Jamaica, Mon!

Normally I have to request vacation 3 months in advance at work, but we received an email stating that there was some extra pharmacist coverage. This meant you could request vacation for anytime and it was first come, first serve! Well of course I jumped on that offer! As we talked about where we were going to go, all that kept coming out of my mouth was, "BEACH." Thomas was all about the boring stuff... New York, Maine, Niagara Falls, etc. (Nothing compares to the beach, right?!?!?) Then I finally told him to just book something and I would get to book the next vacation on my own (knowing that the next planned vacation would be longer). So the next night when I came home from work, he was booking a trip to JAMAICA! He found a groupon for a really nice place, and I was ecstatic. Of course, he didn't pay any attention to the fact that we only had time for a 4-day trip and he booked the 5-day trip. Oops! Luckily you have some time to cancel without being penalized, so I got it fixed and we were set. And oh man, I felt like a child before Christmas...

We stayed at The Jewel Dunn's River Beach Resort and Spa in Ocho Rios. And it was maaaaahhhvelous! It used to be a Sandals property, but they sold it. The only complaint I had was that the suites were a little small, but we weren't in the room much so it doesn't really matter! It was a much smaller resort than the others we've been to, but that's what made it so fun. You knew most of the guests because you talked to them everyday. If you forgot something in the room, it was literally a 2 minute walk from the ocean. You knew most of the staff and bartenders. Aaaaand, most importantly, they had PLENTY of bartenders at every bar! In Mexico, there was always 1 bartender to each bar... that's just dumb!

I may have been slightly terrified of the ocean because Shark Week had just ended...

Beach volleyball is a blast, but it requires WAY too much energy to play while on vacation!

The beach was perfect.

Of course Hudson had a blowout the first time I put him in this when we got back!
Luckily, my mom knows a thing or two about laundry... She made it look like new! 

Bonfire on the beach after the reggae dance contest (which was hilarious!)

This was my favorite place to get food. They had this massive oven to cook a bajillion pizzas at one time. 

I'd say I did pretty good with the sunscreen after day 1! Still glowing white!

I know nothing about Chess but Thomas enjoyed watching this match!

One of the swim-up bars

He was bringing me that purple drink... Not sure what it was but it must have been vodka.
I may have gone into a coma if I would have finished it!

Evening stroll on the beach!

My love :)

Emerald Tree Lounge

Sun is coming up... time for the beach!

I was a little worried about how the vacation would be since I'm breastfeeding, but there was really only one time that posed a problem. When we were in the airport in Jamaica on our way back home, we couldn't find a "family room" that I could use to pump. We didn't have much time either! Once we finally located one of these rooms, we discovered it had no outlet. That meant I needed batteries because the ones I had were about dead... Luckily, we had just enough time and we made the flight! "Pumping and dumping" was no fun because I hated to waste it, but I wasn't about to try and get through security with a cooler of breast milk!

While we were having a blast in paradise, Hudson was having a blast back home with family! He stayed with Mark & Shelly on Wednesday night, Trista & Joel on Thursday night and Friday night, and my family on Saturday night. And it sounds like he had plenty of visitors too! It was so cute to watch Thomas monitor facebook for pictures or messages anytime we walked through the lobby with free wi-fi. It was so fun to see pics and hear how he was doing! We sure did miss him!