Easter Monday

Another bright, sunny, cold day. We have lots of Lindt chocolate eggs to eat, a real test of the will power. M's mom made a nice Easter dinner yesterday.

I realized I've been accidentally taking double doses of my blood pressure medication the past 2 days. It's because I had been finishing up my half dose pills, of which I used to take 4 a day. Then I switched to the full dose pills and automatically swallowed 4 of those out of habit. I seem to be ok, although L says I've been edgy, but that maybe that's just my normal self.

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Happy Easter Sunday

Happy Easter Sunday! It's a cold one. I'm waiting for everyone to wake up, we had a late night last night. It's been at least bright and sunny due to the arrival of spring.

It's been a superhuman effort as I was saying to M, but I have one more math lesson for K and he's officially caught up. He's quite the fractions expert now. We've grown even closer over the past few weeks, all this 'bonding'. It's taught me the meaning of having a purpose in life, it's not all about having mindless 'fun' and living the good life. Working hard to achieve a goal gives one a certain satisfaction. Blogging is a wonderful way for people like me to get rid of one's frustrations and air one's thoughts. It really clears the mind.

Haven't been to the gym in weeks, my poor body. M went to the gym and seems to have 'fixed' his shoulder problem, he heard something snap back in, so maybe it wasn't arthritis.

Found lots of inspiring news stories today, have a read.

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Two lovely party dresses

L and I went out to Sears this morning before her tennis lesson and got a great deal on two lovely party dresses. They had scratch and save this morning as well, so that was an added bonus. It's still cold and quite a bit of snow around, so cars seemed to be struggling for a parking spot at the mall this morning. Also, it's a holiday weekend so today's busy on the roads. L is struggling with a chest cold.

K and I are settling in for a day of studying integers, wish me luck. We've made good progress over the March break, I think. We're also doing novel study this weekend to get a head start on this school term. I never did understand symbolism, metaphors and that kind of stuff.

M is off to the gym after he gets L from tennis. He'll pick up some milk and stuff as the stores are closed tomorrow. I believe a lot of stores are open on Monday, Sears is.

The kids want to do an Easter Egg hunt in the morning, as big as they are, so I caved in and we got some eggs.

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Sweet 16

Well, M picked up some salmon for today's meal, since it's Good Friday, we remembered we should have fish today.

L received this fancy sweet 16 birthday invitation in the mail, at a fancy Golf and Country club. It's a surprise party for a schoolffriend and they are going all out. It's a black and white semi-formal dinner dance and even included an admission card. So now we have to go find a new dress. Tomorrow she has a 2 hour tennis lesson at midday then a 3 hour tennis tournament from 7 to 10pm. Maybe we can dress shop in the morning (Sears has a good sale this week). She's also fighting a cold.

K and I worked on calculating sales tax and discounts and restaurant tips yesterday. He finds this stuff difficult. Fractions, decimals aren't a problem. He was disappointed when a friend cancelled a birthday party, but that gave us extra review time. I'm so focussed on his schoolwork that social obligations take a back seat. I had wanted to have some friends over this weekend, but my mind just can't handle that kind of stuff right now. M thinks it will be ok for us to just have a quick dinner out on Sunday with his mother. I feel like life is 'on hold' for the next few months, until K has his exams in mid-June. It doesn't help that the kids have their 13th and 16th birthdays in April. Can't decide what to do about their parties. I'd like to do them in the summer.



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Jamaica 2008

Here are our the trip details.

Tues Mar 11th

I was momentarily overwhelmed with emotion landing in the country where I was born and where I grew up. (I'm Jamaican of Chinese descent). They had background reggae music playing at the Montego Bay airport. After immigration, we were whisked into the BEACHES lounge area at the airport where we were offered refreshments (including beer and snacks) and a clean washroom. Then onto an air conditioned minibus for the hour and a half journey into Negril. Apparently it can be a 2 and a half hour journey in rush hour. Beaches Sandy Bay Negril is a lovely intimate sized hotel on one of the best stretches of beach. They sat us down in the lobby and a lady came with cold face rags and checked us in while we snacked on hors d'oeuvres. Our ground floor (smallish) room was about 15 steps to the beach when you walk out from its back porch and what a view. We ate mostly at the buffet restaurant which was very close to our room. That first night was 'oriental night', passable food, except for the hot delicious chicken noodle soup. For dessert they quite often had chocolate cake and brownies to die for. K loved the cheesecake. We glimpsed a fabulous view of the sunset by the beach just before dinner. They are spectacular as Negril faces west.

Wed Mar 12

Breakfast at the buffet next morning was wonderful. They seated us by the pool overlooking the beach. I started with oatmeal porridge like grandma used to make, then had round fried dumplings with saltfish, steamed callaloo (spinach) and fried plantains. They had bacon, eggs, etc as well. Finished with great coffee (M's favourite) and fresh fruit. Then we went to the beach and did a bit of aqua cycle (pedal bicycles) on the ocean, (all the watersports are included in the package price). Then we took the included shuttle bus over to Beaches Negril to check out the larger resort. They had a small water park (well, compared to Atlantis in the Bahamas), with a couple of waterslides and a small lazy river that the kids enjoyed. We tried the jerk chicken sandwiches from the beach grill there. My favourite bar drink was a fruit punch in a blender made with fresh fruit, the consistency of a froster drink. After that, L and K caught a banana boat ride on the beachfront then we swam in the ocean and lounged on provided water rafts for a bit. M found a great alfredo pasta with large grilled shrimp dish from the beach grill, so we all snacked on that. We took the shuttle back to Beaches Sandy Bay. We ate Jamaican beef, chicken and vegetable patties from the beach grill there. Time seems to stand still in Jamaica, we seemed to get so much done. It didn't seem very crowded, except maybe at dinner time. We felt like we had the beach almost to ourselves. Pristine grounds, always being cleaned. The rooms did have paper thin walls. Lots of families, little ones and also some older kids. M and I got sunburn on our lips from lying under the shade trees at the beach.

Thurs Mar 13

Breakfast: I had escoveitched fish, fried bammy (cassava bread) slices, grapefruit cut in half and scooped out just like dad used to do it. (They also had bacon, eggs, etc) Then we went for a glass bottom boat tour (included in the price). Even the Diving is included. We saw starfish, live coral and small tropical fish in the clear water. We also boated by Hedonism (nude beach), Sandals, etc hotels. Then L had a 45 minute private tennis lesson (included in the price). Then they were giving out fresh cut coconuts with drinking straws from a beach stand they set up. I asked the guy to split our coconuts after, so we could eat the soft flesh as well. We swam and relaxed some more on the beach and the kids more aqua cycle. For lunch we ate beef and chicken patties from the beach grill as we sat at a table in the water. They come out and serve you drinks while you do that. The Tex-Mex buffet for dinner was 'ok'.

Friday Mar 14

A gorgeous sunny day, it had been raining all night. We did the usual buffet breakfast. Then we went snorkelling. The boat took us out to a reef. Gorgeous coral and tropical fish. The photographer gave us food to feed the fish so they would swarm around us as he snapped us. We met a nice family Bill, Terri and their teenaged daughter Rebecca from Kansas City. We sat and chatted with them as our beach chairs were side by side. M got a great jerk chicken (Delroy's special) and fries dish from the beach grill and we had patties for lunch. K loved their curly fries. The kids went to play trivial pursuit by the pool and some other beach games. The weather is very humid. M's shoulder was acting up. We had the seafood buffet for dinner (ok). It's a real family environment, lots of all kinds of kids.

Sat Mar 15

Cornmeal porridge for breakfast, yum. I also had some steamed pak choy (like steamed callaloo) and sweet potato fries. We finally took a tour of the grounds, found the xbox room with 18 stations, the gym, the spa, the tennis courts. We did some souvenir shopping at the resort shop, the prices seemed the same or better than the stalls at the end of the beach and I hate bargaining. M and the kids went for a Hobie-cat sailing lesson then we all went out for a bit on the sailboat, but I got nervous and told them to forget it, we didn't get out very far. (included) Then L and K saw the banana boat and went for a ride way out into the ocean. At the 4pm beach volleyball game, L met some nice girls her age from Montreal. For dinner we got 'dressed up' a little bit and ate at the sit down Italian restaurant near our room. The food was very gourmet and delicious. Good seafood soup full of tender scallops and squid. My shrimp pasta dish was 'al dente' and the tiramisu dessert was sooo good. The kids went to the xbox room that night, open until midnight. They also went to the beach bonfire. The staff took lots of action photos for sale ($$$). Our room had a hairdryer, safe, alarm clock, stocked mini fridge, coffeemaker.

Sunday Mar 16

Breakfast was ackee and saltfish with fried dumplings and I had a bowl of the delicious cornmeal porridge as well. They had the largest sweetest ortanique oranges all peeled for you at the fruit bar. Yum. I also had lots of watermelon. For the first time M and I had lunch at the buffet restaurant. It was really good. I had rice and peas and grilled lambchops, 'homemade' fish fingers in batter and fried chicken. That most delicious chocolate cake was there and fruit. I felt like I was bursting after every meal. No wonder I gained weight (3 pounds). L and K were having a ball playing all the games and won 'beaches' necklaces. I swam in the ocean (good exercise actually). I floated easily in the salt water with the feeling that I could do this forever. No internet seems to be available from that kiosk in the lobby...grr. I'm also starved for news. The satellite tv has enough channels, but CNN isn't my favourite channel.

Monday Mar 17

Had fried bammy (cassava bread) and steamed callaloo (spinach) for breakfast, and cornmeal porridge. We saw a few 'green' decorated people on the beach. (St. Pat's Day). Bill and Terri mentioned that the U.S. March break is starting up this week, so it does seem a bit more crowded. M and Bill have been taking turns getting up really early to reserve the beach chairs by putting towels over them. I think it's their fun. The buffet lunch had a nice cream of pumpkin soup, tacos, etc (ok). Then who should we meet but K's teacher last year Ms C (and her boyfriend). Unreal. L participated in a fashion show. They actually gave them clothes from the Resort Shop to model. K found a group of about 6 boys to hang out with in the water. Then L went for a tennis lesson. M and I swam in the gorgeous ocean water. At sunset, there was a beach side dinner. They moved all the tables and chairs right onto the beach and set up all the food out there, including a burger bbq. It was incredibly romantic by the water at sunset, incredible ambience. Bill and Terri saved us a table next to them as they were going fast. L sat with her own friends. I had the most delicious roast beef, rice and peas, escoveitched fish, fried dumplings. Oh, did I forget to mention the great conversation? Terri told us of her early life, travelling so much as her dad was an airline pilot and she had free flights anywhere in the world at the time. They went to India, Africa... she's now a writer for a major greeting card company. Bill is a former CFO of a major bank, but now self contracts and is having trouble getting contracts in Kansas City. They had moved there on a job prospect from New York about 3 years ago, but it didn't work out.

Tuesday Mar 18

We went home this morning, much to L's dismay. K and I missed the comforts of home. We think it might be nice to go to an Ocho Rios resort next time, then we could do Dunn's River Falls, etc.

Away on vacation

March 8,2008 snowstorm


Well, the storm's over and the sun is shining innocently, but we still have a lot of digging out to do. It was really windy and ugly last night as we headed out to meet my sister and her family at a nearby restaurant for dinner. We made it and I realized how fearless I can be, driving through that mess, as M didn't come. It helped that the roads were quite empty of traffic, as were the usually jammed parking lots. Trying to see out of your windshield is the tricky part as it fogs up, covers with ice and snow and when the wipers just make it worse. That's where the de-fogger buttons come in handy.

I've been reading in the news about all these tragic fire stories and woke up this morning thinking I'm going to buy new smoke alarms for the bedrooms. I read that smoke alarms should be replaced every 3 or 4 years as the detector parts don't work indefinitely. Even if you replace the batteries regularly, and test them, all you're really testing is that the batteries work. The clocks going forward this morning make this a timely topic wouldn't you say?

Well, we're leaving for our Jamaica vacation in a few days (hopefully our flight will be ok after all the weekend cancellations due to the weather), so I won't be posting again until after March 19 (addicted as I am). I'll be busy finalizing the packing tomorrow, among other things.

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Raptor's basketball game

Yes, it's snowing. The Raptor's basketball game was fun last night, they make it very entertaining with all the little shows in between and prize giveaways. The Raptors lost in overtime but we got 4 slices of free pizza
because they scored over 100 points. We ended up driving downtown as we were tired and lazy. We were in the cheap seats, right at the top of the Air Canada Centre, in line with the pricey box seats lounge, anyway. L was invited to a teenage party that she was hoping to make after the game, but it was too late by the time we got home. It would've been fun, I'm sure.

Getting ready for a day of tutoring K. Hope to cover angle and polygon review today at the very least. He got 70% on his last music test that we had so prepared for. We were happy with that as it was a hard test. L got a stellar report card yesterday, 93.9% average.

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