January in Indiana

We remember now why we generally try to avoid being home in January. What a cold, long month!!

We spent a lot of time in the house trying to stay warm and get our diets on track!

Testing out our new Instant Pot
WE LOVE IT!

I loved this.

An ice storm? UGH!

Matchy-matchy

I signed us up for Blue Apron meals to come twice a week during January as they partnered with Whole30 to send compliant meals.

A successful Blue Apron meal

What happens when I try to help cook

MacK walking in the winter wonderland

Another Blue Apron meal

Another one

We did head to Pizza King in Hartford City with our friends one evening. It was probably the only exciting thing we did all month.

Pizza King date

Heinz and Kort

Jackson, Jason Mauck and Dusty

A fancy salmon dish

We got to drive a new Mercedes for a day while
ours got an oil change

We also tried out the new espresso bar
that opened near our place

I celebrated Amber turning 29 (again!)

We had Ella for a few days while my parents were out of town. She reminded us that we never want a puppy again!! We'll just have to adopt if MacKenzie ever breaks her promise to me to never pass away.

MacKenzie showed Ella her ball collection

Another Blue Apron meal

The busy side of Aruba

This should have posted on December 25, 2017...

We were really fortunate that we got to check into our new place a little early. We LOVED it. It was a little studio in a condo complex. The KING bed was amazing. It was more comfortable than our bed at home. The condo had recently been renovated and was just awesome. (I'm trying to insert the Airbnb link to the exact place we stayed , but I've never linked to them before so it may not work.) Aruba is like most places in that you just should not leave your valuables in the car. When you get these tiny rental cars without actual trunks you just cannot hide your luggage so early check-in was a real weight off our minds. 

We wanted to get to the beach ASAP so we went to grab a quick brunch then get some sun. We'd read great things about the Dutch pancakes served on the island. We were lied to as DUTCH PANCAKES ARE THE MOST DISGUSTING THING I HAVE EVER EATEN. I'd rather eat a cinnamon roll!!!!!!!

Diana's Pancakes Place's Dutch pancakes

I would describe these "pancakes" to you, but my stomach turns just looking at the photo. Just know they are basically crepes and are not at all what we'd call pancakes.

Moving on...

EAGLE BEACH.

I have no words for how gorgeous Eagle Beach really was.

Obsessed. 

We hung out in the water chatting with some folks we met from Ohio. The water was SO warm. The whole afternoon was just incredible. We eventually left the beach and hit the "American-style" grocery store since our new place had a really nice kitchen so we could make some meals at home. The grocery was certainly more like home than the first one we went to, but it was still different enough to be kind of fun and interesting. I think grocery stores are one of my favorite things about traveling. It is so interesting to see all of the different products.

Cooking up a mighty fine dinner!

The next day we decided to do a snorkeling tour and the weather was, again, perfect.

Look at all those shades of BLUE!

You can see Jackson waving to me

GORGEOUS

The boat was called "Mi Dushi" which meant "sweetheart"
We read it was "Me Douchey" and loved it

The snorkeling tour was a great time. We went to three different spots and even snorkeled around a sunken ship. The meal they served us was fish with the best rice we'd ever had. We enjoyed jumping off the boat's diving board and Jackson tried to use its swing without success! We met some nice folks and just enjoyed the awesome, sunny weather.

That evening we went to see sunset at the California lighthouse.

The California Lighthouse

Lovely.

Petefish.

It was just stunning

We tend to call it a night pretty early when we are in places where the sun being up matters so much. Between the snorkeling and the sun we were pretty spent!

The next day we got up early and headed for Palm Beach to take a walk by the water. It was a gorgeous day!!

THE BEST SMOOTHIE. EVER. EVER. EVER.

Am I in a screensaver or real life?

Look at that tanned boy and that gorgeous background!

We, predictably, spent another day at the beach. We attempted to explore the cruise port area, but decided against it once we saw the kind of people who were there.

This is now true.

This meant we headed back for the Palm Beach strip and had dinner and dessert. It was lovely.

Gelato? Yes, please.

Then it was time to leave our lovely little condo and head for a hotel for the last couple of days. Airbnb prices shot up as you got closer to Christmas so we cashed in hotel points that Jackson earned and stayed at the Holiday Inn resort on Palm Beach for two nights for free. Score!

Continuing to be the animal whisper of Aruba

Jackson took our leftover food out and gave it to this neighborhood's stray dogs. My heart melted.

We got all checked into the Holiday Inn resort (note: in the U.S. Holiday Inns aren't the greatest. In Aruba? Not so. This place was pretty darned sweet!!) The only negative to staying at the Holiday Inn resort was that we had no kitchen so we'd be dining out more. The cost of food was really high in this tourist area so we only ate two meals per day. We came home and had lost weight while we were there!!

Bagel sandwiches, an iced coffee and an iced tea...
that will be $40!

We were assigned a hut each day and given
beach chairs...YESSSS

Looking up...

Dinner at Chicken & Lobster was SO GOOD!

I "decorated" the tree outside our room

Another beach day

Our home for the next few days

Views

Obviously I went here daily

Jackson found a beach shack with brats. That's
his version of Heaven! ;)

Another epic sunset

My handsome tapas date

Jackson making fun of my toothless smile

Gelato again? YEP!

Starbucks was actually cheap(er) than
most places in Aruba!

We outsmarted the system and did carry-out bagels from the amazing bagel shop and got coffee at Starbucks to get our $40 down to closer to $20.

True story.

We got to the airport far earlier than we needed to because we'd heard the lines were terrible. They were not so we had a lot of time to just hang out. That is always a bummer, but you just never know and I'd hate to have missed our flight!

Sad to leave Aruba!

We finally caught our flight and headed for Miami. One great thing is that Aruba let you do U.S. customs at their airport so when we landed in Miami we were free to go. I love when that happens!

An Invisible Thread

The flight was short and I read an awesome book that Susie let me borrow on it. We were back in the U.S. before we knew it. Susie and MacKenzie had very kindly driven over from Naples to pick us up late on Christmas Eve so that we did not have to pay the crazy rental car prices. It was very kind of Susie to do that for us!

Reunited with the world's most
perfect little puppy!!

We LOVED Aruba. If we went back (and we hope to) we would not stay on the slow side, but we cannot recommend enough getting an Airbnb near Eagle or Palm Beach or staying at one of the high-rise resort hotels. The food is pricey, but the beaches are awesome and the water color is just gorgeous!