Jamaica

Our highly anticipated trip to Jamaica has now come and gone, and as we think back on the trip, we are so grateful to have been able to share it with our good friends: Dave & Jessica Whitlock, Michelle Cabral, and Chris Klenke. We had such an amazing time! We won't bore you with too many of the details, but if you'd like us to relive any of our vacation moments, come see us and we'd love to share. If you've never been to Jamaica, it is well worth it. We went there for our honeymoon (then, to the Couples Resort in Ocho Rios) and were so pleased that we had to come back. This time we stayed at a new resort in Montego Bay called Secrets St. James. The resort was absolutely amazing. It was beautiful, the people were so nice and helpful, and the food was to die for!
While in Jamaica, we did participate in a few excursions. We went to the Appleton Rum Factory, a shopping trip into town, deep-sea fishing, and a place called the Luminous Lagoon. Though we have no photo evidence of this final excursion, it was by far the most memorable. The Luminous Lagoon is a place were the warm fresh waters of the Martha Brae River meet the salt water of the Caribbean. In this habitat a rare microbe (a dinoflagellate) lives. The constant movement and flowing of the river causes the microbes to move and glow with a neon-blue color. As you witness fish swimming in this habitat their movement glows like shooting stars. It is such an amazing, and almost indescribable act of nature. The coolest part: after a tour of the area, and witness to this spectacle, we got to jump into the waters ourselves! It was so fun to watch how the water would glow in our wake as we would splach, kick, and swim. SO cool. (To learn more about this, check out this website: http://www.jamaicans.com/tourist/articles_travel/JamaicaLuminousLagoon.shtml)
We had such a great time on this trip. And Ryan and I got to reconnect, which was much needed and overdue. Our work schedules leave us with little time for ourselves to do even simple things like have conversation, so this week away from our little man (and the monotony of everyday life such as work and chores) was a blessing. Thank you to NaNa and BawBaw for watching Brendan for us for an entire week to make this possible. We are so grateful, and feel like entirely new people ready to handle what lies ahead. Or at least for another 5 years when it will be vacation time again :)


View from the balcony:





Ready for dinner: Mandy, Ryan, Chris, Michelle, David, & Jessica:







On the swing-up bar:





Hotties ready for the beach:





Chris's catch, deep-sea fishing:






On the bus for the shopping excursion:






The gang at the Appleton Rum Factory:






In the aging house, posing with some rum barrels: