Arooooba

A few months ago Thad decided it was in our best interest to plan a caribbean vacation before baby dos arrives in February. I was a bit anxious about leaving for a whole week when I still had a lot to do to get ready for the baby but ultimately I gave in and I am so glad I did! We left the saturday after Thanksgiving (which was also Thad's birthday this year) and stayed at the Marriott Ocean Club, next door to the Marriott Resort and Stellaris Casino where we got married in 2007. Thad found a fabulous deal to rent out a one bedroom time share there and we love this resort area so this worked out great. The flight was relatively uneventful other than Julian not taking a nap but he was so excited to play with the airplane phone, how could he possibly sleep?! We arrived in hot, sunny Aruba, got our rental car, and headed to the grocery store to stock up our fridge. We haven't been back since our wedding but once we were driving through downtown Oranjestad, it felt like we were just there. It's such a happy, wonderful island and we were really excited about our week vacation!

Right away Julian LOVED the beach and the resort. He loved being able to run around barefoot and in only a diaper (or nothing!) and he loved the food, too! He was talking up a storm and within a day of being there he was saying "beach" and "potty." He loved playing in the sand and once he figured out we could carry buckets of water up to the beach, he was even more excited!

For those of you who haven't been to Aruba, there are a TON of filipinos there. They came to work in either construction or on the cruise ships and never left so everywhere we went we met filipinos. We went in search of a filipino take away restaurant but it didn't work out.

There has been a lot of construction and development in Aruba since we were there last. TONS of restaurants and shops have gone up so we actually were able to try a new restaurant each night we ate out. Of course we returned to our favorite, Iguana Joe's, but it wasn't the same without the drinking....oh well. We went to Yemenja and it really turned out to be, in my humble opinion, our best meal we've ever had in Aruba. Period. Julian loved the blonde waitresses, too. :) Our last night there we went to Marandi, which has the same owner as Yemenja. We figured we just had to try it after our experience the night before and we were not let down. The food was spectacular, especially the dessert, and they even gave us bread to feed the fish off the side of the dock. The restaurant is supposed to be a large beach hut (palapa) and it's right on the water. Beautiful!

All in all it was a great vacation and it was so nice to take Julian there. Hopefully in 2011 we can go back with Baby Dos! Enjoy the photos and if you ever have a chance to go to Aruba, GO! You won't be disappointed!

Aruba 2009