Aruba

Logan earned another trip through his lumber company.  We actually found out about it back on my birthday.  In my birthday card he put a picture of the trip and it said "what are you doing January 17-21?".  So we left last Tuesday morning and went to Aruba.  That sounds just like my typical week doesn't it??!  We had a great time.  There was a group of builders and their spouses all there with Hensons Lumber.  It was a fun group of people to travel with!

I guess this is their slogan...it was on everything and right outside our hotel :)

The first full day we went with 2 other couples and rented UTVs and drove them to different parts of the island.  I think Logan enjoyed driving the vehicle a bit too much.....he is now looking them up....

Our first stop was a light house.  It was so pretty!

Then we drove on and saw more beach and a church.

The beach was rugged on this end of the island but so pretty.

On the beach there were lots of flat rocks.  You were supposed to stack them all up and then make a wish :).  So here's my stack :)

There were 12 UTVs with the tour....

This was our "happy stop" where we got smoothies and some snacks :)

After the happy stop we were able to jump off a cliff into the ocean.  The ocean came up in a cave and had some rocks over to it that you could climb on.  As you are climbing on the rocks, the ocean was crashing on the rocks....a bit scary!!  Well I was one of the first to go and it looked super scary....I did it but it took me a little while to jump.  There is a video....but I'll spare you of that!  Here's Logan...

It had rained earlier that day so I got splashed several times by mud....Logan thought that was great of course :).  We had a great time!!  I think the boys would've been super jealous of our tour that day!

Our hotel actually owned another little island where you could go lay on the beach and snorkel.  So the next day we took the little boat over from our hotel and spent the day there.  The snorkeling was amazing....best I've ever seen.  

That night we met a few couples for dinner at the steak house.  It was a fun night!

The next day we decided to take a lesson on kite boarding.  It was at the other end of the island so we took a bus and found the place.  It was a LOT harder than it looks.  It's a HUGE kite that you first have to learn how to fly, then once you've mastered that you can get on the board.  We only had one lesson so we never even got to get on the board.  I'm not sure I could even do the board.  There is so much to think about just flying that huge kite and steering yourself!  And after being out in the ocean for 2+ hours with that intense sun I didn't even feel like I could think straight.  I was feeling a bit out of it!  We couldn't take our phone so here's the only picture we took after we finished.  

There's what it's supposed to look like!

We came back and got out of the sun for awhile....I was pooped!

That night we had a going away party with all the Henson group.  It was right outside on the beach and we all got to watch the amazing sunset!

We didn't fly out till early afternoon so we got up early and had breakfast.  Then we bought some coffee (yes, there was a Starbucks) and went back to the island and sat on the beach.  It was so pretty and not crowded at all.  We decided to go snorkeling again and tried out Logan's waterproof case.  It worked and we got some pictures of the fish and the shipwreck that was out a little ways from the island.  

Flamingos on the beach :)  I tried to take a selfie with them :)

Amazing (free) trip and just fun to be with my hubby!  Thanks to my parents and Logan's parents for even letting us get away!!!  We sure couldn't have ever done anything like that without them!!  The kids did great and I think they survived with them all pretty well!