The British Virgin Islands

We spent 7 days on Jost Van Dyke island in the British Virgin Islands and it could not have been more beautiful!  We went on the trip with my husband's family: his father (Dee/Poppa), mother (Belinda/Grammy), brother (Trent) and sister-in-law (Carrie), the 4 of us, and Brett's aunt and uncle (Dee's sister, Deana and her husband David).

Our whole trip was actually 11 days including 2 days of travel each way.  Our first couple days were a whirlwind of travel.  Our flight left Dallas around 4 pm Thursday, we arrived in Orlando where had to quickly run from one terminal to another for our next flight, and then we arrived in Puerto Rico around midnight.

Luke ate snacks most of the way (totally going through a growth spurt) and Lily and I took some selfies to pass the time.  If you know me, you know that flying is not my favorite.  It gives me major anxiety but I try really hard to hide it from my kids because I don't want them to grow up feeling the way I do about flying.  I use them as my distraction and we try to have as much fun as possible.  We listened to music on our headphones and danced in our seats and just laughed and enjoyed each other.  Thankfully the kids took naps on me the second flight and got a little rest while I tried to get some sleep too.

We got checked into our hotel for the night and were out by 1:00 am.  I set my alarm for 4:15 am because we had to be back at the airport before 6 and for some reason it didn't go off.  We woke at 5:10 to the sound of the hotel phone ringing (my in-laws wondering where we were), jumped out of bed, yelled at the kids to get up and put their shoes on, and were out the door in less than 10 mins!  Thankfully by the time we got to the elevator, we could laugh about the previous 10 mins!  We praised the kids for listening and quickly doing what we asked in a crazy whirlwind of a morning after very little sleep.

Our flight ended up being delayed about an hour and half but the kids were troopers through the whole thing, after only getting about 4 hours of sleep.  Our flight from Puerto Rico to St Thomas was a tiny little like 25 seat plane!  We had to walk outside and walk to our plane then climb up the tiny stairs to get in which the kids thought was super fun.

Dee rented sailboats for us to stay on for the night so we headed to the bay to check-in.  We got to look at the boats but then quickly change into our swim suits because Brett and Luke had a noon appointment to SNUBA.  SNUBA uses an air tank just like SCUBA diving but the tank is on a raft above you so you don't have to carry it around.  You only go about 20 feet down and is a great introduction to SCUBA diving.  You had to be 8 years old to participate so while Brett and Luke were having fun, Lily and I snorkeled around the coral.

My little beach girl!

The SNUBA instructor took these pics and I LOVE them so much!  I can't wait to print some for our walls!

Margaritaville was just down the street so we walked over to have some lunch.  There was an amazing breeze and then we got a quick downpour of rain that cooled the temps and made it a beautiful afternoon to eat outside.

We made it an early night since we were so exhausted from our 2 days of travel.  I wish I could say we loved staying on the sailboat but I will just say that it was an adventure.  The owner buys boats and renovates them to rent out but the boat we got was pretty rough and still being fixed up.  We had to fit 5 suitcases and carryons in the space along with 6 people.  Trent and Carrie shared a boat wth us and we gave them the bed because the kids wanted to sleep in a little cubby bed.  Well, they both didn't really fit in there so after some major arguing, I made Lily come share a little bench seat with me while Brett slept on the other bench seat.  I then ended up sleeping on the floor because Lily is a crazy wiggly sleeper.  She has been know to sleep walk, goes to the bathroom most nights, and have night terrors so I was a little afraid she would climb up and out of the boat so momma didn't get much sleep between catching her from falling off the bench, to sleeping on the hard floor/trying to get comfortable, to people using the bathroom, to getting hot then cold, to the sound of the wind whirling through all the open windows and the boat rocking like crazy (I expected rocking but there were times it got a little rough).  It sounded like such a peaceful experience when we talked about it but it wasn't exactly what I had pictured.  It was an adventure for sure!  The kids are ready to sell our house though and move onto a boat!  :)

Our boat in all it's glory.  :)

We had another early morning the next day and had to be packed and out of the boat by 7 am to catch a cab to the ferry.  At this point, we were feeling completely run down!  The ferry made a stop where we had to get off and switch to another ferry and then when we arrived on Jost Van Dyke we were told we could not exit the ferry.  Evidently the customs lady had missed her ferry to the island so we had to wait for the next ferry to arrive with her on it before we stepped onto the island.  Both my kids had to pee at this point, so we all became illegal aliens as they allowed us to get off and go to the building to pee.  After a 30 min wait for customs, she showed up and we were allowed off the boat.  We got through customs and jumped on a tiny truck with our luggage under our feet and in our laps, Lily on my lap while I held luggage in one hand, and Uncle David holding us on the back of the truck.  We really should have gotten a picture because it was hilarious!

We arrived at our villa but could not check-in until 3.  The family who had stayed the previous week was still packing to leave so we got to talk to them a little.  They gave us food suggestions, told us some things they did, and showed us the car they rented for the week and shared that it was a must have in order to get around.  It was a Pagero that could sit all 10 of us.  They had a of couple small kids just like our group so Dee decided to walk to town to see if he could rent it as the family returned it.  As the family continued to collect their stuff, we piled up our luggage in a corner and hit the beach.

I knew starting out on this trip that it was going to be an adventure and we were going to have to kind of "go with the flow" but at this point I just wanted to be settled and not be dragging our luggage around everywhere.  Oh and maybe get a little sleep.

Though stepping onto this beach and seeing my kids playing and relaxing in the water made everything worth it!

Jost Van Dyke is absolutely beautiful!!!  We relaxed all morning, ate at Ivan's right next door to our villa, got checked in, unpacked and showered for dinner.

Being the only ones with kids, the four of us got put in the back of the car where there were 2 bench seats that face each other.  Poor Aunt Carrie got stuck in the back with us because she was the next smallest person.  For some reason the seats fell down and we thought they were broken so we rode sliding down the tilted seats around the island which is very hilly trying not to squish each other.  Chalk it up to another adventure!

We ate dinner at Foxy's Taboo and it was delicious!!  I highly recommend it if you go to Jost Van Dyke.  Luke got pasta, I got steak kabobs and shared with Lily, and Brett got Lamb kabobs.  The portions were much larger than we thought they would be so we ended up taking some home with us.

All the restaurants are covered but not closed in so you get to enjoy the breeze and the view - beautiful!  The kids had fun swinging in the hammocks and walking around on the rocks looking for shells.  It was nice to be able to sit and enjoy talking with everyone while watching the kids.  It was a beautiful evening and a great way to start our week on Jost Van Dyke.