A day in St.Thomas

The kids and I spent the day today on St.Thomas. We had some grocery shopping to do. We were out of almost everything. I thought that some of you might like to know what it takes to do some shopping and how much things cost.

We took the 9am ferry, $42 round trip, which did not leave until 9:10, its an island thing. Of course on the ferry Quinn had to check out the bathroom. 20 minutes later we are in Red Hook. It is at least a 15 minute drive to Plaza Tutu where the shops are. First stop, Office Max to get some toner for Jay. Next, K-Mart. We had to buy sheets for the kids beds, $28 for the cheapest kind. We also got water with flouride in it since all of our water comes from the sky, $1.70 per gallon. 2 soccer balls($12.99), vitamin water ($1.49) rubbermaid containers, outdoor mats($4.99), fantastik ($2.50), clorox bleach cleaner($4.39),and 2 rug games for the kids. We were unable to find air horns, big bike flags and a small sauce pan. That was a pretty good trip. You usually leave not find 50% of the things you need.

Next stop plant store for a $8.00 pot of Rosemary. On to Plaza Extra "the grocery store". Plaza Extra is where we do our misc grocery shopping. It is like your regular grocery store that you visit. Here are the prices on some items: Grape nuts($6.19), yogurt drinks ($6.99 for 8), loaf of bread ($2.55), Smart start butter ($3.19).

Off to PriceSmart, its like Costco only smaller. 6 Bagels ($2.99), 15 boxes of Mac N Cheese ($9.99), frozen chicken nuggets ($14.99), 30 pkg of Ritz bits ($8.99), bananas (.75 a pound), grape tomatoes ($2.49). By now the car is getting pretty full. Oh we also got a dog bet for Roosie for $27.99,

Last stop Cost U Less, it is like Costco but they have smaller quanities and you do not have to join. 12 pk of coke ($4.19), 6 gallons of water ($5.49), case of presidente beer, the cheapest ($21.99), 5lb flour ($1.89), 5lb sugar ($2.99), gallon of whole milk ($5.89)(all of the other milk expired today), 1 gallon tropicana OJ($6.49), apples ($1.66 a pound), butter ($2.99), dog food ($24.99), 18 eggs ($3.99).

The car is so full by the time I am done I have to drive with my purse on my lap. There is a dog bed next to me and the kids have boxes of food in between them. We have to bring coolers with us so that the cold food does not go bad on the ride home. I usually take 4 coolers to put the cold stuff in. We stopped at McDonalds on the way to the ferry so the kids could run around on the playground. We got to the Red Hook Ferry dock in time for the 1:30 ferry but we had a ticket for the 2:00 so we had to wait for the Roanoake ferry to arrive. We got back to St. John at 2:30, stopped and got the mail. On our way home we dropped Jay's stuff off at the job site and then the fun began for me trying to find a spot in the fridge for all the food!

Hopefully I wont have to go back for a few weeks. We do end up buying milk and fruits and veggies here on St. John. It is hard to do it all the time due to the cost. Milk on St. John costs $8.99 a gallon and bananas are $1.50 a pound. Last week I bought a gallon of milk, loaf of bread, a dozen eggs and flour and it cost over $30.