Aruba

Welcome to Aruba!!! What a beautiful beach!

 Our first evening we checked in then got ready for dinner.  They upgraded us to a beachside room which was so cool!!  A few steps from our room and you were at the beach.  The view above was from outside our room.  We ate at a beach side restaurant for dinner and watched the sunset from our table.  So beautiful!!

 After dinner we set out by the pool and drank virgin pina coladas and listened to music. (I think we consumed about 100 virgin drinks during the course of our 6 day trip!!) Every evening they had either a DJ or live performance for us to enjoy.  We definitely felt like we were in heaven.  The pool area was so beautiful with these fancy white lounge chairs and relaxing canopies.

 Day 2 we decided to go on an adventure.  We checked out bikes and snorkeling gear from our resort and set out for the tip of the island (about 6 mi each way).  Poor John had his chain come off the bike a few times, but luckily he knew how to fix it thanks to serving a mission where he rode a bike every day!! I was so scared at first!  It had been years since I've been on bike, but of course it came back within a few short minutes.

 We stopped at one spot along the way and snorkeled, but there wasn't much to see so we moved on.

 Aruba is a desert and half of the island isn't inhabited.  We rode bikes out on these rocky dirt roads and saw some huge cactus plants.

 This is the view from the north side of the island.  It is very rocky with strong wind and waves.  So John had the bright idea for us to snorkel it.  I instantly had a red flag go up and said he could go alone, but I'm not going.  There were tons of tiny crabs on the rocks that just parted as he touched the rock.  It was so weird!

After he came back in unscathed, he talked me into going as well.  So I got in and we swam around a bit.  I was so scared of all the rocks and decided we better not stay here too long.  I ended up slicing my  hand on a rock as I was getting out and John got some cuts as well.  He also snagged his new swim trunks.  It was an adventure that's for sure!  I'm grateful that my husband is always up for doing crazy things.  I am more cautious and we balance each other out!

 As we were getting ready for dinner that night, I had a scare in the bathroom.  That's right it's a lizard on the counter!!  It was under my make-up bag and man it scared me so bad!!! Luckily my brave husband took care of it for me!  He's so sweet!

 For dinner we ate at a yummy hibachi grill on our resort. It was by far our favorite place!!!

 Gorgeous sunsets every day!!

 Day 3 we rented a jeep and went off-roading.  It was such a perfect day for it because it rained so we got to play a little!  Like I mentioned before half of the island is uninhabited and is just desert with only rocky roads or trails.  The maps are very hard to read and inaccurate so we just took off.  We saw some cool sights like these pelicans.

 It rained so much it washed out the road.  At this point we were a little scared because we had no idea where to go or if we could cross that huge lake.  Of course we made it, thanks to my fearless hubby!

 I wonder if someone actually lives in that??

 It was my favorite to see him smile like a little kid as we splashed through the mud puddles.  This was by far the highlight of the trip for John.

 One of the tourist spots on the island is the natural bridge.

 I love the colorful houses!

 So proud of the dirty jeep!!!  Proof of a fun day!

 We drove around the whole island (It is 19 x 6 miles so it was that big of a task to explore the whole thing) and found our church building.  Luckily we found it before we showed up for services on Sunday.  It didn't look like anyone had been there in a long time!!

 What a sight, goats crossing the street!!!  I wasn't able to snap the picture fast enough but we saw a man walking home with a rifle in one hand and a chicken, and 2 iguanas in the other!  So funny!

 A relaxing sunset by the pool!

 Our next 2 1/2 days consisted of being purely lazy!!  We layed around the resort and played on the beach!!  Check out this huge iguana that just wanders around the resort!  It freaked me out!!!

Bye, Bye Aruba!!  We can't wait to get home to Brooklyn!!! I can't believe how much we missed her!!!