Our vacation started and ended poorly at Kennedy airport, but Jamaica was great. The beginning was the problem that I feared, the storm. We boarded the plane and thought we were in good shape, only to get an announcement that the weather was too bad to take off and that we had to wait on the plane at the gate. So we did. For two hours. Then they had us deplane, but asked us to stay close in case they got an open window to take off.
I had enough time to leave security, hit McDonald’s, come back in and feed Danielle before we boarded again. Add another hour on the plane waiting to be de-iced, and we finally took off, about 6 hours late. But at least we made it.
The place was great and the weather was as well. We frankly didn’t do much (nothing wrong with that). The pool and the beach were our primary destinations. I was hoping that this would be the time that Danielle would finally learn to swim (with a life vest) on her own. She loves the water, but has always been very clingy if she’s in water over her head, even with a vest. So I was hoping that six days would do it.
It finally happened on day four. She met a new friend, Griffin, who was 3 1/2. He could swim with a vest so she finally gave it a shot. First just going a few feet. But by the next day, she was all over the pool. Here is the formerly clingy girl (in the center of the picture – that’s me way to the left):

She pretty much did nothing but swim after that. Of course, all that swimming is tiring work, so this is what she typically looked like around mid-afternoon:

And of course there was other fun. She learned to catch a Frisbee (ok, one out of about 20 times):

And of course there was dancing…

The resort was great, though it got a bit crowded towards the end. So many kids are on vacation for President’s day week that the place was totally jammed. But overall it was an excellent pool, beach, and relaxing vacation. There was plenty of jerk chicken and Red Stripe beer (the local beer – frankly just average, but you want a lighter beer when it’s that hot).
The trip ended poorly at Kennedy airport as one of our bags didn’t make the trip with us. They are still looking for it at this point. That was no fun, waiting around the airport late at night with a very sleepy four year old.
But overall a very successful and relaxing vacation.