Greetings from St. Maarten

We caught an early flight out of Indianapolis, made a long stop in Charlotte and then got to Saint Maarten ("SXM") around 4 p.m. on Sunday. The flight from Charlotte to SXM was a breeze as we waited to board until the last second and then agreed to take exit row seating since we spoke English. It seems a sports team speaking only French had selected those seats and boarded just in front of us. Rather than reseating people already on the plane, we volunteered our seats for theirs. I love it when a plan comes together! 

We rented our car and headed for the condo. Our phones do not work here except when wifi is available. Shockingly, that isn't all that often. This meant we had to navigate without assistance. WE HAD TO USE A MAP! It was hard. It was ugly. We eventually found our place. I still don't know how since there is no address posted and street signs do not mean a darn thing here. Anyway, we made it. The place is as-advertised (always a relief) and he let us pay in cash upon arrival instead of paying to wire money. Amazing how different cultures are- I'm fairly certain we'd never do business this way in America. Both sides were honest so it worked out.

Our evening view

The sun was going down as we settled in for the evening. We did hop back out and grabbed dinner at a local restaurant. We had a mahi-mahi quesadilla which was quite good. The service is on island time, though. That's always such an adjustment for us. 

We decided to spend Monday exploring the island. It isn't all that large so we drove around almost the entire thing in one afternoon. We stopped in Philipsburg (the capital of the Dutch side of the island) and walked the boardwalk. 

Hilarious yield signs 

We found a Hard Rock Cafe for my Mom.

Getting a pin for Mom

The boardwalk area was pretty cool and we plan to return. We actually ate at the HRC, a first for us.

Lunch view

Soaking in the sun!

It looks fake behind him

After lunch and hanging out at the beach for a bit, we continued to make our way around the island. The roads leave something to be desired. Actually, they leave a lot to be desired. The contrast of poverty and utterly astounding wealth is hard to reconcile. You pass by beaches with huge yachts anchored and then look around and see squalor. It is hard on the heart. We finished our island tour and headed to Maho Beach which is famous for being the beach where planes fly low as they land. It was pretty cool!

Jackson directing traffic

The beach when planes aren't coming in

Beachin'

Me taking in a landing. Note: I am not drinking (though it appears
that way), I'm also clothed. Jackson isn't the best photographer. ;)

Our view. WILD!!

That was about enough excitement for one day so we stopped in at the grocery and grabbed supplies to eat in for the evening. That consisted of cereal and bagels because our stove was not working. Wah!

Sunset on the balcony

Not a bad place to blog...

Lovely.

Amazing.

There it goes... :(

I think it is so funny how on vacation sunsets are so important to us. On a normal day I couldn't tell you when sunrise or sunset will be. Vacations really make us more aware of the world around us. I think that is partially why we love them so much. The lives we lead can feel so busy, but when your day revolves around the sunrise and sunset suddenly nothing else matters much.

Christmas in Indiana

We packed a ton of Christmas activities into a couple of days before we left for our holiday vacation. We met our friend Heinzy and his buddy Jared at the one and only Ale Emporium for some fun on Friday evening. They're a mess and we enjoy them.

Weirdos.

Forever friends :)

Saturday we met my Dad for breakfast to exchange gifts (hope you're feeling better, Diana!) before heading over to meet Christina's new bundle, Oaklei Blue. Jackson played with her son, Logan, who at nearly 4 years old (I think...?) was right on Jackson's maturity level. ;)

SWORDS!

Getting to hold baby girl!

He had a huge barn to play in! So cool!

We enjoyed getting to see Christina's family and then headed to Upland to continue the celebrations. We had shrimp and mushrooms there for lunch- so good!

MacKenzie taking a break from presents

We left MacKenzie with my brother for the week and headed back to Indy for a final Christmas celebration before we left town. Jackson's family was all going to Jamaica for the week on a flight leaving 10 minutes after us so it all worked out well.

Jackson, Kathi, Grace, Susan

Grace modeling her gift from us: lacrosse goggles

Susie is obsessed with Cheez-its and got 12 packs
 for the 12 days of Christmas. Too funny!

We had a great weekend getting to see everyone and exchange gifts. Most of our gifts were socks from Australia and New Zealand for whatever reason. ;) I made the family pile in to go see my favorite light show in Fishers before we all headed for the tropics. The guy's lights did not let me down and it was wonderful. We're fortunate that we had so much celebrating to fit in. Life is good!

J. Bates

We went to visit just Josslyn Shaya, Matt and Josslyn for dinner and were shocked to see how much little Josslyn has developed in the month since we last saw her. She is crawling like mad, pulling herself up and dancing. It is so fun to see her little personality come out more and more each time we see her. 

Jackson "cuddling" Josslyn ;)

A girl and her dog

Pulling herself up! Ahh! 

Love this little lady! 

Joss loves to dance to this song. I caught her in the act a little bit!

Dancing!

We really enjoy getting to watch our friend's children grow up. We really appreciate them doing the hard work and letting us just hang out for the fun stuff. HA! ;):)

Christmas fun

We enjoy this time of year so much. Since we're leaving on the  21st we've had to move our Christmas shopping and celebrating up a couple of days this year. I shopped quite a bit on Black Friday and was completely finished by the 16th. A new record, I think!

We also celebrated Susie/Grammy turning 70! She celebrated in Australia already so we just made cupcakes. MacKenzie clearly wanted in on that fun.

MacK wanted that cupcake!

Susie sometimes gives us gifts from "Mrs. Claus" so when I saw a similar sign to this I knew she'd love it. Heidi is so talented that she made it look even better than I imagined. Susie loved it and hung it up right away! We also noted that since we live at Susie's right now she's really living up to the bed part, but we haven't gotten a breakfast from her yet... ;)

Heidi made this sign for us to give Susie

We made "Lena Cookies"

Trying to wrap is nearly impossible when MacKenzie insists on "helping." :)

Play with me!

Our tree and our unimpressed dog!

We weren't going to even do a tree since we'd be traveling, but in the end I couldn't resist.

We also got to go to our friend Jax's preschool Christmas program. He did so well! He was so handsome up there just singing along.

Poor Jax stood next to the tallest girl! 

A little better view of our guy!

Jax and Jackson :)

We got Jax and Jocelin little presents so we hopped by their place after the program to open them.

Early Christmas gifts!

Jax is so good at getting gifts that I always
 want to give him things! Look at that sweet face!!

Sweetest girl!

Dolly princess!

Ready to play!

Even Gunner got a present!

We got Jackson Jax a Nerf gun. I am still not sure if we left it at their house. That's how much Jackson liked it.

It wasn't long before Nerf darts were above the kitchen cabinets 

They could play all day!

Miami weekend

Jackson and I hopped a flight early Saturday morning bound for Miami. We'd not spent much time in the area so we were excited to check it out.

Clearly, no trip to Florida would be complete without a try to Sonny's BBQ for corn nuggets! Ahh- it was worth the extra hour drive just for those babies! YUM!

CORN NUGGETS!

Since Jackson stays at IHG properties so often for work that he's now a platinum rewards member (and because he works their rewards points system like a second job) , we got to stay at a fancy hotel right on South Beach for FREE! Cha ching! :)

Our room wasn't ready right away, though, so we went to the beach and caught some rays for a bit. Homeless on the beach isn't so bad for a couple of hours.

Ahhh, the ocean.

Happy Petefish

We finally got to our room and we were not disappointed. We had a great view of Collins Ave. which was hopping thanks to Art Basel (a huge art event/party) being that weekend.

Hotel balcony view

The people watching from our balcony was second to none.

Our balcony had a hot tub!

Lovely!

Football while in the hot tub? YES, please!

We left South Beach for the evening to explore Corral Gables. The real reason for the trip was for me to interview at the University of Miami so we wanted to see if we liked campus and the surrounding area. It was very, very nice. We ate dinner at an excellent place (I forget the name!!! UGH!) that served the best nachos I've ever tasted and homemade warm brownies with ice cream for dessert. I'd like to go back. Often. :) Traffic was pretty terrible that evening because of Art Basel so we decided to call it an early night and retreat back to our room. We spent time hanging out in the hot tub and watching college football. Life. Is. Tough.

We explored South Beach the next morning while most people slept off their hangovers. We ate breakfast outside on Ocean Drive and just enjoyed the warmth.

Shamelessly scouting Kardashians! :)

Dining outside in December never gets old!! 

Jackson enjoying a tiny cofee

Our room had a fancy coffee maker in it that Jackson thoroughly enjoyed! We hit the beach for a few more hours of sun before it was time to move hotels closer to the University.

Ahhh...another day of sun and sand! :)

Our next hotel was nice, but not near the beach so we were a little bummed. It was free, though, so the price was right. We had a quick dinner out before retreating to our room to prepare for the next day.

A new view from a hotel balcony

I interviewed with 16 (!!!) people from 9-5 and then we caught a 6:30 flight back home that evening. To say it was a busy day would be an understatement. Jackson spent the day running and then plugged in at a Starbucks to work. Amazing. So how did the interviews go? Really well! We don't think Miami is probably the right fit for us right now, but that may change. Who knows?! 

Weekend..

We had 4 days off of work and we spent a lot of that time just hanging out. We had some unexpected decent weather so we spent a lot of time outside playing with MacKenzie. She played more ball than she normally would at the end of November!

MacKenzie has two speeds: sleeping and playing!

We also snuck up to Gaston and hung out with baby Liam and his parents. Jackson got to play some country golf with Jason while I hung out with Kort holding Liam. He is such a good baby! He is so snuggly and I just love him!

FSU fan Liam

We stopped in at Ball State and decorated my office before heading back to Indy. One evening it was so nice that Jackson decided to get his training run in outside. I offered to rollerblade beside him and cheer him on because I'd already worked out that day. He loved it and said it was the shortest 3.1 mile run he'd ever done. I try. ;)

Blading after Jackson

It felt so good to have my skates on again. I wish it would stay nice out forever. I hate winter! To help combat this, we are headed to Miami for a long weekend on Saturday morning. We are so, so ready for sun and sand again.