Caiden

Here is the name sign I was making for the adorable handsome Caiden Hubbard.  I loved the way it turned out, and can't wait to see how it looks in his own room! :)  Can you tell he was born a cowboy? :)

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Jamaica!!

**WARNING: Very long post!!!  :)

We made it safely back to the states, and are back at home.  We had such a great time in Jamaica....we thought of so many of you while were there, thinking of how much everyone back home would also LOVE being in such a wonderful place as where we were!!  The stories and pictures don’t even being to describe what we did and saw, as pictures don’t give it justice!  It was absolutely breath taking, and such a relaxing vacation.  I am going to give you a quick run down of some of the things we did while in Jamaica, and then I’ll add a few pictures, too!  I know you are all looking forward to seeing them!!  

Day 1 

We woke up and got on the road by 3:52 a.m. on Monday morning.  We wanted to make sure we got there in plenty of time to catch our 7:00 flight to Miami.  Everything went very smoothly throughout the day, and making it through customs in Montego Bay, Jamaica.  I must admit, I was getting a little (ok, maybe a lot) worried about having exactly what we needed to make it through “to the other side”!  Thankfully, we were fine, and it was so easy!!  When we finally had our luggage and everything, we waited for the bus that was lined up to take us to our Sandals resort in Whitehouse, Jamaica.  This hour and a half trip was.....well, in the words of Trent, “straight from a horror cheap, horror flick!”  Not only do they drive on the left side, but the roads were VERY narrow, unmarked, full of pot holes, curvy---you name it!  Along the side of the streets, families have small wooden shacks where they sell fruits or homemade items.  Here are a few pictures that I took, somehow, on that trip....

Leaving Montego Bay

The rest stop our driver stopped at, about half way through the trip.

Went through a little rain on the way to the resort, but it never rained the rest of the week!

We were so relieved when we saw the Sandals entrance sign...in fact, the others on the bus began clapping!  This place was beautiful!!  We were just amazed at what we saw!  It was definitely more beautiful than the pictures we had seen on the website before we left for this trip.  We checked in, and were shown where the main buildings were on the resort.  Then we were taken to our room.  Here are a few pictures of the room, and then the views that we saw from our balcony.  Our balcony overlooked the pool AND the beach!!

After oohing and aahing for a little while, we got ready for dinner.  We chose to eat at Jasmine’s--an Asian restaurant.  We sat outside so that we could continue to enjoy the scenery that held our attention from the time we arrived!  Each restaurant had a menu, complete with appetizers, entrees, and dessert.  We could pick whatever we wanted!!  I will say that we ate SO MUCH food this week...salads are probably on the menu for this week! :)  The appetizer that Trent chose was the Moo-Shu (roasted duck):

Moo-Shu

Each night they had different activities that everyone was invited to, and our first night was the beach party.  They had music and dancing (Jamaicans love to dance!), a dance off, a guy that did the limbo, and a fire dancer/fire eater.  The limbo guy was pretty awesome, as he was able to limbo under a pole of fire at the lowest level!!  It’s hard to see in the picture because it was so dark, but this is what it looked like:

Placing the fire poles on the limbo sticks

Look very closely, the guy is under the fire!!

Fire eater

Day 2

We got up early to walk along the beach before breakfast. We Kelley couldn’t wait to just get out and see the beach and actually feel the water!!  Trent enjoyed it too, but the waking up part was what he could have done without! :) 

After breakfast we immediately went out to the pool to read, (yes, I actually read an entire book on this trip!!) and lay out.  The weather was perfect---hot, but with a breeze.  We ate lunch at a place called Neptune’s.  It was on the other end of the resort, but right on the beach.  The view was awesome!!  After lunch we went back outside, but this time to the beach.  There were several lounge chairs out, and some had huge umbrella’s.  We took the ones with the umbrella, since we had been in the sun all morning.  It was so comfortable out there---the sounds of the waves, the breeze, the birds!  What an outstanding artist God is!!   We did get out in the ocean for a little while, but had enough of the salt.  Trent went back under the shade and took a nap, while I layed out in the sun!

Drinking the most delicious fruit punch we've ever tasted!!

View from our table at lunch

Eating lunch at Neptune's 

That night, we went to dinner at the Italian restaurant called Giuseppe’s.  Trent ate steak and potatoes, and I had lasagna.  I wasn’t too impressed with the lasagna, as my grandma and sister make it so much better!!  For the events after dinner, we went to the comedy show, and then a talent show with talent from the staff and even some guests who were staying at the resort.  One of the chefs sang “Here I Am To Worship” as his talent!!  So awesome to think that people in such a far away place are singing the same songs that we sing here to praise our wonderful God!  

This was probably our favorite day, because it was the first full day we were there, in this paradise.  It was such a relaxing day!!!

Day 3

There was no morning walk on the beach this morning, just straight to breakfast.  Day 3 was similar to Day 2, as we went back to the pool to read and lay out.  Trent stayed out of the sun most of today, as he got a little color from the day before.  For lunch we ate at Bluefield’s Beach Club, also on the beach.  This was one of our favorites, as it had Jamaican food.  For an appetizer, they had the Jamaican National fruit, Ackee.  Trent loved it!  Then for the meal he ate jerk pork, and I had jerk chicken.  Jerk is a popular Jamaican spice/sauce that is used when making meats in Jamaica.  It was delicious!!  Again, after lunch we went out to the beach and layed under the huge umbrellas to read and nap.  Another gorgeous day in Jamaica!

Jamaican rum fruit punch---hold the rum!

Rum and coke---hold the rum!

View from our table at lunch

Ackee

We chose to eat dinner at a more elegant restaurant this night, called Eleanor’s.  Once we started eating, we immediately decided this was our absolute favorite!!  Trent had red snapper fish, and I had chicken and shrimp jambalaya.  Then had the dessert!!!  AAA-MAAZ-ING!!!!  It was called “Magical Moment for 2”---a chocolate brownie with chocolate mousse and syrup on top, along with a banana strawberry cream on the side.  We went ahead and decided that we were going to eat there again the next night! 

Day 4

Today was our adventurous day.  We went zip-lining!  After breakfast, we loaded up on a bus and went back on the dreaded bus ride an hour toward Montego Bay (where we had come from a few days before).  We finally made it to the site, and yes, this ride was just as awful as the first!  We soon got fitted and “trained” on how to zip-line, then we were off.  It really was a lot of fun!!  We were in a real Jamaican rainforest, walking through trails to each line that we were going to zip down.  There were 7 lines, with one being over a quarter of a mile long!  This canopy (what the zip-lining site was called) is the oldest and has the longest line in the Caribbean!  I had really wanted to video our zip-lining experience, but we weren’t allowed to take it out with us.  We were able to get just a couple of pictures in between, though!  I think the coolest thing that I remember on this zip-lining trip was when one of our guides was helping me get unhooked from the line, he was also singing a praise and worship song!  

We made it back to the resort around 3:30, and chose to eat at the Jamaican restaurant, Bluefield’s Beach Club again.  Trent ate the ackee again, while I ate tried to eat the jerk pork---it was VERY spicy, so spicy it was hard to eat!  Then we went to the pool for a couple of hours....our last chance of getting swim time, as we were already sad to have to pack up and leave the next day!  Again, we ate at Eleanor’s.  We even had the same waiter, and he was very nice!  He even carried out our dessert on his head, all the way to our table!  :)  

Trent actually ended up having a slight fever this evening, so it was early to bed for us!  We had to get up early, pack, and check out in the morning anyway!

Day 5

This was our last day to see the Jamaican sand and ocean!  We decided to take a walk on the beach before breakfast, as it would be our last chance to “touch” the most beautiful beach we had ever seen!  We then ate breakfast, packed, and checked out.  We had such an amazing time together, enjoying a week of paradise!  It was hard to leave, but now that we’re back, it’s good to be home!!  We hope that we can go back again one day!!  

Sad to be leaving!