Since returning home from our vacation the boys are playing ALL THINGS VIRGIN GORDA non-stop. If you ask them where they went on vacation they’ll jubilantly exclaim: “Virgin Gorda Island!!!” If you ask them about the trip they’ll tell you about all sorts of things that were important from their point-of-view… such as:

• “Lizards!” Kyle is proud to explain that he “touched one!” But the lizards are so fast, that despite the fact that both boys tried all week to “catch a lizard!”, neither succeeded. And, in fact, only Kyle ever actually touched one. However, Owen will tell you proudly, that he was “this close!” [to touching one]! The boys spent a significant amount of their vacation time “looking for lizards!”
• “Vacation Trees! and polk-a-dots!” Palm trees are called “vacation trees” by the boys. They love them. And they love trying to climb them. Also, despite our best efforts, twinspeak is in full swing when it comes to the word ‘coconuts’… no matter how many times we try to correct them to say “coconuts” both Kyle and Owen refer to coconuts as “polk-a-dots” when in each other’s presence (and only when in each others presence).
• “Salty in the eyes!” Saltwater in the eyes was a constant theme.
• “Hermit crabs” The loved trying to catch hermit crabs… and unlike with the lizards, the boys were often successful at catching them. But, they got pinched by the hermit crabs’ claws (some of these hermit crabs were absolutely huge) often enough to be a bit shy of them by the end of the week!
• “Pelicans” K & O loved watching the pelicans dive beak-first into the ocean for fish.
• “Goats! and chickens!” There were tons of wild goats and chickens all over the island. Regularly we’d see goats and chickens walking on the roads as we’d try to drive without hitting them. This was a very, very big deal for the boys… who loved looking out the windows for the goats and chickens.
• “No seat belts!” Of course there are no seat belt (let alone car seat!) laws on Virgin Gorda. The people there thought we were absolutely crazy for putting the boys in car seats. After a couple days we let it all go… and the boys were free to ride around with no buckles buckled. As you can imagine, this was huge for them. And they loved that!
• “Outside shower!” Our villa had two bathrooms, one attached to each of the bedrooms. The showers in both were outdoors, tucked in amongst beautiful boulder/rock gardens. Showering every evening in the “outside shower” was a highlight for the boys.
• “Huge fish!” All the snorkeling we did was a major highlight.
• “The ferry!” This was, perhaps the highlight of the trip for both Kyle and Owen… riding the ferry from Tortola to Virgin Gorda on the first day, and then back again at the end of our trip. Both boys told us the following (and I quote) numerous times throughout our trip and also have continued to repeat this numerous times since returning home: “I want to drive the ferry. When I am a big man I am going to drive the ferry. I will be the captain. Me and my brother. We will both be driving the ferry. We will be the captains.” While in Virgin Gorda, while boarding the ferry, Owen asked the captain, “Is this your boat?” The man explained that it was not his boat, but he was the driver. Owen said, “I like your big boat!” And then Owen told the captain: “I want to drive your big boat!” The captain looked Owen in the eye and with complete sincerity said, “Little brother, I have a feeling one day you will own a boat much bigger than this one.” It was a poignant moment for me, one that Owen will never remember, but one that I won’t soon forget.

Since coming home the boys’ play is almost 100% focused on playing-out the trip. They ride their tricycles and explain that they are “driving the rental car! to the villa!” They ride their scooters and shout out, “We’re going to the villa!!!” The play with their toy planes constantly pretending that they are “going up in the sky! to San Juan!” and that they are “landing on the runway! at the Tortola airport!” Every object becomes a ferry. The ferry is “going so fast!” and it is always “going to Virgin Gorda!” Every playground is a ferry, and the boys are the captains. I am told to “sit! hold on tight! you’re on the ferry mama! it is going so fast! this ferry is going to Virgin Gorda island! Mama, say ‘good job captain!'” Of course I oblige it all. They walk along the pathway in front of our house and pretend they are “looking for lizards!” (just like they did on the path outside our villa), and that they are “looking for hermit crabs!” The jump onto the floor, pretending to dive into the swimming pool and the ocean. I think the boys had a good time! 😉 People have often told us that it is a “waste” to take the boys on such vacations since “they won’t even remember it.” Oh, what hogwash! Of course they won’t remember it. That’s not the point.

We’re back from the most spectacular vacation imaginable. Virgin Gorda is located in the British Virgin Islands, in the Caribbean. It would not be for everybody — that’s for sure. Virgin Gorda is very remote, very undeveloped, and very adventurous… and Virgin Gorda was the perfect place for our family. We had the most amazing, invigorating, awesome, inspiring, adventurous time. It took us a full 12 hours to get there each way (via our car, 1 airport van, 2 airplanes, 1 ferry van, 1 ferry, and 1 rental car — each way). Despite the fact that everyone thought we were crazy for taking twin just-barely-three-year olds there, and despite the fact they were the only non-local children we saw the whole time we were there, our boys were — as always — incredible little travelers (they have not disappointed us on one airplane yet!), and incredibly adventurous little explorers! Our villa was absolutely wonderful, and the island of Virgin Gorda felt like heaven on earth for us. For a full week we were fully immersed in a lively and lovely Caribbean culture where the boys were treated like absolute royalty (within three days of being there the entire island knew Kyle and Owen were there and people would greet them happily everywhere we went), we were in a place where Braydon and I were usually the only “whites” around, and where dreadlocs are commonplace. Plus, we saw some of the most spectacular natural beaches on the planet, the boys learned to snorkel (seriously, they could not have done better!!!!! and they could not have seen more gorgeous tropical fish), we ate fresh grilled and blackened fish right off the boat, and we had a week of perfect family bonding. It truly could not have been better. We feel so fortunate to be in the position to be able to do this kind of thing as a family. Today — to make up for the long blog hiatus — I’m posting 40 of our favorite photos from the trip. Believe me, there are lots more where these came from (!!!), but I’m limiting myself to just 40.

Today was a big day for Kyle & Owen: their last day of daycare before their summer vacation!!! They have been in daycare either part-time or full-time for the past two years straight. It will be very interesting for all of us to see how they like being out of daycare for the next three months! We’re all really looking forward to having Alex be our Nanny full time for the summer. Last year at this time we were livin’ it up in the Turks & Caicos Islands… Since I didn’t have the blog then, I’m posting these photos now!

Please take twenty minutes of your time to watch this short documentary on YouTube:

Malnutrition in Haiti, Part 1 — click here
Part 2 — click here
Part 3 — click here

–OR– Three Things that can Truly make a mom of Twin Three-Year-Olds feel Tremendously Terrific:

1) Yesterday when I picked up the boys from daycare they did what they have done almost every single daycare day for the past two years… when they spotted me approaching, they starting jumping up and down yelling at the tops of their lungs “My Mama is here!!! Yay my mommy!!! Mama mama mama!!!” As soon as I was to them they were jumping all over me, hugging me. Nothing could make a working mom feel much better than that… except… it just so happened that no other parents were there when I was, and one of the daycare staff/’teachers’ said to me: “Do you realize that you get by far the biggest welcome of any other parent?? No other parents get that kind of response from their kids when they come to pick them up! Kyle and Owen just adore you!!!!!!” Um, o.k., it does not get much better than that!!!

2) After daycare pick-up I brought the boys to the drugstore to buy each of them a new toy car to bring on vacation [very random, but Eckerd drug store seriously has the absolutely BEST toy cars on the planet — and they are less than $3 each]… We were looking at all the toy cars and I was telling the boys they could each choose one. They were both having a really hard time deciding which one to choose. Kyle said, “Mama, which one do I choose?” I said, “I don’t know baby, which one is your favorite? which one do you like the best?” Owen stops everything, turns away from the toy cars, gets right up close to my face and says, with total sincerity: “My mommy is the best mommy.”

3) Last night was Hair Night (we re-twisted the boys’ dreds)… which means we all sit on the floor of the family room and K & O eat their supper while watching videos as Braydon and I do their hair. I put the boys’ supper in these containers (see below) for hair night… Their supper was (clockwise from top left): soy nuggets & ketchup, raw baby carrot chunks, cherry tomatoe halves, wheat bread with roasted-red-pepper-hummus. When Kyle saw his supper he said, “Oooooh Mama!!! Look at my supper!!! You make me a happy happy boy my mommy!!!”

Sunday afternoon at the playground… Braydon turns to me and says, “It is days like today that I feel more like an uncle than a father. It seems like other dad’s don’t have this much fun with their kids, it seems more like something an uncle does.”