I hope I never reach a point in my life when plane travel isn’t this much fun! I love traveling with Daniel, of course, but I love traveling with our families too – there’s something comforting about being surrounded by Hendricksons on a plane. :)

We spent Friday night before our flight in Thackerville so that (1) we would have a shorter drive to the airport and (2) we could leave our German shepherd named Fitz at the house so he could play with the other dogs while we were gone. (Also, he turned a YEAR OLD while we were gone! I never thought I would be sad about missing a dog’s birthday…I was wrong.) The next morning, we headed to Dallas to meet more of the siblings at the airport. And of course we got Auntie Anne’s, but if I didn’t document it, did it really happen…?

My biggest mistake was wearing jeans. I usually wear jeans even when we are headed to the beach because I freeze on the plane, but then I just change as soon as we get to the resort. Little did I know how much standing around/waiting/walking what felt like 4 miles to our room we would do. Needless to say, jeans were a bad decision and literally the first thing I did once we got to our room was peel them off and put on shorts.

To be honest, I really didn’t take very many pictures, and I don’t feel bad about it AT ALL. Like I mentioned in my vacation preview post, we came into this vacation with basically no agenda, and it was AWESOME. We spent most of our time eating, laying on the beach, snorkeling, and avoiding the random rainstorms by watching movies in our room, and aside from getting a little sick, I wouldn’t have had it any other way!

Highlights from the trip include:
– the water (the color blows me away every time!)
– cliff diving and snorkeling in caves
– eating lobster on the island
– my 90-minute massage…heaven!!
– the gorgeous sunsets
– hanging out with almost all the Hendrickson siblings

Hands down, the best part was no obligations. Setting an alarm, eating healthy, keeping track of what time it was, putting on makeup – I didn’t worry about any of it. AND, I didn’t have to cook or clean anything for an entire week!!

Final thoughts for future beach vacations:

(1) Maybe reconsider jeans for the plane,

(2) Take more swimsuits,

(3) Never stop using MONAT because it kept my hair from drying out,

and (4) Never take a hair straightener to the Caribbean again. Pointless.

Needless to say, I’m already looking forward to the next trip on our calendar: we have another family trip planned for next summer with the Simma side!! Where are we going, you ask? That’s a secret…for now! ;)