April-May 2013

April and May were busy months.

Shawn and I planned a vacation for our "calm before the storm/8years of marriage/just because we love to travel" celebration. We had heard amazing things about Sandals so I called them and they have a great discount for airline employees. Another reason why I love Shawn's job.....

My doctor told me he did not feel comfortable in my condition to travel on a plane longer than 4 hours. Which limited our options to either Caribbean, Mexico, Canada or USA. I have heard stories about people getting sick in Mexico and really wanted to go somewhere I had never been before. We decided Jamaica because we really wanted to go somewhere where we could just relax. Sandals was the perfect place for us. It had great food, they upgraded us to an ocean view with a balcony and all the water sports (snorkeling, skiing, paddle boarding, wind surfing etc) was included in the price. So we really did not have to worry about anything. The people were so friendly and they called you by name. There is this culture about Sandals in Jamaica and they have very loyal customers. It was a lot of fun.

A couple days before we went on our trip Shawn's team was invited to pick up the new 777 airplane in WA. AA charted a flight  for some AA employees to thank them for all the work they did during bankruptcy. They flew to WA, toured Boeing and had dinner. The next day they picked up the new 777 and flew back to Dallas. Shawn had lots of fun with his team and even made it on the local news. He is slightly obsessed with the new 777 especially the first class part.

 Shawn brought Jack home an airplane. Jack was in heaven

Our flight to Jamaica was direct and we were able to go first class. It was only about a 3 1/2 hour plane ride so we were at our hotel by 1:30pm which was so nice. I dropped the kids off in UT to spend the week with Grandma Sheila and GG. While we mostly relaxed on the beach we did however manage to do 2 little excursions.
Enjoying business class. 

I had heard about Rose Hall Plantation and read a book about it so I wanted to visit it. Supposedly the locals called the owner the "white witch" of Jamaica. As she supposedly tortured many of her slaves and practiced witch craft on them. I guess the plantation is hunted by her ghost as well as those that have died there.We were the only people on our little tour. At the end of the tour the tour guide had to sing a Johnny Cash song that was written about the plantation. She was not a singer and it was slightly uncomfortable. We got a good laugh.  It was interesting to hear a little of the history and to imagine what this plantation was like when it had over 1, 000 slaves. It was a little creepy....

There was a little sitting area in front of our bedroom. Shawn and I would sit outside almost every night and just enjoy the beauty. One night we skyped with Jack and Adelaide. Jack asked us if we could put him into the computer so he could be at the beach. It was really cute. Lots of good conversations happened in this little sitting area. Seriously beautiful to watch the sunset.

One night Sandals hosted a big party for JPEX. It seriously was incredible and lots of fun. The entertainment was amazing.

Everyone taking pictures of the sunset.

The food was really good. There were 8 restaurants and all were good except for the Seafood restaurant which was disappointing. Shawn took lessons from the pizza maker so he could improve his homemade pizza he makes every Saturday afternoon.

 Most of our days were at the beach. I love swimming in the ocean and reading books on the beach. I think I finished 5 books. I would spend hours in the ocean swimming and floating and feeling like the baby weight was off. I met lots of people floating in the ocean as well. Shawn enjoyed sitting in the shade catching up on a year's worth of Wall Street Journals. Every morning Shawn got up super early to work out and then read on our balcony. At 8am he would wake me up and we would go get breakfast and then go to our spot he saved us on the beach. We liked our little routine.

The great thing about Sandals is everything is at your disposal. No driving around to different places. We would just hop on a boat or go sailing etc. Every day Shawn played water and beach volleyball. The referee was hilarious so I enjoyed watching and hearing the comments. We met some fun people.

Shawn took some lessons and wind surfing was his favorite sport.

I thought this was a fun picture to see everything they offered.

Water volleyball. It was so funny. The guy thought Shawn looked like M&M so that is what he called him. His nicknames for everyone was hilarious. I could not stop laughing.

Our spot on the beach. I can't count how many Pina Coladas I drank. They were so yummy!

Shawn's spot in the morning before he would wake me up.

The last 2 days I took a break from the ocean and we lounged at the pool. It is amazing how fast time flies when you are just relaxing.

 One evening this cute group came and sang to our rooms.

The other excursion we did was to go river rafting on a bamboo boat. It was very peaceful and relaxing. A little too much for Shawn. He would have liked it to be a little shorter but it was nice to get out and see Jamaica. We were not able to do a lot of adventure stuff so this was a nice substitute.

How fitting!

The resort:

The last day Shawn hurt his ankle playing volleyball. It was pretty swollen. Some friends gave him pain medication to last until we got home. We thought he might have fractured it but luckily he did not. We made quite the pair getting home. Me being 7 months preggo and Shawn in a wheel chair because he could not walk. Our way home was our first nightmare experience traveling standby. We took 3 flights and spent the night in New Orleans and then I took one more fight to get to UT. It was crazy and exhausting but luckily all our flights were business class which helped a little but still a pain.
 
 When I picked the kids up from UT the grandma's were exhausted. I don't blame them. Adelaide is a lot of work. Jack is easy but this cutie is go, go, go. But she was all smiles when they picked me up from the airport.

Jack spent every day at my mom's neighbors who has 4 boys all around Jack's age. He loved going over there and playing. The mom Jenn told me he would show up sometimes at 8am and walk in ready to play still in his pj's. Jack is one social kid.

We went and visited my grandma. She was so cute with Adelaide.

Auntie Rachel and Jack chatting and Rachel being Miss. A's slave.

Jack loves cooking treats. He is always talking someone into making stuff with him. Hey, the kid can crack his own eggs.

Can't get enough of this cute. Her hair is finally long enough for a little piggy tail!

Random pictures from home. The kids love to sit in this chair and be twirled.

Miss. A always finding random locations to sit.

In May we celebrated Mother's Day. Jack made me a cute card.

Mother's day. Both kids asleep in the car, me sitting and relaxing while Shawn is inside making my favorite dinner. Perfect Mother's day....

We went to the aquarium. Miss Ada Lou Lou loves fish!

Miss itsey in her favorite place i.e. the pantry.

 Adelaide 15 month check up. She is 22.5 lbs (70%), 29.8 inches (27%) and 18.3 inches head circumference (71%). She is walking and saying about 6 words.

 Dinner with the Rasmussen's.

 Kids playing.

 Arboretum fun.

 We made play-doh

 Matching costumes

 Pool fun!