We left Orlando and arrived in SXM via SJU without any problems and Lesley Bruce
(Kenny's) was waiting for us with our car. A nice beat up Corolla;love the ones with the dents and scrapes! This was also great on gas! Checked in at our Villa (Villas on Great Bay), did a little unpacking and went to the Greenhouse for a TTOL party that WildBill was hosting. Since I am lousy remembering names I won't mention any. We had something to eat but did not stay too long as it had been a long day for us.

Our days were mostly the same;ate breakfast in most of the time, then spent the morning at the pool. Unfortunately due to a physical limitation we did not venture to any of the beaches. We are not normally pool people but we do have a gorgeous pool right outside our door with nice landscaping and view of Great Bay and Cruise ships so there was no problem spending our time there.

Sunday the 23rd was the Junior Carnival Parade and Bruce and Edie came over to the villa to watch it with us. We all enjoyed both the parade and each other's company. That evening we all met up at Gut Side for dinner. Bruce and Edie and their daughter, Michelle, also came over to the Villa to watch the Grand Carnival Parade the following Sunday. After the parade we had a little picnic around the pool. We bought a couple of cooked chickens at Grande Marche and I made some salads. All in all it was a great time.

We did go to several TTOL parties; one at the Greenhouse (as mentioned), Shrimpies, BBB and Kissing Fish. It was nice seeing some of our old friends and meeting new ones. And I will not mention names as I don't want to forget anyone. I have too many senior moments to remember people's names!

One afternoon when we were having lunch at California we ran into Stephanie (Marigot) and her husband Brian. It was so nice to see them again. Funny thing is we ran into them last year on our trip up at Paradise View. We had a nice visit with them and I hope we will see them again next year on our trip!

We only ventured into Phillipsburg a couple of times to shop. We stopped in to see Deepti once but it was quite busy with several cruise ships in that day so we did not stay. We did go in a few days later and Paul bought me a beautiful pair of diamond earrings. I did not plan on purchasing any jewelry this trip but...

One late afternoon we met up with Barbara and Irina at Mark's for a few drinks. What a great time we had talking and laughing. It was so nice to see Barbara again and to finally meet Irina. All in all it was a great time with them.

I will list the restaurants we went to but I will NOT say which I did not care for (if any) because anytime I say I was not happy with this or that place I get slammed on this board and by PM.

We had several breakfasts at Chesterfields and Spinnaker. Other places were (in no particular order):

BBB
Greenhouse
California
Layla's
Wharf
Pineapple Pete's
Hidden Forest
Mark's
Toulula Mango
Paradise View
Gutside
Temptation

I will say that the best meals we had were at (again in no particular order) California, Hidden Forest, Pineapple Pete's, Paradise View.

As you can see we did not go to many restaurants we did frequent several of them more than once. I have probably missed a few but...CRS happens!

On our return we checked into AA around 10:00 AM for our 2:00 PM flight. I do have to say that the people working at SXM airport are the nicest most helpful people I have run across. It was a no hazard check-in. Paul dropped me off with the luggage, parked the car and when he got back to the airport I was almost through. The security people got my luggage (all four pieces) from behind the rope, checked it and put it on the pass-through at the AA counter. We were in and out in 10 minutes! Flight home was uneventful.

As you all can see it was a very lazy and relaxing trip! We are already looking forward to our next one, hopefully in October.

Annie