OK, New Years has come and gone, kids are trickling back to school and I can get to more of this trip report. Problem is, with every word I want to book our next trip back! Anyway....

After Sean left we all got acquainted with the villa and headed to Cruz Bay to get a quick bite and go to the grocery store. We had our first experience with the one way roads and the joy of parking (NOT) in Cruz Bay. Ended up in the Lumberyard Lot and wandered down to St. John Spice to pick up some coffee for the week. Then hit High Tide next door for a few drinks and some much needed food. We had all been up since 4am and breakfast on American Airlines leaves a lot to be desired. We ordered and then experienced our first afternoon "shower". It rained for about 4 minutes...enough time for us all to scamper to move the table under the overhang. Then it stopped! This seemed to be the pattern all week except at 4 in the morning. Then with the metal roof and open louver windows it sounded like monsoons were hitting. The sun arrived back with our food and after satiating the crew we headed to Starfish to stock up.

Now as I had mentioned in earlier posts, my deal with the family was that we would rent a villa, eat beakfast in and take lunch to the beach and then get dinner out. I really wasn't in the mood to cook. So we got beer (a necessity), breakfast food and pb&j, many, many snacks and some delicious St. Thomas ice cream. We highly recommend the coconut. We also bought gallons of bottled water and refilled bottles for the beach. Total first day was about $137. Most things were less outrageous than I expected, but OJ was very expensive.

Back at Orchid we unpacked and A took a much needed nap. He hadn't slept since Wed. night in St. Louis. Nap is probably too kind a word, became dead to the world was more like it. I had made a reservation at Rhumblines for 7:30 and he reluctantly dragged himself out of bed to eat. We drove in and parked in what would become our "usual" evening spot at the tennis court lot across from the fire station. Some have warned about the safety of parking there, but with 5 people (3 large males)we were less concerned, and to be honest, there weren't many alternatives except Slinmans(sp) lot and we preferred not to pay to park. Now we walked in and were the only customers save 1 other table. I had heard so much about this being the busiest time that I was a little concerned. Perhaps people were staying away for a reason, or everyone eats at 6 on St. John....Well, regardless of why it was quiet on Friday night, the food was delicious and a great menu when you have a vegetarian and a picky eater amongst your crew. Exhausted though everyone was, we had a really nice dinner, but also had our first experience with feeding 5 adults (4 of whom drink) on St. John. Dinner probably ran about $200, and that was with shared appetizers and desserts. But I knew this going in so it really wasn't much of a surprise. After dinner we just piled into the jeep and headed hopme for a much needed full night's sleep. Only glitch was that when we returned and opened the door to our room (upper MBR), the upper hinge came completely out and it was very difficult to close and lock that door. We would be calling CV first thing in the am.

The entire family quickly shifted onto island time as we headed off to bed.