Whew! I forgot how hectic it was to work and have kids. Sorry about no post last night. I'm sure nobody missed me.

Let's see....where was I.....

Monday, July 2
We woke up at 3:30 am to make it to the airport by 4:30 am. We did. And we sat until our flight took off at 6;40 am. We flew to Memphis and then to Montego Bay, Jamaica. We had to go through customs and immigration in Jamaica, which scared me, but which also turned out to be no big deal.

I took this picture in Montego Bay at the beginning of the bus ride. The city surrounding the airport was touristy and um, shall we say, risque. This apparently was a souvenir shop.

Once in Jamaica, we had to board a bus that would take us to the resort. It was 1 1/2 hours of driving through RURAL Jamaica. VERY interesting. I was afraid that by staying at a resort, we wouldn't get to see much of the real country. Well, this bus trip took care of that. It totally looked like we were in Africa. Or some other "developing" country. I figure part of it was just the rural nature of the place. These are some school girls walking home from school on Monday afternoon. All the school kids wear uniforms and each school has their own colors. Throughout the whole drive, we mostly saw Jamaicans sitting. Just sitting. And everybody was outside standing on the side of the road! I am so surprised we didn't hit anybody.

Even though I was starving and exhausted (see previous post about the midnight hospital visit), I'm glad we had to drive a ways. It really opened my eyes to another part of the world.

That night, there was a welcoming banquet and we got introduced to the managers. There was also some local craft vendors who brought their wares onto the property and sold them to us. You had to bargain, so luckily my garage sale skills kicked in. I got 3 handmade Jamaican dolls for $15. The lady originally said they were $10 a piece. They probably cost her 50 cents each to make, but hey, they come there to make money. And we have better souvenirs than t-shirts or mugs.

This is a picture of the booth where I bought the dolls. The lady had some clothes, but none that I thought I'd wear past our vacation. I inquired about one cute outfit and was told bluntly "it not fit you". She was right.
This is the ice sculpture at the banquet. Yes, it was melting very quickly. But it was so nice! It made us feel all rich and stuff. Now I see why you pay beforehand... That way you're not thinking about how much all of this is actually costing you even if it is "all-inclusive".

After that, we just ate and then crashed! I had gotten 4 hours of sleep Saturday night and then barely 5 on Sunday night. I was TIRED!

Tomorrow, Jim and I RELAX and hit the pool!