Jamaica

Nate and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary with a splurge trip to Jamaica! The goal was to relax as much as possible, and do as little as possible! I think we were pretty successful in both areas! We stayed at a BEAUTIFUL resort on the cliffs of Negril. The resort only has 12 rooms, so less than 30 guests at a time (assuming maximum capacity) could be staying at the resort! 

We stayed in the Sea Turtle Cottage! We had a gorgeous view from the balcony and window!

As the hotel was built right into the cliffs, there were a lot of fun cliff jumping opportunities as well as caves to snorkel in and explore! We spent most of our days relaxing in a different spot of the resort, snorkeling, floating on rafts and jumping in to the water to cool off!

A short walk down the road from the resort was the Negril Lighthouse, located on the western most point of Jamaica! For a small donation, the grounds keeper took us around and up to the top of the lighthouse! 

The following day we did our one and only excursion, a trip to Mayfield Falls! The drive in was very pretty, and the grounds to the falls upon arrival were very unassuming. To be honest, I didn't know what exactly I was in store for. We ended up having a blast, getting to walk through a series of small waterfalls on a private tour. Our guide, Lester, was amazing and took so many cool pictures and videos for us!

We also took advantage of the Spa, and enjoyed a couples massage. SO relaxing!

Being about as far west as possible in Jamaica, we got to experience some gorgeous sunsets! A highlight for both of us was sitting together in the little Gazebo watching the sun go down!

I'm gonna wrap this post up with some pictures we took while exploring the caves and some videos of some of our cliff jumps!

Nate was extremely daring and tried just about every designated jumping area at the resort! I did two jumps, and that was more than enough for me! :)

This jump was a little different, called the Blue Hole! You jump down into the cave! An adrenaline rush for sure!

We had an amazing 7 days away, but would by lying if we said we didn't miss the girls! Both sets of Grandparents held down the fort while we were gone. We couldn't be more thankful for them and everything they did while we were away! 

Meet in the Middle & Easter

Our 2nd Annual Meet in the Middle took place Easter weekend in the Cincinnati, Ohio region! The tradition has been to rent a home for us all (my parents, us and my sister's family) to stay in a "middle point" location to our houses! The weather was quite rainy, but that didn't stop us from having the best time!

We had lunch on our own at a quaint little spot, Bean's Bakery & Cafe, before meeting the group at the first activity, the Ark Encounter! The Ark is a full-size replica of Noah's Ark, complete with 3 levels of exhibits to explore. We all had a blast walking through!

Afterward we headed to Red Robin for dinner and then checked in to the house! Somehow, I forgot to take a picture of the kids' sleeping set up at the rental house, but they were all together in 4 different beds in the basement! So fun!

The next day we drove into Newport, Kentucky for a visit to the Newport Aquarium and lunch at Five Guys. This was one of my favorite aquariums I have ever been too, so many hands on exhibits for the kids!

We rounded out the day with visits to the American Sign Museum, Loveland Castle and Chuck E. Cheese! Whew, it was a busy but FUN day! Thanks to Grampy for finding so many fun things for us to see and do!

The next morning was Easter Sunday! Aunty Alison led us in making Resurrection Rolls, also known as "Empty Tombs". You roll a marshmallow into a crescent roll and bake it! Once they are done baking you cut them open, only to find the marshmallow is gone and the crescent roll is empty. Thus, signifying the resurrection of Jesus! So cool! Grammy and Grampy set up an egg hunt for the kids, and then we headed to Freddy's for a farewell lunch!

The girls wrapped up Easter with baskets waiting for them when we got home!