So much for sleeping in – a 5:30 wakeup call from #1BabySister started my morning as per usual. Fortunately the house staff had already prepared the morning coffee.

For context I should explain that our Villa, Sea Glass, has its own staff of 4 – a chef, a gardener, a laundress and a housekeeper. I’m in heaven. I don’t have to cook, clean or wash anything.

Ahead of our arrival, we each selected our first morning breakfast. I opted for poached eggs on toast, while others enjoyed pancakes, omelettes and of course the freshest of fresh fruit.

A 5:30 wakeup allows for much productivity before breakfast. I logged 2 hours of swimming with #1BigSister, 2 delicious cups of coffee, 2 blueberry muffins and 2 gecko sightings. Nana and Grandma joined us around 8:00am, showered, dressed, makeup on and ready for a day of exploring.

After breakfast we grabbed a golf cart to take down the hillside to the beach to explore the shore. In retrospect, our Villa had 2 golf carts for our use, but we so wisely opted to stuff all eight of us into one.

While we didn’t have to “rent it” per se, I’m pretty sure this counts as the extreme vehicular rental for this trip (see prior travel posts for reference). Amir drove it like he stole it, much to the dismay of Nana and Grandma who were riding backwards in the back in the trip down. There were multiple comments from the wayyyy back about Amir’s driving, but I’ll just leave it at that.

The Tryall Club Villas each have a pool, but there’s also a large beachfront pool for access by all members of the resort. There’s a pretty delicious pizza shack on site, and you can have your pizza delivered poolside, take it to go, or have it delivered to your Villa if you are headed back. We opted to eat beachside.

We declared basecamp on the pool deck because it offered the most options for shade and kid-friendly swimming. A resort staffer supplied the towels and positioned giant pink and white umbrellas for us to optimize the shade.

After

Only Amir and Egem wore their swimsuits on this outing (we’d only planned to go exploring, not to do a whole swimming adventure), so they took the kids in the pool to practice their swimming technique. And by swimming technique, I mean anything to not drown. As an Emergency Physician with three kids who can’t swim, I have nightmares about this stuff. Big time.

While the others played in the pool, I walked down to the beach to check out the sand, seashells and wave situation. I met a little friend, a hermit crab, who I was sure #1BigBrother would love (or toss across the pool deck).

It didn’t take long for #1BigSister to want to join me on the beach. She’s always loved looking for seashells and throwing rocks into water… so this was her heaven.

Egem joined us at the beach and took the kiddos swimming while I looked for shells and small natural treasures along the shore.

Back poolside, the troops were dropping like flies. Exhaustion from traveling yesterday set in, and many comfortable naps were had by all.

Back at Sea Glass, #1BigSister was of course ready to go straight back into the pool. I was game since I hadn’t had a bathing suit on down at the beach and was a sweaty mess desperate for a dip. Unfortunately she demanded we swim in the “hot pool” (hot tub) which is a refreshing 95 degrees.

Hanging in the “hot pool”

Today is Sunday, so most tours and activities on the island are closed. Tomorrow is also a holiday in Jamaica, Labor Day, so tours won’t be running. That’s ok though – we’re finding plenty to keep us busy at Sea Glass.

~Steph