Our flight left on Friday morning at 6:00 and we were supposed to arrive in Montego Bay, Jamaica by 10:30. This was perfect because we would be at our resort in Negril by noon. Even though we were traveling, we wouldn't really be losing much time since we would be there so early. The only downside to this is that you have to be at the airport 2 hours before your flight leaves. Since we were having to go through baggage check, customs, and all the detectors, we knew that it was super important to be there...even though it meant waking up at 3 am on Friday morning. Since we knew all this ahead of time, we decided to head down to the Metroplex on Thursday. We stayed at the DoubleTree in Irving...5 minutes from the airport. We figured if we got there on Thursday night, it would give us plenty of time to rest, relax and get to bed early since we were having to get up long before the crack of dawn! If we would have stayed in Abilene, we wouldn't have gone to bed early because we would have been doing last minute stuff and playing with the dogs. Plus, we would have had to leave at like midnight...so it just didn't make any sense to not go down on Thursday night. It was a pretty nice evening. We got there, checked in to our hotel, then headed to P.F. Chang's for dinner. When we got back to the room, we laid out our clothes we were going to wear on the plane, took showers, then laid in bed and watched TV for a couple of hours. We really didn't go to bed super early, but about 10:00, we turned in. Then...it was not so peaceful anymore. I'm pretty sure someone tripped the fire alarm as a prank...which happened around 11:30. I must have been really asleep because Cody had to wake me up...I didn't even hear the alarms going off! We both looked out into the hall and some people were coming out of their room and some looked out and then went back in their rooms. Neither one of us could figure out what was going on or decide if this was real or fake. I was half freaked out and half mad...but I still didn't want to just stay in our room if something really was happening. Thankfully, we were close to an exit door, so I gathered up all of my luggage, Cody got his and we were out of the hotel within seconds. At first, Cody made fun of me for wanting to take all our junk. But...if it would have been for real...then we would have lost our passports, driver's licenses, luggage, etc. This is really irrational...but I was not about to miss a trip to Jamaica for a fire...real or fake! Thankfully, it was a false alarm/prank and everything was perfectly fine. It did take us both awhile to wind down and go back to sleep. It was probably around 1:00 before we finally fell asleep again, so we really only got about 3 hours of good sleep. Since we were both so excited about being in Jamaica, we really didn't notice how little sleep we had gotten. When the alarm went off, we both got up, got ready and went downstairs to get on the shuttle to take us to the airport. The DoubleTree had free parking up to 7 days...so it was super nice we didn't have to pay for that! We got to the airport around 4:15 am, got in line to check our bags, waited for about 15 minutes to do that, then went through security, and we were all done! Since we were there so early, no restaurants were opened yet. So, we waited until sometime after five when they opened to get breakfast...and a much needed coffee for me! Einstein Bros. Bagels was right around the corner from our gate, so I went and got in line while Cody waited with my carry-on. It was so good and so nice to get some coffee in my system! Shortly after, we boarded the plane and we were off!
When we landed, we were both so excited! On the descent down, you are flying right over the ocean and looking onto mountains covered with green trees and beautiful tropical flowers. We got off the plane, got our bags, and headed over to the Couples Swept Away: Negril resort spot in the airport. After about 10 minutes, we were on a shuttle and headed to Negril! The drive was an hour and a half...but it was so beautiful the whole way. There were so many things to see and our driver told us so many things about the Country. It was really neat...but by the time we got to our hotel...we were so ready to meet up with Josh and Abbie, put on our swimsuits, eat some lunch, and be on the beach! As soon as we checked in, we headed to our room, tossed our bags on the bed, changed as fast as we could and headed out to find Josh and Abbie. When we found them, they were lounging on the beach waiting on us. As soon as we saw them, we ran over to them, hugged them as hard as we could, and chatted for a few minutes. We were all starving, so we headed to lunch at the restaurant right off the beach and chowed down on some good Jamaican fare. One of the many good things about an all-inclusive resort is that you don't have to bring a single thing with you and you can order as much as you want. The food and drinks at this resort were amazing! After lunch, we lounged on the beach for a few hours, then went on a sunset catamaran cruise that took us all over that part of the island. We stopped at a beautiful little cove and all slid down the slide that was on the boat...so fun! We stopped by Rick's Cafe and watched the people jump off the cliffs into the ocean. After a couple of hours out on the water, we headed back in to the resort. By then, it was just about time for dinner. So, we all went back to our rooms, got ready and met at one of the many restaurants. Dinner was great, and we had made plans afterwards to go to the piano bar. But, after we ate, Cody and I had really started to feel the lack of sleep and the wear and tear of traveling. So, we all headed back to our rooms and called it a night.
On Saturday, Cody and I had made plans to go swim with the dolphins. When we were on our honeymoon, I really wanted to swim with them. But, we went on several other excursions and just wound up not having time. Those were so much fun, but I made him promise me if we ever went to another beach that had a place to swim with the dolphins, we would. So, we did! The place that we went was called Dolphin Cove and I was like a five year old. I could hardly contain my excitement and was so giddy the whole ride to the place. This particular site had lots of fun things to do. There was a camel, peacocks, a sting ray, nurse shark, and the main attraction...DOLPHINS!!! You could ride on the camel, but we decided not to do that. We did swim with the sting ray and Cody swam with the nurse shark. The peacocks were just there to be pretty. But, we did the ultimate swim with the dolphins option. This allowed us to be able to actually swim with them and also do some fun activities with them. We got to kiss them (rather they kissed us), dance with them, they pulled us by their dorsal fins, and they pushed off of our feet with their nose and it sends you into the air like superman. I'm not going to lie...just writing about this makes me so happy! I'm not sure when my love for dolphins came about...but it's one of those things that makes me so happy I could cry. So weird I know...but ever since I can remember I've been this way when it comes to dolphins! On a family vacation, back in 8th grade, we went to Cozumel, Mexico and Dad, Michael, and I swam with them. I remember it like it was yesterday and up to that point it had probably been one of the greatest times in my life. So, doing it as an adult was a whole new experience...but I got just as excited! Dolphins are so smart and so friendly. One of the things they did on this excursion was swim by you and you got to pet them. Their skin feels so smooth and really kinda soft. You would think it feels like rubber...but it doesn't at all. Cody and I both had so much fun swimming and playing with them. They are amazing, beautiful, magnificent animals and I am SO glad that we got to swim with them!!! After we did that, we headed back to the resort, met up with Josh and Abbie, and had some lunch. Then, we headed back to the beach and just lounged on floaties in the ocean for hours. I suppose at some point in time you have to come out to eat, so we did. We headed to our rooms to get ready for dinner and met up at one of the more fancy restaurants called Lemongrass. It was amazing! I think it was all of our favorite places to eat. After dinner, we headed over to the piano bar. Oh my...did we have fun! We sat around the piano and sang our hearts away. The microphone was passed around and each of us sang bits and pieces of multiple songs. But, the main attraction were our husbands. Crazy boys!!! Cody sang the entire song, Rocket Man by Elton John...which he sang really well. And Josh...well Josh likes to sing about everything. In fact, he'll make up a song about what he and Abbie are doing that evening or turn a sentence into a song. So, he was all about grabbing that microphone and singing every chance he got...it was great! After the piano bar, we went to the little night club at the resort and danced for a little bit. We had so much fun and it was a great way to end an amazing day!
Sunday was our last full day to be in Jamaica...so we had to go out with a bang! We woke up fairly early, met Josh and Abbie for breakfast around 8:30 and laid on the beach for a couple of hours. The boys went and played in the ocean while Abbie and I lounged on the beach reading. Both of us had gotten hooked on the Fifty Shades of Grey books. So you could hardly tear us away from them! I had just started the first book and Abbie was already on the second...but both of us were completely unaware of anything going on around us while we were reading. Around 10:30 we headed to the front of the resort because we were taking a private cruise around the island. We were so excited! It was going to be just us four with two workers from the resort on a private boat for as long as we wanted. We headed out a little after 10:30 and cruised around the island for awhile. A ways off the shore from our resort, there was a little remote island that they took us to. They anchored the boat and we waded through the water to the shore of this little island. When we got to the island, there was a group of locals cooking fresh caught lobster and listening to Reggea music. It was so cool to come upon them and talk to them for a bit and just watch them work. We wondered around that little island for awhile just looking at the panoramic views of all that is Jamaica. The water was magnificent to look at and it was so beautiful to look out onto all the beautiful mountains. Everything there is so green and the colors of the tropical flowers and water will literally take your breath away. We finally headed back to the boat and made our way back to the resort. After a couple of hours of being on the boat, we were all pretty hungry! The two workers had made us lots of different snack plates, but you can only go so far with fruit, veggies, and mini sandwiches! The private cruise was more than fun...it was amazing! We would have never gotten to see so much of Negril if we wouldn't have gone on it. And we had so much fun laying out and relaxing on the boat, talking, eating, and making tons of memories. So, when we got back, we had some lunch, then went back to our spot on the beach. The boys played in the water some more and Abbie and I grabbed our books and pretty much had our noses in them until we packed up and headed back to our rooms to get ready for dinner. I'm telling you...those books were SO good! I finished the first one on the trip and had the other two read within a few days of getting back. The story turns in to so much more than what the media portrays. Anyways...we got ready for dinner and then met up at the restaurant that was right off the ocean. We figured there was no better way to end the trip than with dinner right on the beach. Dinner was amazing...just like all our other meals. We sat there at the restaurant and just hung out and talked for a few hours, we wanted to soak in every last minute we could before heading back to our rooms for bed. We had to be in the lobby ready to go to the airport by 7:00 am...so we all needed a good night's rest! All four of us had the time of our lives. We got to go and do so many fun things while we were there and we got to do it with our very best friends. There were so many memories made...it was definitely a trip that will never be forgotten! Josh and Abbie are family to us, so there was no better way to spend an island vacation than with friends who are so near and dear to our hearts. We look forward to the next trip and making many more memories with these two precious people!
Here are some of my favorite pictures from the trip!!! Be prepared...there's a TON!!!
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