Our room had a king size bed and a day bed which Peyton claimed right away. She stayed with us every night - we loved it!!!!! Piocano (her American Girl Doll) even slept on the trundle pulled out from the day bed! Too funny. Garrison had a crib in Mommy and Daddy's room which adjoined ours. It was great that the kids could go back and forth between the rooms and that we could listen for Garrison once he was asleep if Amanda and Chad went out for a little couple time. It worked great!!!!
Soon after lunch, we put on our swim suits and started the fun in the sun. We had dinner at a different delicious restaurant and turned in pretty early Saturday night as we had all been up since dark thirty.
Fun things we did during the week: pool time (there were three pools but we used the one closest to our room which had two zero entry areas which worked great for the kids, especially Garrison). Peyton is such a good swimmer - those swim lessons are really paying off! She enjoyed swimming over to the pool bar to sit on the bar stools in the pool and order her fun drinks - coladas were her favorite (virgin Pina Coladas) but she also had Shirley Temples, banana daquiris, etc. She's a hoot.
We also went to the water park within the resort several times - there was a great pirate area with smaller slides, water events, etc for little people, and Peyton went down the big slides on her Momma's lap and enjoyed it very much. Amanda took both the kids (at different times) on the lazy river ride too.
Amanda and Chad used their scuba diving certification by going out on a scuba diving adventure and enjoyed it very much. They also went parasailing - something on Amanda's bucket list which has now been crossed off. We had fun watching them from the beach where we were playing in the sand. Amanda, Chad and Peyton went out in the ocean kayaking - Amanda commented that it was so quiet once they got out a ways.
Ron and Chad left the resort to go by taxi to a golf course nearby to play golf. They had a great time and enjoyed playing on a different golf course.
Amanda and I enjoyed an afternoon at the pool laying out in the sun and having fun drinks and having mother/daughter time to visit. It was fantastic.
All 6 of us went on a sailing/catamaran excursion. There was a DJ on board with fun music, the boat stopped for passengers to snorkel, there was a slide off the boat into the ocean which the kids went on, the boat stopped at another island for exploring for shells and seeing eguanas, etc. and another stop where people were allowed to jump off the boat into the ocean. Peyton jumped off in her Daddy's arms and swam around in the ocean with Momma and Daddy. Garrison enjoyed the trip with Grammy and Grandpa and even took a nap among all the action - he is such a good little guy. Sandwiches and drinks were served, and we had a great day.
On Monday, we had a special breakfast with the Sesame Street Characters which was fun and good food too. Peyton loved every minute of it - hugging the characters and giving them high fives. We had our pictures taken with Big Bird and several other characters who each came to our table.
Amanda, Peyton and Grammy went to Elmo's birthday party. Peyton participated in the dancing, wearing a hat and eating cake - have to have cake at a birthday party.
At Bobby Dee's - a hamburger type joint - they also had cotton candy which Peyton enjoyed. We ate there a couple of times for lunch and also stopped there for banana splits and hot fudge sundaes a few times too. They had great burgers, fries and onion rings. Yummo.
As a special gift and a surprise, the Todds had arranged for Ron and me to have a private anniversary dinner on the beach to celebrate our 40th anniversary which will be in August 2013. It was so sweet of them to do this! Our private waiter in white gloves came to our room to get us and brought me a rose. Our table for two was set on the beach, very close to the ocean where we enjoyed hearing the waves crash during our meal. We had a delicious four course meal and a bottle of champagne. It was one of the highlights of our trip.
Amanda and Chad enjoyed an adults only restaurant one evening while we kept the kids which was nice. They went to Le Petit and had a delicious meal and some quiet time!
Several evenings, they had music at the stage area for kids to go up on stage to dance and have fun. Both Peyton and Garrison loved going up there and dancing - well, Garrison mostly liked going up and down the stage steps, but they had fun! It was so much fun watching them enjoying themselves and interacting with other kids.
At the stage area another evening, the Sesame Street Characters put on a show. Peyton went up to the front and stood with other kids, getting a close look at the characters. She was mesmerized. Garrison enjoyed a good look from on his Daddy's shoulders. There was another Sesame Street show on the beach our last night which Amanda, Chad and Peyton went to. Garrison was not in the mood for another show, so Grammy and Grandpa took him to get dessert and back to the room to go to bed.
We ate at so many great places - there were 16 restaurants in all. One of our favorites was Mario's, an Italian place with a fantastic anti-pasta buffet (big salad bar) with cold shrimp that were delicious. Peyton loved getting her own plate filled, and they had a kids bar with spaghetti, etc. Arizona's had a great outside bar with burgers and sweet potato fries as well as a taco bar for lunch - inside they had fantastic food too. We ate there for dinner one night too. We ate breakfast most mornings at a fantastic buffet at Gizeppi's - they had everything you could ever want from crepes to delicious bacon to omlets to all kinds of pastries, etc. Ron and I went quite often to the French Cafe - they had fun desserts, specialty coffees, fruit, cookies, etc. Quick and easy. We ate breakfast the last day at Barefoot by the Sea - an outdoor place which Peyton loved because they had little picnic tables for the kids to eat at. We had lunch there one day too. We made it to most of the restaurants and enjoyed them all. It would be hard to pick our favorite. The kids ate well, and the resort people were very accommodating.
Peyton and Garrison both liked lying in the hammocks around the resort, and Grammy and Grandpa took them one morning to the playground area where they had slides, swings, teeter totters, etc.
There was so much to do, I'm sure I have missed something. It was a glorious week of family fun and memories - we are blessed. Also, a big shout out to Mark and Mary for spending the 8 days in Clinton with Grandma so that we could be out of town - THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!!!
