Of course, it took Karagh two extra days to get there because Laramie was having a blizzard. Typical. She caught up on her
We stayed at the ClubHotel RIU Ocho Rios all-inclusive resort and I would highly recommend it. The Entertainment Staff coordinates activities for guests throughout the day, like beach/water aerobics, beach/pool volleyball, horseshoe tournaments on the beach, reggae dance classes on the beach and afternoon competitions like water polo or other shenanigans in the pool. I did water aerobics almost every day and even took part in the reggae dance class - thank God there are no photos of THAT though... yikes.
the "mini bar" in our room. Those are full sized fifths of liquor.
Views from the balcony of our room!
Pretty beach!
One day it was cloudy... which gave my burning skin a chance to regain its strength ;)
This was the view behind the resort, seen from the hallway leading to our room!
Funny little birdies were all over the resort
Wood carvings on the grounds... Grammie loved the parrot... once a Parrothead always a Parrothead.
The ocean was so warm, a far cry from the chilly Atlantic we were all used to! I took lots of naps on the lounge chairs (in the shade of course) and we pretty much split our time between the beach and the pool. Aside from the often-visited swim-up bar, the pool had tiled loungers that were half-immersed in the water. You could relax in the pool and still get a tan burn!
Of course, with any all-inclusive package there is a ridiculously large array of food to choose from. Mike and I recently put the hammer down on our unhealthy eating habits, so walking into a room filled with all the food I wanted was really daunting. I had lost 5 pounds in the ten days before our trip and I was determined to stay on the straight and narrow. Luckily, there was a never-ending supply of honeydew melon and low-carb sugar cookies to keep me satisfied and the food was really delicious. I only gained 1 pound the whole trip (thanks, water aerobics!) and I have lost that and few more since returning home.
Funny side-story about dessert, Karagh and I searched high and low for vanilla ice cream, only to find that every white scoop we tried turned out to be soursop ice cream. A soursop is both a funny looking fruit that grows on trees all over the island and a sorry excuse for an ice cream flavor. It was okay, but when you eat a spoonful of white ice cream, expecting vanilla, and it turns out to taste like a mix of strawberries and pineapple, it throws you for a weird loop.
Soursop photo from Google Images
One day we watched some of the staff knocking coconuts out of one of the palm trees by the pool. Jeannette, Grammie's friend from Key West, and I chased them down and asked for some; Jeanette swears by the hydrating power of coconut water. I like my water like I like my winters, cold with lots of ice, so the warmish coconut water wasn't exactly my cup of tea (water?). Mom was worse than me, she took one swig of coco-water, made a hilarious face, and spat it onto the sand. Classy to the end. We did, however, have fun taking pictures of ourselves and the fresh coconuts.
Grammie and Jeannette
Jeanette and her friend Carol
Each night we would go to dinner and then watch a show, put on by the same entertainment team that did the activities throughout the day. Mom developed a bit of a crush on one a short and rather buff Jamaican named Pim. Pim knew us well by the end of the week, since we were always eager to get up and make fools out of ourselves in aerobics and especially reggae dancing. We spent the whole week teasing Mom about her "chocolate Jamaican boyfriend" after he led her to reggae dancing by telling her to "hold tight" to his "chocolate arm."
It was all in good fun and watching the amateur-hour dance/lip-syncing shows every night was pure comedic gold. I laughed for the first 30 minutes of the first show thinking it was a joke, but it turns out I was wrong. Mom even wound up onstage during a pre-performance icebreaker game (with Pim, of course), which proved to be absolutely hilarious. I have a video, but I'll spare her the embarrassment. ;)
Pim (in his costume for the evening show) and Mom
One task we had to complete while on the island was a generation photo shoot. Months before the trip, Grammie told us girls and Mom that she wanted a picture of all three generations and asked that we bring some variation of a white and navy blue outfit. We each went in a different direction, but I think it turned out nice. If I could go back in time, I would have worn a white dress, but it's all good. I brought my tripod, set up the shots, and tried to avoid creepy Jamaican onlookers.
(my favorite!)
As an OCD hobbytographer, it's really frustrating when you have to include yourself in a photo - I'm so much better behind the camera! Not only did I have to set up each shot by imagining where I was supposed to be, but I also had to relinquish control of the focusing and shutter-pushing to someone else. Tracey did a great job and was really patient with me, but you all know how much of a control freak I am.
I did individual shots of each person, one of each daughter with their mother, sisters with sisters and the whole group. They came out better than I expected, although I had quite a few boats to edit out in post-processing, haha. In one shot, Karagh and I had a jet-ski right between our heads that I managed to clone out (thanks, Lightroom!) and I used the Soft-and-Pretty preset from YSA Colorsentials collection to add a bit of soft color pop to the photos.
On our final night in Jamaica we had dinner at the steakhouse restaurant on the resort and celebrated Mom's birthday. The resort gave her a little cake and we sang to her. We took a group photo and watched one last show (that one had torches and Jamaicans jumping through fire hoops -- it was crazy). The next day we were on our separate tour buses back to the airport and flying back to the mainland. It was a sad day.
Back row, left to right: Jeanette, Carol, Susannah, Joy, Megan, Deb, Tracey, Grammie, Frani
Front row, left to right: me, Mom, Karagh
It's no fun leaving the island and coming back to work and chores and having to (ugh) cook dinner. I'm still saying things like "ya mon" and "no problem, mon" but it doesn't feel the same without a pina colada in my hand. Sigh.
Here's looking forward to my mother's 60th birthday! I wonder where we'll go next...
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