Jamaica - Day Five

Another beautiful day in Jamaica. Oh, how I wish I could go back. But this time I would want to take my precious children. Missed them way too much!

Just a pretty tree and view of the ocean. Oh, and the waves were crazy on Monday.

Ashley and I spent most of our vacation pretty much just like this. Swimsuits on, towels spread out, and books ready to read. Loved it all!

Robert and I ventured down to the water and of course had to document the occasion.

Oh, Oh. Robert had his first manicure and pedicure while we were there. At the resort, our first mani and pedi were complementary so he said, "Sure, why not?" Otherwise, I seriously doubt that he would have done it. This is the before shot of his tootsies.

During

And after. And, yes, he had the Jamaica flag painted on one of his toes. Funny! But to defend his masculinity , it wasn't his idea.

After being pampered, we decided to head back to the beach and do some more relaxing and reading. You know those manicures and pedicures wear you out.

Big waves and a big boat. The cruise boat did come close enough that we could tell it was a Carnival ship.

Dressed up again for dinner. This time at Munasan, the Japanese restaurant.

Our chef was great. He picked Ashley to help him cook. She apparently did a great job. I loved the chicken.

While our chef was cooking, he would sing songs. Then when he heard Robert singing along, he would pause so that Robert could finish the phrase. It was great. He then tried to stump Robert but it just didn't happen except for a few times. Then we turned the tables and sang songs for him. He didn't know many of our songs though. So after all that bonding and singing, I had to get a picture of our dinner entertainers.

Outside the restaurant.

With Ashley and me is Shantel, one of the entertainment directors at the resort. She was so much fun. The first night at the Jamaican Street Party, we had several times where we were talking to her. Then throughout our visit there, we would see her and she would stop and chat with us for a while. It was great. She was fun to get to know. She is working to save money so that she can go to college. She plans to go in Kingston (the capital of Jamaica) and she wants to get her degree in architecture. Very cool, huh, dad?

And yes, she was dressed as a policewoman. Each night at the resort was a different theme. This night happened to be "Uniform Night". We also saw a guy in dressed in camo. It was fun. This was our last night in Jamaica. We were a bit sad. But like I said earlier, I was missing my girls. So I was kinda ready to get home.

Our Zip Line Video

So I finally asked Robert how to upload a video onto the blog. If only I had looked around a bit harder, I might have figured it out on my own. It is pretty short but I hope you enjoy it.

Jamaica - Day Four

I know that you have all been wondering how we spent our days in Jamaica. We started each day by going to breakfast. I usually had an omelet (so good) and some fruit and some yummy bread. It reminded me of zucchini bread but I'm not sure that is what it was. After breakfast we would go down to the beach and find some chairs where we could read. Then it would come to be lunchtime. Back to the dining room for some more yummy food. After lunch we would head to the pool area. More reading and resting and then some swimming in the pool. Mid afternoon we would be ready for a little snack then more swimming or maybe a nap back in the room. After that very busy and tiring day, we would get ready for dinner. We all loved it so much. Robert is already talking about going back for another vacation (if not to live there).

The next day in Jamaica (after zip lining) was spent enjoying the beach and pool. And trying to recover from the day before. That wore me out. And I really loved relaxing and not doing much.

This is the view from my lounge chair at the pool that afternoon. Very nice.

Dinner at the French restaurant on Robert's birthday. This was also the day that the guys haggled for some pretty jewelry for us girls. Notice the necklace and earrings. Pretty!

This was my meal. It was some kind of chicken with vegetables with mashed potatoes under the chicken. It was all so good.

You can't really see Ashley's necklace in this picture but it is really pretty too. The price for my necklace was originally $25 but Robert talked him down to $10.

This was after dinner on the staircase that led up to the French restaurant. Yes, Robert got a little bit of sun that day. Can you tell?

Jamaica - Day Three

The one and only excursion that we did on our trip was on day three. We had heard from several people that zip lining was so much fun and that we had to do it. Well, we did. And we survived to tell about it. The ride up to the top of the mountain was horrifying enough. Then we had to make our way down 9 traverses held on by only a few carabiner clips. Sounds fun, right? It really did turn out to be.

Our group ready to go. Don't we look so attractive in our gear?

This is Ashley on the first of two "surprises" that they had for us. Pretty much straight down. The second surprise? Yep, you guessed it, straight down - don't have pictures of that. We were too busy trying to recover from it.

Here I am on one of the lines. I'm a pro now!

I think this is the only picture we have of Robert on the zip line. He was the photographer most of the time.

Waiting in line for our last traverse. Happy faces!

Going up - only to come down in a few minutes.

We made it to the bottom of the mountain. Safe and sound! And still smiling!

We finished right next to this beautiful river. I had to take a picture or two.

These huge plants are bamboo. We never knew that they grew this tall. Another excursion that interested me was rafting down a calm river on rafts made of bamboo. I can see where they get the long pieces of bamboo now.

After all that fun of climbing, hiking, and pretty much, free falling, we cleaned up and went to dinner at a yummy Italian food restaurant at the resort. This is us on our balcony before dinner.

I forgot to say that Robert also videoed his ride down the last cable on our excursion. If I can figure it out, I'll try to post that soon so you can see what we saw as we were flying through the air.

Jamaica - Days One and Two

Many of you know that I turned 30 back in May. For my birthday, Robert surprised me with a trip to Jamaica. We weren't able to go then because of various reasons but we planned the trip for the first part of August. We left last Thursday and got back Tuesday and we loved every minute of it. Well, okay, not every minute. Like the 120 minutes of our first plane delay at DFW. Or the Atlanta layover that was 305 minutes. But other than that - every minute was enjoyable!

More about the delays - Our flight from DFW was supposed to leave at 7:15 Thursday morning. We woke up at 3:45 and were walking out the door and Robert got an automated call from Delta that told us our flight was delayed two hours. If only they would have known that a storm was going to come in and make everything late the night before that would have been awesome! But I guess the people at the airport aren't God and they didn't know that would happen. Oh, well, we were up so we went ahead to the airport and checked in. Not too bad - we got breakfast and Ashley and I people watched (one of my favorite things to do). Robert found other ways to fill his time...

Sleeping...

or on the computer!

We finally made it onto the plane around 9:00 and we were so excited! We were on the way - but only to Atlanta :(

But still excited to be going somewhere. These are our friends, Austin and Ashley Burnett who went on the trip with us. Good company!

Then we got to Atlanta to catch our connecting flight - but wait, we were two hours late which meant that our connecting flight left without us on it. So this is where the 305 minutes of not much fun comes in. We got there, ate at On the Border (which Robert cannot complain about), then did more people watching, and sleeping. Ashley and I walked around a bit and found a yummy ice cream place there. Oh, I forgot to say that our gate was changed and we kinda got lost trying to find the new gate. Oh, well, memories!

I thought this picture opportunity was perfect - the sign behind Robert says "Almost There" and yes, we were almost there but not quite!

Back on a plane - yipee! On the way to Jamaica, finally!

We all look happy don't we? A few hours before these pictures were taken, not so much!

We made it. This was just about the first sign we saw after getting off the plane and of course I had to take a picture of it for my dad and brother-in-law, Arthemon.

Day two started with me looking out from our balcony. If you try really hard you can see the ocean between the trees and the building.

Austin and Robert wasted no time in getting into the ocean - sea kayaking. What fun!

Just a pretty picture that I took from where we were relaxing on the beach.

Another pretty shot. Yes, with my feet in it.

After kayaking, the guys went out on this boat (don't know what it was called).

All the restaurants were closed in the resort for a "street party" on Friday night. It was great - lots of food spread out everywhere. Enjoyable times talking with new people at our table. Then crazy people dancing everywhere. It was hot and loud but lots of fun.

Robert relaxing before dinner Friday night.

Some Reagan Pictures

I was just cleaning off my camera and found these cute pictures of Reagan. Sorry there weren't any of Lindsey on there this time.

This was one Sunday morning after church. She fell asleep in the car but then woke up when we got home. We were hoping she would get a better nap. No such luck!

We have just recently started eating more "people" food. This was one of the first attempts at a NutraGrain bar. She really liked it. The mess proves it!

And this was today. Holding and eating a NutraGrain bar all by herself. She is growing up fast!

100 Bible Stories, 100 Bible Songs

A few months back, my husband began reading. He has always known how to read and did read but just recently began to read for fun. He then came across the chance to review books for Thomas Nelson Publishers. I then followed his lead and signed up to become a blog book reviewer. It is great. You sign up, they send you a book, you read it, blog about it, and you get to keep the book. I love to read so it was perfect. And as I looked into becoming a reviewer, I noticed that I could review children's books for them. Perfect, seeing as I am a mom and a teacher. So, here is my first review...

100 Bible Stories, 100 Bible Songs created by Stephen Elkins and illustrated by Tim O'Conner

From "Creation" and "In The Beginning" to "Heaven" and "You Can't Get To Heaven On Roller Skates" this book is full of wonderful stories and catchy songs. My daughter and I have loved to read through the stories and listen to the songs.

Actually the CD's are a constant in our vans' CD player. You know sometimes, you come across some CD's that your children absolutely love and you just can't stand. The two CD's that come with this book are far from that. I love them which is perfect because my daughter loves them too.

The stories in the book are also great. Each spread in the book has the title, song title, a short story and where it is taken from in the Bible. It also has a very nice picture along with a few short sentences that sums up what the Bible story was about. A very short and great way to teach children some of the wonderful stories from the Bible.

I completely recommend this book to everyone. I actually was able just recently to give 100 Bible Stories, 100 Bible Songs to my 2 year old nephew. I hope that he (and his parents) love it as much as my children and I.