OK everyone gets vacation at SOME point, right? I’ll tell about mine coming up but then I hope others will chime in with holiday and/or vacation plans.
Last winter my husband and I had a week set aside to travel to London. Unfortunately that plan got derailed when he was diagnosed with prostate cancer; during the week we’d planned, he was starting radiation therapy instead. But out of lemons he made some rather spectacular lemonade…
Both of us love the beach and go whenever we can - but there are only so many beaches within driving distance, and none of those are very attractive in February. So when I looked at my year-long schedule and pointed out to him that a good vacation target would be February, he started talking to folks and soliciting opinions without really telling me much about what he was planning. And then one day I came home and he said, “I’ve done it - we’ll be going to St. Barth’s.”
Hell I didn’t even know what or where it was. I have never been to the Caribbean (sad but true). So I had to look it up on a map - it’s in the French West Indies, east of Puerto Rico and on about the same latitude as Ponce, PR. Average temperature in February is, uh, 80-88 degrees. That’s pretty much the average temperature year-round actually!
We will be staying in our own little villa, a one-bedroom one-bath place with its own pool (!!!). It is costing a boatload of money - definitely not a resident’s salary kind of place - but we are celebrating a year that is turning out good despite some setbacks so we don’t care.
HERE is what St. Barth’s looks like!
I have never in my life done anything quite so exotic, so I am very excited about this.
Mary
Go on with yo bad self! You both deserve it after the year y’all have had!
My next time off is also in Feb, but mine will be paternity leave. No, it is not St. Barts, but it will give me some free time with daughter #2 - as yet to be named - who is slated to arrive in our world 20 Jan 2007.
After that, I have time off in April to have surgery on my nose to hopefully further ameliorate my severe obstructive sleep apnea.
After that, it is Chicago in June!!! Time to play at OPM!!!
What a beautiful place!
I hope you have a blast!
I don’t have any plans at the moment, but we have family planning on visiting for Christmas and then in March my hubby will be able to take 2 weeks off to meet our new arrival!
Wow! I’d love to see St. Barts in person someday. I haven’t excluded the Carribean from my school options, so there is the chance I might see more (or less) of them in the future. My wife will embark on a holiday cruise with her parents this week and will return on the 24th. I, however, have chosen to return to the frozen rural wastes of Indiana to visit friends and family whom I have not seen in well over a year. Am I insane? Clearly so. My wife thinks I am a masochist for desiring a career in medicine. Now, she believes she has her proof. 
Likely to be frozen or buried in snow before the New Year,
Tim
Dave!!! Did I miss the big announcement? I am so happy for you and Wendy! There is just nothing so wonderful as a new baby. Congratulations to the growing Kelley family.
Hugs to you all
Mary
Congrats Dave and Wendy!!! Oh the joy and laughter that will fill your house. Now you wont sleep at work OR at home!!
I am currently in Miami Beach for my 2 week vacation. It has not been a week yet so I am still in the process of unwinding. We took a dinner cruise, sat by the pool, and are planning other fun stuff.
AAAAAHHHHHHHHH
- Mary Renard Said:
Hugs to you all
Mary
Have I had a brain fart & NOT announced the impending arrival of daughter #2? Oh shit! Life is too busy!!!
Apology accepted. 
Congratulations!
Tim