A Good Day?

Well, it's back to a regular routine. I had a dental checkup this morning. I thought I would be late as the parking lot was so crowded, but a parking spot opened up right before me, leaving me to wonder if that meant I was going to have a good day. Then, I rushed to the basement washroom of the medical building, thinking I had just enough time. I quickly swing open one of the stall doors and 'bang', I hit a lady square on the head. She goes 'oh, my head..oh my head'. I apologized profusely and she continued to do her thing. I wondered afterwards why she hadn't locked the door, maybe the lock was broken.



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Poolside Games

So the day before we left Jamaica, I'm sitting in the hot tub watching a poolside game. They picked a pretty girl with long blonde hair out of the audience to help about 5 guys with the pushup competition. She wore a white beach dress over her swimsuit. Her job was to lie atop each guy and act as an added weight. The first guy did about 6 pushups. The second guy did 11 pushups. The third guy did 20 pushups and only admitted to being a little tired. And so on, but 20 was the highest number. Then it was a dancing competition. So each guy had to show his moves. The first guy was ok. The second man had some help from his little son who demonstrated some fast moves for his dad to copy, much to the delight of the audience. Then the guy that did 20 pushups started off with the hip gyrations then did a break dance on the floor, spinning on one shoulder. The host asked him to do a repeat performance and he obliged. And so on. Then it was the singing competition. The first guy sang a few verses of something but was clearly no singer. The second man (with the young son) sang something like 'Margaritaville', and did a good job really. The 20 pushup guy decided to do a most romantic love song and he could sing. All of a sudden, he's down on one knee and he's holding out this tiny red box and asking the blonde volunteer to marry him! She said 'yes' and the hotel photographer was right on hand to capture their moments of joy. After a few minutes, they finished the competition, and guess who got the loudest audience applause and won? It seems he hadn't planned the whole thing, but had been waiting for the right moment to pop the question.


Later that evening, I was about to tell L what had happened, it turns out she already knew as she had been playing tennis at the time and her partner's daughter ran over to tell her 'the most romantic story' in her English accent. Word spreads fast. L also saw the rainbow behind our hotel that same afternoon from the tennis court. I was on the beach and wasn't able to get to my camera in time to capture the beauty. A nice way to end our trip.

Ocho Rios, Jamaica 2009

Well, we're back from our Jamaica vacation! Here are some trip photos I hope you'll enjoy.

Here is a beach view of Ocho Rios from our rooms at the Sunset Grande hotel. It rained a bit on a couple of days but cleared quickly.
Here are our interconnecting rooms, how neat is that? So there is a main doorway that opens onto the 2 bedrooms.

Infinity pool

Nice view from the gym, excuse what must be my finger

Jamaican Easter Spice Bun display at the local supermarket just outside of the hotel, the bun is eaten with slices of cheese

The rooms come with North American and European power outlets.

Pretty greenery outside the hotel

My Sauteed mackerel breakfast with boiled green bananas and steamed vegetables. I also had either corn meal or oatmeal porridge. They always have cereal, eggs, bacon, pancakes, french toast, hash browns, etc as well.

My Ackee and Saltfish with fried dumplings breakfast and oatmeal porridge. I also had a slice of spiced bun.

My cowfoot lunch selection with rice and peas (I missed the pig trotter day). You could also go to the grill for burgers, jerk chicken, grilled cheese sandwiches and fries. One day they had kidneys...I did pass on that one.

Street Security

Downtown Ocho Rios, just outside the hotel

Beach Sunset

Most mornings you would wake up to find a docked cruise ship. This is the view from our room.

Pretty swim up bar by the main pool

Watersport area

I only gained about 2 pounds!

On Vacation

Well, we're off on vacation starting this weekend, so I don't expect to be posting for the next week or so. Time to send out my contact emails to family and friends and finish packing. The kids are excited, I think it's the prospect of meeting new friends and socializing in a holiday setting. I hope they'll like this place as we stayed at a different hotel last year. Of course, I'm looking forward to the food. All-inclusive works for us as everyone can help themselves to whatever they feel like. I made a mental note to stop eating when I'm full and that I don't have to taste every single dessert.

I went for a refreshing walk with my girlfriend this morning, it's a great way to start the day.

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Nothing Sure

The Natasha Richardson story has been bothering me since it happened. She's only 45 years old and it's such a freakish accident. There's nothing sure about life. The 'Parent Trap' movie that she starred in with Lindsay Lohan is one of my favourites.

I went for an early morning walk with my friend. I heard there was some excitement at the gym this morning. First, the fire alarm went off, then they had to evacuate the daycare on site. Then this hyper little boy tripped and gashed his head just inside the gym. The ambulance was called as there was lots of blood and a hysterical mother. I'm thinking that gashes in the head can be very bloody, but they are usually more horrible than they look. Well, I hope that's the case here.

I got L a new canvas for some art homework she has over the holidays, just a small one. K is now all set up with his new savings and chequing accounts. (All he needs is a job, I guess!)

We're going to visit M's mom this evening when L returns from her tennis lesson.

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Pie in My Face

For the past 6 months I've been going on about counterfeit $5 bills. Today K and I were at the bank and I showed the 'bill' to the teller and was told in a 'matter-of-fact' manner that these are just old bills. She replaced my old one with a new one just to make me feel better. Then L and I checked the Bank of Canada website and it now makes perfect sense! Sorry about any confusion, we were way off track for any number of reasons but I had to let you all know asap.

St Patrick's Day

The plumber's here working on our main floor toilet that's been out of commission for a few weeks. He says he also does renovations so he's going to give us a quote for doing our bathroom upstairs.

K and I are going to the bank to open his own account, as you can do that when you're 13 and older, including his own debit card. Then he has a tennis lesson while L has an eyebrow threading appointment. Maybe I can find some new dress sandals today as I can only find one foot of my favourite pair and am devastated. K got new sandals as his feet have grown 2 sizes since last summer! He's also been doing sit ups and using M's hand weights. Cute.

A lot of kids L's age seem to be using March break to tour the universities. Maybe we should be doing the same.

It's supposed to go to 14C today! Wow.

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