Well the freezing temps in the Hamptons seems to be sending lots of families in search of sunshine. As KDH begins to pack my bags for Anguilla with the snow falling outside, I happily received a NEW KDHamptons Travel Diary from Hampton Bays super mom, Jennifer Rizzo, who shares her recent island trip to Aruba below:

Jen shares with KDHamptons: This year was our 10th year vacationing in Aruba and our first stay at the new Ritz Carlton Hotel. It is truly the Rizzo family home away from home in the winter season, but we did something we have never done before, we decided to spend the holidays there! Family time is the most important time in our eyes, and a vacation is such a nice way to step back from all of our busy schedules and just be together. Steven is 12, and does NOT enjoy getting his photo taken, our daughter, Ella, is 10, and our youngest is Nicholas who just turned 7.

Here’s a glimpse into our 16 days in paradise with my 3 loves: Family, Food & Fun [psst! Be sure to follow Jen on Instagram at #famfoodfun for her healthy lifestyle, fitness, and recipe tips!]

Having never been away from the Hamptons at Christmas time, I was not sure if our little ones would still feel the holiday spirit . . .well that was certainly not the case! The kids had so many activities at the Ritz-kids camp and were so busy with arts and crafts, cooking classes with a pastry chef, and baking homemade gingerbread houses. They even made wreaths and ornaments that we decorated our hut with; it was the perfect combination of Christmas and palm trees!

The food! We loved all three of the restaurants at the hotel: Solanio, Les Crustacés and Madero the Argentinian Grill were all delicious. Chef Stephen and the entire Ritz-Carlton culinary team went above and beyond to make our daughter Ella [who is #glutenfree] enjoy all her favorite dishes, from homemade brick oven pizzas to all her favorite gluten free breads that they brought in for us for breakfast. They even made her very favorite Dutch pancake! Some of our favorite meals were at the vibrant poolside bar and grill, and lunches served up by Nilo on his Segway on the beach.

My amazing and fearless son Steven [above] flyboarding, which is the newest water adventure in Aruba. We love the water sports there tube rides, snorkeling, paddle boarding and jet skiing.

We always charter a private boat to go out to a few snorkeling spots…we went twice this year in one day and both times got caught in a storm on the water, which is crazy because it never rains in Aruba, but it made for some fun, wet and gorgeous pictures.

The Ritz has a state of the art fitness center that has a spectacular ocean view…I went a few times with my oldest son…they also offered a variety of workout classes…since I am always down to try new things…I gave beach/cabana yoga a try as I love to be outside. I also did Stand Up Paddle Board Yoga which was one of the hardest things I have ever done! #splash!

The sunsets in Aruba are magical and one of our favorite things. The fire pits were one of my favorite things…they have two and as soon as the sun would start to set they would light up.

New Years Eve was amazing! After going out to one of our favorite restaurants we returned to a party on the beach with a DJ, light show, and a bar on the beach with champagne and tons of fun NYE swag for the kids. It all ended with a spectacular fire work show like no other. We watched the last of it from our balcony which was the perfect height and location; it was truly magical!

Champagne, and a gorgeous beach ~ peace out 2013!