Nothing personal here, Tunisbridal, but I sure hope I'm not on your plane, in your taxi, or any restaurant you visit! Yikes!! FIVE of 'em at that age???!!??? That's not a vacation!!!! That sounds like WORK! Haha! JMHO, mind you, as I know people get kinda attached to their kids...but if I had a kid that age, I'd be calling Grandma and Grandpa to leave it with them while I went away! Don't you feel as if you DESERVE a vacation away from the kid after dealing with it 24/7 for 6 months??? I guess I'll never understand parenthood.....YAY!

Marty....wow....when i read that i thought...must be a typo!! 22 people and infants!!! I have no idea how the logistics work for that.

All I have to say is good luck!!

I've brought my kids to the islands since they were this age. I would definitely bring some kind of sunshade, the folding kiddy size work great, so that the small ones can get some sleep on the beach. Honestly, at this age I like to hit the beach quite early and head back to the villa for lunch and a good nap. You also need to account for the different speeds that everyone is moving at. I like to pick a morning beach, afternoon beach and a happy hour location and whoever can make, that's good.

I did a trip report for our Gang of 24 trip from Thanksgiving 2006. It was fun, but some of the family groups couldn't handle more than one activity a day and others could do a lot more. My direct family was on the active end of things.

http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=876

Have fun!

Cheers, RickG

I'm pretty sure the car seat is not luggage since the child sits in it during the flight. Smart move to use it there and again in the cars. At 6-8 months old - they're still not very mobile, so just getting them around is a big part of your issue. One word to help you with the airplane - SNACKS!!!! Make sure you've got some little animal crackers or something for them to munch on.

I'd probably pay to bring (checked luggage) a portable playpen/nap area down. You can set it in the shade and whey they get tired, move them into that protected area for naps. Keeps them up off the ground and surrounded by netting. Could probably get as many as 3 little nappers in there at a time. Maybe drape a mosquito net over the top to keep any flying critters off of them while they nap. Probably worth the $25 charge for their comfort and your security.

I'd also bring a soft-sided cooler. The Backpack kind would be perfect. That way you can keep fluids cold for them no matter where you go. Since it's a backpack it's much easier to carry around - the adults can take turns carrying it. They can be folded-up and stuck in a suitcase in many cases.

Bless you - you're going to need all the help (and patience) you can get!

Good Luck! Have Fun!

Our group is allll family 17 adults with 5 children. Can't let grandma watch, since she will be with us. My children are 26 and 19, so I'm free, but we travel together almost every year. Can't complain, because we see it as paradise - with or without the kids - and sure beaats work and daycare! Thanks for all the responses!!

Just an FYI ... all the kids aren't infants. They are as follows:

a 5 month old, a 1 year old, a 2 year old, a 3 year old and a 7 year old.... my children, in particular, are 5 months and 2 years and are better behaved than most adults I've seen ... my eldest has been on a plane and slept the whole time. The flight attendants and surrounding passengers were raving about how good he was ... so, I believe it has to do with the parents of the child. Don't prejudge the children when it's the parents who need to keep them under control.

tunisbridal / mdempsey

My husband and I just returned from two weeks on STT with our 22-month old twin boys. The twins have been to STT 3 times now and here is our advice:

Airplane - Buy you plane tickets so you travel in the morning or early afternoon. Late afternoon and evening flights are very hard on toddlers who are use to sleeping at a certain hour. Bring 2X the amount of diapers on the plane since flights are often delayed an hour or more. We use a portable DVD player to keep the little guys occupied part of the time as well as having small "new" toys they've never seen before. Give them a bottle or snack during take-off in case they have problems with the ears (it's suppose to help relieve the pressure). We always buy seats for our boys so bringing their car seat on board was never an issue (plus they sleep better in them). Usually they make you place the babies/kids next to the window so the aisle isn't blocked by a big car seat. Now that our boys are older, we do not bring their car seats on board (too heavy to carry the car seat in one arm, a 25lb kid in the other and not hit anyone on the head walking down the aisle). We now use an add-on seat belt harness called "Cares" which attaches to the lap belt of the airplane seat. BTW, a stroller checked at the gate is not counted as of checked or carry-on luggage. Security will often only let you bring in one bottle per infant so as soon as you get on the plane even before take-off ask the flight attendant for milk/water/apple juice to keep your little one(s) happy. Most of the planes we have been on do NOT have changing tables in the bathrooms so for wet diapers we change them in their seat and folks around usually do not mind (better than a crying wet kid). Again my strongest advice would be to NOT travel during their bedtime - we made this mistake once and it was a horrible flight for the boys and the folks around them. We live on the west coast so it takes use two flights and 10-11 hours to travel each way. Miami airport has an awful selection of food/restaurants so pack lots of snacks.

St Thomas - If you do not want to pack a playpen there is a service on island that rents baby/kids gear. When the boys were little we rented a playpen and the short portable feeding chairs from Caribbean Nannies. We even took the playpen to the beach and pool. Buy the kids long sleeve rash-guards so you will not need to put on sunscreen everywhere....just their faces/necks/ears etc. Plus my boys wear long board shorts that are almost to their ankles so they only need sunscreen on the feet! Please have all the kids wear Coast Guard approved life-vests as it impossible to keep on eye on so many kids running around and it's better safe than sorry. Megan's is a great beach for kids - little or no waves and easy parking. We often "crash" the kid's pool at the Ritz. We set-up our stuff on the beach (which is open to the public), have lunch at Sails or order food/drinks from the waitstaff (we pay in cash), and use their cool kids pool. Plus the big pool has a large section that starts at only 1-foot seven inches which is great for toddlers. The Ritz saves us time and the hassle of making/packing lunch and a big cooler. But if you have lots of adult hands to help out making/taking lunch might not be too difficult. We also find it helpful to have our one big activity start at 9:30-10am so we can be back home (condo) by 2 to clean up and let the boys take a nap. Often they are so tired they fall asleep in the car before getting home...must be the winding roads. Bug spray - we put a little on their neck, elbows and feet when going out at night (the boys were in long pants and short-sleeves) and they were not bitten.

Misc - Plaza Extra has the largest selection of baby food. Put ice cubes in the kids bottles/sippy cups to keep them cool and hydrated. We freeze small bottles of water/apple juice and use them instead of ice packs in a soft cooler so we always have cold drinks. Lots of restaurants do NOT have highchairs, so ask when you make reservations. Last time (two weeks ago) Kmart and Plaza Extras were both our of disp swim diapers so pack some just in case! WHen returning, it worth the money to pay the Airport Porters to take your checked bags to security - otherwise you have to schlep your bags through the long line at customs and the long long line at checked baggage all the while holding your kids and carry-on bags. On one very long layover (4hours) we brought along a Pea-Pod Plus pop-up tent for the boys to nap in at the airport. It was great! When they were not napping they were playing with their toys is a clean/out of the way place that was easy for use to keep an eye on them.

Sorry for the long post and jumping from topic to topic. I hope some of this helps. Have a fantastic trip!

Kaygan -