---to watch our boys with our parents, playing in the sand & ocean will be something we treasure forever.