The Strobelt Times: Turks and Caicos

Traveling to Turks and Caicos was a trip of a lifetime, one I will never forget. Best of all I was able to share it with the people I love most! I have wanted to go to the Caribbean for a long time and finally going was a dream. When we first got to the hotel Nick and I went straight for the beach. My first sight of the white sand and turquoise water brought me to tears. No picture or movie could ever describe how fresh and beautiful it looked. Then we both ran and dove in! We were both so excited to finally be living what we talked about for so, so long. It was the best moment of the trip.

Sunday August 4th

After jumping in the ocean and swimming around we met my family up at the pool. Since they all got there a couple days before us they caught us up on all the fun they had been having. Nick and I were starving so we all decided it was dinner time. We ate at the French restaurant La Chateau Petite and ordered every desert on the menu. To top it off we piled our plates high was treats from the “chocolate buffett”. The running joke all week was how many dinners we would have each night. I can not tell you how much we ate and I loved every second of it! We all talked until way too late. At that point I had been up for over 24 hours and do not even remember walking back to our hotel room.

First sight of Turks

Chocolate buffet

Monday August 5th

Nick and I slept in and had a late breakfast. We met up with every one at the beach and played around with the sail boats (Hobi Cats). While all the men rode the Hobi Cats around the girls soaked in the sun and enjoyed the super warm water. Before lunch we all went snorkeling just 5 minutes off the coast. There we saw a huge sting ray. It happened at the end of the trip so most people were already out of the water and in the boat Since I was illegally getting a sand dollar from the ocean floor ( you cant take shells J) I was still in. The sting ray gave me plenty of distraction to just swip the sand dollar unnoticed. Seeing the sting ray was a highlight of the trip for sure! Oh, and the sand dollar broke in my hotel room. Risked my life for nothing…sheesh. Then Nick and I did a scuba review class. I needed it as I had not gone since 2005! Yikes. Then it was off for more fun on the Hobi Cats. Nick could sail it very good and would get us going super fast. I would lay on my stomach and look down at the ocean floor. I kept hoping I would see another sting ray or shark but all I saw was sand. That night we took pictures as a family on the beach. It was the only night I actually did my hair. That is a testament to how awesome this trip was. I was in my swim suit and in the water ALL day. After dinner we went to one of the restaurant bars and had one of the bar tenders make us all sort of drink concoctions (virgin of course). My favorite was the dirty diet coke (diet coke and coconut), Mickey Mouse (strawberry banana), and Miami Vice (pina coloda and strawberry). I proceeded to drink about 15 of those every day. Then we had dinner over looking the ocean and talked by the beach/fire the rest of the night. That day was Clarah’s birthday so we sang her and Emily happy birthday. We all went around and shared why we loved Clarah so much. All of them revolved around her selfless, kind, and easy going demeanor. My favorite thing about Clarah... she always makes time to hang out with me and acts like there is nothing better in the world than being with me!

Our view from breakfast every morning

View from my parents room

The Hobi Cats

Professional Pics

Tuesday August 6th

We woke up early to go scuba diving. We went ton two dives and had a great time with everyone. The second dive we saw a shark and a couple huge lion fish. The second dive is called Thunderdome after a giant cage that is sunken. It is a fish sanctuary now and at one point I was completely surrounded by bright yellow fish. It was surreal! After scuba diving we had lunch on the beach and relaxed for a while. We went on the Hobi Cats again and went out so far the resort was just a dot. It kind of freaked me out but was exciting too. We got dressed up for dinner and went to a great restaurant. It is like Teppanyaki’s where they cook all the food in front of you on a big grill. We had mahi mahi, steak, chicken, shrimp, fried rice, and the best vegetables! I ate to my hearts content. After dinner we all sat around and talked about how much we loved Emily, which is a very easy conversation to haveJ. It was her birthday! Then the conversation switched to our favorite family memories. Abe said his was jumping off the cliff at Lake Powell with my dad. Brady said caribou hunting in Alaska and having to use blueberry scented wipes to wash his hands after field dressing a deer. We were all busting up. Then we hit the adult Jacuzzi that over looked the ocean and relaxed/talked until I about feel asleep. Us girls talked all about our kids and babies and pregnancy. We totally scared Caity and Clarah… they may never have kids, like ever! This was my favorite day, just hanging out with my siblings and talking without any interruptions from kids or work.

All the gear...scuba does take some work

warming up after our first dive. Talking about all our crazy animal sightings

our cabana that we stayed/napped in the afternoons

Wednesday August 7th

We again woke up early and went scuba diving. This was one of the most enjoyable things we did all week! The water is so warm, even at 100 feet we did not need wet suits! We saw 4 sea turtles and one even swam straight up to me and stared me in the eyes. At the end of the dive we saw a nurse shark. It looked more like a dark shadow than a fish. Very eerie! I am so glad scuba diving is something Nick and I can do together. He always preps my tanks and makes sure I have all my gear squared awayJ Underwater he is my “buddy” and is right there, its comforting. After scuba diving all the family sat under the cabana and ate more pizza than I thought possible. I also had 4 Miami Vices…delicious. Then all the girls went snorkeling in hopes of finding some sand dollars and star fish to take home to our kiddos. Caity was the only one to find a star fish and named it “Victoria”. Poor Victoria was lost while we were playing at the water park and going around the lazy river. She shed a tear. We had the worst lucky keeping all our sea treasures safe! There was a late afternoon rain storm and we weathered it by drinking a Mickey Mouse in the hot tub. As a family we had dinner at a restaurant by the beach and watched the sun set on our last night in paradise. Every night the dinners were so good and we could take all the time in the world talking and eating. Brady left early in the morning today so we missed him all day. He always gets everyone laughing with his contagious laugh; I wished we could see him more often. After dinner we sat by the fire/beach again and talked about the wonderful memories we made on this trip.

saying goodbye to Brady before scuba diving

poor thing fell asleep while drinking her chocolate shake:)

the infamous Miami Vice

all gone!

Treasures from our snorkeling trip

Afternoon storm rollin gin

Everyone in Turks is on island time

Where Nick and I sayed...Key West village.

Thursday

On our last day Nick and I slept in and then enjoyed breakfast on the beach. The resort had the best fresh orange juice. We both had about 4 cups at breakfast to try and get as much as we could before leaving. Nick and I also took one last ride on the Hobi Cats, sailing around we planned our grand adventure of sailing around the world…haha. While at breakfast we took some cheerios and used them to attract fish while we snorkeled. I would take a couple out of the bag and soon hundreds of fish were swarming. It was exciting and terrifying! We all snorkeled until we all had to head back to our rooms and pack up. Before we left the resort I had to have my last meal of 2 Miami Vices, 2 Mickey Mice, and 2 dirty diet cokes. It was the best lunch I ever had. Then we flew away and even though it was sad to leave I was so excited to see my girls again.