Slow movin'...

I was talking to my mom this morning (our daily morning chats about nothing) and I told her my morning walk with Penny Lane took much longer than normal. The fact is I'm slow moving these days...I'm not sure if it is the hot and muggy weather or the fact that I'm 32 weeks pregnant...or both...but I'm slow doing everything. Even my blogging ability has slowed to a stop. I can't believe June has come and gone and July is about to do the same. Just plain craziness...

We have been on a couple fantastic trips since I last chatted with you. Today I will blog about our trip to Turks & Caicos. My sweet in-laws invited us on this trip and we were thrilled! A week on the ocean...yes please! We had heard many great things about Turks & Caicos from friends that had been, so we were excited to experience the island ourselves.

We arrived on a Saturday and the trip was painless. We flew from Austin to Atlanta and from Atlanta to Providenciales (aka "Provo"). We left Austin early in the morning and arrived in Turks & Caicos by 1 pm. For those of you on the East Coast...this would be such an easy trip for you! Once we landed, we headed straight to Villa Mirabelle, the house my in-laws had rented for the week. There are a few different areas of Providenciales and we stayed on Sapodilla Bay. On the way to Villa Mirabelle, things were quiet. It's the off season for the island and it was peaceful. Once we entered the Sapodilla Bay area, was saw beautiful homes everywhere with quick peeks of the magnificent turquoise water between each home. 

Villa Mirabelle was beautiful! When you entered the front door, there was a perfect view of the pool, loungers and a walkway that headed straight to the Caribbean blue water of Sapodilla Bay. We never needed to leave the house. We had a gourmet kitchen, pool, cabana, chairs, umbrellas, gazebo and the ocean right at our fingertips. It was quite a treat!

Sapodilla Bay

Aren't the flowers gorgeous??!

We cooked dinner one night and tried places around the island on other nights. My favorite restaurant was right down the street from Villa Mirabelle...Las Brisas. The food was delicious and our table was in a gazebo on a hill that overlooked the Chalk Sound. We enjoyed a lovely dinner, sipped cocktails (virgin for me!) and peered out over the beautiful, quiet sound.

One morning, the boys went bone fishing, while the girls got pampered. This was B's first time to go bone fishing and he had his new saltwater fly rod in tow. It exceeded his expectations. They had a great guide and caught many beautiful bone fish! While they were gone, my father-in-law had a couple people from a local spa come to the house and pamper the ladies. It was amazing! The ladies were so kind and it was fun talking to them about why they came to Turks & Caicos, how they like it, etc. My nieces and I got manicures and pedicures and my mother-in-law and soon-to-be sister-in-law got massages. All were lovely!!

 

I tried to walk every morning. I enjoyed this time and it was fun to look at all the beautiful, unique housing in the area, walk on the the many gorgeous stretches of beaches and see the beautiful cliffside views overlooking the Chalk Sound. 

My favorite house in the neighborhood!

My favorite part of the trip was sailing with Sail Provo. The captains were great, the views were spectacular, the snorkeling was good and the food and drinks were delicious! We stopped at Little Water Cay (aka "Iguana Island") and saw many iguanas. It's the only place in the world where you can see the endangered rock iguana in its natural habitat.Then, we sailed some more and stopped in the middle of the ocean to snorkel. The water felt great! I mostly floated around on a noodle, but did snorkel some and saw some beautiful coral and bright colored fish. Once we were all aboard, we headed to a beautiful beach where families were playing in the sand, fishing in the waves and enjoying the beginning of a beautiful sunset. As we headed back we sailed directly into the sunset for what had to be the most peaceful and serene moment of the vacation.

It was an incredibly relaxing trip with constant views of iridescent blue water like you have never seen before. The locals are kind and the beaches are beautiful. Renting a house was a great way to really enjoy the scenery and relax. To my in-laws...thank you for a great trip! We appreciate you including us on such a fun adventure and an amazing beach vacation!

Sorry for my sluggishness with blogging. I hope to bring you more posts in July. The next one will be about our 4th of July trip to Sea Island!

xoxo,
your slow-moving friend :)