Well, I will start with...the inevitable...COVID. It's still going strong therefore we are still doing land vacations. I did a lot of research on places to go. I thought really hard about going somewhere new this time around, but checking prices and weighing my options, I kept coming back to wanting to return to Aruba again. It had been 3 long years since we were there and I was missing it. Aruba is like no other island we have been to. Everyone is so friendly, it is super easy to navigate, the beaches are beautiful, snorkeling is great, various things to do on the island other than beaches (gasp, say it isn't so...I love my beaches!), we have a friend that lives there and we had been missing her dearly, and the island is super small so you can cover it all in 1 trip! Who would even think about passing all that up? Not I, said the Mitsugirly.

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So, now it was time to pick a date. I had several in mind and we usually vacation around August because we try to squeeze in one last hurrah before the not-so-munchkin goes back to school. However, I found better pricing in July this time and started weighing my options for a place to stay. We like the Noord area because it's an upscale area and I feel like a celebrity when I'm there (a girl can dream right?). I started looking for a place like the last house we stayed in and studying the area and maps once again. As much as I would love to stay in the house we were in before, it's just not practical for us...and I don't know who it is for because when we stayed before, we paid $156/night...it's now $500-600 a night! On days they don't have anyone booked and slow season it will now run you a good $360/night. As much as I loved that 1.5 million dollar home, I'm not willing to pay those prices...well, unless I was able to drag some of my older children with me to split the expense. 

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As I searched for that perfect place to stay my options were really getting slim. The houses in that area were "flying off the shelves" like it was a pandemic toilet paper. Everything I would save on my airbnb account as a prospect turned up booked the following day. I was getting VERY worried...like VERY! I decided to consult with Hija...wait Hija was my last review, we are no longer in Mexico. I guess I have to convert back to Sakari...even though I'm still attempting to learn Spanish, or more of a version of Spanglish would be more like it. 

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Back to consulting Sakari...I ask if she would rather stay in a home with a private pool or a resort that had multiple pools. She picked private, so private it was (she just had to pick the harder option).  I figured as she had gotten older she might want the resort so that there would be other kids her age around and she could make a "pool friend" but she's in the awkward stage that easily making friends with others her age seems to no longer be an option for her. She's shy and doesn't approach other kids like she did when she was young and played with all the locals or anyone that was around for that matter. My how times change. 

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I finally came across a cute little house in the next subdivision over from where we stayed before and I knew it was a decent area and what we were looking for. It had a decent price for July ($218/night) and we normally stay for 10 days. However, checking the airline rates coming home...well the prices were a little ridiculous. So I went with the cheapest day to get there and the cheapest coming back. Who cares that it ended up being 15 days and costing more for the home? I like an extended vacation. I have always said that 10 days seems to be the MAX for us and I'm ready to go home after that whether it be a land or cruise vacation. That's always been my limit. So, I wasn't sure how this was going to pan out. We will see....

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