Well.
We’re back in New York.
I uploaded some photos to Facebook the other day so I thought I would share a few here.
Our resort in Antigua was gorgeous. Modern villas, private beach, and a few swimming pools - it did not disappoint.
There were three infinity swimming pools which we generally had to ourselves. It often felt like we were the only people staying there.
We had Thanksgiving lunch at a French restaurant.
We spent a ton of time at the beach. And as I mentioned in a post last week Charlotte quickly learned how to say bees. But for some reason anytime we said that we were going down to the beach her first reaction was to say shoes. Over and over again.
Shoes shoes shoes shoes shoes.
And then insist that we all put our shoes on.
I have no idea what goes on in her little head but everything she does fascinates me. And generally makes me smile.
And now back to reality. It’s been a stressful few weeks for me and it’s likely to continue on for a while. I guess I’ll take a leaf out of Charlotte’s book and remember to stop and smell the flowers every now and then.
Antigua, November 2011
Things have been a bit stressful around these parts. So it’s been a welcome reprieve to step away from it and into Antigua for a week of relaxation.
We are staying in a remote part of the island. Our resort was only built a couple of years ago and many of the villas are not yet complete. There aren’t many amenities and it’s in the middle of nowhere but we have a gorgeous villa steps away from the private beach and so it is perfect for us. Charlotte has gotten to the age where she loves the beach (or bees as she calls it) and is happy to sit by water and shovel sand from one spot to another.
Yesterday we drove to a beach called Half Moon Bay which is described by online reviewers using words like remote and paradise and secluded and beautiful. The reviewers were spot on.
Half Moon Bay, Antigua
You know what’s not awesome?
Your toddler deciding that 5am makes a fine time to get up.
You know what’s really awesome?
That 5am wake up time resulting in you getting The Bean all to yourself. Not another tourist in sight.
High five Charlotte!
(All these photos were taken by Jen - isn’t the first one amazing)
There were only two tourist items on my list for Chicago (when you have a toddler in tow you have to be realistic about how much you can jam into a weekend away) - The Bean in Millenium Park and the Skydeck.
So…on Sunday evening a few hours after the Marathon we headed up to the 103rd floor of the Skydeck. I wouldn’t say I’m afraid of heights but it was a bit overwhelming when you first step out of the lift and see how high you are.
And then, there was The Ledge - a glass box that extends out about 4 feet from the edge of the building. I mean, who in their right mind would get in that thing?
WE WOULD!!
Admittedly, I had to back my way in and use positive visualization techniques to pretend I was in fact standing on solid ground.
Don’t you just love ridiculous tourist-y things like this?!
I was sitting at my desk on Wednesday afternoon thinking about our non-existent weekend plans. I shot off a few emails to house-owners in the Catskills using VRBO to see if I could get a last minute bargain deal on a house for the weekend. And BAM we hit the road late Thursday afternoon to get out of the city.
This morning we headed down the driveway to the stream across the road.
Catskills, New York
Cheesey vacation shot!
Well, here we are. We flew down to Florida on Saturday and stayed with John’s parents in Fort Lauderdale for one night. We left Charlotte with them (sob!) and headed down to the Ritz Carlton at Key Biscayne today where we will be for the next 4 days, courtesy of John’s work.
I plan to:
- laze by the pool
- laze on the beach
- reach books and trashy magazines
- get a pedicure
- go shopping
- shmooz with John’s colleagues
On Thursday we finish up the non-baby work-related portion of the trip and head back to Fort Lauderdale to celebrate Charlotte’s first birthday with her grandparents. Then we are heading to South Beach for some fun in the sun for a couple more days with Charlotte.
All in all, we have a perfect week planned.
I hope you are all having a wonderful Thanksgiving, rugging yourselves up against the cold, and eating loads of turkey.
We had a very non-traditional Thanksgiving. I think perhaps a non-traditional Thanksgiving will become a tradition for our family given the fact that we are not Americans. This year we had a wonderful day with Berry and her parents in their beach town in Knysna in the Western Cape. We started our day off at the beach and rounded the day out at a wonderful restaurant on the water.
Knysna, South Africa
The wedding was spectacular! Fantastic location (seriously, so so so so fantastic), great ceremony, yummy food, fun people, and a really beautiful bride.
jkh
The wedding was spectacular! Fantastic location (seriously, so so so so fantastic), great ceremony, yummy food, fun people, and a really beautiful bride.
Camps Bay, South Africa
We have so few family photos so we made sure to get one as soon as we arrived. After freezing our tails off for the last couple of days, the sun came out and shined down on us.
My little chicken was well behaved throughout the wedding. She clearly has FOMO (fear of missing out) because she didn’t pass out until after 10pm. I don’t know how we got so lucky with this angel baby.
Berry! How weird it is to hang out with one of my besties on the other side of the world.
The location of the wedding was phenomenal. Ocean, mountain, and fog. We had some champagne after the ceremony and sat contentedly taking it all in. Katy and Marc thanked everyone over and over again for coming all this way to attend their wedding (there wasn’t a single guest who actually lived in Cape Town) and yet really it should be us thanking them over and over again for giving us the perfect excuse to visit this amazing city and country.
Camps Bay, South Africa
