Day 101 (4/11/11) - "Air-Go"

Our adventure began when our alarm clock went off at 2 am.  Poor Mike, who was supposed to have gotten off work at 7 pm, had a late medevac and didn't get home until a few minutes after 1 am.  Nothing like starting a vacation with no sleep!  We had hoped that we'd be able to relocate the boys from their beds to their car seats without waking them up.  No such luck.  They were too excited to go back to sleep.  The Mann Family, who is notoriously late for everything, was backing out of the driveway at 2:45 in the morning, 15 minutes ahead of schedule!

We arrived at Dulles a few minutes after 4 am.  It took us about 45 minutes to check in, get our boarding passes, go through security, and take the passenger train from the main terminal to our departure gate.  We had about a half hour to grab a quick breakfast, potty/diaper change, and watch a couple of airplanes take off and land.  We boarded around 5:45 am and were taxiing down the runway by 6:15 am. 

Both boys were very excited about their first airplane ride.  Gavin, in particular, is fascinated by airplanes and helicopters.  Whenever he hears the rumble of a jet overhead or sees one flying in the sky, he points to his ear and antimatedly exclaims, "air go! air go!"  which is his way of saying airplane.  Our resort was located near the Montego Bay airport, so Gavin must have said it at least 10 times a day!  And, you can only imagine his excitement at seeing all the air traffic at the various airports we visited!

Once we were on the plane, I surprised each boy with an airplane activity bag that included coloring books and crayons, new books to read, card games, Hotwheels, Transformers, a new Cars Leapster game, and Curious George gummy snacks in case their ears bothered them during the flight. 

Gavin and Daddy were sound asleep within minutes of reaching cruising altitude.  Since Ryan was too wound up to sleep, we read books and played with his new toys to pass the time. 

We had a brief layover in Miami, just long enough to potty/diaper change and stretch our legs.  The boys loved the moving sidewalks so we rode them from one end of the terminal to the other a couple of times.  Then the boys flipped through their new books while waiting to board the plane to Jamaica.

Since it was dark for most of our flight from Dulles to Miami, Ryan (who had the window seat) wasn't able to fully appreciate the view.  He was amazed at what he saw during the second flight.  Once we reached cruising altitude, he looked out the window and exclaimed, "it looks like a sea of clouds!  We're flying over cloud sea!"

Since we arrived in Jamaica late morning Jamaican time (which is an hour behind Eastern Standard Time), we had the entire afternoon to relax at the beach and in the pool. 

We didn't have the interest or the energy in getting dressed up for one of the nicer restaurants at the resort.  So, we changed out of our wet, sandy bathing suits and went to the outdoor buffet.  Gavin was apparently famished because he kept signing "more" and insisting "mo, mo, mo!"  He had at least 3 helpings of dinner!  Then the boys frolicked in the sand while Mommy and Daddy finished eating. 

After a LONG day of travel and playing in the hot Caribbean sun, we were exhausted.  In fact, we were all fast asleep before 8 pm!