St. Lucia Was Fabulous!

St. Lucia was truly wonderful! However, if I didn't have these pictures to prove that we actually went on our special 30th Anniversary/50th birthday trip for Jim even I wouldn't believe it! Life has been so crazy since we got back that I feel like my head could spin completely around! However, we did have a great time and I thought I would share a "few" pictures to prove it! Don't feel like you have to look at all of them!

Of course we had to be at the airport at 5:30 in the morning and Holly graciously offered to drop us off.

After a long plane ride we had a long car ride to the resort! 1 1/2 hours to be exact…not fun when you've been flying for 4 hours already! But, this breathtaking scenery sure helped take our mind off of being tired from traveling!

And once we were shown to our "room" we knew the fun was about to begin! The rest and relaxation we had been longing for was finally here! Little did we know that the swans were only the beginning of our "towel" collection that we would accumulate during the week!

The room is a separate building with it's own plunge pool and a wonderful cathedral like ceiling! Very Tommy Bahama like!

We walked around for a bit to get acclimated to property.

Of course we were dying over all of the beautiful, exotic flowers and greenery. They were spectacular!

This is our bungalow type room above and the fabulous restaurant below that we went to the second night we were there. Up on the mountain you can see an old fort that supposedly still has the chains and shackles where prisoners were kept. We never did make that hike!

The next night was the manager's reception and was really quite entertaining! Sometimes I'm not really fond of these events and yet this was very nice! The people that work at Sandals Grand are top notch!

We finally learned to grab people as they walked by to take our picture together! Who wants pictures of just one person?

The Italian restaurant ended up being our favorite and we even went back on our last night there!

I loved all of the details that went into making the tables special, our room special and our entire stay something we will never forget! ( except on a day to day basis when we are so busy!) But the memories are wonderful!

As was relaxing all day every day in these chairs!

And like I said….the swans were only the beginning of what would great us each and every night!

In the middle of the week we set sail for the Mud Bath! Yes, you heard me! I cannot say that I will ever do it again…but I'm glad I tried it once!

The scenery from the speedboat was wonderful! And I have never gone that fast in a boat before in my life!

We saw another of the Sandal's resorts on the island as well as many fishing villages.

And, we even got a great view of Oprah's house!

We docked at the famous Jade Mountain resort and everyone but me snorkeled! I can't get water in my ears so I was forced to relax in yet another beach chair!

After snorkeling it was off to the mud bath and waterfall. I have no idea why I don't have pictures from the mud bath! However, I was able to get Jim in the ice cold waterfall rinsing off!

And a snapshot of some more beautiful flowers!

And in the end, when it was time to pack up and head back to the resort I guess I'd had enough rum punch to get up the courage to ask the Captain if I could drive the speedboat!

And go figure….he LET me! Much to all of the passenger's dismay!

This greeted us when we returned which I thought was kind of funny….I hate to admit we ended up washing Jim's dirty shirt in it as opposed to getting in it! But who wants a hot bath when you've just returned from the steaming hot mud bath?

The rest of the trip was spent doing nothing but relaxing, eating, drinking and dancing! We met some really fun people and enjoyed being with them at the pool as well as at night when the bands were planning.

Between the beautiful scenery,

and the much anticipated nightly bed decorations we were definitely feeling special!

It was a wonderful way to celebrate two momentous occasions and I hope that one day we can return! Maybe we could even take the kids with us next time!

We had two personal butlers during the week but somehow only got a picture with Tony right before we were leaving. He truly made our stay extra special!

The last day we experienced a little bit of rain…but all you do is run over to the bar and everything is ok! Or as they say in the islands, "it was no problem"!

As quickly as the rain had come it had also vanished and we understood their philosophy of "No Problem"! I wish I could relay that to my everyday life back here in the States! Wouldn't that be a great way to avoid a lot of stress! "No Problem!"

Thanks for taking the time to look at silly vacation pictures! I hope to post some great photos from our jewelry show last week as well some of our newest inventory! Until then, I hope your Monday is off to a great start!