sunny memories...

back from jamaica. had the BEST time. looking forward to going back. well, we might try a different sandals location next year, but it's official. i love jamaica. the people are friendly, the weather {when not raining} is perfect, the ocean is sooooo blue, the food is tasty {hello jerk chicken}, and the rum ain't bad either! ;o)
this is honestly the first vacation that i don't feel like i need another week off to recoup. was so nice to lounge, relax, and do nothing. not that i don't like traveling with others, but it always feels like you have to be doing something. and it wasn't like that this time. rarely set the alarms, no having to go and see everything. just happy to be.
so the deets. i know that's what you want. not me rambling about how damn lazy we were!
had an early, early, early travel day wednesday. stayed up late packing tuesday night. i think we finished at like midnight. then we took a two hour nap. had planned on packing over the weekend. but had some stuff come up. nick's mom impromptu birthday get together, our friend's mom passing away and spending time with him. just lots of little stuff...
so limo comes at three am wednesday morning. gets us to ohare by 3:45. decent time. amazing how quick you can get someplace when there is no traffic! the lines at ohare were so quick. air jamaica, security. might have to start traveling this darn early all of the time! flight was well. slept through most of it. served us champagne. yay! ended up on the island at like noon. had to take a shuttle to the resort. like a three hour bus ride. and they drive on the wrong side of the road! egads, so glad i didn't have to drive myself! stopped at a rest area. took this picture, which i love and paid $6 for a bag of cheetos. silly us. but we were a bit hungry!
got to the resort before check in, were able to just hang by the pool for a bit. didn't stay long since the suntan lotion was packed... didn't want to fry on the first day! finally, were able to go to our room and we passed out. can you say 5 hour nap?!
thursday was rainy. bummer. thought there could have been a hurricane forming. were keeping an eye on the weather channel.
spent the day in the room and then had the rub a dub dub treatment: exfoliating salt scrub, bubble bath for two, then a 60 minute massage. excellent. the salt scrub was a bit painful, but the rest was heavenly. went back to the room so relaxed. i swear, i drooled during the massage.
had dinner at their japanese style restaurant. was okay. had some londoners at the table. was awesome. loved their accents.
friday was better. had originally planned to go to dunn's river that afternoon, but the rains came yet again, so we cancelled. was okay. nick ended up making new friends with some of the people who worked there and played sand volleyball all afternoon. he was in heaven.

saturday was the freaking wedding factory! swear, i saw 6 brides before noon. was insane. nick recertified in scuba. then went off for a quick dive. said it wasn't as nice as hawaii but had a good time nonetheless.
awesome pic from that... {sandals sends photographers on excursions and they walk around the resort taking your pictures, which is way nice. however, at $10/pic is a bit ridiculous. we couldn't resist and bought a bunch tho....}
sunday = nothingness. okay a bit of snorkeling. was given a really cool sand dollar by the dive master, nick broke it. bummer. and i just love the salt water there. so not as salty as like florida, california, or hawaii. strange but true... i think.
monday was a shopping excursion. went to a few mall type areas then one of the local people. was insane. the poverty level is heartbreaking. spent money at a bunch of little shacks. how could i not?
tuesday was dunn's river. awesome, awesome, awesome! if you ever go to jamaica this is a must. was seriously so cool. hiked up the waterfall. holy heck was the water cold! we took a party boat there, so we were able to do some snorkeling before hand. then they opened up the liquor and it was rum and red stripe everywhere! had a little dance party on the way back to the resort. seriously. the best time!
nick met up with his volleyball friends again in the afternoon.


wednesday. so sad. our last full day. did nothing. lounged and read. okay. i lied again. nick did some hobbie cat stuff. convinced me to get on with him too. then we did this giant trikebike thingie! rained a bit on and off. had a photo shoot with the sandals peeps. was nice.


thursday was homecoming. sad. got up early to take some shots down by the water. so glad we did. turned out great.

lounged on the couches, until our shuttle came for us.
ran into some nasty weather in montego bay. thought our flight might get delayed or cancelled. had some turbulence on the way home. darn clouds. landed at ohare around 10. again, tho... customs and all those kinda lines were excellent. the baggage conveyor belt thingie broke like three times. so we waited a bit for luggage. the limo picked us up and had us home around midnight. long day.
{have tons of pics. might share periodically, just didn't want to overwhelm in one ginormo post!}
friday we picked up guinnea pig. he gained 9 pounds while he stayed with nick's dad and his girflriend. will take pics and share those soon. 42 pounds is his official weight. and boy does he look like a pit. ah well, he's a good pup.
then it's back to the daily grind. nick and his family have been working on the deck. i've been trying to get some scrappy projects done. so not looking forward to work on monday. but excited about halloween. hoping to find time to carve some pumpkins!