No Problem, Mon!

Jamaica was just what we needed right when we needed it.

Friends had planned their destination wedding there more than 2 years ago and nearly 100 folks turned out for the event in over the holiday weekend.

For CCD it was a college and fraternity reunion of sorts, but for me it was time to relax, take my first preggo dip in the deep blue, and enjoy some delicious caribbean cuisine.

Little has changed about Montego Bay since my last trip there four years ago. Since it was CCD's first trip to the island, I was excited to share with him the few local points of interest I knew and of course we explored many more new ones together.

One spot I couldn't wait to revisit was a local jerk shanty called Scotchies. This is constructed of a number of materials including, sticks, hay, palms, cinderblocks and sits humbly on the side of the road with a tiny dirt parking lot complete with random goats that come and go.

Scotchies is a MoBay landmark and the jerk chicken is beyond compare. They marinate, slow cook and smoke the chicken over soaked applewood ALL. DAY. LONG. You can just see the plume of smoke coming from the place as you approach it. It was soo good we went there Day 1, and then made the entire airport shuttle bus stop on the way to airport where others got off with us to get more jerk chicken and festival (deep fried cornbread dumplings).

Being the (un)civilized people we are, we proceeded to take our foil-wrapped, smoky, jerk chicken right into the Air Jamaica Executive Lounge at the airport to eat in front of all of the first class passengers waiting with us. We should have been embarassed but it was soooo good and the bartender didn't even bat an eye, which must mean we weren't the first or the last to do this.

I also debuted my maternity swimsuit and that took some getting used to.

I quickly dubbed it my "birga" as the black ruffles that went down my tummy to the skirt that I thought were so cute felt more like a hot cloak and it flared out in the water. I kept joking with CCD "Look what you did to me. This is the most material I've ever worn at any pool at any age and it's all your fault. I hope you're happy that I'm all covered up. Where's my bikini?" We laughed it off, but I did expose my belly for some sun when I laid out on the lounge chairs. Felt soo good. That and the 4 coconut ice cream cones I had in one sitting. Soooo good.

I was the only preggo at the wedding so lots of our friends were being really sweet about my appearance (the swimsuit) and applauding me for rolling with the group from activity to activity. When you're sugared up on virgin daiquiris and pina coladas it's easy!

Here's my virgin "bobsled" from the Bobsled Cafe on the MoBay "Hip Strip."

After my OB appt yesterday I guess I spent a little too much time in the sun (and enjoying the sugar)--b/c my fluids were low and now I have to drink tons of water and see the doc again in a week. Whoops!

I hope we get to squeeze in one more trip while I am up for it, before the baby arrives. It was a great time AND best of all we didn't have to check any bags! We know that won't last forever...