July 28, 2003 - 8:22 p.m.

WooHoo Waterslides!

What a fun day the kids and I had! In a local free periodical for parents I found an ad a few weeks ago for this picnic area that is on a lake and has waterslides! It's about an hour away, so I was worried it might not be worth the drive. I was particularly wary after the weekend's bad water park experience.

Luckily, this place exceeded my expectations. The weather was beautiful - sunny and not too hot. The drive went uneventfully and speedily. We arrived to discover a lovely reservoir with a shady picnic area on the shore and the slides up a hill. There are only three slides, but they were just right for kids - not too fast or scary. Plus, since it is an out of the way place with little advertising it was not very crowded. Even with only three slides, we never had to wait more than a few minutes for our turn.

The kids loved it! We would do a couple of runs on the slides until the breeze cooled our wet bodies a little too much. Then we would head to the reservoir for some swimming. Then we would hang out on our towels in the sun until we were warm enough to start the whole cycle again. It was a blast, and I hardly had to utter a single reprimand all day long! How refreshing! We stayed so long that by the time we got home I bundled the kids into their PJs and it was time to watch their end of the day half hour of TV. Such a pleasant, easy day has ne'er been known in Nannyland. :)

In other news, I finally uploaded the photos from my recent cruise to Shutterfly - yay! I had originally intended to post a sort of travelogue with photos here. Now that so much time is passed, I have lost the enthusiasm necessary for that job. So, if you want to see the pictures, go check out the album. The photos don't cover a lot of the coolest things we did so I will give a few details of our trip. If you are not at all interested, stop reading here.

So, we sailed from San Juan, Puerto Rico on Sunday June 29 with little fanfare, but much excitement. By 7AM Monday morning we were docked in St. Thomas. We had massages that morning (Sam's was on me since he won the fitness challenge... by a lot) and headed out on a catamaran for a sailing excursion in the afternoon. The sailboat took us to Pinel Island where we had a great time snorkeling along the reefs and seeing all the gorgeous fish, urchins, and coral. On the way back, some of the laughing gulls from the island followed us and even swooped down to munch on the chips and cheetohs held out by accomodating tourists.

On Tuesday we were in port in Fort-de-France, Martinique. We decided against an organized excursion and instead took a ferry out to a quiet beach. We hung out with both locals and tourists there, did some reading and napping, and climbed on the rocks to check out crabs, anemones, and massive sea urchins.

On Wednesday in Barbados we spent the morning wandering around Bridgetown. In the afternoon we had the experience of a lifetime. First our guides took us to a cove where they fed green sea turtles and lured them close enough that we could almost touch them as we snorkeled among them. Sound hard to believe? It really was surreal, but I have the photos from my underwater camera to prove that we got to see four wild turles in the flesh. They are such beautiful creatures, and so graceful when they swim. We even got to watch them as they swam off a bit and then surfaced for air. As if that wasn't cool enough, we were then taken to another cove where the local diving association had sunk two old ships for snorkelers and divers to explore. One of the wrecks was an early 20th century tug boat that was covered in sponges and coral and home to hundreds of fish. The other was a metal rum running boat that had holes cut in it so you could dive down and swim through it. Sam and I both took a quick swim through. It was a cool but somewhat eerie experience. Then we headed to the beach for a stroll and some rum punch as the sun went down. It was the best shore tour we went on during the entire cruise!

Thursday we were at sea, so we took it easy and spent much of the day out of the deck reading and talking and sleeping. Then Friday we arrived in Aruba, our final port of call. In Aruba we took a kayak excursion with a small group of fellow passengers and a fabulous set of guides. We kayaked along the shoreline sheltered by reefs for a couple of miles and marveled at the rocky shore and turquoise water. We stopped at Baby Beach where we wandered among the mangroves before snorkeling out to the reef area. The reef was spectacular - densely covered with coral and sponges and urchins and teeming with all manner of tropical fish. After snorkeling we kayaked back in time for lunch. In the afternoon we strolled through Oranjestad, which was lovely. It is full of colorful buildings with architecture that was clearly influenced by its dutch colonists.

The last day of the cruise was another leisurely day at sea. Then early Sunday morning we were back in San Juan. I had found that flights out of San Juan were cheaper on Monday, so we had booked a hotel room for the night. After getting off the ship, we located our hotel and ditched our luggage. Then we explored Old San Juan, the historic section of the city. We wandered the cobbled streets and ogled the lovely pastel houses, with colorful flowers overflowing from wrought iron balconies. Then we went to Fort San Cristobal, one of two major forts in Old San Juan. We had a great time exploring the old fortress and learning a bit about the turbulent history of Puerto Rico. After our visit to San Cristobal we walked along the fortified shore to the other big fort, El Morro. By then we were so hot, tired, and suburned we decided not to go inside. We hailed a cab back to the hotel and crashed until dinner time. The next morning before checking out we visted the nearby beach and sunbathed and hunted for shells. Sam found the tiniest hermit crab I have ever seen - so tiny, in fact, that my camera couldn't even focus on it! It was a nice relaxing way to end the trip and squeeze in a bit more island time before flying back to the mainland.

Beliive it or not, that is the condensed version! : ) I could rave for hours about the snorkeling, the food on the ship, the clear blue water and white sand, etc. But you should all go see it yourselves! I particularly recommend Barbados and Aruba. Both are gorgeous islands with lots to see and do. We had an amazing time, but it was certainly enhanced by the fact that we did it together. On top of being grateful for a concentrated period of time together, Sam and I share a strong enthusiasm for new experiences and adventures. I cannot imagine anyone I would have rather shared such a phenomenal trip with. It was so incredible that I don't think we will be able to top it!

Now I really must get to bed if I intend to get some reading in before I can no longer keep myself awake. I doubt anyone has read far enough to get to this last paragraph. :)

today's project: slip sliding away

musing about: what to do tomorrow

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flutter back - fly ahead