Our Vacation to the Virgin Islands- Part 1

Well, we pulled it off. We took two toddlers on a sailboat for a week and it was incredible. There's so much to tell, but I have to begin at the beginning, before we even set foot on the plane.

I'm not afraid to admit that I love to shop, and even more than that, I love an excuse to shop. Because then I don't feel so guilty about spending money. I had a great time getting clothes and accessories for the kids and myself to wear (Ben is picky so I let him shop for himself). We all got new swimsuits and I got a straw hat and gigantic sunglasses. Ben kept teasing me about what I was taking, telling me I was going to look like a Kardashian. They may be despicable people, but they've got style, so I was okay with the comparison.

We were going to be heading into the British Virgin Islands so we all had to get passports. There is something so exciting about a passport, isn't there?

Trying on our sailing garb. Turns out Nayeli wanted to be a Kardashian too.

 Nayeli insisted on bringing her Hello Kitty backpack with her dog "Strawberry" in it.

 Trying to pack. They turned the suitcases into their "boats". Sometimes it's impossible to get anything done with these two kiddos, but they are too cute to get mad at.

When we got our airline tickets, we booked our first flight as a red eye. I had a vision of giving the kids Benadryl then us all sleeping soundly on the plane and arriving at our destination well rested and ready to go. To put it mildly, it didn't quite go as planned. We left Portland at 10:30pm, flew through JFK and arrived in St. Thomas at about noon the next day. The kids didn't sleep well, we didn't sleep well, and by the time we arrived we were all hungry, grouchy, and tired. But we were there. Two flights down. And that was all that mattered.

On board the red eye. Only 14 hours until we arrive!

 Both kids awake and watching the sunrise over New York

Day One- Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas to Cinnamon Bay, St. John

As soon as we landed in St. Thomas, I was taken back to my mission. The country was so similar to Belize- the humidity, the vegetation, the colorful cement buildings, the black population, even the way the people talked. I felt right at home in a lot of ways. We took a taxi from the airport to the marina that Jane had specified. Due to confusion about the marina name, we ended up sitting on a dock with two kids and a whole lot of luggage for almost an hour wondering if we had just landed ourselves in the completely wrong place. Luckily, we were in the right spot and Gary came in the dinghy to pick us up. The dinghy is a small, raft like vessel with a motor. It's attached to the back of the sailboat and is used to go to shore. It looks like this:

Jane and Gary in the dinghy

When we sailed long distances it was lifted onto the back of the boat like this. Otherwise we just towed it.

Gary took us to our boat, the "Let It Go", where we boarded and met our whole crew. There was Jane, Chelsea, Sam, and Bonnie, Sam's girlfriend that we had never met except over Skype. It was really great to be with family again.

A little bit about the sailboat- Gary has been sailing in the Virgin Islands since the 90's and keeps a sailboat in Tortola. The boat is a four bedroom, four bathroom, 44 foot catamaran. It looks like this:

We put our suitcases down below and went to the front of the boat (the bow) as we began sailing toward St. John. Here's a map for reference as I talk about the places we went:

The water was extremely choppy and we became soaked as the waves cascaded over the front of the boat. We all thought it was good fun except poor Teddy, who was too tired and hungry to enjoy the adventure. He soon was seasick and eventually threw up. Poor boy. I also got fairly seasick but was determined not to throw up- I knew I would never live it down. So Teddy and I laid down together until we entered the channel and the waters were smoother.

We sailed to Cinnamon Bay, a beautiful place on the north of St. John. I learned from Gary that St. John was donated to the US by the Rockefeller family and that now nearly the entire island (and even some underwater areas) are national parks. The only homes allowed on the island are those that were built before the national park designation, so the existing homes are very valuable. Gary estimated many to worth 10 million plus, and one even 40 million. I may have been designing my mansion in heaven. They were gorgeous.

To stabilize the boat for the night, we hooked to a mooring. It's a buoy that's anchored to the sand below. The boat is tied to it each night. It looks like this:

But I digress. With a few hours left in the evening we took the dinghy onto a small beach to play and snorkel. We were the only ones there and if felt so private and exclusive. I marveled at the soft sand and the turquoise blue of the water and thought, "I can't believe there are places on this earth this beautiful." It was just stunning.

Sunset over Cinnamon Bay

Day Two: Cinnamon Bay, St. John to Leinster Bay, St. John

The next morning we awoke ready for a fun day. Nayeli and Ben took some time exploring the boat until we took the dinghy back to the beach.

Breakfast in the galley

The view from our bathroom window

 Nayeli on deck with the multimillion dollar homes behind her.

 A sea turtle came to say good morning! We had many sea turtles swim right by our boat during the trip.

With my sweet girl

We played on the beach for a few hours and did some snorkeling as well. My kids were leery of the ocean, but in heaven in the sand.

 Cinnamon Bay Beach

 Building sandcastles with Grandma Jane

My sweet family!

Chelsea, Jane and Gary

 Chelsea is the best. She found fresh coconuts, broke them open on the rocks, then she shared the meat with all of us. We ate quite a few. They were delicious.

Jane watched the kids while Ben and I snorkeled together. It was like going on a date... underwater.

 Brain coral

After the beach, we sailed to another part of St. John called Leinster Bay. There Ben and crew did their first scuba dive around Waterlemon Cay. It was fun to chat with Bonnie and Chelsea while everyone else was off. Ben had a great time diving, then Jane came back and watched the kids so he and I could snorkel together. We saw a huge sting ray and amazing fish and coral. I absolutely love snorkeling.

We then took the dinghy back to St. John to do a hike before the sun set. We went to see ruins of buildings built during the 1800's. They were stunning.

 Our whole party at the schoolhouse ruins- Sam, Bonnie, Chelsea, Jane, Teddy, Gary, Ben, Nayeli, and me

 Leinster Bay

On the dinghy back to the boat. 

That night we cooked dinner for everyone. Each couple divided up to cook two nights, and all the cooking was delicious. I will admit that I was worried we might be short on food (Ben's family tends to care more about having fun than eating), but every meal was delicious and filling.

For our first full day in paradise, it was fun filled and all we could have asked for.

Get to Know Your Kin

A rare post by Ben:

I’m pretty certain that most people can’t name their grandparents’ brothers and sisters.  Chances are, they probably never met those distant relatives and it's unlikely they've ever spent much time together.  I don’t think that’s anyone’s fault.  Time passes.  Life marches on.  Families get spread out.  But for me it’s different.  I have vibrant memories of my grandmother’s brother and sister on the Phillips side.  And I have meaningful, current relationships with this great aunt and uncle. 

These wonderful, distant relatives have always been waiting in the wings of my life to cheer me on and watch me grow up.

And so, this post is about those folks.  I'm grateful for their love and encouragement over these many years. This is my small attempt to combine a couple pictures and thoughts to honor these family members who have played a role in my personal history. 

Late 80s.  Ben and Cork

Late 80s Florida Uncle Cork, Aunt Pauline, Landon, Ben, Patrick, Erik

I’ve always adored my great Uncle Cork and his wife Pauline. (I realize "Cork" is a strange name.  His real name is Cordon.  I'll have to ask him one day how that evolved into Cork.)  Maybe it’s because they gave me an Atlanta Braves baseball hat for my 8^th birthday.  Or maybe it’s because they sent us delicious toffee every year for Christmas.  Who knows.  Cork and Pauline have always been the relatives that lived so far away in Georgia that it was a big deal anytime they came to town, yet they weren’t around often enough to hear the same jokes every week.  They were the ideal distant aunt and uncle.

4th of July in the early 90s Back: Cork, Pauline, Alex, Tammy,
Esther, Jeff, Erik, Front:  Landon, Ben, Ruthie, Sam,
Grandma Great (Ruth), Jane

Cork and Me

My Aunt Esther (Cork's sister) is a spitfire.  She’ll tell you what’s on your mind and she doesn’t know the meaning of sugarcoating.  She’s a riot.  She always sent my brothers and me a book for Christmas and we’d always celebrate her birthday with a barbecue in Salt Lake on the 24^th of July.  When my grandmother, Ruthie (Esther’s sister), passed away when I was 11, Esther stepped up and filled in as a grandmotherly figure on that side of the family.  She came to graduations and mission farewells and homecomings and weddings and a few family trips.   For as long as I can remember, we have made our yearly pilgrimage with Esther to Temple Square and the Lion House Restaurant during Christmas. Those are sweet memories.

2011 Athena, Ben, Jane, Esther, Chelsea.  Our yearly Temple Square and Lion House Pilgrimage. 

Over the past four years I’ve traveled to Atlanta to attend a trade show for work.  I’ve made it a habit to sneak away from the busy show for a couple hours to visit Cork and Pauline.  As a bonus, Aunt Esther has consistently scheduled her yearly trip to visit Cork and Pauline at the same time. 

2013 Geogia.  Cork, Pauline, Esther, Me

In 2013, I spent a couple extra days in Geogia with Cork, Pauline and Esther and asked them questions about family history.  It was a fantastic time and I left knowing more about the Phillips family than I ever could have imagined.

The next year, it was just Cork, Pauline and me for dinner and more family history.  Poor Cork and Paulie-- they must cringe every time I sit them down to extract and record their family history stories. 

2014 Georgia. Pauline, Cork, Me (pardon the selfie)

And this year, Cork, Pauline, Patrick (their son), Esther and me all had an excellent dinner together.  

2015 Georgia.  Cork, Pauline, Patrick, Esther, Ben

Why does this matter?  Because family is important.  These people are my kin.  They have stories about my deceased grandparents and information about where I came from.  They have stories about my mother and how my grandparents raised her.  They have family stories of sorrows, goodness, sacrifice, perseverance and love that are priceless.  As I listen to them reminisce and as I ask questions, I gain a more rounded understanding of myself.  I grow to love the grandparents, great grandparents and great great grandparents that made sacrifices so that I can enjoy the life I have now.  Their past informs my present.  I am the sum of my personal life experiences, but I am also the sum of my ancestors’ decisions and experiences.  My yearly gathering with my great aunts and uncles is usually short and sweet, but it’s a tangible and vivid experience of “turning the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers.”  These are experiences I treasure.

The Blur of May and Early Summer Happenings

May was interesting. As I planned my blog posts, I was going to write one on Mother's Day, one on Memorial Day, etc. but then today I can barely even remember what we did on those specific days. So here is the May post in one big jumble.

Here is what I do remember. For Mother's Day Ben and the kids made me breakfast in bed. Ben always does crepes and they are delicious. As I was eating, we were all sitting on the bed together and Nayeli said, "Mama, someone is missing." I looked at her. "No one is missing Yeli. We're all here". But she insisted, "No mama, someone is missing". I nearly had a panic attack because I just started sleeping through the night and I do not feel ready to have another baby yet, but it was good because it got Ben and I thinking about when, whereas before having another child was completely on the back burner. We've always planned on having more, and this moment only reconfirmed to me that our family is not finished. But a little more time... a little more time.

Back to Mother's Day. During Relief Society my friend Charlotte Wilson and I sang a special musical number. I haven't sang in public since I took voice lessons in high school, so it was a big leap for me to perform. The number went well though and it invited the spirit into the room, which is the most important. In fact, it went so well I may do more singing in public in the future. We'll see.

For Memorial Day we picked some flowers in the morning and went to a local cemetery to put them on a soldier's grave. By Ben's and my grandfathers served in WWII and since we aren't near their graves to honor them we felt we should at least honor someone else who served. It was a really beautiful experience in the cemetery and we plan to make it a yearly tradition.

In the afternoon my old college roommate and friend Brooke Barker and her boyfriend Boaz stopped by for a visit. When we moved to Portland, Brooke was the only person either Ben or I knew that lived here. We get together about every six months and catch up, and I always find that we easily connect. Brooke is extremely happy, funny and creative. It's always a pleasure to be around her.

In other news, these two kiddos have definitely discovered one another and they go from hot to cold and in between all day long.

 This is how we grocery shop (Nayeli is kissing Teddy's head here). They can sit together until Teddy starts to pull Nayeli's hair or hit- then I have to move her to the basket. Never a dull moment, really.

They've also started to wrestle and Nayeli loves to tickle Teddy, as she's doing here.

In the morning they love to play together in their pajamas. This time they climbed into the tub and danced while Nayeli sang, "Dancin' in the tub, dancin' in the tub".

 When you fall asleep while playing with a three year old, you run the risk of ending up at the bottom of a doggy pile (pun intended of course).

Nayeli adores Ben and vice versa. Here he is teaching her to whittle. Those are the kind of things you learn as a three year old when your dad works at a knife company.

Our apartment complex pool has opened and we have tried to go a lot before school gets out and it is packed all the time. Sometimes we go and we have the whole pool and hot tub to ourselves. It's great.

 Like father, like son

Teddy is so cute and so curious. He is into everything, but I don't call it mischievous because he's just trying to discover the world around him. This time he discovered the strawberries just after we'd returned from the grocery store (one was in his hand, and you can see another sitting on the bag).

His energizer-bunny spirit has always made Teddy a difficult child to nurse to sleep. In fact, he almost NEVER falls asleep while nursing. This was one of those rare moments that he did and I had to get a picture. Nursing has never been easy for me, especially with Teddy, but I sure have loved it.

By the way, have I ever posted a picture of where Teddy sleeps? This is it. A pack and play that just barely fits into our closet. It has worked out great, but I do look forward to a day when I don't have to plan picking out my clothes around naptime or bedtime.

Nayeli is also discovering the world around her, but in a different way. She has been very into snails lately and loves to pick them up on our walks. This snail she named Yayaya and asked if she could keep him as a pet. She then offered it some water. It's safe to say our child is pet-starved.

She's also helps me water my pots and flowers. 

Somewhere in May, Grandma Jane sent Nayeli three sunflower seeds, so we planted them in this little pot and left them to grow. One day, however, Teddy got a hold of the pot and ate one of the seeds while greatly disrupting the dirt. I knew those seeds were never going to grow so I had planned to surprise Nayeli by planting some marigolds or something else in the pot. To my surprise, however, we have two sunflowers growing and thriving from that pot. Although, this is Oregon. EVERYTHING grows here.

We went to a town work day and got free mini-golfing passes. We took the kids and played, "run and grab the ball before dad can get it into the hole". It was really fun :)

The mini-gold castle we pass by every time we drive on the freeway. Nayeli was SO excited to see it up close and SO disappointed that she could not go in.

Of course, she did try.

Since we don't have a backyard and the weather is nice, we have been using our porch space a lot more. It's been a major blessing to have it- I think it gives the kids and myself just enough enclosed outdoors to stay sane in our little apartment.

Our wonderful neighbor Pops loves to bake and brings us cookies every Monday. On this day he brought fudge ones while we enjoyed lemonade. This is what childhood dreams are made of.

I can hardly stand it. He's so stinking cute.

A summer storm blew in and the kids ran around in it. Somehow Nayeli lost her pants during the jaunt. Are my kids the only ones who progressively undress during the day?

In other news, I read The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up and a blog about being a minimalist. It got Ben and I started on decluttering in a major way. In fact, I went through my whole apartment and sorted. I have given five large boxes or garbage bags to Goodwill and it feels great. I miss nothing. It's been a huge blessing too because I was starting to feel so cramped in here and now it is much more manageable.

My springtime mantel

Our front porch, complete with birthday pennant banners for Teddy's first birthday.

We've discovered our new favorite park in the area. It's called George Rogers Park and it is in Lake Oswego. It has a sandy beach area right on the Willamette River, complete with ducks. We went with our friends Dennine, Evans, Audra and Mousy and it was so great. We have plans to go back again soon.

The Willamette

Audra and Nayeli are two peas in a pod. They are best buddies. It's so cute.

Teddy had the time of his life getting dirty so I let him do his own thing while watching from a distance. He only fell into the water once, which really was an achievement. I did have a mom come up to me though and say, "Excuse me ma'am but your son is drinking the water," to which I replied with a smile, "I know. I already tried to stop him and I offered him my water bottle. What else can I do about it?" I'm pretty sure she wasn't pleased with my response, but if she saw how little I have to take my germ-eating kids to the doctor, she'd see that there's method to my madness.

Audra calls Nayeli "My-leli". It's adorable.

Last, but not least, we took our raft out for the second time on the last day of the month. We decided on a quiet, easy river nearby called the Tualatin River. The trip was actually great- Teddy warmed up to his life jacket and the kids played with sticks over the edge of the boat while Ben and I paddled and relaxed. I anticipate many more adventures with the raft this summer.

So there was May! Bring on June! In a week we head to the Virgin Islands with Ben's family. It is going to be a wild adventure but we are so excited. Here's to seizing the day!