Our Aruba Vacation

In 2010, Sarah decided she wanted to go to Aruba for vacation. Since she was graduating from high school, she got to choose the vacation destination. Sarah was allowed to bring a friend, and my mom and my Aunt Carol were joining us on this trip. Our little vacation group included me, my husband Greg, our daughter Ally, our daughter Sarah and her friend Morgan, our son Ryan, my mom, and my Aunt Carol. What a crew!

On the flight to Aruba, Aunt Carol sat next to a man who decided it was a good idea to drink a few glasses of whiskey while we were in the air. He ended up spilling one of his glasses of whiskey on Aunt Carol, so she arrived in Aruba smelling like she had been on a three day drunk. Luckily, I had rented a condo that had a washer and dryer.

We stayed at the Oceania Condos. Our condo was on the beach and there was also a pool on the condo property. The weather all week was perfect, and we had a wonderful time.

This little guy enjoyed startling us all week as we walked out of our door.

We spent a lot of time on the beach. We love the beach. Well, I should say the kids and I love the beach.

Greg, Mom and Aunt Carol are not as fond of the sand and water. But they tried to be good sports. They spent a little time on the beach as well.

The kids rented jet skis one day. The minimum age to operate a jet ski in Aruba is 18. However, the rental company allowed Ryan, who had just turned 16, to operate the jet ski as long as I signed the liability forms. Ryan had been a licensed driver for about a month at this time. Driving with Ryan while he was learning was a little scary at first, but he had significantly improved in the year he had his permit, so by the time he got his license, he was a pretty good driver. So I said a prayer and signed the liability form.

We spent some time at the pool as well. Ally and Grandma on their way to the pool!

Mom and Aunt Carol are not big fans of water, but they were determined to have the full vacation experience.

We decided it would be fun to visit an ostrich/emu farm. Well, most of us decided it would be fun. Ally wasn’t sure it was a good idea. Ally has a somewhat traumatic history with birds. Here are a few examples of Ally’s experiences with birds.

Example #1: When she was about five years old, Ally found a robin egg that had fallen out of a nest, or that had been abandoned-we weren’t sure. She wanted to keep it and try to get it to hatch, but I told her the egg was probably bad and that is why it had been abandoned. I told her not to take it in the house. Now, Ally was usually a very compliant little kid, but this time, she did not do what I told her to do. I did not know it, but she snuck the egg into her room. A few days later, she came walking into the kitchen with this little egg in her hand. She held the egg up and said, “Mommy, look how cute this egg is” and at that moment, the egg exploded in her hand and rotten egg spewed up into her face and all over the kitchen floor. I knew where this was going, and since Greg was in the shower, I threw the trash can in front of Ally. She proceeded to throw up in the trash can, while I ran around opening windows and cleaning the floor with everything I could get my hands on that I thought might get rid of the smell of rotten egg.

Example #2: About a year later, we had another traumatic bird experience. We had a cat named Sam who thought he was a great hunter. He liked to hunt birds. He was well fed, so he didn’t eat the birds, but he played with them until…well, you know. One day, the kids and I were outside when Sam came home with a little baby bird. We managed to rescue the bird from Sam. The bird was alive, but we were not sure how badly injured it was. It wasn’t moving much. We put the little bird in a towel and put it in a shoebox. We were getting ready to take the bird to the bird rescue guy in the area when the bird seemed to revive. Ally cupped the little bird in her hands, lifted her hands in the air, and said “fly little bird, fly!” The bird flew into our back yard, where our 75 pound lab mix dog jumped up and gulped the bird right out of the air. There was a lot of screaming and crying, and it wasn’t just the kids.

Example #3: When Ally was a freshman in high school, she and a few of her friends went to the Homecoming Dance as a group of friends. I had taken Ally to the beauty shop and she had her hair all fro-frooed up for the dance. Ally was all spiffed up in her purple gown and her fancy hair. We were walking out to the minivan to pick up the other girls. We walked under a tree and a bird pooped on Ally-in her fancy hair and down her purple gown. She just froze and screamed. I rushed her back into the house to get her cleaned off. When Greg found out what happened, he started laughing, which made Ally cry harder. We managed to clean her up and we did make it to the Homecoming dance.

Example #4: In 2008, when we were in Paris, Ally and I were standing outside a store waiting for my mom and my Aunt Carol to finish shopping. All of a sudden, Ally jumped and screeched. A pigeon that had been sitting in the rafters had pooped on her shoulder. Out of all of the people in Paris, the pigeon decided to poop on Ally.

So you can see how Ally might be hesitant to go to a farm with the biggest birds in the world. This one looks a little angry.

It was probably after Ally. Ally managed to survive the day. We were allowed to hand feed the ostriches.

This was not one of Ally’s favorite experiences.

We decided to go parasailing one day. Mom, Aunt Carol and Greg were not interested in parasailing, but they were willing to go on the boat. The rest of us were all excited to go parasailing. Ally went first and seemed to have a great time.

Then Sarah and Morgan went up together. There was some screaming, but they seemed to have a great time.

Ryan and I went next. Parasailing seemed like a really good idea. Until I was in the air. The sun went under a cloud, the wind picked up, and we were tossed around in the air like a couple of rag dolls. One of us remained calm and enjoyed the ride. It was not me. I was sure the two of us were going to be hurtling toward the water to our deaths.

Well, it was way less dramatic than that. The guides simply reeled us back in to the boat.

Then Greg decided he wanted to try it. The clouds moved on, the wind calmed, and he had a very enjoyable ride.

It was a really fun day. Well, except for the near death experience.

One day, we went on a snorkeling cruise. We went on the Black Pearl sailing, snorkeling, lunch cruise. It was a really fun day. We loved the boat ride.

For two people who don’t really like water, Mom and Aunt Carol were really good sports.

We went to a great snorkeling spot.

We were able to see the sunset from the boat.

We all got the t-shirt. Here are Sarah and Morgan modeling the shirts.

We did some shopping. Of course we did some shopping. Shopping is not my favorite thing, but we needed some souvenirs.

Greg and Ryan even did a little shopping.

I have no pictures of Mom and Aunt Carol shopping. Once they are in shopping mode, it is difficult to get them to stop long enough to take a picture. Shopping is their thing. They much prefer shopping to activities involving water.

We went to an outside market. I found a cute jumper at one of the stands. I tried it on, and it fit perfectly. When I went to pay for it, they put it aside and gave me another one, indicating that this one was the same. I should have insisted that they give me the one I had tried on, but I really didn’t think much about it and merrily went on my way. I was just happy that I had experienced, what I thought, was a successful shopping trip. Well, once I got home and decided to wear the jumper, I discovered that the one they gave me had uneven armholes. One armhole was huge, giving the jumper a very lopsided look. My $20 jumper ended up costing me an additional $30 to get it fixed so that I could wear it. Shopping. Ugh.

I found an oceanside restaurant. After all, we were on an island-we had to eat at an oceanside restaurant. We loved it.

Another beautiful sunset.

Sadly, we did eventually have to end our vacation and head back home. Airports are always so much fun.

What a great vacation!

Tips:

1. We stayed at the Oceania condominiums. The website is oceaniaarubarentals.com. It appears these are now rented through Airbnb. These condos are on the beach and they were very nice in 2010. Hopefully, they still are.
2. From our condo, it was just a short walk down the beach to restaurants, ice cream shops, jet ski rentals, boat rentals, etc. It was a very good location.
3. The snorkeling experience with Black Pearl was a lot of fun. You can find information about the experience at aruba-sailing.com.
4. If you are interested in the ostrich farm, you can find information at http://www.arubaostrichfarm.com. Just make sure you are sensitive to anyone in your group who may have had a negative experience (or multiple negative experiences ) with birds.
5. Aruba’s motto is “One Happy Island.” I have to agree. The people who lived on the island were very friendly and the overall feel of the island is very laid back and calm. It is definitely a very relaxing place to have a restful vacation.
6. I don’t remember the name of the parasailing company, but there are several in Aruba. We did not drive at all while we were there, so I’m assuming it was a rental place on the beach. Here are some places that are available now. http://www.artswatersports.com, http://www.delphiwatersports.com, http://www.skyviewwatersports.com.
7. Don’t let anyone switch an item out for you when you are shopping. You may end up with a defective item when you get home.