W’s b-day trip

Our Wednesday in Jamaica was pretty much the same as the other days - food, pool, reading. The only exciting (?) thing was that Andy broke his cheap sunglasses and the lens popped out. On Tuesday, he did the exact same thing to his readers. He's on a roll. Fortunately, we have resort credit and he was able to buy a new pair of sunglasses.

Tuesday was W's 25th birthday so he and L are on a short trip to St. Augustine, Fla.

This is their hotel room.

Making a wish.

A close-up look at the cake L got him.

This is an old jail where they stayed Wednesday morning from midnight to 3 a.m. She has a picture of a ghost she thinks she saw. I believe in ghosts but if you're having people pay for a ghost tour, you're going to make sure they see a "ghost" or two.

Here they are Wednesday afternoon at Castillo de San Marcos, the oldest masonry fort in the U.S.

Another picture of us - dressed for dinner.

And, if you can believe it, Andy broke another pair of readers. Damn.

Tropical Tuesday

These are the birds that have been eating the fruit by the restaurant. Apparently they're Great-tailed Grackles known by their fan-shaped tails and shiny feathers.

We thought we were going to play Bingo but they brought out a Scattegories-type game. There were only four of us playing but I won! My prize was Jamaican coffee.

We had room service deliver lunch to our room. I had a club sandwich and Andy had a cheeseburger. We split nachos and chicken wings. Interestingly, if thise four items, the cheeseburger is the only one on the menu at the restaurants during lunch. The others are available only with room service.

Oooo, yeah, I'm sunburned.

Pre-dinner drinks at the martini bar. I had a chocolate martini and Andy had the key lime martini. He was a little disappointed it wasn't more green.

Dinner was at the Asian restaurant. Not my favorite food but you can't beat the scenery, It's right on the beach.

These were the appetizers. We liked them all except for the shrimp.

After dinner we went up to the Balloon Bar where they had live music but it statted out with jazz (boooo!) and it was lulling me to sleep so we went back to our room.

Monday in Jamaica

Monday's breakfast was accompanied by live music.

As we were leaving dinner the other night we noticed a tray of fruit and assumed it was for the birds, It was, and they were certainly enjoying it Monday morning.

We spent the day at the pool and I got burned. Yes, I was wearing sunscreen that I reapplied several times. The sun is strong here. I'll do better tomorrow.

Monday evening we gathered on the lawn for the general manager's cocktail hour.

I love a pretty sunset.

Here we are sitting on our patio, waiting for the repeaters' dinner to begin.

this was the menu at the repeaters dinner. There's always too much seafood, but at least the beef and the dessert were good. We were seated at a table with the couple we thought were getting married the other day, but it was their 25th anniversary and they were renewing their wedding vows. We were going to skip the repeaters' dinner becsuse it's long and we have to make too much small talk with our table mates. They do give out prizes but we weren't winners this time. We did win in 2013.

Tonight's entertainment right outside our room was a steel drum band.

Andy grabbed my favorite drink from the bar, a hummingbird, and we listened to the band for a bit.

Jamaican Sunday

Sunday morning view from our room.

A surprise visitor to our room.

We sat on the beach after breakfast. I prefer the pool ... no sand.

Guess who chose to being about his favorite golfer on vacation?

We won the pool general trivia contest! Our prize was this Jamaican necklace. Am I ever going to wear it? Chances are slim. Was it fun to beat the other couples? Absolutely.

One nice perk is the self-serve ice cream machine. It's a nice mid-day treat.

A surprise delivered to our room - champagne and a cheese plate in (late ... or early?) celebration of our anniversary.

Before dinner we stopped off at the martini bar. I had a yummy chocolate martini.

Dinner was at Casanova, the resort's fancy restaurant. We both had the beef filet.

Jamaica Day 1

Allison drove us to O'Hare Saturday morning for our flight to Jamaica. It's our trip that was postponed in November due to a hurricane. We had a bit of breakfast in the United Club but when we were seated on the plane, the flight attendant asked if either of us wanted to fill an empty seat in first class. Andy, being the gentleman he is, gave the seat to me. (It left him with a row all to himself though). I was in the very first row next to a Jehovah's Witness who was going to Jamaica for a month to rebuild houses damaged in the hurricane. He's an electrician from the Minneapolis area. I might have slipped into "reporter mode" but he had quite the story. Anyway, this was breakfast on the plane. The quiche was good. That stuff to the left apparently is chai seed pudding (or dragon fruit?). I had a bite (it's served cold) and ate one tiny piece of pineapple.

We're always greeted at Sans Souci with a cool, almond-scented towel and champagne.

When we arrived, though, our room wasn't ready so we went down to the beach for a late lunch. Nice view. We also looked in the gift shop, made dinner reservations for the week, visited the library ...

saw a wedding on the beach and waited. At least we got the first floor room we wanted by the pool.

Staff dropped off a small "welcome home" fruit tray with chocolate sauce.

We sat at the pool for a bit but decided we needed a nap. We had both been up since before 4:30 a.m. We napped for about two hours then had dinner. Andy had steak that was too salty for him and I had chicken cordon bleu. It was ok but I had a lot to eat all day so wasn't too hungry.

Couldn't pass up the espresso tiramisu for dessert though. Sunday I plan to eat less.

Flashback pantry puzzle

I feel like I'm being watched which, while a bit creepy, is better than having Ruby sitting on the puzzle.

This puzzle is called "Mom's Pantry." Just labels of food items a few decades ago and some still look the same, unless they have changed and I just haven't noticed. Complete!

Blooming bushes

Our Bridal Wreath looks really good this year. I should have taken a picture earlier before the delicate blooms got battered by rain.

Pretty bushes in our yard.

And the hostas look good. I transplanted some from outside the fence into the yard just a couple of weeks ago and they seem to be thriving. I need to add some more dark green and variegated ones to this area.

Oh, no! The vase of flowers I set on the dining room table got mysteriously knocked over while I was at work Thursday. Pretty sure I know who is to blame. Interestingly, they only messed with one of the vases. The one on the buffet was left alone.

Mother’s Day flowers

Andy came home from work yesterday with a huge bouquet of flowers (and a cute ribbon). Apparently, his office decided to buy a bunch of bulk flowers and let employees take home what they wanted. Andy took enough that they filled not one of my vases ...

but two! Hopefully the cats leave them alone.

He also brought home this cupcake that suffered a bit on the commute.