Sad but true - all good things come to an end, yes? Well, it's too late for any attempt at deathless prose, but cast your eye down the page if you'd care for a few moments from Spring Break 2009 with the Kim-
Granholms. For one, I think we can think Mrs. Kim for snapping this likely
xmas card photo of the
fam...
...and the astute blog reader has already figured out that we all had the benefit of extra
grandparental hands with Alice's folks - and Al and I enjoyed that as much as the girls clearly show below.
I think Dr. and Mrs. Kim enjoyed themselves not a little bit too.
Not least when they got to do some serious playing, here on the one "cloudy" day we experienced.
It wasn't all beach and pool and waterpark (all part of the lovely
Rose Hall Resort in
Montego Bay (and no, I'm not getting any commissions for your
clickthru - we'd just recommend the place highly, especially for families. Dude, it has its own
waterpark) because there was a lot of eating too, of shockingly good cuisine considering they were preparing three cruise-ship-like extravaganzas a day for who knew whether 750-1500 people each time. Kate and Abby ate more than just the
Froot Loops, really!
We didn't even make it out to the resort tennis courts (this was a
very laid back trip) or golf course, except for a couple little walks around the roughs in the morning, including this outing of Grandpa and the two girls so they could show him the shortest palm tree in the world - this is not an optical illusion or anything (not that I'd put such things past photographer Kate) as the trunk was right around three feet tall.
Despite the SPF 30 and 50 we were all wearing all of the time, Kate managed to acquire a nearing savage tan - this was only day 4 or 5, if memory serves.
And after 3 or 4 hours of swimming,
watersliding, and swimming some more each day (plus a hour or two of marathon training for yours truly) early bedtime was actually more of a desired outcome than anything forced by the 'rents. Al and I usually turned out the lights at the same time as the girls (yep, just about 8:30) but this was the rare night when Alice was working on "
The Elegance of the Hedgehog" and couldn't put it down (seriously - read this book).
One thing that was enforced was inside time during peak burning hours (wonderfully innocent, the girls didn't even think to question this, and I don't want to lay any bets as to how long that state of affairs will last for fear of hastening its end) but there was no shortage of indoor activities too, from the 'teen zone' with every iteration of home video game console (Kate's particular favorite was Ratatouille on the PS2, in which she showed early promise as a gamer - is that Alice's or my genes? - and an arcade
standup combo of Ms.
Pac Man and
Galaga -
sweeeeet) but also board games as in the below...
We also checked out (in order) Monopoly, Life, and even
Candyland from the Activities Center, but the girls had also brought along a good selection of Puppy- and Jungle-in-my-Pocket toys that accounted for a couple of days worth of play, plus one day Abby decided that vacation time was a good time for tidying (she literally labeled it 'helping Mama') and while I listened to
pre-recorded
CFA lectures on my laptop, the two of them picked up, well, everything in the room, from the shampoos etc. in the bath to folding and putting away clothes to making each bed (and fluffing each pillow - yeah, it was done on the floor by punching them, but I wasn't about to stop that kind of momentum) and arranging every pair of sandals/shoes by order of size in the "shoe corner." God bless Montessori school. But that's enough (yes, I know - too much) praise for one entry - let's end with a picture that won't surprise most parents (or anyone who was ever a kid in a hotel room)...
Oh, yeah - one more thing. It goes without saying that we were all sad to leave (Abby wanted to live there, thinking that finding a new school and all new friends was a small price for paradise) but also missed home in London. It didn't hurt that the day after our return Lisa, one of Kate's best
old Southbank friends, was coming over for a sleepover. I got home from what seemed quite a long first day back in the office (shoes are a bother after 10 days without, you know?) to find the three girls once
again playing house/family in a bathroom. At least this time they'd moved upstairs to the larger one!
Also during May, we finally cleaned our two front windows. Abby shows off her Montessori window cleaning skills. We only have 17 more windows to go...
Hmmm, do you think they enjoyed the show?
Back at the hotel, here is our nice bed with Kate demonstrating how she sleeps at night.
Here is the gorgeous view from our room.
Ah, and we celebrated Kate's 8th birthday. John and I are amazed how quickly 8 years have gone.
Only 5 more weeks left of school! Hurray.
