5 days in Paradise, 2 days in hell

February 27

We got back last night and I’m soooo tired. I never would have thought that a 5 hour flight would result in a full 12 hours of travelling. But it did. Both ways. Last Saturday we left at 5am, flight at 7:30am. Landed and got off the plane in Jamaica by 2pm. Waited with about 3500 other people in a line to get through customs until a large Jamaican man in a uniform came up to us, pointed and A and said “who is with her?” in a deep and frightening tone. I almost didn’t admit to being her mom. When I did he moved us into a shorter line. I would have kissed him if he wasn’t so damn scary. Then it took us about 45 minutes to find our luggage since it got off the plane at the same time we did, and then hucked in a corner somewhere to make room for the other 3498 pieces of luggage coming through. Once we found our luggage we made our way to the bus where we then waited at least a half an hour for a bus to show up and then when we were on the bus we waiting about an hour for everyone who didn’t get “rushed” through customs because of their 2 year old. The hour and a half bus ride to Ocho Rios was only stalled once because passengers wanted to stop on the way to our All Inclusive for a beer on the side of the road. Yup. We got to our hotel at 7pm. 14 hours for a 5 hour flight. Yesterday was quite similar, waiting for idiots, waiting in line for hotel check out, baggage check in, waiting to get through security, waiting in line for lunch, waiting waiting waiting. Considering all the line standing, waiting and idiots, my kid was a ROCK STAR. She was so good. Funny, entertaining with her 1000 little high pitched questions. Only a couple meltdowns and she only spilled 5 drinks on herself… I mean really, she’s 2.5 years old. She was fantastic.

Now in Jamaica, miss A and I had such a good time. She was so much fun. Thank god she was there because with the amount of time my husband spent watching TV in the room, checking his email, surfing the net in the lobby and going to meetings, well frankly, she kept me busy and having fun. Otherwise if not for her, I’m pretty sure I would have found something to keep my busy in Jamaica. My parents and I went for a fantastic massage at the spa, Avery and I fed the fish in the fish pond almost every day, we swam like fish, we sunbathed, we played in the sand and built sand castles, she ran around on the stage with her sunglass on like a rock star, I drank 1000 chocolate monkeys never once even getting a buzz. We ate like fools and cuddled and stayed up late and had no naps and talked and talked and talked. We watched the entertainment every night and she loved watching the dancers. We danced on the beach together to a reggae band. We went on a boat and held each other tight when the waves were scary big and she jumped off the boat into my dads arms in her panties and life jacket into the ocean off that boat. She’s so brave!  My dad and another guy and I rented snorkel gear and went snorkelling. The waves were big and it ended up being quite a workout but it was awesome. I had a great time and I think miss A did too.