Bermuda

We have started to make a habit of leaving the country for the 4th of July. In the 6 years of our marriage we have spent July 4th in Cambodia, Canada, Germany and now Bermuda. This has nothing to do with our patriotism (or lack thereof). Our lapel pins are intact, etc. etc. We just like to take advantage of long weekends with their "free" vacation days. So this past weekend we headed to Bermuda for a quick trip with my Dad and Abby. We picked Bermuda because it was a beach destination that was easy to get to...theoretically anyway. We had all kinds of delays with our flights so it ended up taking about 7 hours both ways. It should take 2 hours if you fly direct...which of course we didn't.

Traveling with an almost 2 1/2-year old and a 6 week old calls for nerves of steel and apparently a high tolerance for spit-up/drool/ketchup/chocolate/??? on one's clothes and body. I realized a few hours into the trip that I should have packed twice the number of outifts for me and the boys.

All in all the boys did really well. Elliot, especially, underwent a remarkable transformation. He usually spends a fair part of his day at home in various stages of distress (whimpering --> crying --> wailing --> red-faced ululating). The island vibe must have really done something to him because he was totally blissed out for most of the vacation. The island life also had an effect on Oliver. He became a voracious gobbler of french fries and shredded cheese...which is actually pretty good all things considered. He has a total junk food diet but at least he's eating. (In a side note, today, our first day back, I made him beet muffins to try to sneak some vegetables into his diet. They were pretty good and Ollie seemed to like them. Lots of people eat carrot cake or zucchini bread, so why not beet muffins??)

We stayed at a really cool place called the Pink Beach Club. It is a "cottage colony" a peculiar Bermuda institution that is like a WASPy version of a Borscht Belt resort (think Dirty Dancing). I LOVED it for its old-school charm. When we checked in we realized that there was no computer behind the desk, all our reservation information was written by hand in a large book. It was like checking into Hogwarts for a vacation. There were no TVs in the rooms (although practically the entire guest population gathered around the TV in the lounge to watch Nadal beat Federer at Wimbledon), the men had to wear jackets to dinner, the clubhouse was furnished with threadbare oriental rugs and faded chintz sofas. The website makes it look far more slick than it actually is, but I liked the sense that it was a place that hadn't changed much since it first opened.

We had a cottage on a cliff overlooking amazingly blue waters. I loved hearing the sound of the surf at night. There were two beaches with the famous pink sand that we could walk to from our cottage. In fact, we could swim from one beach to the other in about 10 minutes. Oliver was not a fan of the ocean. Rather, he preferred to admire it from a (great) distance. He did have fun playing in the sand and spraying the hose that was there to wash sand off your feet. Elliot apparently liked the beach because he never cried and slept peacefully under an umbrella most of the time.

Ryan wanted to go scuba diving, especially because there were many shipwrecks in very shallow water. Unfortunately we didn't plan it ahead of time and it didn't work out. He was really bummed. Instead we walked around historic St. George's town and visited the remarkably interesting Bermuda Aquarium, Museum and Zoo. We really had a great time and feel like we just scratched the surface of all that we could do and see. We'd love to get back to Bermuda again sometime. Here are some pictures of our trip. Abby's web album has some great pictures with HILARIOUS captions.

The view from our cottage
Ryan on our first day...we can't believe how awesome this place is!

The cottages looking out over the bluest ocean. Roofs are kept spotlessly white in Bermuda because they collect and use rainwater.
Ryan wearing his new Espagna jersey (thanks Grandpa!)
Dad/Grandpa
The pool terrace

Ollie is using "mail" (a folded up brochure) to swat at fish...just like we swat at flies at home...you can take the boy out of the South, but you can't take the South out of the boy.

Touring St. Georges (Elliot is hiding under my shawl)
Ollie in St. George's
Houses in St. George's
The view of the East Beach from our cottage
Daddy, Abby and I wave at Oliver and Ryan as we swim past our cottage.
Ollie LOVES french fries!