Spring Break!

I love Spring Break; an awesome part of teaching, a break right when you are tired, sick, tired and the kids are tired of you. We boarded the red eye to DC (Augh, United once again canceled the direct to Philly) on Friday night and did pretty well (that meaning Cody and I slept and Greg tried to. Got to Dullas in the AM, Cody threw his entire oatmeal on both me and him (thank god for extra clothes) then after another flight we were picked up by Grammie and Pops and in Philly. Uncle Jon came over and we had a nice night hanging out. The Reyes stopped over too and gave Cody the cute outfit pictured here. Sunday came and we were both quite sad and a little nervous to leave Cody. John drove us to the airport and after an easy 2.45 hr flight we arrived in Providenciales, Turks and Caicaos. This place is amazing! Grace Bay Beach is 12 miles of bliss. Super clear water, super soft sand. We easily got our bags and a taxi and checked into the Alexandra. We got quite the deal booking with our fav vrbo.com. We chilled for the rest of the day on the beach, then had a great dinner at our place then won at the little casino. Ahhh Spring Break. Monday we rented what seemed to be the last car on the island. TCI is part of the British Crown so Greg did a stellar job driving on the left without power steering and in a car that could have fallen apart at anytime. We snorkeled at Smith's Reef, chilled at secluded Long Bay Beach, then planned our next trip back to a house rental for the whole family near the Chalk Sound. Super beautiful. Tuesday, Wednesday, and since it was so good, Thursday we went scuba diving with Ocean Vibes. Each day we did two dives and saw at least 4 big reef sharks. It was crazy; the deepest we dove was 80 feet, but the reef and the coral wall just kept going and going. We saw rays and sea turtles and so many cool fish and coral. It was some of the best diving ever, couple that with the great Grace Bay Beach and we'll definitely be back. (Though word on the street is that Cuba which is 90 miles away, might be opening to US tourism soon and it is amazing all around.) The food was great, but pricey. One of our favs was actually the cheapest, Da Conch Shack. The shells pictured are conch shells and Da Shack cooked it several different tasty ways. I even had time to read, it's been so long. I devoured the Hunger Games, no pun intended :) just like my students and now home I'm working my way through the second book. It was a great trip but after five nights we needed to see our little guy so back to Philly we flew. Meanwhile Mr. Cody was having a BALL with Grammie and Pops. I swear he talked more than ever about his fun adventures when we returned-full sentences and phrases; his favorite being "All abroad, tickets!" when watching the trains downstairs. He also went on numerous tractor rides, went to a fun kid's class, went to Philly's Please Touch Museum, and had a Easter Egg Hunt with Jen's kids (Greg's cousin.) That is the short list, we were so happy to hear that Cody was a good little man, good little sleeper too which is always nice. We are forever thankful to Barb and John for such a great vacation. About 5 minutes after we arrived back at Greg's rents my parents arrived. They had just gotten back from Sicily. Cody was ecstatic; mama and dada were back, Grammie and Pops entertained him all week and now Nana and Poppa were here to play for the weekend. It was pretty priceless. We had great food and wine and all caught up and enjoyed a nice Easter Breakfast before heading out. The only little hiccup, wait I mean puke, in the whole thing was the super turbulent flight out of Allentown to Dullas. It was a prop plane that had a hard time staying in the sky, we survived-barely, but Cody lost his breakfast and snacks all over Greg and the floor. Once again, thank god for packing extra clothes. It was great having Monday off to play with Cody and unpack. This weekend we were back to enjoying CA sun. We went to the zoo, the park, dinner at the Grigg's meeting baby Alexander (so little, so cute!) then today biked to the airplane museum that had a train exhibit double fun minus one (I brought the wrong coupon :() Well this weekend starts soccer season and right now the Flyers are doing well. So go Fly Guys and Phillies (Greg's going to the game tomorrow!)