Sandals Jamaica

Like I said in my previous post, while we were in Ohio, we left the girls with the grandparents and headed to Jamaica for five nights.  Man, was it much needed and much appreciated!  So thankful to our families for watching the girls for us and for my hubby for whisking me away!  We stayed at a Sandals resort using credit card points which made it even more fun since it was "free".  We had the greatest time.  We did absolutely nothing.  Read books, ate, watched silly entertainment, ate, slept by the water, ate...you get the picture.  Ben actually did some sailing and paddle boarding (p.s. not his favorite thing), but I, I just laid around and read and watched and slept...Ahhh......I'm there right now...

Our view from the room.  The guy upgraded us.  We were not supposed to have an ocean view room.

The resort had peacocks.  Did you know peacocks flew?  Ok, if you did, have you ever seen it?  It is the most laborious flight you've ever seen!

The "private island".  They had a Thai restaurant over there and a small beach.  They also had a "clothing optional" beach on the back side...we didn't partake in that. :)

Ready to dine

Always up to tricks...

Lounging...

Sailing...

Paddle boarding...He was good at it but not much fun, "miserable" in fact.

JENGA!

The last night...I wanted to watch the sunset.

And all I wanted was a picture with my hubby...And got this...without my knowing.

Then I gave in, hoping at some point my cooperation would lead to his...

It did :)

Happiness

Almost down...

Dinner the last night

Ohio

So we headed back to Ohio to do Christmas with some family and leave the girls to play with the grandparents while Ben and I went on a little getaway to Jamaica.  Unfortunately, as we were packing up to drive up there, we received the news that Ben's step-grandmother, Lillian, had past away.  So we also had a funeral to attend up in her hometown, Convoy, in northwest Ohio.  Her health had been failing over the last year, and her quality of life just wasn't that good anymore.  Thankfully, she past quietly in her sleep.

Our first night there we had Christmas with Ben's family.  Jennifer, Ava and Andrew were in town too, so the girls were very excited to play with their cousins!  And snuggle with baby Easton.  Grammy just happened to love having all the grand kids together too.  Opening presents was mass chaos!  Fun mass chaos!

Before the madness.  They were so patient.

Grammy with her girls and their sparkly hats she got them.

Grammy with all the kiddos

Grammy and Gramps with all the kiddos

Grandpa with his stocking

Sweet Whitney

Uncle Ben and Easton Charles

Patty loves her new coach wallet...can you tell?

Andrew attacking the girls.  Silly boy!

A couple days later we headed to my brothers house to have Christmas with him and Meghan and my parents.  Not quite the mass chaos there since there's only our two little ones, but if you know our girls, they are always up for a little craziness no matter where they are or who they are around!  And who knows maybe someday they'll be some cousins there too! :)

The girls with Uncle Rande and Aunt Meghan

Being silly with Aunt Meghan

Me and my bro

This Grandma was super happy to have her family together too!

Helping Aunt Meghan with her gift

Lots of opening

Their very own princess castle!

And on another day we got to visit with Great Grandpa Walter.  He is doing ok.  He has had a couple stays in the hospital over the last few months with pneumonia and he gets a little confused every now and then.  But for 101 he's doing just fine!

Very thankful for our time there.  There's never enough time to do everything and see everyone, but we are grateful for what we get!

Happy New Year!

New year, back home, new toy...happy boy!