want to start this installment by saying that things get a little blurry from here on - LOL. I can recall what I did, and with whom I did it, and how much I enjoyed it or not - but I cannot recall specific dates or days of the week. So, I'll assume that I did things on certain days…but if I did them with you and you know it was a different day, just forgive me and chalk it up to vacation brain fog!

Tuesday 9/22 my son, Chris, was to arrive with his friend, Jon, from school. Jon has accompanied us on previous VI trips since he and Jon went to high school together - they are now in college. Jon has also traveled on his own to South America to live in a village in Costa Rica for a month for a program where the high school sponsored the kids to go off for a month and work at something special. My son had become a curatorial internal at the Philadelphia Museum of Art putting together the Edwouard Manet "Manet and the Sea" exhibit (not typical for my son - but very rewarding for him and sparked his interest in art history), while Jon was irrigating a village in Costa Rica (very typical for Jon who is just an amazing kid)- two very different choices for two best friends.

On the day of their arrival, those of us already on-island spent the day at the pool. The boys were to arrive later in the afternoon since they had a connecting flight. I recall being glad that we were fortunate to have such a lengthy visit. We didn't feel the need to rush to the beach or to any activities. And, if we did absolutely nothing on a few days and never left the villa, that was just fine with me.

This was one of those days - lazy, lazy, lazy. I was really feeling the vacation mode by this point. Work was nothing but a distant memory and I had grown accustomed to the villa - feeling connected to it - feeling at home. My panoramic vision had become myopically focused and I was starting to appreciate the little things - a flower, a lizard's "grin", the scent of jasmine, cloud formations and the "puffy" clouds that are written about so often, the breezes, the sound of the surf from my bedroom, etc….

I cannot recall what we ate for breakfast or lunch…..and the time to go get the boys quickly approached. They landed a little early and called to let us know. My daughter and I dashed to get them and brought them back to the villa via the scenic route - left at Nisky Center and climbing to St Peter Mountain Road - winding through Hull Bay on the North side of STT. I can recall pulling up to the villa and hearing them say "awwwww!" and then Chris got out and said "smells good!" - the jasmine again.

Then they bag doing what they do best - lazing around and eating up everything in sight.

Chris with a mouth full of cereal:

Jon:

They first said they wanted to grab a couple of bowls of cereal and nap since they had been up all night (their first flight was at 6:15am, so they had to be at PHL by 4am - that is their normal bedtime plus they had girlfriends to say goodbye to - all very traumatic for an ENTIRE week away -…hence, the all-nighter)…but after about 30 mins they came out in swim trunks and said that they couldn't sleep and just wanted to get into the pool. We were planning to eat at home on this night - we were grilling red snapper in banana leaves, plantains with balsamic-basil glaze and preparing an Avocado salad. While everyone swam, I served a Mexican Ceviche (made authentically by adding seawater) by the pool. Mom made margatitas. We were having such FUN!!! After having my college aged son home all summer, this was really the first time I had him around me for so long - any parents of college students understand this.

Chris' has wanted to bring his girlfriend with him, but she is preparing for her college boards, so he asked me to take this picture of him to give to her to show her where he intends to bring her next summer!!:

We ate dinner out on the East Deck while viewing the sun going down on the many islands before us…and this image looks just like what we saw - with the line separating where the pink sky meets the blue sky!

I went to bed early on this night - but I heard lots of laughter and discussion from the living room - the boys and my dad were watching something on TV and being loud about it. I shut my bedroom door and drifted off - another perfect day in paradise!