Ok, here we go.... We got up at 2:15 a.m. and were on the road by 3:30 a.m. - right on schedule. We got to Providence on time (it was FREEZING out, by the way) and got in line at 5:00 a.m. to check in for our 7:10 a.m. flight. The lady at the counter said there was a "note" regarding our flight and went out into the back office. She came back and told us we were being bumped up to the 6:00 a.m. flight. Ooooookay....so now we're rushed - scan the checked luggage, open and hand search the checked luggage....rush through the security with the carry-ons....run to the gate. Phew. We made it but only got to use our 1st class upgrades on the first leg of the trip - from Providence to Philly. Oh well, some is better than none. Great flight to Philly. No problems with connecting, and off we were on the way to paradise (25 minutes late leaving the gate). Landed in SXM only 15 minutes later than expected, bused over to the terminal and stood in line for immigration. Nana went through first, then we (the boys and I followed). The unpleasant lady behind the plexiglass looks at me and says "What line were you in?!" I responded that we were right behind the my mother, who just went through. Oh. Okay. Then she starts to give me a rash and an itch about using my pink pen to fill out the form. I told her that nowhere on the form does it say that you have to use black or blue ink. She says, Well, you should know better! GRRRRR!! Just stamp the da*m passports and let me go already! Alrighty then - off we go to wait for the luggage. No problems there - and my best friend's friend, Wendy, who lives on island for the winter, met us outside with a BIG smile, a boogie board and a soft-sided cooler with two cold beers inside! How sweet! She directed us to Mickey (Tropicana/Tropical car rentals) and we loaded some of the luggage into Wendy's car and some into the "jeep-type vehicle" (Rav4) that we had rented, and it was off to Mickey's office to fill out paperwork. In and out of there in about 5 minutes and we headed to Royal Palm to check in. Wendy was nice enough to have prepared 4 pages of handwritten notes, directions, best restaurants, cheapest beer and cigarette prices, etc. for us to use during our stay. I can't say enough about how wonderful she was. (Oh yea, and thanks to Jeanne for loaning us John's boogie board and the cooler - they came in VERY handy!)<br>We checked in early and very quickly - Benito at Royal Palm's reception desk was wonderful. We got Unit 8315 for the entire 10 days and it was a great unit. We had the prettiest flower box of all! Great views of Simpson Bay, the pool, the Pelican Resort and sailboats. We were in heaven.<br>After 12 hours of travelling, we didn't feel like venturing out for dinner, so we ate at the Cabana Bar Restaurant on the premises. My mother and I had the Conch Chowder (absolutely devine!) and green salad with homemade ranch dressing. We had Johnny Cakes, Fetuccini Alfredo Carbonara, Fetuccini Alfredo and fried Mahi Mahi, with all four of us tasting and sharing each other's dinners. The food was great, but a tad on the expensive side.<br>As we had arrived the Thursday before Easter weekend, we had to go out that night for groceries, or basically wait until that next Tuesday. So, Kyle and I piled into the Rav4 and off we went to 7 Alive - Triple D was closed. We got everything we needed for the next 9 days for the 4 of us (plus a lot of extra that we left for the maid) for $103.00. As we were coming out of the store, it was like someone turned on the faucet and it just poured! It rained and rained and rained some more. I don't think I've ever seen it rain that hard! Lightening, wind and all!<br>The next morning was overcast so we decided to take a drive around the island. What a beautiful place. We drove down through Mullet and Maho, through Marigot and into Grand Case. We tried to find Talk of the Town lolo, but I don't think we started far enough up on the main drag, as it were. So, we headed up the road, into Anse Marsel, back down to Orient and stopped at the Paradise View shoppes and restaurant. The restaurant was closed. I bought 3 bottles of Ma Dou Dou. Nana bought a beautiful little black dress with spaghetti straps and gold suns all over for $18.00. Such a deal! Plus she bought the shawl/pareo to go with it for $5.00! She's gonna wear that on her cruise with Grampy in December for their anniversary. Ok...so now we're REALLY hungry. Down to Orient Beach for lunch with Andy and Cheryl at Baywatch. All out of mussels. Hmmmm....I asked if Contessa and her court had been there already that day, and lo and behold, they had! Tee hee! We all had cheeseburgers and split a plate of french fries. Nana and I had BBC's and the boys had virgin strawberry colodas. Everything was delicious and Andy and Cheryl are wonderful. And, as a side note, their was a nude couple sitting having lunch and my boys didn't even blink an eye! I was so proud of them both! We headed back to Royal Palm and let the boys swim in the pool for a few hours. Even though it was cloudy/rainy most of the day, the boys still got "pink" from the sun. I couldn't believe it. We heated leftovers from the Cabana Bar the night before and had a nice, relaxing, quiet evening at "home". There was a thunder and lightening storm again that was absolutely incredible to watch. Nana and I sat on the balcony and watched the "show" for about 2 hours, and hit the sack early.<br>Saturday morning we decided to go to Le Gallion beach because I had read it was a good "kid" beach, and it was. The water was WARM and calm, and there were lots of kids there for them to play with. The 2 chairs and umbrella cost $15.00 for the day. And the wonderful guy who runs the windsurfing shop let Connor borrow some sand toys to play with for the day. That night we went to La Gondola restaurant in Nettle Bay (?). It is an adorable indoor restaurant decorated with an italian villa theme. David (the owner) and the two waitresses were absolutely wonderful. The chef had "disappeared" that evening, so David did all the cooking himself. They brought us the best Bruschetta I have ever had after we ordered dinner. We split the Antipasto - with homemade salamis, prociutto and roasted red peppers in olive oil, with garlic bread for dipping. YUM! Nana and I had Scaloppina DiVitello Alla Parmigiana - pan fried veal cutlet with mozzarella, fried risotto, a stuffed roated red pepper, a spinach/carrot "quiche", and corn bread type slice - to die for! Connor had the Cannelloni - manicotti stuffed with meat, covered in marinara sauce and mozzarella cheese, and baked to perfection. Kyle had the Spaghetti Alla Bolognese - spaghetti with meat and tomato sauce. Not many leftovers from this dinner!!! Then came the desserts - Kyle and I had Pesca Melba - chocolate and vanilla ice cream topped with warm peaches, whipped cream and a cherry. Nana had the Tirimisu Alla Casa - it was almost too beautiful to eat. And, of course, neither one of us had our cameras! The food and service were fantastic! The price was, too! All of this food, plus 5 sodas, a Bloody Mary (careful ordering the Bloody Mary - they don't know what it is!) and two glasses of wine for $100.00. Unbelievable. We will definitely be going back there on our next visit. (Oh, and for the ladies - David is a HOTTIE!)<br>The next morning we picked Mullet Beach for the day. It was very crowded (being Easter Sunday) with lots of local families having picnics and swimming, plus all the tourists. We got there early enough to get front row chairs and an umbrella ($15.00 for the day). The water was relatively calm with gentle rolls and waves. Water a gorgeous beach. We had lunch in our lounge chairs from Daleo's snack shack. The boys had cheeseburgers with french fries and Nana and I got the BBQ chicken with fries and salad, sodas for the boys, a BBC for Nana and an orange freeze for me. Once again, YUM. And only $32.00. Such a deal. The boys used their leftover fries and hamburger bun pieces to "feed the fish". They thought that was pretty cool, and so did I. The fish were basically eating right out of our hands. The boys had on 70 spf sunblock, which was regularly reapplied every hour to hour and a half, and still got cooked. Time to buy some cheap t-shirts for them to wear during beach time! That night we went to Sunset Beach Bar - and it was PACKED. I stood at the bar for almost 20 minutes to no avail. No drinks for us! We took some pictures of the sunset and went to Cheri's for dinner with the boys. The good was good, the service was excellent, the prices were reasonable and Kyle and Connor enjoyed the entertainment. Really good BBC's, too!<br>Monday morning we picked Friar's Bay for our beach day. Off we went (with t-shirts on and sunblock liberally applied) and turned at the Friar's Bay sign. Down the little road, and to the parking lot.....NOT. There was not a single place to park. It was JAMMED. I think that entire side of the island was there that day! Oy. Ok, let's try to turn around and get out of here...easier said than done. After waiting approximately 15 minutes for some jerk to move his truck out of the entrance way (blocking everybody), we escaped back up the little road. We were going to try Grand Case beach, when we noticed a sign further up the road for Friar's Bay Beach Cafe....down the little dirt road .....that turned into a little mud road....that turned into huge puddles of muck and rock slides....and into a virtually empty parking lot at the other end of the beach we had just been trapped in at! Great. Out we go - got 2 chairs and an umbrella for free (if you eat at the Cafe) and the boys immediately headed for the water. What a beautiful beach. I think this was my favorite (so far). The water was warm, calm and clear. Anguilla was shining off in the distance, absolute paradise. We were in the water and I noticed a man walking in and thought "gee, that looks like Andy (from Baywatch)...and it was! Cheryl and Andy and a group of their friends were relaxing on their day off at Friar's Bay! Great to see them again. Such nice people. We had lunch at Friar's Bay Beach Cafe (we weren't impressed AT ALL with the service - Laurent is not exactly the warm, fuzzy type - and he made us sit there and wait as he took almost 30 minutes to clear off the other empty tables) We all ordered cheeseburgers and fries and Cokes. 35 minutes later, we got lunch. The burgers were HUGE and delicious, and the fries were really tasty. However, we figured out why the chairs and umbrellas are free if you eat there - 10.50 Euro for a cheeseburger! Ouch. Oh well, next time we'll pay for the chairs and umbrella and pack a lunch. Live and learn. That night was Contessa's TTOL Pahty at Peg Leg Pub. We arrived a little bit late and the Pahty was in full swing. Nana and I walked out onto the deck, I smiled at Contessa and she welcomed us both like we had been long, lost friends! Met lots of TTOLers, Contessa, Dr. Jane, Dicky and Frank, Jack (jackass) and Rita, Patitaly, Jim and Janet, Pepcats and family, Bill and Kathy (Mocha), Deepti, Jeff, Dick and Bev (vebkid), Canadianchick (I know I'm forgetting a bunch, so please forgive me) and I tried to catch Annie's attention as she was leaving, but she didn't hear me across the deck with all the noise. Sean came whizzing by, asked what we wanted to drink, and brought out two of the biggest, tastiest BBC's I have ever seen/had. Yum. As the crowd dwindled, we gathered 3 tables together and sat down for a delicious dinner. As my friend Jeanne would say, you can cut the filet mignon with a spoon. The best I've ever had! Great good and wonderful company - what more could you ask for. Contessa is a doll. Dicky is absolutely wonderful - love his sense of humor! Deepti and Jeff - adorable and sweet! Great "people persons".<br>Tuesday morning we decided to go back to Mullet Bay because the boys really like it there. Paid for our chairs and umbrella BEFORE noticing the HUGE waves rolling in. Duh. Big mistake. Adults were getting plowed over and knocked down in the surf. I took Connor out on his kick board, we got nearly drowned by a huge wave, and that was the end of that. Back to the resort and the pool. That night I went to Dicky's TTOL party at Hot Tomatoes and met more very nice people. Enjoyed the free lagoon cruise on the Celine - very relaxing and interesting, too. Learned about Hurricane Luis and the devastation that it caused. Order the "pizza for one" - maybe one family! It was delicious, though, and the boys enjoyed it for breakfast AND lunch the next day. Jeff and Deepti were nice enough to get 2 tickets for us for the Shaggy/Sean Paul concert at Carnival Village that night. So, I sucked down my couple pieces of pizza and BBC, and dashed out the door at 9:15 to pick up Nana for the concert. Well, Nana was too tired to go, so Kyle glibly volunteered to join me and off we went to Philipsburgh. There wasn't much traffic, and we parked at the beginning of the salt pond and walked down to the Village. Well......I think everyone in the caribbean basin was also walking down to the village with us! The crowed was HUGE. We stood/shoved/stepped on/sweat/shoved/stood/sweat/stepped on for approximately a half hour waiting to just get though the ONE gate/security check they had open. I looked at Kyle and we decided that this was not a safe place to be, and that we didn't want to go through this anymore, so we left and I handed the $40.00 worth of tickets to a police woman and said "give these to someone you know - it's too crowded and crazy for us." Pouting, we drove "home" to the RP. The next day in the Daily Herald it said that Shaggy didn't even appear on the stage until after 1:00 a.m., so I'm glad we left when we did!<br>Wednesday morning we decided to go to the Butterfly Farm and then to Dawn Beach for the day. If you have not been to the Butterly Farm, YOU HAVE GOT TO GO! It was one of the most wonderful experiences we have had. Butterflies everywhere....$12.00 for adults/$6.00 for kids includes a guided/informational tour, and free fruit punch or water. Well worth it! We spent almost 2 and one half hours in there, just watching them and taking some great pictures. The butterflies are beautiful! Off we went to Dawn Beach. This is Nana's favorite beach (so far). It was beautiful, with a clear view of St. Bart's, the water was warm, clear and calm. Charlie Brown (the beach "boy") as absolutely wonderful. Very funny and personable. Great service, too. Two chairs and umbrella for $10.00 for the day. Beach/chair side service with BBC's and lunch. How decadent! We split 2 club sandwiches among the 4 of us, and we were full! The sandwiches were delicious and served with a smile to boot! There were A LOT of boat people being bussed in and out, though. So, it was very crowded for most of the day. All in all, very enjoyable. That night Nana and I headed out to Dolphin Casino for some Blackjack. We stopped at a little store in Simpson Bay for cigarettes (sorry, don't know the name - but it's next to a laundromat) and found little "sample" sizes of Etna Ice Cream. OHMIGOD! That is the best ice cream I have ever tasted! Nana and I shared a strawberry and a pistachio. It's all cream! Delicious! The casino was fairly small and very empty. Only about 10 people in there when we arrived. We got our chips and sat down to play. Out of all the dealers we went through in 4 hours, only 2 of them were friendly - John and Maria. The other 5 or 6 were HORRIBLE! No smiles, no chit chat, no nothing, but disdain - bordering on contempt! It was horrible. Oh well, I had a blast playing for the 4 hours and pretty much broke even for the night. Not too bad! I also got to meet a football player who sat down next to me for a while to play. His last name is Hanson and he's #52 - a Defensive End on the New York Dragons (arena football). What a wonderful, fun guy to meet! I never did get his first name though. OH well.<br>Thursday morning we went on the Bluebeard 3 to Anguilla. I won't do this again, and I won't suggest it to anyone. $70.00 for adults/$35.00 for kids 12 and under. The ad says it's a day sail to Anguilla and I had specifically asked if it stopped at Shoal Bay because I was looking forward to seeing it. Yes, it stopped at Shoal Bay, was the answer I received. What they failed to tell me was that you sailed from Simpson Bay to some little deserted beach on Anguilla, and then they load everybody onto a bus and drive 45 minutes to Shoal Bay. UGH! Shoal Bay was pretty, Verdetta at Elodia's Beach Cafe makes THE BEST BBC'S (she put some kind of chocolate in them!! YUUUMMMMMYYYY) and the BBQ lunch was nice, but I was very dissappointed all in all. If I pay for a day SAIL, I want to SAIL for the day. NOT sail for an hour and 20 minutes, take a bus 45 minutes to and 45 minutes from a beach, and sail back for an hour and 20 minutes. I would have much rather stayed on SXM and hit another one of her beautiful beaches for the day and save the $140.00 I spent for me and the boys. And I was also rather perturbed with the crew on the Bluebeard. They didn't say a word to anyone on the way over to Anguilla. And then, on the way back to SXM, as we were getting closer to disembarking in Simpson Bay, they got all friendly and chatty and "can I get you a drink", and blah blah blah. Trying to shmooze us for a tip at the end of the trip. Sorry, folks, I don't forget THAT easily. If you want good tips, then you should be friendly and chatty and "can I get you a drink" for the entire trip, not just the last hour and hope that everyone will forget about the majority of the day. Oh well, once again, live and learn.<br>That night we went to Ric's for dinner. We had nachos, quesadillas, chimichanga and fried fish. Everything was fantastic, and they even had Etna Ice Cream for dessert! Yipppeee! Leah, the waitress from Arkansas, is great, too.<br>Friday morning I rented a jetski and took the boys out for 1/2 hour each. It was great fun - Dicky, did you see me riding back and forth in front of the Boon? I was waving, but I didn't want to come in too close to the beach, so I couldn't see if you were out there or not. We got a babysitter for the afternoon so the boys could swim in the pool and Nana and I could go SHOPPING! Into P'burg we went. Found a parking space, no problem, and headed for DK Gems International to see Deepti and Jeff. Unreal. They have the most gorgeous jewelry! Nana bought herself an absolutely gorgeous 4 carat diamond tennis bracelet and a beautiful gold anklet. Now she's really looking like Miss Moneybags! Tee hee! I bought a beautiful diamond band ring that Deepti and Jeff and making for me and I can't WAIT to get it. It is stunning! I also got a ring with 3 blue topaz stones - I call it my Caribbean Water Ring, because it's the color of the water in SXM! LOVE IT. And thanks to Deepti and Jeff for their wonderful hospitality and for taking such good care of us at the store! And Jeff for escorting us to purchase perfume for the folks back home! You guys are the best! We stopped at Every'ting Cool for lunch and a frozen liquid libation. There was one cruise ship docked at the pier - a Royal Caribbean. As I was getting ready to take a bite out of my DELICIOUS tuna sandwich, I looked up and saw a woman who looked so very familiar to me, but I couldn't place her. I kept looking at her and all of a sudden it hit me! I dropped my jaw into my potato chips! It was Kyle's 4th grade teacher from last year who lives here in Falmouth! She and her hubby were on the cruise ship! I COULD NOT BELIEVE IT! What a small world. We chatted for a while, and she wrote a nice note to Kyle, because he would never believe me if I told him we saw her! We wished each other well, and off we went. We got all of our "touristy" stuff while in P'burg and headed back to RP. We picked up the boys, the boogie board and soft-sided cooler (containing a soda and a beer) and were off to Wendy and Tony's condo to return them for Jeanne, Bill and John's use in November. They have a beautiful little condo right on the lagoon in near Maho. We thanked them, again, for everything, and off we went for our last dinner in paradise. We picked Peg Leg Pub because the first experience there was so wonderful. Well, the second experience was just as good as the first! We had the pleasure of meeting the new owners, Jack and Linda. Linda chatted with us while "Uncle Jack" entertained the boys with a very bright flashlight shining on the water so they could watch the fish jump. The boys had burgers, and Mom and I had club sandwiches, and once again, the food and service (Sean, the most charming man I have ever met) were outstanding. We headed back to the RP to pack - sadly.<br>Saturday morning was beautiful, and we finished packing up the last minute stuff. Waaahhhh.... The front desk sent Singh up to get our luggage, and they placed it all in an empty unit (check out is at 10 a.m., and our flight wasn't until 3:50 p.m.). We checked out, and hung out at the pool for our last few hours. Nana and I had our last BBC's at the pool bar. At Noon it was time to get dressed, call the taxi to bring the luggage to airport and return the Rav4 to Mickey. Everything went very smoothly - security hand search every bad, we checked in for the flight, paid our departure taxes and headed for the restaurant. Had a great lunch and watched the planes land and take off. All of the happy, untanned people arriving, and all of the sad, tanned and peeling people leaving. We stopped and bought 2 hand rolled cuban cigars for the hubbies, went through immigration, security, got bussed to the plane, and off we went. Philly was a nightmare - we arrived 20 minutes early, only to sit in the plane for an hour waiting for a gate. They had 2 "people movers" unload us and cart us over to a gate to get through immigration. Then the long walk to get the luggage - none of the carousels showed which flight or airline the luggage was from....you had to run back and forth between the 3 of them and hope that you spotted your luggage going around. Finally found them all, then through customs, the re-checked the luggage, and started for gate C30, which is what was on our boarding passes that we just got in SXM. Thank goodness one of the other ladies on our flight happened to notice (as we got to gate C something) that our flight was actually listed on the departure monitors as leaving from Gate B11 !!!!!!! AAAAARRRRGGGHH. We had to run all the way back from whence we came and made it to the gate as the last passengers were boarding. What a nightmare. And of course we were late leaving Philly....got into Providence and Buuuuurrrrr....it was chilly! We pulled into the driveway at 1:30 a.m., exhausted, but home.<br>It was a wonderful time, and I can't wait to get back in November, but this time I'll try for connections in Charlotte! [Linked Image]<br><br>Phew![Linked Image] It's done!<br><br>Maura[Linked Image]

[color:"red"]City of Champions - Red Sox and Patriots!