Catching up

Goodness, I'm finding it very hard to catch up with everything, online and in real life. I'm about 5 days behind with my blog. Tsk tsk.

We had our wedding reception last Saturday, it was really good fun, and lots of people have called and emailed to say they really enjoyed themselves. We didn't get to eat any of the food, which has pissed me off a little bit. We didn't even get to take the leftovers home, and seeing as everyone came back to ours to carry on drinking, the nibbles would've come in handy. Oh well, it could have been worse, something disastrous could have happened, and as far as weddings go, ours has been quite uneventful.

Us at the reception


On the Sunday we took the kids out for lunch, we fancied a roast and I couldn't be bothered to cook. On Monday we went to Lakeside and I went shopping for stuff for the house, while Pete took the boys to see the Simpson's Movie. It seems to be taking us all ages to recover from the jet lag, I thought the going out there was bad but this week has sucked. We are all staying up really really late as we are still 6 hours behind. Yesterday was the first day I actually felt human. Didn't look it, but still.

On Wednesday we met up with Sam and Harvey and went to Barleylands Farm. We had a laugh as usual, did dippy things like Sam leaving her car keys in the lock for the duration of our stay(we were lucky thecar was still there), and me getting locked out of the house for two hours. It was a key themed day, obviously.















Today I am feeling an evil happiness. Taylor's Dad Mike just came to pick him up(he hasn't seen him since February, but that's a whole other moan), and I got the wedding photos out. He didn't even pretend to be impressed, and actually looked pretty gutted. Bwahahahaha!

You had your chance mister!

Hurricane Dean

So, as most of you probably heard, Hurricane Dean was making a beeline for us in Jamaica. I'd kind of expected it, and had even taken out extra insurance for extreme weather, just in case we needed to be moved at our expense.

We knew there was a hurricane heading our way by the beginning of our second week. The Jamaicans were so relaxed about the whole affair, that it rubbed off on you and you felt calm too. The only time we had a feeling of dread was when the hotel management put a note under our door the day before it hit saying "If you are American please report to reception as your Government want to evacuate you." No other nationalities, just American!

We stocked up on water and snacks, asked to be moved to a safer room as we were originally on the top floor and facing the storm, and waited. The staff were amazing, they worked all the way through delivering sandwiches and water to our rooms, even handing out board games for the kids. We went out for a walk a couple of hours before it really kicked off, and it was a strange feeling. You can feel it coming, and its ever so gradual, then suddenly before you know it the rain starts lashing down.

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Pete and I took the kids out into the corridor when it was quite bad, all linking arms, it was mad! We actually managed to sleep that night, our room was so protected from the winds, and when we got up the next day the sun was shining and the staff were out sweeping and raking. By lunchtime, it was all back to normal. We were so impressed by the way they dealt with it that all the Brits put a collection together and got almost $2000 for the staff on that shift to share.






We were so pleased we'd been given the opportunity to stay, it was certainly an experience we'll never forget, the kids were all in awe of it and will have lots of stories to tell their friends at school. It added something to the holiday, rather than detracting from it.

Random holiday stuff

These are just some of my favourite random pictures that sum up the holiday for me. I have plenty to choose from.






Eating. We did lots of that.

Harry & Charlotte


Taylor in a 3pm rain shower

Leigh in my favourite part of the beach. The water here was so warm and clear.





Tony's favourite haunt, the Jerk Hut






You travel all that way and they still play football!




Pete and Ryan with their football buddy Leighon.





Isobel fell in love with Harry


The last night.

Last Jamaican sunset from the plane at take off;


And there is still more to come yet...Hurricane photos!

Days out

The next day Pete and I wanted to do a trip on our own as part of our 'honeymoon', so we went quad biking up the mountain. It was so much fun, quite hard work, and a little scary at times!






Amongst doing other 'honeymooney' type things, *ahem*, we also had a day lazing around the adult pool and swim-up bar...

...and went out for a romantic meal on our own



Taylor caught an ear infection in the swimming pool that was so severe that it went green, and it took double antibiotics to clear it up, and cost us $200!

On the Friday, my Mum and I went horse riding about an hour away. My horse was called Charlie and my mums was called Birdie.

We rode for about an hour, then got to take the horses swimming in really deep water! It was bizarre, we've both been riding for years but have never done anything like that.

Me getting ready to go in;





My mum about to take the plunge!

Wedding Day

I don't actually remember much about it, it's pretty hazy. We had dinner together without the children in the Jamaican restaurant the night before, then the boys and girls separated for the night, and I stayed in Leigh's room. I went and had my hair done at 11am, it took forever, then we started to get ready. The whole day went to plan really.


















The ceremony was really lovely, a bit too religious for us but what can you do? The Minister was a scream and exactly how we'd imagined him! We'd had a short but heavy rain shower at 3pm everyday leading up to the wedding, and we were all worried about it being rained off, but on the big day it didn't happen. It was really boiling hot, probably the hottest day of the holiday, but as we said our final vows and the Minister said we could kiss, there was a tiny little splattering of rain. The minister said that was good luck, but I prefer to think it was Nanny Farm paying a visit. The boys did a great job, Taylor gave me away and Ryan was the Ring Bearer.
The photos took ages, they took 200 pictures and we'd all had enough by the end of it. We then had a champagne reception on the balcony, and cut the cake, then all went to get ready for dinner.


We had dinner in the Italian, I drank lots of Champagne, then we went to the Reggae night on the beach and I danced in the sand in my wedding dress!