Scenes in Negril

Condiments at the Beach Grill.

There were several cats roaming the resort. This one was usually at the Beach Grill.

Andy enjoys a fruit kabob on the beach.

I could get used to this.

Chair swing on the beach. Looks comfortable, but really isn't.

Jamaican musicians perform on the beach.

Andy and I went to a beading session to make these bracelets. Mine is the brighter one, which L guessed immediately. They made it a little too small for my wrist when they attached the fastener so maybe E or L will wear it.

Toasting a year post-surgery last Thursday.

Trying out the hammock.

Day at the pool.

Looks like I got a little sun.

We're back!

We got back from Jamaica, Couples Swept Away, today. Left hot sunny weather for lots of clouds and rain. Here's how our week started last Saturday:

Andy surprised me by upgrading us to first class - that was a first for me! Free blankets, drinks, hot towel to wipe off our face and a decent breakfast:

When I couldn't decide if I wanted orange juice or coffee with breakfast, the flight attendant said she could bring me both. Yes, thank you. It's going to be hard to fly coach again.

When we got to the Montego Bay Airport, Andy also had arranged for us to use the Mobay arrival service that ushered us through customs. Here he is the resort's airport lounge getting his first beer.

It was about an hour ride to the resort, but the wait was worth the view from our room - No. 5107 - overlooking one of the pools.

The main area with the bedroom ...

The patio ...

... and a really big bathroom.

Experimenting with a glue gun

Not sure where L got this crazy idea, but she used crayons as glue sticks in my glue gun and decorated a coffee mug. Course, that makes the mug unusable. I'm hoping the glue gun is salvageable.

Milestone

One year.

Cat treat

Since we usually feed the cats dry food, L loves to pick out a can or two of soft cat food whenever she's in a grocery store. Here are the cats eating a creamy lobster and chicken bit food. They ate up the lobster, but left the chicken.

Saving the bees

I requested a free packet of wildflower seeds through a promotion Honey Nut Cheerios was doing on Facebook. The idea is to plant the seeds, grow wildflowers and save the honeybees. It says they should be planted in a sunny location. The front of the house would be perfect, but I don't know if L will enter the house if she sees a bee. It might train her to use the rear door which I've been trying to get her to do for years. Hmmm. That might be a plan.

Fun with filters

This Prisma filter on my phone is a little addicting.

More spring flowers

Family baptismal gown

The search was on yesterday for the Olsen family baptismal gown and Allison figured out we had it. It's been in a box in the top of our bedroom closet for years. L was the last one to wear it in October 2002. Andy's cousin's son and his wife recently had a baby and they want to use the gown. It was made by Andy's maternal grandmother and Andy's cousins and siblings all used it, as did our kids and most of their cousins. I was surprised by how yellow it is; I know we carefully washed it 15 years ago. Hope they can whiten it without damaging it. His oldest cousin born in January 1953 was the first to wear the gown so it's pretty delicate.

Here's E in the gown, in July 1997.

B in October 1999 ...

... and L in October 2002. I remember we couldn't fasten the neck on L. The gown was for more petite babies apparently.

And from my side of the family, tatted booties made by my dad's Aunt Emma. We also have white baby blankets quilted by mom for each of the kids.

Totoro dress

With L's drawing, Aunt Allison created a Totoro dress for L to wear to a convention this weekend. I'm amazed. And, she did it without a pattern. L took apart one of her dresses that she'd outgrown and they based the new dress pieces on ones from the old dress, just making them a little larger.

I think L was a little surprised to realize that to have a dress sewn for you, you have to try it on multiple times with the pins in it. Brought back memories for me when mom made a lot of our clothes.

This was the dress Wednesday morning. Allison was here into the wee hours of the night sewing on the leaves, the front and the lace. L was so excited when she woke up and saw how much was done, she asked me to send her a photo of it so she could show her friends at school.

Allison was over again last night putting on the finishes touches. My small contribution was embroidering the veins on the leaves at her shoulders, and sewing on the nose and whiskers.

Andy and I are leaving for Jamaica early in the morning, so she tried it on for me after school today. Wow. She looks great! Thanks, Allison!

L's Unicorn

L took advantage of yesterday's late-arrival day for school to meet some friends at Starbucks and try their new drink, the Unicorn. Above is the picture she sent me; the one at right is a Starbucks promotional photo. The drink is a mango creme Frappuccino with a sour blue drizzle. She's undecided whether she actually liked it. She said if someone offered her one, she'd accept it, but she wouldn't spend her own money to buy it again.

Class of 2017

B shows off his tassel.

Early presesnt

I've been eyeing this new bracelet from KEEP Collective and mom decided to get it for me as an early birthday present ... and the charms! It's perfect for summer. Thanks, Mom. <3

Friday night

Friday was an absolutely beautiful day so we grabbed our first chance to sit outside for dinner and went to Goldyburgers with L. Of course, we had to get an order of their cheese balls.

The kids had Friday off from school and B had four friends over for most of the afternoon. They left to go to a video game tournament (that IB won) then came back after I had gone to bed. B told me there were six kids over then. Quite a party, I suppose. These are just a few of the signs that they had a good time - they ordered a stadium-sized Hawaiian pizza and cleaned out my bowl of Easter candy.