Carlton Capers: March 2012

We just got back from a week in Jamaica at the Franklyn D Resort (FDR)--Ginger now calls it our "Jamaica Home". Edison calls it "Jameeka". We had the most amazing time! We promised lots of people a full report about our stay in Jamaica, so this is me fulfilling my end of the bargain.

Brandon took some time off between jobs (he is returning to Ernst and Young after 4 years at the Treasury Department), and so I knew that we'd want to take a family vacation. I found FDR on a website with a list of top all-inclusive resorts that are family friendly. From it's website, the hotel looked really outdated, but they had a special deal for families with infants: if you have a baby under 3 months old, then mother and 2 other children are free. Perfect timing! We just happened to have a baby under 3 months old! So we thought we'd give it a shot.

To quote a fellow guest, referring to FDR, "it's not the 'shiniest' place, but I can bring my kids here and we can ALL have a vacation together". The thing that sets this place apart from other all-inclusive resorts is that, included in the price, each family is assigned a nanny for the duration of their stay at the resort! (We paid a little extra for a second nanny.) So, the nanny can come with your family to do various activities and help with the kids, or can take the kids to go play so that parents can relax.

I have to admit, it was really strange to let the nannies help out at first, but after about a day and a half, the nannies had us figured out, and knew what our kids needed. Brandon and I could lounge on beach chairs reading our books while our kids had fun playing in the sand and water, and we didn't have to worry about them getting hurt because the nannies were there to watch them. So, we got to see them playing, and we could take pictures of the cute things that they did, and join in on the fun if we wanted to. We didn't miss out on having fun experiences with our kids (like if we went to a place that just has a separate kids club), but if we just wanted to sit and read, we could! And I am so excited that I was actually able to finish reading a whole book while we were there--something that would have taken me a month or more at home!

I especially loved that our kids had so much fun. They loved their nannies, Tanya and Tameika. And there were fun things for the kids to do all day long! Ginger and Edison didn't have to wait around for me to feed Penny, or for naps. If one of the kids was taking a nap, the others could be out with Tameika while Tanya waited in the room for the napping child to wake up. (Tanya started reading our Old Testament stories that we read with the kids because she was hanging out in our room so much...just think--that could've been ME hanging out in the room for half of our vacation! Or we would have had cranky kids all the time.)
Needless to say, it will be very hard to have a family vacation any other way while we have little kids.

It is hard to describe all of the wonderful things about this place! We kept on reading reviews about how families would come back to FDR every year for years, and I wouldn't be surprised if that became our tradition as well.

The view from our door. The rooms were originally made to be condos, so they all have a kitchenette. We got a 2-bedroom, so the kids had their own room separate from the living area.

Ginger and Eddy playing on the beach. Tameika is holding Penny, and Tanya is on the right. They had these little tykes climbers and slides on the kids beach--Edison REALLY loved them.

In the pool, Edison would walk back and forth and up and down the stairs for almost 30 minutes! Tanya was so patient with him--she held his hand the whole time (he wasn't that sturdy on his feet).

Every morning they set up fishing for the kids. Edison was more interested in squeezing the fish than catching a fish.

This is Ginger attaching the string to her fishing pole (it was just a little stick--but it worked! who says you need a fancy fishing pole to catch a fish!)

I have Penny in the front pack, Ginger is watching the fish bite at her bait, and of course Eddy has his eye on the fish in the bucket!

Relaxing on the beach, reading my book. Penny's sound asleep.

Our view from our chairs (these are Brandon's legs--not mine)

There was a little baby pool with a slide that Ginger and Eddy spent a LOT of time at.

And they really loved it!

Really really loved it.

Of course we had to bury Ginger.

We buried her with her friend, Lily (another girl staying their with her family).

The big rocks kind of enclose the beach area so that the waves aren't that big, and so the kids can walk out in the water really easily.

(I'm in the background holding Penny)

We took Ginger and Eddy out on the kayak. It made me really nervous with the waves at first (I really thought that the kayak was going to capsize), but once we got out farther it wasn't so bad. Ginger was really nervous too, so I had to pretend to not be nervous. Now Ginger says that it was so much fun!

Eddy fell asleep in my lap while we were out on the kayak. Funny kid.

That's FDR from the kayak.

Eddy really loved Tanya. He also really loved the Cheerios that she has in her hand. Tanya and Tameika pretty much always had a bag of Cheerios with them because that's all Edison would eat.

Tanya and Penny became good friends too. Most of the time Tanya would take Penny, while Tameika played with the other kids.

So cute!

We went for a walk on a neighboring beach so that the kids could play in the waves.

Eddy LOVED it. A little too much--he got knocked down several times, but he'd get up and run right back!

Ginger wasn't paying attention, and she ran into the beach chairs. Ouch!

Brandon took the kids out to the floating trampoline.

At breakfast. FDR has the most amazing french toast! And of course they had tropical smoothies!

I didn't bring the right stroller for Penny (we used this stroller for Eddy in the airport--I wasn't planning ahead for Penny). But somehow Tanya was able to get Penny to fall asleep in it!

There were tons of lizards there. Ginger and Edison loved them! This one was really fast, and so the kids kept on chasing it around. I don't know why it didn't just escape over the wall! It just kept on running back and forth. Finally I felt bad for it and took the kids inside so that it could get away.

There are also rabbits there that the kids can feed. That was one of Edison's favorite activities!

There was a playground that they liked to play on too.

Every afternoon, they have tie-dye that you can do (if you have something to tie-dye...I bought Ginger and Eddy some t-shirts at the gift shop because we didn't bring anything white. Now I know for next time.)

Cute sisters!

Hanging out in our "apartment".

Every night they have fun activities for the kids too. On Wednesday night they had a pageant for the girls--they all got a crown and a bracelet as their prize. So Ginger showed off her dance skills and had such a fun time. Then she was really upset when she noticed that all of the other girls had dresses and she didn't (the other girls didn't have fancy dresses or anything, but they did have dresses).