We left for Barbados today. We have been planning this trip for YEARS!!! When Joe & I were engaged, we dreamed of honeymooning in Barbados. But at ages 19 & 20, we just didn't have the money. We did an I.O.U.
And we cashed it in!
Leaving the boys was so hard. We had never spent a night away from them all together. Jett has never left my side! Jaxon & Jaden have had a few sleep overs, but 99.5% of the time, they stay with us! As soon as my parents got to the house (my dad to pick us up & take us to the airport, and for my mom to watch the boys), I kept repeating over & over,
"do not cry, do not cry...you will mess your sinuses up! You will be in a lot of pain on the airplane"
{I have some major sinus issue...but that is a boring story I will not get into}
But as soon as I looked at them to say goodbye...it was all over! I bawled like a baby!!!
{pics taken by my mom's cell}
I cried saying good bye. Cried all the way to the airport in the van. I knew that my sinuses would be a mess, but I didn't care! I was going to be away from my babies for a whole week!!!
When we got to the airport to check into American Airlines, I was surprised that it was all automated by touch screen. It was cool, but sorta thought that we were paying some big bucks to check in ourselves!! Oh well.
We got to the airport first, Ernie & Missy got there a lil bit later. I felt so bad for them as I looked at them standing in line to check in. They looked horrible. OK, they looked great, but they looked so sad & upset! Why?? Well, another long story that I will not go into because that would take a zillion years to explain, but their daughter had just checked out of them hospital. She got a really bad rash on her leg that kept on spreading. Nothing was helping & the doctors had no idea what it was or how to treat it! It wasn't until that morning did they decide to make the trip. It was very stressful for all of us. They weren't sure if they should go or stay. If they stayed, then they would lose out on the money...and a trip of a lifetime. But they obviously decided to go. The Grandma's had both flown in to take care of their daughter (and son)! And FYI, lil miss started showing improvements the very next day! That took the pressure of leaving her behind in that condition! Praise God she was feeling better!!!!
Once we all got checked in & scanned (it wasn't as bad as people make it to be!), everyone was able to relax & we started to have some fun!
We flew from Nashville to Miami. We flew on this small AA jet (American Eagle). Over all, it was a smooth flight...only a few bumps! There must be something about flying that puts people to sleep, because everyone but Joe & I were sleeping! I think we were both just too excited to sleep! I had to get up once to pee and as I passed E&M, they were knocked out! LOL! And as expected, my sinuses went crazy! The pressure of the altitude, mixed with my swollen sinuses from crying earlier, along with already narrow sinus passages that were already infected....caused for some horrible pain! But I didn't let that get me down!
When we landed in Miami, we had to exit the plane on some sort of portable walkway. It took us to ground level & to an outdoor corridor. If you have never flown into or out of Miami...it is HUGE! We had to take a tram just to get us to our next connecting flight gate! While there, we had enough time to grab some lunch at a place called "Island Cafe". We wanted to get into the island mood I guess, lol! We walked to our gate, thinking about grabbing some Starbucks before boarding our flight to Barbados. But as soon as we got to the gate, people were already boarding! So we skipped the Starbucks idea...good thing because we were one of the last ones to board the plane!! Whew....we almost missed our plane!!
The flight to Barbados was really nice. It was just a lil less than 4 hours. We were able to sit next to each other. Our first flight, we were in separate rows, but this one we were all next to one another. The flight seemed to go by so fast. Maybe it was just the excitement of it all. I don't know. They showed the movie, The Vow. I had been wanting to watch it...and I did see bits & parts of it, but I just couldn't focus! I need to rent that movie now, I want to see what happens & how it ends! Our plane left at like 6:30 and landed at 10pm. It was dark by the time we landed. I really wanted to look out the window to see all the islands as we passed them, but only saw some shining lights from these tiny lil islands from the sky!
When we landed, we had to walk off the plane onto the runway....that was sort of cool! I had only done that once when I flew into Haiti. I wasn't sure what to expect at customs. Would it be hard? Would they ask questions? NOPE! We just handed them our passports, then our customs forms & they let us go! They didn't even ask us any questions! Well, that is not true, the customs man did ask Ernie what country he was from (everyone thinks that he is from the middle east...looks like there is racial profiling all the way in Barbados too! lol). Once he said the United States, he let us go!
When we walked outside of the airport there was a man holding a sign with our last name on it. That was really cool. I wanted to take a pic of it, but didn't know if that man would appreciate it. I think he knew that I wanted to, so he let me keep our sign (for the scrapbook I will never make, hahaha). We took the taxi (a van, really) to our resort. We couldn't really see anything as it was super dark. What we could hear was these weird chirping noises. We asked him what they were & he said that they were tree frogs! What we could see were cars driving on the "wrong side of the road"....err...I mean on the left side of the road! Barbados is a common wealth of England & still practices English traditions, like driving on the left side of the road. It REALLY freaked me out at first, but as we drove more, I got use to it! Speaking of driving, there are NO stoplights. At least none that we saw! Only "round abouts"! It was sorta weird, but it made sense! No one stopped, it kept things moving! Oh! And instead of a "Yield" sign, they had, "Give Way" signs. Doesn't that sound nicer?
When we got to the resort (Mango Bay), we were greeted with food plates because they knew we would be hungry (it was close to midnight)! Isn't that so nice!?!? As soon as our bags hit the floor of our room, we hit the beach. Yes, it was dark & really couldn't see anything... but we didn't care! We HAD to see the ocean!!!
Our room was AWESOME...we booked a Superior room. We had no idea that we would be getting a private cabana attached to our room just off the pool!!! I mean, seriously?!?!? How cool is that!!!
{This pic was taken the next day, but just wanted to show it to you now!}
Once our heads hit the bed...we were knocked out!
And that concludes our first day in Barbados!!!
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