Vacation, Vacation

I am at a point where I just can't sit still any longer waiting for both of our fabulous vacations!!!



First, on Thursday night, we will be heading to Jamaica and staying at the beautiful Sandals Royal Caribbean for four nights and five days. While there, we are planning on climbing the Dunns River Falls. Mark is terrified at the thought of being up 600 feet but one of his friends has been there and said that 75 year old ladies do it so that we'll be fine.

We are also planning on taking a raft down the Martha Brae River. Mark's friend said that it is a very mellow adventure with just the two of us, the guy who paddles the raft, and a little Jamaican kid who swims across the river to deliver us beer and rum punch.

We will get back from Jamaica on Tuesday, July 22 only to start getting ready for our road trip to Michigan. After much hemming and hawing, we have decided to drive cross-country to visit our friends and family in the Great Lakes State.

We will be leaving on the 29th after Mark gets out of work. He said he would like to leave no later than 9 but we'll see about that. We are going to be driving as much as possible before stopping to rest since we have plans to camp in Metamora from the 31st through the 3rd with Mark's best friends.

We have no concrete plans as of now for the 4th through the 8th but we are planning on spending at least a couple of days/evenings with my dad and Amy and the kids. We're having a BBQ on the 9th at my mom's and hope that everyone can make it. It'll give us a chance to see everyone, plus Mike and Kristi will be there to show off Colin! On the 10th, my mom and I are hosting a baby shower for Becky at her place in Lansing.

The 11th, of course, is our anniversary and we are thinking of having a nice dinner and staying the night at the Ren Cen in downtown Detroit. We will then be spending a couple of days with Mike, Kristi and Colin, possibly up in Bay Harbor but all of the details haven't been worked through yet. We will be going to Madison, WI on the 15th for Karen and Scott's wedding and staying through the 17th or 18th and then returning to MI for our final few days.

The best thing about driving is that we don't have any real deadlines. If we plan on leaving on the 20th but something comes up, we can always leave on the 21st. We HAVE to be back for an annual party that Mark's parents host on the 30th of August but are planning on getting back about a week before that. Mark will then either go to work for the school district or return to work at BJ's on the 3rd os September.

We have a lot of preparing to do, but I guess I just have to take it one amazing vacation at a time. :}