When we came home from Conroe, we had a quick 24 hour turn around & then it was time for our family vacation! And you know what that means - Bryan's tradition is to take the girls to get manis & pedis for our trips:
Usually I go, but honestly, my toes already looked good & I had too much laundry & packing to do so I let these 3 get pampered:
You know our secret - every trip Bryan lets the girls pick a color for his big toe & this year they went with something bright:
We always take the girls to the beach in July but the last several years have been a little more adventurous - Hawaii, Costa Rica, so I wanted something chill with a beautiful beach. Bryan's favorite is Grand Cayman but mine is Turks & Caicos! This is the very first beach we took both of the girls & where they got their first stamp in their passport. Sadie was 6 months old & Sophie was 4 months old. I think we waited entirely too long to come back but it was totally worth it:
That was our very first picture of our trip right when we landed from our balcony. Beautiful, right?! We stayed on Providenciales (Provo) in Grace Bay at:
This used to be the tallest hotel on the island because they don't really have hotels there - they have condos & none of them were major hotel chains. It was called Seven Stars because it had seven floors. They actually built their first major hotel resort next door, so this is no longer the tallest but we had friends who stayed here & recommended it. One of the perks of it not being a true hotel, was all the space we got with the condo:
We had a 1 bedroom condo & they pulled in cots for the girls in the living room. Of course it came with a kitchen, washer/dryer, etc. but we didn't really utilize any of that space. But we did have a huge balcony that had access from the living area & our bedroom which had a great view - we spent a lot of time out here:
The resort was nice & wasn't too big or spread out. It had tennis courts, a basketball court, a playground, an adult pool, family pool & beach access. Of course Bryan & I didn't get to spend any time at the adult pool this trip, but we did spend a lot of time at the beach & the family pool:
We got in late afternoon so after we settled in, we let the girls swim while Bryan & I enjoyed drinks & dinner on the deck:
Since it was an early evening, we decided to walk the strip to check out the restaurants, stores & ice cream:
Cheers to our first night! The next morning we were ready to head down & spend the day on the water:
I mean look at that water! That is just steps from our hotel - they didn't have to walk out very far & they could snorkel because the water was so clear! Sadie found a dead fish that she was obsessed with:
After she showed everyone, she buried it in the sand:
We swam, we snorkeled, we kayaked & we paddleboarded:
That night we cleaned up & went to one of my favorite restaurants of the week. I won't go into details of all of our meals, but after talking to the concierge, he suggested we stay at most of the hotel restaurants because they were safer for us. Some of the local mom & pop restaurants probably wouldn't understand gluten free or be able to accommodate us. Before we headed to dinner, we took advantage of the scenery & took pictures from our balcony:
Cheers to our first full day!
We sat outside around the pool & it was beautiful when the sun set:
Unfortunately, none of our restaurants had gf dessert for us so we literally tried every ice cream shop on the strip! There were 4 & we gladly checked out each one every night:
The next morning, Bryan & Sadie drove to the marina & spent the day diving:
Her certification was put to good use because they did a 2 tank dive on the opposite side of the island. Apparently she went down close to 77 feet & besides coral reef, she saw a sea turtle, a lobster, an octopus & lots of beautiful fish:
Since they were on a dive boat & it was a long day, Sophie & I did not tag along. We did our own thing together! Our resort had bikes so she & I rode up & down the strip shopping:
followed by the afternoon at the pool. She played with her friends while I read:
That night we met back up with Bryan & Sadie for a sunset dinner with a view:
Followed up again with ice cream at a different place. Ha!
It was happening this night & the Mexican restaurant next door to the ice cream shop had live music so we had a lot of time hanging out & dancing around:
On Sunday morning, we woke up & did it all over again. I think I say it every time, but typically spend our mornings at the beach & the afternoons at the pool:
Sophie met friends right away & was always with them however, this trip Sadie spent more time with me which was kind of fun! She loves to read so we spent a lot of time under the umbrella catching up on our books:
But we would always take breaks to walk the beach or play in the water:
Don't let these pictures fool you, we did play volleyball for about 5 minutes then we were all too hot & tired so we went back to the water:
That night we walked next door to check out the new hotel. They had a casino so Bryan went early & checked it out while we were getting ready then we met him for dinner. The girls had Shirley Temple's every single night:
and we celebrated this guy's birthday a few times:
After dinner we walked to the lounge & listened to the live music:
Bryan & I were loving it so we were dancing & then Sophie joined us, but Sadie was appalled - she sat on the couch embarrassed by all 3 of us:
And that was only the first half of our trip! I 'll post more pictures later in the week.
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