And so we come to Day 6. Our last FULL day on the island. And it was a FULL day for sure. I know it was sad to think about this vacation coming to an end, but we definitely crammed a bunch of stuff in today and we were feeling happy looking back on the amazing vacation we had so far. It was really an amazepantz vacation. AH. MAYZ. PANTZ.
So let’s do it. Let’s get on with Day 6.
This morning we had an early breakfast at 8:30 so no beach walk, no gym. Just breakfast. And you know what? It was a sunny day. Almost like someone swept the clouds away. We were on our way. The air was sweet. Guess where we had breakfast?
That’s right. The French Village!
Oh wait. I mean, yeah, it WAS the French Village but today? It was SESAME STREET!! Whoop to the whoop.
Yup, it was time for our Sesame Street character breakfast. And I feel no shame at all in saying I was just as excited as the kids were for this whole situation. As you guys have probably surmised from my earlier posts, I love me some Sesame Street. And as you have also probably surmised from these same posts, I also love me some breakfast. So a Sesame Street breakfast? My head was about to explode. I even wore a special shirt for the occasion.
It was a gift from Nickie and while I am def more of a Bert man, I do sort of insanely love this shirt. Like, it gets daily wear. My place of employment is happy about that.
The breakfast was being held at the Le Petit Chateau in the French Village so we met up with the Falzones and walked over from the Caribbean Village. We got there a bit early so we chatted with another family in front of us about the surprising lack of Sesame Street merchandise at the resort. I think we saw some Cookie Monster puppets at the candy store and some little stuffed Elmos but I mean, they are definitely missing out on a serious revenue stream. Just us Goodys alone would have dropped some serious coins. Our trips sometimes feel like excuses to just buy mugs and stuffed animals. At this point in the trip, we hadn’t even purchased any souvenirs. #blasphemy
So after 10 minutes or so, these dudes showed up.
Stop Big Bird. With being so awesome.
We then walked into the restaurant and it was all decked out, Sesame-style.
The food was buffet-style and pretty standard breakfast staples. I went up, grabbed some eggs, bacon, sausage, pancakes, hash brown, and a cinnamon bun. And I know what you’re thinking – “way to go, fatty” – but I also got a piece of watermelon. So. Healthy.
Bert and Ernie were the first to our table. I know we already saw them outside but I mean, it’s Bert and Ernie. If Bert and Ernie want to come sit at your table, you don’t refuse. First rule of “the Street.”
And then it was time for the rest of the characters to start arriving. The hostess would announce their arrival, but these Muppets didn’t just walk in. These Muppets got moves. Check out Count Von Count here:
I wonder if being a vampire makes you a better dancer. You know how being a werewolf helped Michael J. Fox become a better basketball player?
Wait, what was I talking about? Oh right.
And then came the table visits.
But then came the best part – SESAME DANCE PARTY!!!111 Seriously, these guys Tore. It. Up. I was fully expecting Downtown Julie Brown to make an appearance. Yeah, it was that good. It was Club MTV-level good.
And this party went on for a long time. I want to say they danced for like 5 songs. Like I was very close to having to “sit the next one out.” Which I guess would have been ok. Since I was really the only adult dancing without any kids attached to me. Per usual.
On the way out, I took a grelfie.
No, it’s not something you do in the bathroom. Gross. You’re so gross.
It’s a grouch selfie.
It was a really great breakfast. The food was standard, nothing special but it was tasty and everything was hot. And the character interaction was great. We did the standard family package (which I think was $49.99?). This included two adults and two children. It also included a mylar Elmo balloon and a souvenir cup. It was supposed to include two Sesame Street finger puppets but they ran out and we got whistles instead. Which are not even close to as cool as finger puppets. But I get it – it’s an island. When they run out of things, they run out of things. And I never once felt like 50 bucks was a bad deal for something like this. Especially compared to what similar experiences cost at Walt Disney World.
After breakfast, we went back up to the room to quickly grab the school supplies we brought because it was time to head out for our Reading Road Trip. Organized by the Sandals Foundation, the Reading Road Trip is an experience where guests are brought to a local primary/early childhood school to donate some much needed school supplies and spend some time with the local children and read them a story.
We were picked up in a shuttle, along with two other families. Super nice people. And one of them, Brit, is a regular in the aforementioned Beaches Turks & Caicos Unofficial Facebook group. She was there with her daughter, who showed us all up by running a school-wide drive for supplies and brought like a gajillion soccer balls for the kids. Our flash cards were all of a sudden not all that exciting. But yeah, very nice people. AND she said she had seen my pictures in the group and thought they were “awesome.” That’s a direct quote. So. I guess that makes up for the whole beating-us-at-being-charitable thing.
We got to the Enid Capron Primary School and each family was assigned a different classroom. We were given the Kindergarten class.
We walked in and the teacher asked Mia if she wanted to sit with the other kids and work on a craft they were doing. So of course, Mia was in.
We brought a few different books to read to the children (all Disney books, of course) and let them pick which one they wanted to hear. Tangled won by a landslide despite me trying to tip the scales by saying “Coco” the loudest.
So the kids took turns reading a couple pages but I had to jump in once we felt like we were losing them. It’s a good thing I am a master storyteller.
The end.
…
Ha, get it? Because I said I was a master storyteller? And then I like didn’t tell an actual story?
Whatevz. Anyways, here are some pictures.
And that was kind of it. We then awkwardly stood around and then made our way outside to wait for the shuttle. My thoughts on this whole experience were actually mixed. I loved being able to help out with supplies and I think the kids seemed really happy to have us there, which was really nice. But the whole thing seemed kind of disorganized. I would have really liked to have spent more time getting to hang out and play with the kids, but we didn’t want to interrupt their learning or anything and none of the organizers or teachers really seemed to know what we should do either beyond reading the story.
The kids were super sweet and all but I just felt like it could have been more.
Still, they definitely needed the supplies and I did feel good about being able to give back to the island that had given us so much over the past week.
The experience had obviously been a lot for Mia as she took a snooze on the way back to the resort.
It was lunchtime when we got back to the resort so we decided to do our first real buffet of the trip. Crazy that we hadn’t actually simply eaten at a buffet this whole trip but there were just so many options. We went to Arizona’s again, in the Caribbean Village because we figured even if we didn’t like it, we could always hit the taco/gyro bar just outside at the Cascades Pool (which BTW is pretty amazing.)
But this buffet actually ended up being pretty good. The ribs were a standout. And the chicken nuggets at these buffets? They’re pretty much bomb.com. I have no idea what makes them so good but seriously, I could no joke see myself eating 50 of them. No joke.
A couple of people did opt for the taco/gyro bar and I wish I got pictures of it. Nickie and I had actually already had a couple tacos earlier in the week but for some reason, they didn’t last long enough to snap any pictures. Oh right, because they were delicious.
Myles and Owen then challenged me and Tony to a game of basketball on the court near our room. And it was hot. And sweaty. And we let the kids win.
Gah, fine. We didn’t let them win. Tony and I were throwing up mad bricks left and right. Our passing game was strong though. And we seemed to like each other more than Owen and Myles did. So we get the teamwork award.
But like, the boys got the basketball award. On account of I am TERRIBLE at basketball.
Being that it was like RealFeel 100 degrees, Tony and I joined Nickie and Larissa in the pool afterwards and then hit the pool bar for a quick drink while the kids hung in the cabana.
And being that we hadn’t eaten in over 30 minutes, we were starting to get hungry. And Tony had not yet discovered the awesomeness that WAS the Mr. Mac truck in Pirate Island. Yup, a mac and cheese truck. Nickie, the boys, and I hit this place earlier in the trip and it’s seriously good. Today, I opted for ½ pulled pork mac and cheese and ½ Philly cheesesteak mac and cheese. Oh and of course fried mac and cheese balls. Which is a really fun phrase to say. Fried mac and cheese balls.
Earlier in the week, I got the crab mac and cheese and buffalo chicken mac and cheese. And fried mac and cheese balls. Heh.
Out of those choices, I would say the pulled pork and crab were my favorites. Oh, and the fried mac and cheese balls.
We also hit the Curls n’ Swirls ice cream truck just across from the mac and cheese truck for some shakes. I think I got the cookie dough fudge shake? It was super chocolatey. And made me feel like a gross pig person. So, I mean…
It was then time to head back to the room. For obvious cocktails. But also to get ready for the night. Not only was it our last dinner but it was also our second photo shoot. We vacation like the Kardashians. One photo shoot just isn’t enough.
But for reals, the Falzones were not involved in the first photo shoot so we wanted to make sure they got some as well. Plus now I got to get pictures both before and after the fatness.
We were scheduled to have Fabian again at 7:00 but he had called out sick so we met up with Patrick (and gave him his chocolates) and he hooked us up with another photographer. And I am so sorry, but I don’t remember his name. He did a pretty good job. I think honestly, I slightly preferred the 6:30 time as it got us both some nice sunlight as well as some sunset pictures. But still, these did come out nice – and the sunset was definitely more explosive in these shots as we were catching more of the tail end.
As the shoot was going on, I of course snapped a couple pics of my own.
We got a couple shots of us but really let the Falzones get most of them since we had already gotten a good deal of them from our Fabian shoot. But of course the Beaches photographer did a better job than I did.
On our way back up the pier from our shoot, we ran into another favorite staff member – Romaine. This guy was great our entire trip. He really connected with Nonnie, especially. So we were happy to run into him and give him his gift as well. It was awesome because both him and Patrick started eating their chocolates there and sharing them with the other staff members. They said these chocolates were very expensive on the island so they were very thankful. In the absence of tipping, it was nice to be able to still show our appreciation for this amazing staff.
And I mean, since we were there, we decided to hit the vodka bar again.
And we took a walk to the end of the pier to see if we could get a peek at the barracuda that hung around there sometimes. AND HE WAS THERE. AND HE WAS HUGE. I tried to get a picture of him but this was the best I could do. He’s that black blob in the ocean.
I know, not the best pic. But to make it up to you, here’s a video of Heart singing “Barracuda.”
And it was finally time for dinner. Which was good. I felt like I hadn’t eaten anything all day. Oh sorry. I meant to say I felt like I had eaten EVERYTHING all day.
Dinner tonight was at what was our favorite restaurant of the trip –Schooner’s We enjoyed every meal we had here and tonight was no exception.
We started with the crab cakes…
Tuna Ceviche…
And mussels…
We also got the coconut shrimp. And all of it was EXCELLENT. We almost didn’t get the mussels because of how much we didn’t enjoy them at Neptune’s but the waitress insisted. So we went for it. And they were seriously good. And Larissa said the tuna was her favorite thing she ate all night.
For an entrée, I had to go with the basil-crusted chicken based on both what I heard on Facebook and Nickie’s recommendation. And I was amazed at how good this was. I mean, it was chicken. The chicken was super juicy and the sauce/crust of it was very flavorful.
In fact, I was obviously so into the chicken that I forgot to take pictures of anything else at all at dinner. I legit have no idea what anyone else ate. I had chicken vision.
And we all had a good deal of wine at dinner. Which I also want to mention for a second. Our plan coming in was that we were probably not going to drink a lot of wine as we didn’t think it would be that good and upgrading felt like a waste given that all other alcohol was free. But the Mondavi Twin Oaks selections were actually pretty good. I had the Cabernet quite a bit and Nickie opted for the Pinot Grigio, which she also liked a lot.
At dinner, we met a really nice family (Kristen and her family, also from the Beaches Unofficial Facebook group) and chatted about our trips.
And then, it was time (of course) for the kids to hit the XBOX lounge. The staff was putting on a Hollywood Nights show at Cricketer’s so we said goodnight to the Falzones and Nickie and I headed over to the Italian Village. Before heading to Cricketer’s though – we checked out the gift shop and bought some souvenirs.
Then it was time for the show. So we headed into Cricketer’s and it was PACKED. We could hardly even find a seat. We ran into the Shuberts again though…and hung out with them kind of in the back as well. This show was insanity. Seriously talented people in there. We watched a couple performances, of which all my pics are craptastic so I am not showing them, and left to go get the kids.
And we found Owen hanging out with his BFF, Claude. Like I said, Owen had become fast friends with both Emmanuel and Claude at the lounge. And while we had already met Emmanuel, we hadn’t had met the elusive Claude until tonight. Owen gave Claude a new Patriots hat we brought down to say thanks for hanging out with him and he was already wearing it when we got there.
I really felt like Owen was gonna miss these guys. That’s when you know.
And it was time to call it a night. Our last night of the trip. What a great day. But the fun isn’t quite over yet. We still have our whole departure day to go through, which actually was a lot of fun. I mean, until it wasn’t. Stay tuned!
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