By Roberta Sotonoff

Anguilla Anguilla

Raindrops roll down the windows of our villa. Not quite what one envisions for a Caribbean vacation. My son-in-law, David, decides to perk up everyone’s sad faces and grabs his guitar for a spontaneous dance-along and sing-along. Even JJ, my 19-month-old grandson, is jiving. I sing but I cannot carry a tune. I dance, but have two left feet. Everyone laughs. It doesn’t matter. I am with family.

Being away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life and relaxing with the people that are most important to you is the stuff that makes lasting memories. While many families like cruises, glitzy hotels or all-inclusive resorts with “kids clubs,” we prefer something more low key: basically, just a house and a beach. We want just to spend quality time together.

Our family, eight people total, including our two adult kids, their husbands and two grandchildren go to the Caribbean for two days in French St. Martin and five in the neighboring island of Anguilla,

Traveling day is grueling– an early morning flight, immigrating through a small airport where three large flights land almost simultaneously and stacking 15 pieces of luggage, homemade cookies, homemade snack mix, diapers, toys and eight exhausted people into two small cars. Whew!

“Oh you can’t get lost in on the island,” says the Avis rep as we pull away.

Of course, we do get lost, and when we finally arrive, all everyone wants to do is sleep (or, in the case of the grandchildren, jump on the bed. We manage a pleasant dinner alongside the pool. Everyone cannot help but smile as the kids enjoy the resident cat.

Anguilla Anguilla

After a night of much needed sleep, we eat breakfast together and then break up into two groups. Newlyweds Caryn and David opt for sun and sand on Orient Bay. Dave finds difficulty in concentrating on his book when the nude bathers constantly stray from their end of the beach.

Everyone else visits The Butterfly Farm. Little eyes get as big as saucers as 19-month-old JJ and three-year-old Annie are surrounded by hundreds of fluttering creatures. Annie could not stop giggling about the caterpillar with a camouflage cocoon that resembles guano. As we head for nearby Gallion Beach for kiddy activities—getting our feet wet, sand castle building and shelling—we can’t believe how much more we have learned about these flying beauties.

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