Hi! I'm The Sand Girl. My Mommy and my Gigi are The Sand Ladies. I'm 3 years old. My brother and I are on vacation at Beaches Turks and Caicos. This is a really special vacation because my mommy and my daddy, my uncle Ubbah, my grandparents Gigi and Popey, AND my great-grandparented Mammaw and Pawpaw are ALL here! We are all having so much fun here.

And I have a BIG surprise to tell you!!

The beach here is SO beautiful! I love playing on the beach with my brother. We move the sand. And I take buckets of seawater and seashells up to my Mammaw in the shade.

Our room is in the brand new Key West Village. My Mommy says it is her favorite.

Davion, our Butler, helps us get all the toys and stuff to the beach. I love talking to him. 

The beach there is really big and there aren't a lot of people around. 

This is the beach right beside it in the Italian Village.

Mommy swims while we play.

Sometimes I swim with Daddy.

After we play on the beach all morning, I sure am glad our butler Davion has saved us a cabana by the pool!

I'm telling you. This is the best napping spot ever!

And guess what!! We got to bake cookies with Cookie Monster!!!

I love Cookie Monster! He was REALLY big!

We've also been playing at the water park. 

And eating icecream at Bobby D's. My Pawpaw loves icecream! and so do I...

The french toast at Bayside in the Key West Village is my favorite, though.

Can you believe how beautiful it is here? I like to look at the ocean after breakfast.

Look who we ran into on the way to the water park yesterday! I love Big Bird!!

 

My Mommy told Davion the Butler that my birthday was 2 weeks ago and my brother's birthday is next month. Look what he surprised us with yesterday! A birthday party lunch with my whole family!!

THIS was a VERY YUMMY birthday cake!!

 

My brother wanted to save it. What a fun morning! We were so tired.

My Mommy told me that Zoe and The Count came by while we were sleeping.

My Daddy is so silly.

My Mommy and Daddy got to have a special dinner just for them while my brother and I were hanging out at the Sesame Kids Camp. We got to have a pajama party with some Sesame friends!!

That's our other butler, Randy. He is always so helpful to my Mommy. 

OK. This is the BIG, BIG, BIG surprise!! Last night ELMO came to read us a bedtime story and he tucked us in before bed!!! Can you believe it?! ELMO!!!! And we brought my brother an elmo doll to have. He brought me Abby. Because he knows I love Abby.

 

Did you see part 1 of my post? 

If you want to bring your family to play on this beach and visit with Elmo, you can just push that button below to contact my Mommy and my Gigi and find out how. Be sure to as them about Personal Butler Service and to schedule a bedtime story with your favorite Sesame friend!

Hi! I'm The Sand Girl. My Mommy and my Gigi are The Sand Ladies. I'm 3 years old. This is my brother's first trip to Beaches Turks and Caicos. And I was just a baby when I was here before. 

Yesterday, I got to fly on an airplane. But today was SO fun. We had breakfast by the ocean at Bayside. My mom says I'm kind of grumpy when I'm hungry. My brother and I love the fresh fruit here!

After breakfast, we went to the pool. Our butler Randy set up this cool cabana by the pool for us. My Mommy says we have a butler because that makes it a vacation for her too!

Then we all went for a swim. I can swim all by myself! My brother likes to play by himself in the shallow areas of the pool.

We got to swim for a LONG time! Then we went to the Sesame Kids Camp for Super Grover's Super Science Fair. We dug in the sand to find treasures. I blew bubbles with Bert, too. I love playing bubbles! Did you know Bert loves playing bubbles, too?!

We were hungry after all that science!! And do you know what?! When we got back to our cabanda, Randy brought us all kinds of snacks!

We even had a cookie and some milk before nap time. Did you know Cookie Monster makes the cookies here?! My Daddy closed the sides of the cabana so we could take our nap by the pool!

He is SO silly!

I loved napping by the pool, too. Our cabana even has a fan in it!

And my Mommy and Daddy rested by the pool, too. That's the shallow baby pool in the front, and a HUGE hottub on the far left.

You just SWIM up to this place, and you can sit on a stool in the water, and they give you whatever you want to drink! I like strawberry slushies.

After my nap, I swam a little more in the baby pool with some other kids while my brother was still sleeping.

Then it was time for my Gigi and the rest of our family to get here! I am SO excited to show Ubbah (he's my uncle) and Mammaw where Big Bird is!

While they were unpacking, my brother and I got Tatoos! I got to pick mine out. It is a mermaid.

My brother is tough like Daddy.

We ate a yummy dinner with all of the family, and then we went to Big Bird's Beach party!! It was SO much fun! We got to see ALL of the Sesame Street friends. We dance and sang. It was pretty much the most fun night ever. 

 I was so sleepy after today. My Daddy carried me back to the room. I can't WAIT to see what we're going to do tomorrow. I want to swim in the ocean. And bake cookies with Cookie Monster. He's going to teach me. I'll tell you all about it.

If you want to come visit Big Bird, you can just push that button below to contact my Mommy and my Gigi and find out how. 

Goodnight!!

Don't miss part 2 of our family adventure!

Neal Green - along with his wife Susan - owns All Occasion Catering, Knoxville's premier catering service. Neal also serves on the International Caterers Association's Board of Directors.

We recently sent Neal and Susan to Sandals Royal Plantation to rest after a very busy holiday season and recharge before the hectic wedding season began. Here, we interview Chef Green to get his impressions of the resort and Sandals dining experience in Ocho Rios.

Sandals Royal Plantation is a small, boutique resort with only 74 suites. What did you think about the size of this resort?
Well, it may be small, but it is also a member of the prestigious Leading Small Hotels of the World® for a reason. For us, the size of this resort is absolutely perfect. The service was very personalized, and Sandals Personal Butler Service was wonderful and not to be missed! It could not have been better. Regarding the size of the resort, I was most impressed with the interaction I had with other executive-type guests. We made new friends, and really enjoyed getting to know some very interesting people.

What was your overall impression of Sandals dining experience?
It was great! The food was very good and diverse. It is important to remember where you are, though - especially at dinner time. Here, dinner is a two-and-a-half hour four or five-course gormet meal. Truely fine dining. Of course, if you're just not in the mood, there is always a grill option as well.

Where did you have your most memorable meal at Sandals Royal Plantation?
We had dinner at Le Papillon one night. It is a very elegant, French-inspired restaraunt. I had the filet of beef and my wife had the lobster tail. It was all very fresh, and I was impressed with the portion sizes as well. Later in our trip, I surprised Susan and had our butler arrange a private candle light dinner under the stars on the pier overlooking the ocean. The food during this dinner also came from Le Papillon, and it was very good as well.

[There are two Sandals resorts in the Ocho Rios area of Jamaica - Sandals Royal Plantation, where Neal and Susan stayed, and Sandals Grande Riviera. Guests of Sandals Royal Plantation have full access to all ammenities and activities at Sandals Grande Riviera. Transportation is also included. While there are four dining options at Sandals Royal Plantation, this program expands your dining options to include the 15 options at Sandals Grande Riviera as well.]

Did you take advantage of Sandals Dine Around Ocho Rios program?
Yes, several times. We enjoyed meals at Kimono's Japanese Teppanyaki Restaurant, Soy sushi bar, The Mariner's Beach Grill, and Dino's Pizzeria. We did not have a dissapointing meal. Our favorites at Sandals Grande Riviera were China Doll and Manor. China Doll is a very unique, exotic restaurant serving diner and decorated with rich silks in red and gold. The food here was amazing. Their menu offers five courses of selections from all over the Orient. I would recommend the potstikers and sesame crusted snapper filet. Manor is a gorgeous outdoor restaurant serving a la carte diner by the pool. This is a more laid back dinner with some suprisingly sumptious Caribbean entres. We thought that the Dine Around program was the "icing on the cake" for our stay at Sandals Royal Plantation. Although we had fabulous meals at our resort, I would highly recommend guests take advantage of what Sandals Grande Riviera has to offer as well. I am really impressed with the dining options Sandals offers in this area of Jamaica.

Well, I don't need to ask if you'll go back to Sandals Royal Plantation. We've already taken care of that and have you booked for 11 nights next year!
Yes, we're already looking forward to a longer stay this time and reconnecting with some of the friends we made during our stay this year.

What are the three words you would use to describe your dining experience?
Very well done.

[For more on Sandals Royal Plantation, see our recent blog on that resort]