St Lucia 2013 - The Review and Pictures

We used Tripadvisor almost entirely when planning the trip to as we always do. I truly appreciate all the reviews that are posted and wanted to make sure I did the same for people traveling to St Lucia. If you need any details or assistance please don't hesitate to contact me.

My husband and I are somewhat adventurers. We do not like all inclusive type places and we like to experience the local culture and discover most places on our own. When we are not on vacation we are ALWAYS on a schedule so our entire intent is to just go with the flow when we are on vacation. We do a couple of scheduled activities but we really hate making dinner reservations and being tied to any type of itinerary. First and foremost I must say that St Lucia is one exotic and unique island. I feel like it was a true gift visiting the island and experiencing all that we did. It has so many options as far as it goes to for outside activities.

Pros:

Scenery is one of a kind such as beautiful pitons, hills, country side, banana plantations, coconut trees, misc flowering trees and much more. It’s like a dream when you are driving around.

The locals are always willing to help or point you in the right direction. I did not run into any un-friendly people. I felt safe the entire time.

Lots of good restaurants to choose from and most options are healthy. I felt I ate far more balanced than I do in the US. We did not have a bad meal. This has never happened when we travel.

The groceries where priced far more reasonable than other islands we have been too. Felt like there was a good selection of just about anything.

The ocean water was clear as can be at just about every beach. No seaweed or cloudiness, just beautiful turquoise blue. I also felt I didn’t see nearly as many critters like string rays or jelly fish. The water was an also a nice refreshing temperature. It also wasn’t too wavy which I can appreciate since we like to snorkel and it’s much harder to enter if it’s too wavy.

The roads are much nicer than we expected. Sure they are extremely curvy but and narrow in some places but for the most part they smooth to drive on.

Cons-

While the roads where very nice you must be a focused and an assertive driver. If you have any type of fear of driving on roads like this then just don’t bother. There is no reason to put others are risk. We ran into another US couple who just could not handle the roads. So they just ended up returning the car rental. Lots of taxies and buses will take you were ever you need to go. It almost equals out to about the same as a car rental.

The dawn is at 5 ish in the AM. The dusk is at 6:00 ish pm, which for someone who is sensitive to light it can mean some early mornings. I think I woke at 5:30 a.m. no matter how hard I tried. I also passed out by 8.

I was not the biggest fan that most restaurants don’t open till 6:30 to serve dinner. I do not like eating late. This is just one of those culture shock pet peeves.

Flight- US Airways

We always seem to get lucky with US Airways. The flight was great. We had one small delay getting out of NC. But we only arrived 45 later than we supposed to. The only bummer is that they do not offer any movies or in air radio. Also, don’t be tricked into getting all day internet. It does not work once you leave the US. Not a huge thing at all. We did check our bags and there was no issues getting them back. Something to note though is that the line getting out of St Lucia was perhaps INSANE. I highly advise getting there 2-3 hours before takeoff. It’s very hot when you are checking in at your airline. We stood in line for at least an hour and then another 30-45 mins in the security line.

Rental: VRBO 499388 (review on the VRBO site)

http://www.vrbo.com/499388ha

Resturants: (all reviews posted on Tripadvisor)

Spinnakers

Razmataz

Jambe De Bois

Bayside Restaurant @ Sugar Beach

Zion Lion Farm

Jacques restaurant

Rituals Coffee Shop

Rainforest Hideaway

Elena’s Café

Edge Restaurant

Le Petit Peak

Julietta’s

Activites:

Pigeon Island

Zion Lion Farm

Snuba Saint Lucia

Sulfur Springs Drive in Volcano

Rainforest Adventures, St Lucia

Reduit Beach (Rodney Bay beach)

Vigie Beach

Gros Piton Hike

All the others are here!

Confession and Status of My Uterus

I am not sure where to begin. Let just say I am not pregnant and I want to be. I have this one coworker who asks me every single time I see him ... Am I knocked up yet?  I have had a rough time with this. Over the course of a year about 4 different related cousins gave birth. Either to their first (or twins) or second child and I am somewhat green with envy. Last year Sandro and I finally got to a point financially where we could try for another child. I got pregnant again after two months trying. (October) I was SO excited. I just felt like it was perfect timing and I would be joining all the other family members having babies. I was scared with anxiety of course because of my history. I found a midwife and a doula because of course I want to a natural birth like last time. At 12 weeks (12/12) I was to have my first midwife appointment. I started spotting the night before.  I was trying to stay positive because well I spotted last time and everything turned out well.

I go into the midwife appointment thinking everything is going to be fine. Well she tried the Doppler because usually by this point a heartbeat can be heard. Complete and utter silence. I knew something was wrong. She tried to do a u/s but it was external and she couldn't see anything. So she sent me off to get a internal u/s. Of course you know the results here...Just saw a empty sac and no baby. My heart was broken into a billion pieces all over again. 

So they told me to let it happen naturally. Since I was spotting my body was already trying to get rid the pregnancy on it's own. So I tried this route. I thought for sure it would be over by Christmas. That did not happen. It took almost a entire month for it to be over. Then 3 additional months for my cycle to return to normal. I won't go into details but lets just say it was probably the hardest Christmas and News Years for me mentally.

So after having this rather hard emotional m/c I decided to take a long break. I could not deal with the devastation of having another loss after seeing all my cousins having successful pregnancies. At the moment it appears that all babies that where meant to be born in 2013 have made their entrance. ;) So I booked two trips. One trip for when I was supposed to give birth and one for Christmas. I just not want a repeat of last years WORST Christmas ever. We are going to try again in the next couple of months but if we don't get lucky or if I have another m/c we plan to wait until after the new year to really get going on it. 

I have made the determination that I will not get all consumed by this like last time. So I set some ground rules.

1) No charting (other than to know when my period starts)

2) No Temping or ovulation Strips. 

3) No going into a complete panic if I don't get knocked up right away. 

4) No getting excited if I get knocked up. 

5) Once I do get KU...I am setting an appointment for as early as possible to make sure it's a viable. I am talking 7 weeks. No more waiting until 12 weeks. 

6) If it's not viable I am not going to get all upset about it. I know lots of people who have been through this. I will just have to try again. 

I am not saying all of this will happen like I want. I am a emotional person in general. I feel like I have over the last 7 months I have returned to myself again. I am no longer sad when I hear announcements of other people pregnancies. I am no longer envious and bitter like I was before. I feel like I am emotionally ready to consider the possibilities again. 

To end this post I must say I did not confess this to get sympathy from anyone. Mainly for support and just to put something in writing. So please don't post how sorry you feel for me. This is not a sad moment but a happy moment. I can get through this. I know I can. 

-SJ

2013 Bluebonnets

Do you know what is absolute torture for a photography lover like myself to have a child who HATES doing sessions for me? I literally have to bribe and beg for her to just give me 5 minutes to take a picture of her. She runs away, turns around or puts stuff in her mouth. Usually it ends with me frustrated and her in tears. I tried to get a few good ones in regardless. She has such the personality. I would love for her to let me photographer more. Maybe as she gets older and my bribes get bigger. ;)

She just had to put something in her mouth. 

She loves to turn her back on when I try to take a picture.

Running away.

Hiding under the table.

Running away.

The Many Faces of Sophia Genelle

Lets just say Sophia gets SO excited when she gets packages in the mail. She just lights up and requests opening it right away. She knows it will be something cool from one of her grandparents. I just wanted to do a quick post from yesterday where I could barely get a picture in. She was jumping around, dancing, singing and giggling the entire time I was trying to get a good shot. Love this girl!

Sorry in advance for the blurriness of the below photos. It's hard to catch her in action.

My little Chef/Baker

Sometimes I wonder if I am raising a foodie. She loves to cook dinner with Tata. Every night when we get home she has to "help" her Tata make dinner. She helps clean the veggies and then helps chop them. Of course her Tata is there to make sure she knows the safety rules and knows exactly what vegetables she is preparing. It's fun to watch and she gets so excited. She drags her chair over to counter and smiles really big and says I am helping my Tata.

Her favorite foods include baked sweet potato fries, salmon, broccoli (oven roasted), bratwurst with sour kraut, WW pasta of all shapes and sizes, various types of fish and soup. The only thing she doesn't love is cheese. Or food covered with cheese. I don't know who told her that cheese on food was a bad thing but she has it in her head that it's gross. Her favorite dessert is Vanilla Yogurt with a touch of sprinkles. She has that after her dinner as her treat. She also LOVES LOVES LOVES ice cream. Which we allow sometimes if we have it. Especially on the good days.

When she eats her food she makes us blow on it to make sure it's not hot. Even if it's ice cold she makes us cool it down for her. The uses a fork even if it's not really required for things like fries. She still has trouble but I love watching her eat. She does have a issue with having to have everything at the table just right. For example we get the table all set up but if we miss getting her water in a "special" cup (at the moment it's the heart shaped cups her Nana gave to us) she will not eat until it is. She will keep asking over and over until everything is perfect. She also often requests ketchup. Which I guess is a normal kid thing. As soon as you think she has everything perfect she says she needs to go potty. This is a everyday dinner time occurrence.