Thursday, Feb 10
Jackson's Birthday! After about a 5 hour flight, Adam, Jackson and I arrive in Aruba late afternoon to find it deliciously warm, sunny and inviting. We rented a car and Adam quickly became a pro at navigating Aruba's streets, even though there are no street signs to be found (and about 3 stop lights and 300 roundabouts on the island). We check into the condo, which is better than described and has a perfect view. We take a walk down the street and promptly find a bar on the beach for our first drink, while Jackson sleeps off his jet lag (just kidding, Aruba is only an hour ahead of ET). Then on to a great dinner of tapas overlooking the beach.
Friday, Feb 11
G-Pop and Grandma Honey had arrived late the night before, so spent the morning getting situated, went to the grocery store and then headed right across the street to Eagle Beach. Jackson wasn't crazy about the sand, which he was really experiencing for the first time. We tried to take him into the water, but he wasn't really crazy about that either. Of course this changes by the end of the trip! Later we hopped in the car and drove up to the California Lighthouse for the sunset. Really pretty and really windy up there! We stopped for dinner at a Thai restaurant - a first for Aune and Pop. Then back to the condo so we could properly celebrate Jackson's first birthday - complete with a vanilla cupcake and chocolate frosting - that he had absolutely no interest in! We found out later it was the chocolate frosting he didn't care for, but he will eat a cupcake for breakfast, no problem.
Saturday, Feb 12
We hopped in the car again and headed to the northern side of the island to see some rock formations (which we happened upon by accident), the natural bride and Gold Smelte Ruins. The coast over there is much more rugged, but was great to see how powerful Mother Nature is. Then it was back to the beach by our condo for sunset and then mommy and daddy headed out to a great dinner solo.
Sunday, Feb 13
As it turns out, Adam's cousin Julie from MN was in Aruba at almost the exact same time as us, so we headed to her hotel and hung out with her for the afternoon. They had a great beach as well that was a bit calmer than ours, so Jackson went in (without swim clothes since we figured he probably wouldn't want to go in) and was really pretty great about it.
Monday, Feb 14
We drove about 30 mins through the rain to the southern tip of the island to go to Baby Beach. After spending a fair amount of time wondering if we were actually going to find it, we did and it was just in time to have lunch, let it stop raining and then grab a palapa. Aune and Adam snorkeled, while Jackson and mommy walked the beach (again, a first for Jackson to actually want to walk along the beach). Mommy and daddy got out again for a nice Valentine's dinner, even though I was starting to come down with a serious head cold.
Sorry, don't have time to finish posting pictures before I head to the airport for Germany. Will update this post when I return!
Tuesday, Feb 15
In the morning Aune and Pop went on a snorkeling sail while we hung out on the beach with Jackson and then we all went to the beach for an incredible sunset.
Wednesday, Feb 16
In the morning, everyone (minus sicky poo mommy) headed to the National Park in the afternoon and saw the interesting coast and went into the caves. They said it was really neat! Adam and I went on an afternoon snorkeling sail with Julie and her friends. Adam did some snorkeling while I just enjoyed being outside.
Thursday, Feb 17
We all made the trek back home on Thursday after having spent a fabulous week in Aruba. It's easy to see why 83% of visitors return again. All my pictures can be found here.
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