We went to Barbados with Hubbies, Dad's side of the family. It was a blast and such a once in a life time experience. We spent a week on the beach. Our trip began on the 17th when we caught a plane from Southwestern Missouri to Chicago. Once in Chicago, we met up with one of the step-bros and his wife. While there our flight to Miami to connect to a flight to Barbados was delayed 7 hours, forcing us to take a later flight to Miami, miss our connection, and spent the night, and catch the 1st flight on the morning of the 18th. Once we got there, it was paradise. I took lots of pictures, but not as much as some, so I'll just tell the story of the week through the pictures.
Our first picture, on the first day, on the beach. We had a private entrance from the house that we stayed in. The concrete structure in the background is a drainage channel for the water to drain from the road after/during the rain.
The first sunset. There were clouds on the horizon, but it was still beautiful. This was our view from the outside covered family room.
This is what we got to wake up to every morning. The water was fairly shallow for a long distance, but there was a lot of coral we had to trudge over. There were a lot of battle wounds with playing in the ocean and trying to avoid the coral.
We walked to the grocery store on Day 2, that was a couple blocks away, and it was across the street from the public access park to the beach.
This is the sunset from day 2. The clouds were so neat.
On the 3rd Day we took a tour of the island and one stop was of one of two of the Rum factories on the island. Not that we drink, but it was fun to have different things to take pictures of. The above is all the rum stacked in the warehouse.
After the Rum Factory we headed to this place called the Flower Forest. They imported a bunch of different flowers from all over the world and planted them here. It was on the east side of the island. The history of the place was very interesting. The grow and export a lot of sugar cane on the island, and the Flower Forest used to be a plantation, then a farm, and finally the flower forest. Everyone took lots of pictures because it was so amazing. The above picture is one of my favorite of that visit. It was this leafy plant that looked like someone poured bleach on it.
Here we are posing on one of the bluffs. The east coast is behind us, the Atlantic Ocean. Just the starkness of the deep green foliage, and the blue of the ocean and sky was amazing.
One of my favorite flowers. I don't know it's name, but it looks like it was on fire.
These are tree roots. Hubby took this one. He really got into taking pictures of all the beautiful nature around us.
Here is (from left to right) Pappy-Hubbies Dad, SIL-Hubbies Sister, and my Hubby.
I was the only one that saw this very interesting flower. It looked like cotton candy, or cotton in general. It just floated in the breeze.
Here is a picture of the massive palm trees. They were so tall, and so big around. You felt small standing next to them.
This is the sunset on the third day. You can see SIL, and Hubby swimming. We all liked to be on the beach at night. It was very peaceful.
My writing in the sand. You just have to leave a message for those you love while you are on the beach. Of course the waves eventually washed it away.
The sunset on the 4th day. Each sunset was different, mostly because the clouds came it differently. It had rained earlier in the day, so there were more remnant clouds than previously.
Sorry the picture is dark, but it's me and Hubby on the beach at sunset.
Here is a view of the house from the beach. We spent a lot of time on the porch you can see.
On the 5th Day, we went to the Banks Brewery Factory where they make the beer for the island. It was interesting taking pictures of the old copper machines. The one above is of the control panel.
Here we all are after the tour, everyone drinking a beer, but us. We tried their non-alcoholic beverages, a power drink, and a malted drink. 
The sunset of the 5th Day from the porch.
Waking up on the last day. Some of us had an early swim, but the waves were really rough, so we just watched them from the beach or porch.
Hubby and I took a walk on the beach at sunset and it was beautiful. Hubby took the above picture of the sailboat and the sunset.
Another sunset picture on the last day. This is one of my favorite pictures, I've already set it as my computer wallpaper.
Hubby and I on the beach. We all went to dinner together at a restaurant that was next to the public beach access.
Some of our favorite moments:
- Sunset walk on the Beach.
- The Flower Forest
- Spending quality time with the siblings.
- Meeting and hanging out with the awesome Taxi Driver, Tony.
- Having all the wonderful Memories to last a long time.
We want to thank Pappy, and Fun Mom for the wonderful trip and all the hard work and effort to get us all in the same place for such a wonderfully tropical vacation. We also want to thank the siblings for having fun with us all and the general getting to know you merriment. Back to the grind. Lots of stuff to get going on. Hubby has to get back to work and I've got to get my sewing thing on to prepare for the upcoming craft shows/season beginning in 3 weeks.
Also, my post titled
What Does it All Mean? is pictures from Barbados. The first one is of some white flowers we passed going into the Flower Forest, the second is of some vines that were growing on a larger tree, the third is of a hibiscus flower stamen, the forth is of a painted piece of wood leaned up against a block window seal at the Rum factory gift shop, and the fifth is of a close up of the conch shell that was on one of the buffets in the dinning room.
It took me all day on Friday to fold the stars. But while passing a kidney stone with no pain medication, it helped to take my mind off the pain. Hubby thought I was nuts for putting so much effort into something that we'd use once a year, but it was fun, and I'm proud of it.
Here is a picture of our tree this year. It's pretty similar to last year, just a few more ornaments, and a new tree skirt.
Here is a close up of my new and permanent tree skirt for our tree. I made is with blue satin that I quilted interfacing onto to make it stiff. Then I added ribbon binding to the edge. I love how it turned out. I'm almost tempted to wrap some empty boxes to stick under it for the full effect. Hubby might think I'm even more nuts than I already am. 
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