Wednesday, November 17, 2021

Emily's First Band Concert... Finally!

Emily started band last year while she was in "virtual school", and it was quite an experience! This year, now that she's finally in the building, concerts have started up again and she did awesome! She is a percussionist in the 7th grade band, and plays her guitar in the jazz band, so we had two nights worth of awesome middle school music performances to attend! Great job Emily!


 












Monday, November 8, 2021

A long awaited vacation... to Jamaica!

Covid delayed our friends trip to the mountains last year, so we rescheduled to try something more tropical, and settled on an all-inclusive resort in Jamaica for 5 days! We had a nice small group of friends (only 3 couples), and we had a wonderful time together getting away from home and soaking in some sun!


Our amazing direct flights were changed to crazy early flight with long layovers, but we made the best of it!


We left on Brian's 45th birthday, so we started his celebration at the airport with mimosas for breakfast!





After we arrived, we headed straight to lunch for our first helping of jerk chicken (there was A LOT of that to be eaten), followed by our first of many trips to the pool!


The waiter sang Brian an awesome birthday song (and it wasn't his last for the day either)!




Brian's birthday dinner was at an Asian restaurant, and apparently I didn't get the memo that we were wearing tall shoes... (which probably wouldn't have helped me much anyway)...


Maddie partied a little too hard on her first day, and after a long day of travel, she didn't make it to dinner... but we still pretended she was there!


Brian's birthday dessert came out on a very talented waitresses head, followed by another birthday song!





When we got back to the room, we found a sweet gift from the hotel for him...



The next morning, after breakfast, we headed straight to the other hotel nearby to play on the waterslides for a bit! It felt a little weird enjoying it without the kids, but it was a blast, and we went back a couple more times...




 



Back to the "party pool" for the rest of the morning...




Back at our resort that afternoon, Curry & Nick competed in the "ultimate man challenge" with some other guys as well, and Curry won out everyone else! It seems insulated cups are their standard gift here!



After lunch, we walked a few steps from the pool to enjoy the beach for the afternoon...



 




Kari and I bought some souvenirs for the kids from one of the many "boat peddlers" that hang out in the water looking to sell their jewelry and hand carved items.


Dinner on night two was at an Italian restaurant, so we all got dressed up for a fun night out!



 



After dinner, we went to the lounge to enjoy some cocktails, a swing on the hammock and some entertainment...



We heard the entertainment was trivia night, which would have been our favorite, but we obviously didn't make it that long...


Day 3 was straight back to the party pool in the morning after breakfast...





We actually made the after dinner entertainment this night, and we're so glad we did! We won a bottle of wine & coffee in the raffle, and got to see Maddie & Nick compete in the "couples game"! It was definitely memorable, but I'll spare yall some of the pictures :)


 

Brian and I even made it up until 10:30pm that night! It was definitely our record, and worth every late minute!



We decided to start day 4 with some physical activity, so we did some kayaking and paddle boarding on the property...






A few of us even joined in some beach volleyball games...


... and then it was back to the party pool :)



Our last dinner was back at the Asian restaurant and Maddie made it this time!



We all had so much fun together!



We had to leave in the morning the last day to catch the shuttle to the airport, but not before one last stroll on the beach!



We had a layover in Ft. Lauderdale that was over 6 hours, so we decided to leave the airport for a while and explore Hollywood Beach where we walked on the beach, bought some souvenirs, and had dinner outside. It was a wonderful ending to our trip, and a great way to spend our long layover together!








What a wonderful trip filled with amazing memories! We are so blessed to have wonderful friends to share this crazy life with!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Years from some of the neighborhood ladies who rang in the new year together!  I was solo at the party this year because Brian cam...