We have been enjoying our Christmas atmosphere here at the casa. I love to enjoy the lights on the tree with the rest of the house in darkness. We've been listening to lots of Christmas music, too.
We celebrated Hazel's birthday all weekend long. She had Delaney and May over for steak dinner Saturday night, had a joint dinner celebration with Noah's family and ours on Sunday, and we fit in all the fun we could on the actual day - Monday. We all made the effort to have muffins for breakfast together before Hazel and Jack left for seminary and Todd took off for work. We met up again at In N Out for dinner between Jack's piano lesson and Hazel's volleyball club practice. And we stayed up a little late to watch an episode of Gilmore Girls after cake and presents. Todd and I gave Hazel a wetsuit this year, since she goes to the beach surprisingly often.
Hazel reminded me that I used to do birthday interviews. I pulled out the old questions and got her answers. She added her own question at the very end.
Favorite color - green, and burnt orange
Favorite toy - my volleyball
Favorite movie - While You Were Sleeping
Favorite animal - lemurs and humpback whales
Favorite book - Pride and Prejudice
Favorite song - Meet Virginia by Train
Favorite food - steak
Favorite season - fall
What do you like to do outside? Swim, hike, do adventures
What do you like to do inside? Crafts, read
What do you like to sleep with? My sloth
What do you want to be when you grow up? A president (laughs) I don’t know. Perhaps a social worker.
Where is your favorite place to go? Alaska
What do you do really well? Fart. I don’t know. Write, I guess. Beat Mom at Nerts all the time.
Three words that describe you: funny, adventurous, and talkative
One food you really dislike: beans, and sardines
If you had one wish, it would be: maybe just happiness, forever and ever, for all my family and friends, forever. Actually, world peace.
What makes you laugh? My mommy, Jack, when he’s being zesty.
What are you afraid of? Failing school
What do you like to do with your family? Spank them, torture them, oh wait, I’m just kidding. Don’t write that down. I like spending quality time with them.
What do you love to learn about? Interesting things - sports, people, history can be interesting, but some of it’s really boring. Not math. Or bird calls.
How beautiful do you think you are on a scale of 1-10? I would say an eleven.
We've been enjoying Gemma's basketball season. She's point guard, super speedy and brave, and every once in a while makes a layup. She even got to take some free shots after getting fouled!
I've been enjoying the fall foliage. I loved this lineup that included red, orange, AND yellow leaves.
I took Katie out to lunch for her birthday. Of course we ordered scrumptious salads from The Press and had great conversation.
We had a good time at the ward Christmas fiesta. I loved seeing all the youth together at tables. It has been such a good thing for our kids to have so many others their age in the ward.
I've been enjoying sunsets on my walks during Jack's piano lessons. The timing is just right.
Everyone made it to Gemma's last basketball game. She played hard and had such a good time. Only one win in the season, but we could all see improvement in the players, and that was fun. Most of all, we loved supporting Gemma in something she was enjoying so much.
We sent out Christmas cards this year. It was a lot of work gathering the addresses, but it was fun stuffing envelopes with everyone. I'll try to be better about sending them out again in the future.
Gemma was invited to Lia's house for a gingerbread house decorating party after school. Jack also had a Christmas gathering, but I don't have pictures to include.
My game group also had a Christmas party. We had yummy treats, great conversation, and a gift exchange. I got lucky and went home with an electronic massager from Elaine.
We made family gingerbread houses while watching White Christmas. It was our giant holiday kickoff once school was out.
We all dressed festively for Christmas Sunday, and everyone was a good sport and let me take a picture!
We made a library trip to load up for the break and for our upcoming trip. Hazel took it seriously.
The kids had their Christmas Eve sibling sleepover. This is a favorite tradition that Todd and I both grew up with and are so happy to pass on. We definitely have teenagers now: they didn't wake up until 9:45.
We kept the presents light because our big gift to the kids was a trip. Everyone got a blanket and a few small things from Todd and me, presents from the grandparents, and presents from each other.
We went for a walk/run in the afternoon when there was a break from the rain, and were blessed with this spectacular rainbow. And we had dinner at the Lloyds with a few other families from church.
Todd got a new basketball and a new tetherball, so we spent some quality time playing outside on his birthday.
My gift to him was a family experience at iFly, indoor skydiving. I was the only anxious one; everyone else was pumped. It was plenty of fun. Gemma lost her goggles in the first few seconds. I don't know how she handled all that wind without them. Jack had perfect form, of course.
We spent the next day traveling to Jamaica! Our flights took most of the day, and then we had an hour and a half drive in our rental car to get to the bougie Moon Palace resort. (Tom had an unused time share week he let us have.)
We passed this legendary KFC along the way and remembered how last time we went to Jamaica, we spent over an hour trying to get dinner there, and they were out of everything we tried to order, until we just asked for "chicken" and took what we got. Little did we know, Jamaicans are mighty proud of their KFCs. Two different locals asked us if we had eaten there yet, as if it was a big deal. There was always an enormous line of people waiting inside, and we were told 45 minutes was a quick wait, that sometimes people wait two hours for their meals there. That would never fly in the US.
We ran into a problem right away at the Moon Palace. Apparently, Tom confirmed our reservation one day later than our actual travel plans, so we didn't have a room when we arrived, and after waiting for 30 minutes, we were told they had no vacancies. By then, it was 11:00 at night. We started motel shopping. The first stop said they had no rooms. The second one smelled so overpoweringly of weed we were afraid we'd get high waiting to be told they had no rooms, so we just moved on. Todd begged at the third stop and was finally told we could have a room, but only if we were out by 8 am because the room was meant for someone else. Gratefully, we went upstairs, to be met with two full beds and a tile floor. We pushed the beds together and all cuddled up. Todd heroically slept on the crack in the middle. We could hear the loud raggae music playing outside for several more hours. It's a miracle any of us slept.
We had a lovely ocean view balcony, but no time to enjoy it in the morning. 8 am Jamaican is 5 am Californian, so we slept as long as we possibly could before dressing for church and slipping out.
The place had a restaurant which we utilized for breakfast. Everyone was sorely disappointed by the dry toast, tang, and fatty bacon we got, but it was better than nothing. We had soggy KFC for lunch and gave away an hour for it.
While we waited to check into the Moon Palace, we drove up and down the highway, checking out the area. We found some real delights! First up, Diddy's Barber Shop. The kids laughed and laughed.
Next, this lamp post advertisement for KFC and Burger King. We parked next to this sign and changed out of our church clothes. A guy hovered nearby, and I got the impression he was looking forward to pawing through our suitcases as soon as we walked away from the car. I convinced Todd to drive us to another spot before leaving the car, and as soon as we turned on the engine, the suspicious guy walked away. I was totally right.
Ocho Rios is full of colorful, dilapidated buildings, and insane drivers.
Lucky for us, this delightful invitation to DiZneyland was on an intersection we used every time we left the resort. We got to laugh at it a lot.
We were all thrilled to enter our luxurious suite and unpack. We had a living room, a dining area (perfect for playing games!), two bedrooms, and two and a half bathrooms. Yeah, you heard me right. It's ridiculous. And I think the place had five separate balconies? And a soaker tub. We slept in every morning and were very, very comfortable. Some of us padded around in the provided bathrobes.
I brought a read-aloud and read to the kids every night before they fell asleep, plus at various other times when we had time to kill and were all together. We haven't done that in a long time, and I loved it.
I made the kids pose for a picture in front of the enormous lobby Christmas tree so I can compare it with the one we took seven years ago. The kids are so much bigger now.
We went back to our secret beach. While it was still beautiful, it is no longer secret. Someone built a restaurant on it and charges an entrance fee. We didn't have it all to ourselves like we did last time, which did take away a lot of its magic. And Todd and I got stung by jellyfish swimming out to the rocks to snorkel. All three kids got stung by jellyfish later in the week, so none of us escaped unscathed.
Here's a shot of our living/dining areas. The curtains are covering floor to ceiling windows/sliding doors that lead to ocean view decks.
We ate at the Hibachi grill at the Momo and had some of the best food of the entire trip.
We spent lots of time at the teen game room. In addition to arcade games, including the world's largest Pac Man and basketball, they had ping pong, foosball, and pool. Sadly, their two air hockey tables were both out of order.
We all went scuba diving! It was the first time for all of the kids, and it's been a long time since either Todd or I have been. The kids watched a dinky training video on a teensy ipad while we all got fitted up with gear, and I panicked a little bit, thinking that might be all the education they would be given.
Thankfully, I was wrong. Our guide did a fantastic job training the kids - albeit for only about half an hour - in some shallow, calm water. I was so proud of all my kids. It probably helps that they've all snorkeled, but no one panicked or had a hard time trusting that they would be able to breathe underwater.
We rode out to deeper water in the boat (driven by Sea Lion, an old man with fang teeth and rheumy eyes who had to be constantly redirected - "We go to the same spot every day, man! Turn right!") We all entered the water by sitting on the edge of the boat in the heavy gear, and falling backward. Again, I was super impressed with my kids. They were rock stars!
This was a major highlight of the trip for everyone, so I'm thrilled we were able to go. It felt awesome to be flying underwater again. We saw lots of interesting coral and fish, and even a sea snake.
The driving in Jamaica is spicy: they drive on the left side of the road, and consider both lanes and red lights as more of guidelines than actual rules. There's a lot of horn honking, and a lot of potholes. Hazel tried her hand at it and did a decent job. I did not try.
We stopped for gas and snacks at the Pump & Munch.
We drove all the way to Falmouth so we could swim in the Luminous Lagoon at Glistening Waters again. Magical memories of doing this last trip have stayed with me all these years, and it did not disappoint. The bioluminescent waters glow bright blue as you move around. I twisted and spun like an otter. Jack begged everyone to let him spread the mineral mud on their backs and arms in natural spa treatments that would turn back the clock a decade on our skin, or so we were told. It was a long drive, but it was worth it.
We thought we visited Dunn's River Falls before, but after being there, we have decided that what we did before (which included climbing up rocks in a waterfall and cliff jumping) must have been at a place called The Blue Hole. We did drive to the Blue Hole, but we were aggressively accosted by multiple locals begging to be our tour guides, and they were so earnest and intense, it completely turned us off. None of us wanted to go in. Maybe we would have pushed past those feelings if we had known it was what we were hoping to go to later in the week. Who knows? Dunn's River Falls was beautiful, and involved climbing up and down rocks along a waterfall, but there was no cliff to jump off of. We climbed to the top, and we climbed all the way to the beach at the bottom. We swam around in the ocean and enjoyed ourselves, and it was a beautiful spot; it just wasn't quite what we thought we were going to. `
We made reservations at the resort restaurants every night but the first. The food was much better than what we could find at the buffet, but the trade-off was that we spent two hours dining every night. Todd tried octopus and was not impressed. We've had it before and liked it, but I think it must have been deep fried then. Definitely makes a difference!
The Italian restaurant was absolutely freezing, and the service was quite slow. Luckily, the tablecloths made good makeshift blankets!
My appetizer was also a bust. The description of thin-sliced beef with a creamy sauce sounded delightful, but the meat was RAW, and I could not hack it.
We adventured out to the Spanish Bridge. The road to get there was mighty spicy, narrow and full of potholes. The bridge itself was beautiful, and Todd and the kids all loved trying the rope swing and also just jumping straight in.
We ate at the Momo again and tried several types of sushi, California rolls, spring rolls, gyoza, sweet and sour pork, and teriyaki chicken. Yum! We brought our read aloud book to pass the time waiting for our food, but it was too dark and too loud to make it enjoyable.
There was a floating bounce house out in the water on our beach. I voted not to go out because I was confident I would get hurt. I think I missed out, though, because the kids all listed this as one of their favorite parts of the trip. They were slipping and sliding all over the place, launching each other off the blob and playing king of the hill. They put on a hilarious show for me. Todd hurt his shoulder out there, however, so I think my caution was wise.
We gave the kids an adult-free afternoon. Todd and I got massages and relaxed in our room. I took a bath. The kids ran around the resort like wild banshees, playing in the ocean and the pools, getting pina coladas, and gaming in the teen room. We spied on them from the deck for a while.
Todd and the kids tried out the Flow Rider. It took dedicated effort to get a turn on that bad boy, because the dude who ran it closed it for hours at a time just because he felt like it. I don't think we had a chance until we'd been there for four or five days. Everyone tried the boogie board and felt like it was too easy, and the little board and felt like it was way harder than they'd expected - not at all like wakeboarding. Everyone's favorite moment was when Jack fell off, stood up, and fell again.
We used room credits to all go to the spa. Hazel, Gemma, and I got manicures. Hazel, Todd, Jack, and I got pedicures. (The boys didn't get their nails painted.)
We were there over New Year's Eve. We went to a party on the beach and watched fireworks. And then everyone else fell asleep, but I couldn't get to sleep through the party music that went on until 4 am. Jamaicans love loud music, and they love to party at night, man.
The kids enjoyed playing Giggles The Goblin's Goose Juice Garden in this little round pool. And we all got in and ran around in a circle to create a lazy river whirlpool.
The resort had water bikes to use, as well as kayaks and other things. That was a weird and fun experience. Hazel and I got tweeted at when we rammed into Gemma and Jack. Apparently, you can't play bumper cars with them.
We got lots of nutella crepes at The Boulangerie during the week. Somewhere along the line, we started calling it crap: "I'm gonna get myself some crap." Anyway, we picked up five nutella "craps" to eat for breakfast on our way to the airport at the end of the week.
The boys wore their New Year's Eve hats. That created a fun, celebratory atmosphere for us as we wrapped things up. It was a long travel day, but everyone was happy to be home again. We had a fun week all together. The kids left their phones at home, and I think everyone enjoyed being unplugged. The warm beach was a hit, scuba diving was incredible, and we laughed a lot and made memories. We all came home grateful for efficiency, homemade food, our quiet home, and each other.
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