ARUBA!

In November Curtis and I were able to get away for a 6 day trip to Aruba. I could spend lots of time using words like "wonderful" and "amazing" trying to describe what a perfect time we had, but words can NOT describe and I don't really have THAT much time, seeing that I'm already way behind on blogging. I do want to lay out what we did on our trip so I have somewhere to come when I need to feel nostalgic :)

Day 1: We arrived at the Westin Resort just in time for a late lunch at the Terrace Restaurant. After exploring the grounds, we suited up and went for our first dip in the crystal blue waters of the Caribbean. We walked on the beach, watched the sunset and then headed up to change. We finished the night by visiting the resort Casino, having dinner at Senor Frogs and then drinks at an open air bar near the resort.

Day 2: We woke up and walked to Salt & Pepper for Breakfast. This restaurant has THE BEST fresh squeezed orange juice I have ever tasted! After breakfast we rented a double wave runner and spent an hour out on the water. After that we got drinks and bummed it on the beach. We witnessed a wedding party straight off of the Jersey Shore taking their wedding photos. Complete with the bride in her tight, mini-wedding dress, the groom with slicked back hair, shades and a half buttoned shirt, and lots of tall hair and glitter in the mix. Hilarious! After spending the day on the beach, we had a delightful dinner at Pago-Pago. After dinner we walked next door to the Riu to play in their casino. After slot hopping a bit, I landed on a penny machine with a 6 cent credit still on the machine. After it wouldn't take my money, I realized it not only had 6 cents left on it, it also had a bonus round waiting to be played. The machine had been abandoned, so I played the bonus round. I won $63. BOOM! I cashed out and ran just to be safe :) After the casino, we grabbed a couple of more drinks, sat in a hammock and finished the night hanging by the shore.

Day 3: We started with breakfast at Salt & Pepper AGAIN. (Hey it was yummy!) After breakfast we rented a car and some snorkel equipment and drove to the south side of the island to Baby Beach. What a GORGEOUS beach! Snorkeling was sooooo much fun. We saw so many fish and lots of coral. After a couple of hours in the water, I was pretty sea sick so I sat on the shore for a bit. After we were finished there, we headed back to the hotel and cleaned up. We had dinner at Passions on the Beach at the Amsterdam Manor. That was THE.MOST.AMAZING.RESTAURANT.EVER. Beach front dining with live jazz musicians, white light wrapped pergolas.... HEAVEN!! I honestly can't imagine a more perfect place. After dinner, we decided to head back to the Casino next door and I won another $60. Score!

Day 4: Since we still had until lunch time with the snorkel equipment and car, we woke up early and drove north to snorkel at Arashi beach. Another gorgeous beach, but the water was cold and I was a little hungover from the night before, so I opted out of this one. I slept sat on the beach while Curtis snorkeled. We made it back to our hotel with a couple of hours before we had to return the snorkel equipment, so we decided to swim out to the bunch of rocks outside of our hotel. This was an EXCELLENT snorkel spot and nobody seemed to know about it. Again, rough waters had me back on land long before Curtis. Also, it had started to rain, so I headed back up to the room. We walked over to the Hard Rock Cafe for lunch and then had a few drinks on the beach. Curtis wanted to take some sunset photos, so we walked over to the jetty in front of the hotel next door and he took some great photos. After the sun set, we realized it was dark and we had no dinner plans. Adjacent to where we were standing was an open air beachfront restaurant called Pure Beach, and we decided to dine there. So yummy and a great atmosphere! After dinner, we decided to try it at the Casino one more time. Bad idea! I ended up losing $17, but Curtis won $20 so we still ended up ahead. We did decide that would be the end of our Casino run, though!

Day 5: We woke up early to walk to Moomba Beach for our Jolly Pirates Snorkel Cruise. It was sprinkling when we arrived, and upon checkout we were told that the ship usually holds 60 people, but this particular day was way under booked! With the sprinkling rain, some people didn't even show up, and we had a total count of 9 passengers on the trip. The small group along with the hilariously fun pirates made this excursion such a highlight! It continued to sprinkle as we pushed off into the water, and it was actually a little bit cold! But just as we pulled into the first stop, the sun came out and the crystal blue water shone all around us. The first snorkel spot was a WWII German shipwreck, The Antilla. I sat this one out, since "un-natural" formations in water totally freak me out. The next stop was Boca Catalina, and our third and final stop was Malmok Reef. The snorkeling was a blast, but hanging out on the boat was such a great time, too. The pirates were hilarious, they played great music and there was an open bar. When I approached the bar for my first drink, Jose the pirate said, "Do you want something fruity, (then he pointed to one of the other pirates) or something strong? (And then he flexed his muscles.) Haha! They also served lunch on board, and opened up the rope swing. Thankfully we had a small group, so we could do the swing as much as we wanted! I probably did it 25 times, not to mention the one time I rode on the pirates back and flipped. When we got back to shore, the "open bar" hit me and we walked back to the resort and I fell asleep on the beach. For dinner we went to the brazilian steakhouse, Amazonia, since I can't pass one up if I'm in the vicinity. We had a low key night in the room, hanging out and packing bags.

Day 6: We started the day by heading out to Rancho Notorious for a beachfront Horseback ride and it was amazing! Just as our horses approached the shore, we looked out onto the water and there was a full rainbow stretching all the way across the sky. It was the perfect way to end our trip. We returned to the resort and it was time to pack up and head to the airport after having a quick lunch at the Terrace restaurant. On the flight home, we got a first class upgrade and drank mimosas and had an awesome sub-par airplane meal in our oversized seats. We were so happy to be home to our boys, but will never forget the (perfect? awesome? etc etc etc) trip we had in aruba.

Now I'm glad this blog post is complete because I have been working on it for a few weeks. I don't have a whole lot of time to sit at the computer these days! :)