Divi Divi Tree

Amelia and I walked about a mile and a half early in the morning to get a picture of the most famous trees in Aruba. There are two divi divi trees on Eagle Beach and everybody who goes to Aruba takes their picture as some point. If you look closely, you can see Amelia in the second picture.

Rescue Pelican

You never know when you will need to be rescued by a pelican. Jordan took this picture with my camera.

Last Day

Today is our last full day. We spent the morning wifiing. It was a family event this time.

We spent the afternoon at the beach while the boys did one last round of golf. It was a quiet, relaxing day. 

I just ran over to check in for the flight. Maybe I'll have more pictures tomorrow. We'll have some time in the airport, but I don't know if they have free Wifi in the Aruba airport.

Some Pictures

It's too hot to write anything, so here are some pictures.

The Gold Mine Ranch

Today we split up. Amelia, Jordan and I went horseback riding while the others ate breakfast.

The Gold Mine Ranch came at 9 am to pick us up. We took a long ride to the ranch which is on the north side of the island. That's where the national park is and the rough water. No swimming over there.

My horse was Joe. Joe like to bring up the rear. Mostly, I think he was just hoping to stop long enough to get a snack. Every now and again he had to trot to catch up. It was a beautiful ride, but we didn't really get a chance to take pictures and we didn't get off until the end. They were kind enough to take everybody's pictures with their own camera.

We had lunch at the Divi buffet just to say we ate at all the restaurants. We had a lovely beach view and the lizards were begging like dogs. The signs said not to feed them, but people did. No matter how much I explained to the lizard that I couldn't feed him, he kept staring and waiting. Then he found a kid who looked like a rule breaker and he jumped on his chair. He was rewarded with a big meal.

While the boys did another round of golf, the girls took a cab downtown for some shopping.

Tonight we are eating at the Palm Court Grill. It's the only reservation restaurant that we haven't tried.

Sunrise

Today I got up early enough to see the sun rise. Not by choice, I just don't sleep well in strange places. I went to the roof of our three story building and could see the whole east side of the island. It's neat to see how quickly clouds roll through. The sun was blocked by this huge cloud and I wondered if it would bring rain. In 20 minutes the rain fell. And about 5 minutes after that it was sunny and the storm cloud was on its way out to sea.

Yesterday was our snorkel lesson in the pool. Amelia was great. Shell and I not as good. These snorkel sets didn't have the valve that blocks water from getting in like the ones I have at home do. That makes it a bit harder. Even so, I think Shell wants to try in the ocean. We may rent a car and go to Baby Beach (if we can fit it in between meals). In the afternoon, Mom and I went to the casino while everybody else enjoyed the beach. I lost $5 on the penny slots but it took about 2 hours so that's not too bad. We came back for lunch at the buffet. It was good for a buffet. I was surprised.

For dinner we tried Ginger which had a limited Asian menu. It was pretty good. Red Parrot is still the favorite. And Mulligan's gets high ratings from the family too.

Free Wifi

If we are not eating, we are walking to the Alhambra to get free Wifi. It's nice to be mostly disconnected. I even left my phone at home. But it's also nice to upload my blog posts once a day. Here's my walking buddy, Amelia, doing her thing in front of the Dunkin Donuts. She's a good walking buddy. She walks at a good pace and usually has fun suggestions for things to do on the way there. On this trip we slathered on the free aloe lotion and got soft serve ice cream and popcorn at the bar. Every event involves free food or drink in some capacity.

Enjoy the Caribbean

Aruba bottles their own coke, and the best thing about it is that it is made with real sugar.

Island Tour

In between all the eating, we managed to go to the Butterfly Farm. We had a funmaker (that's what they call the activity leaders here) drop us off there. What I remember most about the farm is that it was hot! The trade winds don't seem to make it into that place and it was too hard to get pictures of the butterflies since they wouldn't stop moving. The tour was very informative.

When our funmaker came to pick us up, she took us the long way back to the resort. We saw the lighthouse, some cool beaches, the high rise area, and she showed us the Ritz Carlton (to open this falll). I'm not sure why she showed us the Ritz, I'm certain we don't look like their clientele.

She offered to give us a snorkel lesson in the pool so we are doing that this morning after breakfast. The kids and I practiced in a pool last year, but Shell hasn't so we'll give that a go. If Shell likes it, I'll arrange a trip to Baby Beach so we can try it for real.

The boys tried the golf course while Amelia and mom locked us out of the room on their way to the pool. I made an extra trip to the lobby.

Dinner was at Paparazzi. Shell hated the decor ("it has no flow"). The food was ok. Breakfast surprisingly was a big hit and it was just the buffet. Shell really liked the view so much so that she wants to go back today. Here's a picture of our table.

Here's my roommates, Amelia and mom at the Tamarijn lobby. We do a lot of waiting in the lobby.

And as anticipated, I'm really enjoying all the lizards and iguanas. The are much less skittish here and therefore you can take as many pictures of them as you want.

Divi Golf and Beach Resort

So far, this place is pretty cool. The one bedroom condos are huge. About 850 square feet. We are two rooms apart, which works out fine. Amelia, Mom and I are in the end unit which apparently is at the end of a wind tunnel as the winds howls through our front door constantly. It's like being given haunted by ghosts.

We are allowed to use three resorts which means we have access to lots of pools, 13 restaurants, a huge expanse of beach, and shuttles that take you between them all. Oh, and a 9 hole golf course which is free after 3. The boys are taking advantage of that later today.

We have the coolest pool of all three resorts. We spent the day there yesterday. We played volleyball, swam up to the swim up bar, and went down the water slide. All cool stuff. If you look closely, you can see my family in this picture.

The family really enjoys the all inclusive deal. Although after two days we feel stuffed full of food! Eating three big meals is a bit much. And for some reason, I can't convince anybody to order less food. We've eaten at Mulligan's (very good), Sea Breeze Cafe (pretty good), Pizza Tutti (mixed reviews) and Red Parrot (rave reviews all around). We pretty much spend our day planning where to eat next.

Today we are all going to the butterfly farm. I thought we would have to take a bus, but the resort has an organized trip there, I just had to sign up at the activity hut. I'm loving the activity hut!

Flying In

We flew in yesterday over some of the most amazing clouds. And I saw rainbows from above. So cool! Here's a shoot of the island from the plane.

We ate at the pizza bar for lunch. I liked my Italian club. Rob didn't. The ice cream was also good. For dinner we ate at Mulligan's. I shared Mahi Mahi garlic shrimp with mom. Awesome.

Now we are at the Dunkin Donuts using the free Wifi. It's good to be disconnected for most of the time. You have to pay attention to your family. I have to go, I have a 9 o'clock breakfast date with the family.

T Minus 90

It's 2 am. I have 1.5 hours until I have to get up. Everybody else is asleep in my strangely cold house. I can't sleep. You see, I've been tasked with waking people up at 3:30 and my internal clock is set to get up at 5 am. (Thanks to the stupid cats,  but that's another story.) So instead of falling asleep and trusting my alarm to go off, I am sitting on the floor of my bathroom (the only empty space in my house) writing in this blog. I tried watching TV and reading a book,  and now I am just looking for a way to pass time until our flight. Well, there goes 15 minutes.

In 12 hours I'll be in Aruba. If I make that far. I imagine I'll fall asleep in the airport terminal and my family will board the plane without me. With so much carry on luggage and snack food to remember, how can I expect them to remember me? Note to self, don't give them their boarding passes, that way they will have to wake me up to get on the plane. Another note to self, remember your sunglasses.

5 more minutes. Man, time moves slowly at this hour. I'm wondering what I will do if somebody wakes up and needs to use the bathroom, besides scare the crap out if them, that is.

This is not the first entry I imagined writing and I contemplated not publishing it (that took up a solid minute), but I figured it's more real this way. Pretty pictures and platitudes will fill up the rest of the entries. For now, I'll write about the fun that is insomnia while trying to figure out if the feeling will ever come back to my butt.

Before I go, ever wonder how people can sleep in a bathtub? This had got to be the most uncomfortable room in the house. The only joy at this moment is the lack of air conditioning since there is no vent in here. That and the solitude. I'm beginning to understand why men retreat to the bathroom. I think I am also beginning to understand the padded toilet seat. I may just have to get one of those.

50 minutes to go. Think I could successfully climb out of my bathroom window? It's rather small and high. Not probable but certainly possible. See, it's like dreaming - sitting here on the bathroom floor imagining possibilities. At least the sink doesn't leak. (That one's for Scott who spent a week listening to me complain about my leaking sink, and yes, I am certain it doesn't leak, I just felt the p-trap.)

See you in Aruba. I'll be the one sleeping.