Innovation at its best

Last night I was sitting on the couch, drinking a beer and getting ready to watch a new episode of True Blood on HBO. I'm in my own little world, thinking about what I'm going to wear to work Monday. Out of the blue, Alfred looks over and goes "Ewww!" I look at him and he points at my legs. Yes my legs are ewww. They are still peeling from the nasty sunburns I got during our week in St. Maarten. This is week two of the healing process and it's starting to look a little gross. I have scaly skin up the inside of my legs. It's pretty gross. So of course Alfred had to point this out to Darrius who was doing crunches on the floor. Darrius stop doing his crunches to take a look. This is how the conversation went:

Darrius: Why did you say ewww?

Alfred: Look at your momma's legs. I told you she was a snake.

Darrius: Ewww mommy! That's nasty!

Me: It's from my sunburn. It's going to peel for a while.

Darrius then decides to start picking off the skin. I let him do it because he seemed to be fascinated by it. He then stops and gets up. I have an idea, he says, and runs off. When he returns, he has the lint roller in his hand and proceeds to roll it up and down my legs, taking off the dead skin. And it actually worked!! I started laughing. I could not believe I was letting my child get dead skin off my legs with a lint roller. He seemed to be having fun doing it. Who am I to deny my child from doing something that's fun?

The nasty skin is back today. I may have him hook my legs up again with the lint roller.

Vacation Part Deux

I'm still recovering from my week in Paradise. The nasty sunburn on my shoulders is now turning into a nasty peeling, scaly mess. I look like one of those aliens from the TV show "V". But the sunburn was worth it. Here's a vacation collage that summarizes how spent our 7 glorious days of relaxation.

Vacation 2009

We're baaack!!! After spending 7 glorious days on the island of St. Maarten, the Whitmore's are back in town and back in the real world. The vacation was wonderful. This is the first time we've taken a whole week for vacation. I can no longer go back to the skimpy 4 or 5 day vacations. On our last day we still weren't ready to leave but all good things must come to an end. We spent our days either by the pool or lounging on the beach. We went to our favorite beach - Orient Bay - not once, not twice but three times! It's on the French side and it is beautiful.

One day was spent shopping to buy souvenirs and look for bargains on jewelry. The Dutch side of the island - Front Street -is known for their great prices on jewelry. It seemed like every store was a jewelry store.

The best part of the vacation was spending it with my family. My parents were able to join us and it was great spending time with them. Darrius was happy to have his Grandma and Pop-Pop on vacation with him. He has already suggest going on another family vacation next year. Destination - Turks and Caicos. Sounds like a good idea to me!

Road Trip!

Every February we go to a "ski" resort called Massanutten located in Harrisonburg, VA. My father-in-law owns a timeshare there and it has become a family tradition. We snow tube every time we go. The resort uses man-made snow because Virginia doesn't get enough snow to keep the mountain covered. Darrius loves it. There's also snow boarding, skiing, an indoor waterpark and a golf course (for summer visitors). It's a nice, quiet family-oriented place. We arrived Friday and stayed through Sunday. It was unusually warm for this time of year - 65 degrees warm to be exact. But this didn't stop us from slush tubing. Couldn't really call it snow because of the heat and the sun, the snow was melting. We had fun anyway as you can see from my video of me going down the hill. The snow tubing is organized; you buy tickets for a two hour block. And let cattle we're herded up the mountain on this slow "escalator" type device. Then you get in line (there are 7 lanes) and you wait for your turn. It was fun for us - maybe because we don't know any better?

Me on the snow tube...spinning and spinning and spinning!

Darrius was allowed to bring a friend - Jaylin. It was great because we didn't have to entertain him.

We will be going back next February. I just hope the weather cooperates and it will be cold! We were all sweating in our snow suits. Now that wasn't fun.

Myrtle Beach

We went to Myrtle Beach August 14th - 17th. It was a nice family, weekend getaway. Thankfully the weather cooperated and it didn't rain until Sunday, our last day there. Of course Darrius was loving life. The moment we checked in and arrived at our rooms, he was ready to go to the beach. Luckily the beach was only a 2 minute walk away. Alfred walked Darrius down to the beach and stood on the sidelines while Darrius tried to body surf through the waves. We spent the evening and late part of the night driving around Myrtle Beach, looking for my father-in-law's cousin. It was NOT fun. The man didn't know where he was. If anyone's been to Myrtle Beach, you know that it's not that difficult to get around. The streets are numbered. You're either going north or south. Not that hard. Well, somehow he got loss and we ended up not going to dinner like we had planned. So after much frustration and everyone screaming bloody murder, we stopped at Sonic and ate dinner in the car. Not that I minded. I love Sonic. I was there was one in Alexandria. After polishing off a burger and fry when then headed to Krispy Kreme to get a dozen hot fresh glazed donuts. Yummy! That's pretty much how we spent our weekend....EATING! The next day we had breakfast at Bob Evans and afterwards took Darrius to the beach. I didn't get in the water. I sat in my beach chair and chilled. Alfred pretty much did the same. Darrius didn't mind. He was busy crashing in the waves. That night we had dinner at a seafood buffet. It was okay; nothing to write home about. But the sweet tea was out of this world! Very tasty. Outside of the restaurant, a guy was doing airbrushed tattoos. Of course Darrius HAD to get one. The guy didn't charge anything. He only accepts tip. The average tip was 3 bucks. Good deal. The tat lasted 4 days. Darrius thought he was too cool. That night we lit fireworks on the beach. It was a lot of fun and Darrius got a kick out of it. Saturday we went to the NASCAR Go-Cart Speedway. The lines were ridiculously long. I crashed into Darrius - on accident - although he claims I did on purpose. Whatever! He's just a sore loser.

All in all it was a good time. It was a nice way to end our summer. I love Myrtle Beach but it can't compare with the Caribbean. :-)

Summer Vacation

This year we decided to go to the Turks and Caicos Islands for our family vacation. We had never been there and had heard that the island and water was beautiful. The pictures on the internet did not lie. We stayed at the Beaches Resort (all-inclusive). We arrived on a Tuesday morning with little fanfare. It was drizzling but it didn't dampen our spirits. The staff at the airport and hotel were extremely nice and made our settling in really smooth. The moment the rain was gone and the sun came out to play, Darrius wanted to head to the beach. We hung out there for an hour and then went back to the room to get ready for dinner. Figuring out where to eat was overwhelming. The resort had 10 restaurants, serving all different types of food. Our first night we ate at the Italian restaurant. The food was great as was the service. We then wondered over to the Xbox 360 game room. Darrius was in heaven. The next day, our first full day, we hung out at the beach and the pool. We relaxed and chilled all day. And then went back to our room to get ready for dinner. After dinner Darrius went to the game room and Alfred and I hung out and listened to a live band. It was so much fun. Our vacation pretty much consisted of waking up, going to breakfast, hanging out by the pool/beach, going to dinner, Darrius going to the game room and Alfred and I hanging out for some adult alone time. We did manage to go on a day trip on the Kitty Kat cruise. It was a lot of fun and the folks on the boat were helpful and informative. Darrius went snorkeling for the first time. I chose to stay on the boat and take pictures. LOL! The snorkeling didn't last long due to the waves being really strong. And a visit from a Barracuda shark.

All in all, it was a great vacation. Our last day there the resort had a beach party. They had authentic island food, a bonfire, a limbo contest, a guy breathing fire. It was the perfect way to end a perfect vacation.