Three Kids and a Dog

Monday, April 01, 2019

Spring Break 2019 - Barbados!

Our View
A great week was had by our family of five in Barbados in Merlin Bay - just north of Holetown. This year we chose to rent a villa which was the perfect location that afforded us unparalleled views, private pool, public pool and a beautiful beach. Even though the small complex had 8 villas, only three of them were occupied during our time there giving us a pretty much private space for Spring Break 2019.

Barbados was a bit of a longer flight for our kids than they had experienced before as there was no direct flight to Barbados from Chicago but they weathered the 8 hours in the air pretty well although Hailey did comment, "When are we going to get there? I don't like two flights." Yeah, well get used to it kid, now that you're older and can handle more than a non stop flight, we may be doing it more!

When we arrived, we were greeted with some VIP service through customs (thanks to our villa rental not because of my camouflage pants that you are not allowed to wear anywhere in Barbados as camo is reserved for the police). Once we got through customs and I changed my pants (to avoid a hefty fine), we embarked on securing our rental car and navigating (in the dark) through the not very well lit, labeled or large streets of Barbados. That's in addition to the fact that they drive on the other side of the road and the steering wheel is on the opposite side of the car so kudos to Tom for handling all of that!

Austen and Me Jet Ski
The week started off well with some jet skiing - Austen wasn't so sure he wanted to go but a little prodding to get him out of his comfort zone had him agreeing if we went slow. He was glad he did too and begged the rest of the week for more of it.

Just Chillin' on the Catamaran
The next day was by far my favorite, we rented a small catamaran and set sail up and down the west coast of Barbados where we snorkeled with giant sea turtles. Amazing! I wish we had pictures of that! Peyton did great her first time snorkeling and Hailey wore the mask and took big breaths as she navigated around with a noodle in the middle of the crystal blue waters. We then ventured on over to a coral reef where we swam among thousands of fish before returning to our villa.

We took a road trip the next day to some pretty tourist spots like Bathsheba. I'd say it was pretty difficult to find given none of the roads were labeled that well but we found it! Thursday we embarked on a cave tour of Harrison's cave which was pretty cool - literally (as it was nice to get out of the hot Barbadian sun).

We swam, we rested, we read and we ate. Oceanfront dining was common place and we had reservations every night for dinner at some pretty cool restaurants with remarkable views.

It was a great vacay (even though Peyton drove me nuts for most of the trip)! And like any vacation, I'm always planning the next one on my current vacation so Spring Break 2020 - the kids want to go to Hawaii. I'm not one for going to the same place twice so maybe St. Lucia. Let's see who has the better flight deals!

Our Villa View

Cave Tour with Hard Hats and Hair Nets!
Bathsheba
Lone Star Garage (Restaurant)
View from Balcony



Hanging on the Beach
The Goats Just Came Out into Traffic to Graze
Sunsets Were Amazing!
Dinner at Champers










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