Jamaica Man!

After 1 year, 1 month, and 12 days I had to leave my baby girl. Not only were we going to be gone for a full week, we were going out of the country for a full week. We were jumping a plane to Negril, Jamaica.  Thankfully my Mom could take care of Jade for the week to ease the separation on my part! We had a little scare in getting my Mom here. In the height of the flu season, my Mom happened to catch it just days before she was supposed to board the plane to Fargo. My parents had actually called to warn me that I might need to find someone else to care for Jade. Yea right! I wasn't about to go out of country and leave my baby for the first time with just anyone! Long story short, Erik came to help out for the first couple days she was with Jade and by the time he left, she felt pretty good. Leaving Jade was hard on me, but I knew she was in good hands...look how well I turned out. This was also the first time a vacation really felt like a vacation!

On to Jamaica! I absolutely loved Jamaica and recommend it to anyone looking for a tropical get-away. The people are very polite and fun, the water was great, the food was good, and the Miami Vice's went down smooth. We were going to be a part of Lee and Jenna's wedding. We met up with the party of 16 in Minneapolis, flew to Atlanta, and then finally Montego Bay. From there we had about a 2 hour drive to Negril.

Looking out from our hotel lobby.

The swim-up bar...where we spent most of our time.

In Jamaica, we spent a lot of time in the sun of course! There were many activities to do in the area, but you also had to drive to a lot of them. The off the resort fun Nate and I did was go down the road to Margaritaville, took a catamaran with the entire party, and Nate went fishing while I went shopping. The catamaran ride is a must!! We sailed off into the ocean with a 3 man Jamaican crew drinking rum punch and red stripe. We got to see the coast line of Bloody Bay and 7 Mile Beach. We were able to get off the boat and swim and snorkel at one point. We didn't see a whole lot off fish, but it was still fun. Then we headed onward to Rick's Cafe! This is a tourist attraction and a must see in my book. You could cliff jump here while many people watched you take the plunge...super fun!

On the catamaran.

Boating up to Rick's Cafe

Me jumping!

Nate jumping!

Our Captain

Then of course there was the wedding day! Lee and Jenna chose a sunset ceremony right on the water. Very beautiful! The ceremony was followed by drinks and a dinner.

Us at the wedding.

Bride and Groom with their parents.

After the wedding...cocktail hour.

By Sunday, Nate and I were ready to come home. We were not only missing our little princess, but we missed our bed, home cooked food, and our normal routine. I guess we're not good travelers. We are good for about 5 days, but after that gets long. We said goodbye to Jamaica on February 5. We got back late Tuesday night to snow and cold and finally got to wake up to our blue eyed beauty on Wednesday! My Mom flew back Wednesday as well. I think Jade had a great time with Grandma. We had to break her of a few habits from Grandma spoiling her, but it sure was nice to have a free babysitter! We wouldn't have wanted to take Jade after being there. It would have been hard for us to do the things we wanted to do.