Arashi beach. We snorkeled here this morning.

This guy was hanging out by the bar at the Mariott.

People are so nice here that they were willing to take pictures of synchronized windsurfing and didn't even steal our camera!

Shontel and I went windsurfing yesterday. It turned out to be a lot of fun. There was a storm that blew to the south of us during the morning. It was kind of nice because we didn't burn as much with the clouds. We had great wind. I don't know what it was in the afternoon, but I would guess 20-25 with 30mph gusts. I had to big of a sail for much of that time, which beat up my hands pretty bad. The local kids were pretty amazing.

Then it was happy hour, again. In Aruba, happy hour is much more generous. Depending on where you go there may be as many as 5 hours of happiness in a single day. That's why there license plate motto is "one happy island."

A view from a balcony.

Here's a look down our beach to the south. It looks cloudy here, but it really was pretty sunny for most of the day. We both got a little pink despite repetative sunscreen and staying under a coconut palm. Yes, of course I climbed up with my bare feet with a knife in my mouth to get us a snack.

Went to a "local flavor" restaurant. The seafood seems to be expensive here in comparison with other things. Shontel got the mahi mahi and I got the barracuda. Oooooh, barracuda. I couldn't get a good picture of the deep fried whole fish that three Dutch octagenarians had ordered and then devoured. She started by ripping the tail off and crunching on it. It sounded like a pack of raccoons had found a bag of potato chips. I didn't think it was within the standards of local custom to stand up and take a picture of it. Sorry.

We made it

Not Aruba. Just a picture from the plane.

Hope all's well with you. Happy 10th (and 4 months and 18 days) anniversary to us.

The people here are very nice. Our beach is great (this last picture was from a rocky place a little walk from our place). They gave us champagne as we checked in and said thank you for things that we should have been saying "thank you." For example "Esteemed guest, would you like some champagne?" Answer: "Yes. Please." Response: "Thank you." Answer: "You're welcome?"

Thirty-something

This week I turned 30-something. Until I turn 40 I'm not going to concern myself with the other little numbers such as 1 or 6 or 8. If you really care to know the specifics, you'll need to ask Joel because he can remember those sort of details.

The weekend festivities included collecting eggs, playing with Tigger the kitty, picking out pumpkins, and eating great food with family.

Joel took my birthday off as a vacation day so we did plenty of fun things, including but not limited to watching meatballs fall out of the sky.

Daniel is freaking out about the crappy haircut I recently gave him.
I tried to console him by telling him that he'd only be ugly for a couple of months.

Lately I've declared Friday to be our donut day. After our sugar high we go to the zoo.

The boys really seem to enjoy the zoo membership. Where else could Nathan study the stroller wheel and Daniel think about climbing on things while a giraffe and her calf watch them?

Daddy's Home!

This is arguably Daniel's favorite time of day.....when Joel gets home and tickles him.

His response when asked to smile.