An island wedding family vacation weekend

We are just back from a few sunkissed days of rest and relaxation, and fantastic celebration. My brother—my little brother, baby brother, favorite brother—got hitched over the weekend. But this was no stuffy church wedding with endless receiving line and in-and-out reception. No, my adventurous brother and his adventurous bride planned a weekend on the island of St. Thomas with their closest friends and family, so not only did we get to welcome a great new member to our family, but we got to do it while relaxing on the beach or at the poolside, spending a relaxing weekend enjoying the company of family and the feel of sand between our toes, champagne in hand.

Day 1, Thursday

The travel for this trip was excruciating. We got up at 3am to catch an early flight and watched the sunrise from the air. But, after a stopover in Atlanta, we touched down in the Caribbean early enough to enjoy a late lunch and a dip in the pool. We were all dragging a bit by dinner, but it was worth it.

out our front door

rumtini for Jon, shirley temple for Calvin

poolside bar?

Sherlock Holmes at dinner

Day 2, Friday

We woke up earlier than intended, but coffee on our front beachview porch while Calvin played in the sand made up for it. We spent the morning on the beach, Calvin and Jon playing in the sand, and the afternoon on a cruise to go snorkeling with wild sea turtles. And a ray. And some fish (watch out for the spiny sea urchins!) before coming back for the wedding rehearsal, more pool time, and dinner. One of the greatest things about an all-inclusive resort was having all this and more right at our doorstep, or at least just a short walk through the sand away.

We'll call him Roy

wild sea turtle!

can you spot the spiny urchin? (he's hiding in the right corner of the reef)

Day 3, Saturday is Wedding day!

Beautiful, except that I cried trying to finish my reading. We love those two so much. Even an iguana came out to watch. Then a really, really fabulous sunset cruise, then a delicious and entertaining dinner reception in the sand. We danced up a storm until we had to take our rather exhausted little dancer back to bed.

proud ring bearer

reading love stories from our family tree

this isn't Roy

singing while dancing

singing while not dancing

Day 4, Sunday

The last full day, not to be wasted. From beach, to lunch, to pool, to beach, to one final fabulous dinner, the whole family together.

wild sea turtles!

Day 5, Monday

We got to wake one last time to coffee on our beachview porch, spend one last morning on the beach with friends and family, and enjoy one last poolside lunch (and one last petting of the cats that made our stay that much more homey) before packing up and heading to the airport. Of course, that meant another set of travel times. We left the island just before dinner, and, after a another brief layover in Atlanta, which got longer and longer with delays, we watched the sunset in the air—a perfect bookend to the trip—and touched down back at home after midnight.

Birthday

Someone in the house is getting older, and I'm not telling who, but it's someone who's name does not start with C.

We celebrated by trying out the Nul Tasting Room, kin to our favorite downtown restaurant: Jolly Pumpkin. It's beer, of course, and Nul is the tasting room for three great Michigan craft breweries. They also happen to be within walking distance from our house. Not that we walked on this occasion, mind you. It is chilly out there, after all.

We loved it, by the way.

The training wheels are off!

Eleven wonderful years

twooth fairy

Not one, but two teeth down. They've been wiggly for quite some time, to the point where I was teasing Calvin that if he sneezed they might go flying across the room. In fact, they were so wiggly that the first one just up and fell out while he was taking a bath.

It sparked an interesting conversation on facebook about "the going rate for teeth". I happen to be reading Stiff at the moment, but Mary Roach, and the reference to the purchasing of teeth made me think of dentures, which were once made with the teeth of the deceased. But today's baby teeth, what are they worth? My mother tried to convince him that his teeth were worth five dollars a piece, but Calvin insisted they were only worth a quarter each. Jon and I opted for the low end compromise and gave him four quarters for the both of them.

Really the entire milestone was underwhelming. He was excited, I managed not to faint. He's been milking the sudden lisp for all it's worth, we've taken to calling him toothless. He is planning a craft (???) with his baby teeth. One more milestone down.

The final shot with two bottom teeth...

...and then there were none.