Treasured Memories as Big & Deep as the Ocean

I've been giving hints all week as to where in the world did we go on vacation....did you guess???

Did Cinnamon Bay give it away?

A few guessed Hawaii....and oh I would love to see that someday, but that's not it.

We were blessed to go to....drum roll please...St. John in the US Virgin Islands!

We have been planning this vacation for months, November to be exact.

This trip was planned in celebration of my graduation and the joy of finishing the calling that God placed on my life when He began wooing my heart that it was time to go back to school and finish what He started in me at Baylor University so many years ago.

Mr. Incredible and I began secretly planning the trip of our dreams.

We were overjoyed when my parents, his parents, his sister, brother-in-law, and their 2 boys decided to join us. They were all so sweet to offer to throw a graduation party but my heart was set on celebrating in a different way and we all decided to make it a family vacation.

I tried to blog from St. John at night but the internet was a bit slow and I didn't want to miss a moment with my family.

Would you like to see a little bit of our vacation?

I promise, I narrowed down the volumes of pictures a lot!

Ready? Ok, here we go!

Here we all are at the airport:

And here is where we were blessed to stay:

The 2nd house just above this triangular roof in the bottom left hand corner is South Palms where Mr. Incredible's family stayed & the yellow house just above it is called Abrigado and it is where we stayed with my parents. (You can click here and here for more info about the houses. Just keep in mind that we normally don't travel this lavishly. It was a gift from the Lord and we treasured every memory we made here).



This is what we saw when we drove up to our home for the week:



I felt like a giddy little girl at Christmas. It was way better than I dreamed it would be!
And these are the beautiful views from our patio:










A few beach scenes:

Gorgeous sunsets:

Fun times in the swimming pools:

Surfer boy:

Getting ready to hit the beaches:

A view from our master bedroom windows: Sister Time

I miss this pool!

When you visit St. John, it is fun to rent jeeps for the week.

This is my dad who became the expert jeep packer.

We would take beach chairs, rafts, and a cooler filled with sandwich fixings, water (a lot of water), fruit (which is like gold on the island), and chips. Speaking of chips, have you ever tried Uncle Ray's chips? Oh, my goodness they are good!

We snorkeled almost every day. The Lord delighted us by surprising us with beautiful sting rays, a giant starfish, an octopus, sea turtles, and numerous incredibly gorgeous fish of all kinds.

And catching some rays on the beautiful white sandy beaches. Ahhh.

Sandcastle fun:

And cousin time in the ocean:
(They have lollipops on their mouths...not cigarettes...I'm just saying...now I feel better!)

This is my youngest nephew. He called all of the girls, "My Lieb." We are not sure where he got that but he tells us that it means, "My love."

And my oldest nephew:

He and I got to touch a few sea turtles while we swam with them....it was so cool!


I didn't want to miss out on a photo opportunity. So my family and my parents planned ahead and brought white shirts and khaki shorts. I had my heart set on getting a photo for this year's Christmas card. Cinnamon Bay was the perfect spot:

Now, I just have to pick one. Do you like this one?

Or this one?

I love this one:

Hannah and her Daddy walking on the beach:

I'll spare you the other 200 pictures that I took of our portrait session....you are welcome!

On to shopping. The first official day was rainy...rats! So, what's a family to do? We got in the jeeps and headed to downtown for a little shopping:

And we found these hats that are perfect for 2 Texas girls in paradise.

Poppie (Mr. Incredible's dad) planned a fun wave runner outing:

Rachel and her Daddy:

Hannah and I: (that's the only picture of me in a bathing suit that you will ever see on this blog!)

After an amazing week, it was time to go home. How is it that time goes by so much faster when you are on vacation?

We had to be down the mountain by 5:15 that morning (which is 4:15 Texas time) to catch the boat ferry that would take us back to St. Thomas where we would catch our flight home.

We parked the jeep, for the last time {sniff} and then I saw something crossing the road. What is it??? Could it be??? Yes, it was....it was a crab!

I ran after him/her {do they have a gender in crabville?} as fast as I could. It was like a cartoon....the crab saw me and started walking/running faster. This was the look "it" gave me when I snapped the picture....I think it flashed its angry eyes at me!

Oh, there are many more photos, but I think I will just stop here.

It was an amazing vacation filled with memories

to treasure for a life time....and that is quite a blessing!

One of the deacons in our church asked me if we all still loved each other after our trip together. I smiled and said yes, even more than ever...if that's even possible.

Joyfully,

Kristi

I am thrilled to post this on Hooked on House's "Hooked on Friday's" blog party & Melissa's "The Inspired Room's "Beautiful Moments."