What a Weekend

January 28, 2012

Today was a truly amazing day.  I cannot take any credit for how fabulous it turned out as my hubby planned it all. This morning started off kind of rough… I had just an hour to wash the clothes and hang them out to dry, wash Averie,s hair and fix breakfast before it was time to go. Right when we were all dressed, Nay’s tummy decided it didn’t feel good and we all saw his breakfast again.  After all we cleaned up, I had time to sweep the house and then the taxi arrived.

Our first stop was the National Gallery of Jamaica (http://natgalja.org.jm/ioj_wp/).  The kids participated in a free 3hr art class that is held every Saturday.  They made new friends and learned a thing or two about art (an amazing program for anyone with kids in Kingston).  While the kids were in class Kenric, Nay and I walked around the museum and looked at the art.  We had fun pretending to know what we were looking at/ talking about lol. 

Art Museum (sorry for the poor quality... I was jumping into the taxi at the time)

After about an hour we decided to walk to the market around the corner.  Wow! What an experience!  The market was block upon block of people selling any and everything from shoes, to fresh fruits, to hair supplies to even live chickens (Kenric wouldn’t let me get one).  I was able to get everything that I needed in the place.  Kenric go a pair of Nike sliders/ sandles for JA$300 (US$3) and I was able to get all the kids a pair for JA$500).I bought Averie some hair stuff, Nay a ball me some razors and us some bag juice all for less than US$5.  I wasn’t able to get any pictures as I was trying to blend in.  My plan worked… I didn’t speak just pointed and nodded a lot and no one changed the price on me J .  I loved the market and look forward to going back.

Our next stop was the Devon House (http://www.devonhousejamaica.com/). On the way we passed Emancipation Park and were able to stop get some photos. We also drove through New Kingston, which is the new shopping district of the area (Downtown is open air market type shopping, New Kingston is store type shopping).

Emancipation Park

Emancipation Park

New Kingston

At the Devon House we had a fabulous lunch at a place called Grogg Shoppe.  The food was amazing and the service was fantastic, but it was a bit on the pricey side (it cost US$100 for all of us to eat). 

At the Devon House

Kenric had Jerk pork, mashed sweet potato with callaloo.  I had this amazing veggie pasta in this white sauce I didn’t recognize (my order was based off of a vegetarian suggestion from the waiter and was not on the menu). The kids had pasta, fish and chicken.

For our drinks Kenric and the kids had a passion fruit and I had a soursop.  My soursop, which is an actual fruit here in Jamaica, tasted like a banana and apple mixed and had the consistency of a banana smoothie.  It was… different but tasty!

                             

Our lunch and non-alcoholic but very pretty fruit drinks

After lunch the kids ran and played in the field (there are benches and trees and people laying out on picnic blankets… Just a really nice area to run and play. After play time we head to the I SCREAM shop (there spelling, not mine).  We had the MOST AMAZING ice cream I have ever put in my mouth.  Ever since we arrived everyone has been telling us we must get ice cream from the Devon House, and now I see why. The ice cream tastes like they blended fresh fruit with cream and sugar and let it freeze to this silky smooth perfection.  It was delicious. After ice cream we were exhausted and headed home.  Nay feel asleep in the taxi and him and daddy are still napping in the bed now.  It’s Saturday so I am about to cuddle up with the two older kids and watch some goosebumps. Bye for now!

Averie tackling her ice cream... the cones were HUGE and she literally had to plow her face into it and here's the result

Nay and I waiting for our lunch with me trying to keep him entertained

January 29, 2012
We had a wonderful day at Hellshire Beach.  What a great way to end the weekend.  This beach was not in a touristy area and was full of the local community.  It was great to see families enjoying the day together.  Not much more to say here... I can show you better than I can tell you!

overview of the beach

a ship way out there

the infamous ackee and saltfish with peas and rice

Joshua wanted you to see his whole fish (head and all)

Nay pondering

Joshua holding up the skeleton of some strange, unidentified sea creature

daddy and Nay with the Joshua and Averie in the background

daddy and Nay again

Joshua going under and Averie surprised by it

daddy and Nay again

a beautiful site... that's Kingston on the other side

another view of Kingston

and another view of Kingston

Our drive home... the warf is straight ahead

almost home... our driver drove us through Beverly Hills so we could see the big beautiful houses and the amazing view

another view from Beverly Hills

We're home now, settling down and looking forward to starting our week tomorrow.  First things first go and get my UWI id and then go and enroll my baby in preschool. Until tomorrow... peace!