Paradise Lost & Found

Well , we have returned from St. Maarten , a little worse for the wear but we survived our first international travel with an infant. The weather was perfect , the trip to went surprisingly smoothly and we both are EXHAUSTED. Make that all three of us .
Buggles , to his credit , was THE perfect little traveler. You know that look you get from people as you are boarding the plane with a baby in tow and umpteen bags and blankies and toys, etc. Sort of a low grumble of dread falls over the plane and people start griping about 'earplugs' ? Well, anyone with kids knows that parents harbor the greatest amount of dread when it comes to babies and plane travel. My blood pressure must have been off the charts as i squeezed my way to our seats.
Blessings of all blessings - no one sat in our row on the second flight ( 4 hours) but little man was the bomb ! He was chirpy and happy while he was awake, playing with his toys and flirting with the nice lady who sat behind us and then after about an hour fell into oblivion and nursed and slept the entire last leg of the journey. He acclimated beautifully - not a peep of dissent as we wheeled him through airports, packed him into rental cars , introduced him to island culture and made our temporary home in the resort. He took it all in stride , a big beautific buddha smile on his face as he flitted to and fro.
He wasn't so wild about being slathered with a thick coat of sunscreen every morning but he just submitted to it like a monk , nonetheless.

Unfortunately our resort has become home to every octagenarian from middle America and now caters to those who require 'entertainment' ( read bad reggae covers by bands whose last gig was your cousin's bargain basement wedding) We escaped as much as we could to various beaches but had to camp there occasionally by the pool for the little Bug who is still wary of the Ocean ( as he should be) but LOVES the water.
We bought him a little yellow ring to float in and had a great time with him splashing and 'swimming' around. We , of course sipped Pina Coladas ( yes, mine was VIRGIN, sheesh) while cheering him on. Ahhh, the life of the leisure class...

Ha! I wish. Vacation with an infant is NO vacation, that's for sure. We got up at 7:00 every morning and followed HIS schedule - ending up in bed by seven at night ! No nightlife for his bedraggled , burnt-out parents- no way. We were too tired to go out on the town anyway!

The trip back was a little hairy as we got stuck on the tarmac in St. M and almost missed our connecting flight home. We literally pulled off a small miracle as we dashed through the North Carolina Intl. airport , through customs and to the gate where they told us the plane was already pulled away from the connecting ramp. Some blessed woman, called and cajoled the pilot to come back and re-connect so we could board. Talk about skin -of -your teeth luck ! Just ONE minute later and we would have missed our connection and be spending another night in a hotel ( without our luggage). As , it was our luggage arrived a day later than we did but who cares? We got home.

All in all the trip was an EXPERIENCE. We are now planning a trip for the two of us alone later next year, to recover. We did manage to get some incredible photos which i will share as soon as i download them to Flickr.

The great thing about capturing a vacation in photographs is that you look back years from now and only remember the good things about it- the proverbial rose-colored glasses syndrome.
And that is how we will remember this trip - because it was the first time we flew with Colin , the first time we took him to the Caribbean and the first time we went on vacation for someone other than ourselves. We built memories for our the new shoot of our family bamboo grove and when it all come down to it - what else really matters ?

It's good to be home.........