We are back in the states and somewhat catching up with being gone for almost a week. Tim and I had a great time in Jamaica. It's not too bad vacationing without kids we decided. Not a lot of responsibility, sleeping in (somewhat), not planning around a nap schedule, and enjoying the amenities of an all-inclusive resort. Tuesday evening we met Grandma and Grandpa Papke in Palmyra, MO to drop off the kids then headed to St. Louis to stay at Chris and Carey's house as we had a 6 AM flight. So our day on Wednesday started at 3 AM for our journey to Negril, Jamaica.
Here we are at our layover in Atlanta. With the time change it was 9 AM by then so we figured it was time to visit a bar.....
We arrived in Negril around 3:30 PM after an "adventurous" ride from the airport to our Sandals resort. Our first stop was some rum punch in the lobby at check in. Second stop our room.
Here is our room for the 5 days, we were on the first floor and had a garden view. The majority of the people staying were actually right in our area pretty much as well.
Here's my first drink at the "Beach Grill" - bringing back the Miami Vice.
This was our rowdy group for Wednesday night - mostly just the friends and Miller family. Matt's family was getting in to town the next day.
The happy couple - Matt Sims and Carrie Miller.
Our first evening of a Jamaica sunset, it was probably the best one we saw all week.
The next morning at breakfast we were attacked, not really attacked, but these birds jump on your plates as soon as you leave to eat your food if someone hasn't cleaned your table. Some guests actually fed them so that probably doesn't help the situation either.
This was our garden view from our back patio. There were some nice fountains and flowers. There were actually some weddings back here as well. We had a nice view.
Thursday night we went to Rick's Cafe - one of the top 100 places to visit in the world. It's a restaurant/bar on a cliff basically that has been rebuilt several times due to huricanes. Locals will put on some good diving shows for you and do a 60 ft. jump as well. The tourists also can jump - so of course I had to do it. The highest point on the cliff is 35 ft. My jump was about 30 ft. Carey Moore has a video that should be on her facebook page and Carrie's Mom got some photos as well which will be on the lovely slide show at Carrie and Matt's reception in January.
Since the cliff was only 35 ft. They put some platforms up in trees to get to the 60 ft dive.
Thursday night at the Barrfoot On the Beach (yes it was spelled that way) restaurant. Mostly seafood type meals, but thankfully for me there was a steak. You can see Tim's shirt purchase from the craft fair.
Chris and Tim enjoying the cigars they got at the duty free shopping area.
This is Friday night and after the rehearsal dinner. Carrie and Matt had a beautiful rehearsal dinner on the beach. This is our group shot of the UMR crowd.
Of course a shot of the ladies as well.
This was our view pretty much every morning when we walked out to the beach. Everything was so calm close to shore - 8 miles out on a fishing boat was a different story.
Tim, Chris, and I did some deep sea fishing and we did catch one fish. Chris caught this dolphin fish and it was pretty large. The deck hands were happy to keep it for us. Chris caught the fish, Tim got sick, and I took a nap during our 4 hour boat ride. It was pretty exciting though for the one bite we got.
A little Schmidt photo on the beach on the wedding day.
Here is where the wedding took place. We had rain earlier and it looked like it was going to rain again, but the resort said we were outside and good to go.
This was my effort at some wedding photography. Matt and Carrie were married at this point.
The bride and groom's table.
Cutting the cake - rum cake what else - we're in Jamaica mon!
And shortly after we ate and did a little dancing another storm came in and blew everything away. Thankfully the piano bar was close by and we migrated there.
Tim and I had a great time and were very happy to be able to be there for the wedding. Sunday started our journey home and we arrived back in Columbia, MO at 11 PM. Seeing the kids on Monday was the best part of that day as we did miss them quite a bit, even with all the fun we were having. Abby gave us great big hugs and had lots of stories to tell us of what she did.
This weekend Abby turns 3 years old. We'll have photos of the party next week.
Of course we had to go visit baby Lily again. Abby loves to hold her and give her kisses. She's just yawning in the picture, not crying.
Here's my little turkey on Thanksgiving Day. Megan got to try some mashed potatoes and I also believe she tried some whip cream. She ate plenty.
Here is Aunt Betsy with Megan - Betsy has a little over a month left until "Skittle" will make his/her debut. Abby says it's a girl and will name her Skittle Girl.
A small attempt to get a picture of the girls together.
Megan playing with her spinning top toy. Her hand eye coordination is getting much better.
No cat is safe around Megan, she'll tackle them down. Obviously LaBousch could get away but he doesn't mind it much as he lets her catch him all the time and play. Unfortunately she comes up with fistfuls of hair, but has a great time doing it.
Tuckered out after church - I thought she kind of looked like a garden gnome with the pointy hood.
Trying to get outside to help Daddy put up Christmas lights. She now reaches for the top and tries to pull up. We might have to invest in a stronger gate!
