Back From Paradise...

 Well, Lance and I just returned from 6 days in Paradise, AKA St. Maarten, where we celebrated our 40th Birthdays.  While we were very fortunate to go to Orange Beach in June with our entire family, this was a beach of an entirely different nature! The views and scenery were breathtaking everywhere we went.  The weather was in the 80's with an almost constant breeze....There were little mountains on both sides of our resort, which we did not hurt the views from our balcony!

 One of the outdoor eating areas in the resort.  Everything was just feet from the bright blue water.

 One of the outdoor bars.  On the other side of this bar was the pool, where people swam up for their beverages of choice!

 Lance decompressing......

 Another view from our balcony.

 A 10 minute walk on the beach took us to Phillipsburg, the Dutch capital of St. Maarten.  There were cute shops everywhere, and this little dock, where the local kids where having a blast jumping off.

 This church was just a few minutes from our resort on the beach.  Turns out, Christopher Colombus founded St. Maartens and named it after Saint Martin of Tours.....

 We had a blast riding these jet skis with no one in the water for miles, so Lance, knowing his need for speed, booked it up to 50mph.....

 One of the highlights of our trip was a little visit to Maho Bay, which is just another beach on the Dutch side of St. Martins.  The island is so small the runway starts on the beach, so people and photographers come from all over the world to watch the planes take off and land just feet from you.  In the US this would never happen, which made the trip even more enticing.  Also, the noise sooooo loud.  

 

The 727 (I believe) was only about 30 feet over our heads....hats and sunglasses were flying off everywhere! You can watch what we saw on theis link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlTNj6IWey4

 

 Great...this pic makes me look even shorter!

 OK, so normally I don't take pictures of strangers on their balconies, but all week another couple was there and the man could totally pass for Sammy Hagar. Lance insisted it was him, but being that Lance is no music expert, especially since he thought Sammy Hagar was the lead for AC/DC, I decided this was just a look alike, and a tad younger than the real Sammy for sure!

Our last photo before leaving the beautiful island and back to reality!!

July in the yard.....

 Well, for all of you out there who know me at all, I love doing in my yard...planting, watching for wildlife, feeding my hummingbirds, etc....thought I'd show that while my yard is a work in progress, I'm loving all my blooms right now!

 

My lilies, lantana, and petunias are just the colors I was hoping for this year!

 Funniest thing we have skinks everywhere!  Blue tails, other kinds (no idea of their name), but we love them.  Apparently they eat mosquitoes, so we love that....however, Claire is covered with them right now, so they need to eat more!!

 This year, Lance, Claire, and I planted a butterfly garden.....so far this is what's blooming!

 Sweet potato vines, impatiens, and petunias abound on the back yard deck....

This skink was caught in between the bricks near my vinca...I think we have about 4 just living in the vinca!

 

This afternoon Jesse and Claire spotted 3 baby blue tails skattered around the garage....this one is tiny!  Can't wait to see how big they will have grown by next summer!