Day 3 - Monday December 16, 2013:

I guess this part really belongs to yesterday’s journal entry, but here it is anyway.  Brent and James sort of disappeared in the late afternoon yesterday on us.  We didn’t see them at dinner and, in fact, it wasn’t till about 9:30 pm that they re-appeared.  Apparently, they had been doing a lot of activities together, like mini golf, basketball, giant chess, giant checkers, tennis and more swimming.  Then, they went to see the magic show that was performed that evening.  Meanwhile, Dave and I were so tired from our daytime activities that we forgot all about the magic show and we just waited until they came back from seeing it.  I did worry about them for a time, but then I realized that it was totally unnecessary.  It’s really safe on the resort even after dark, so nothing was likely to happen to them.

Today, we all went to the waterpark again and stayed there till lunchtime.  At that point, not only were we getting hungry, we decided that we’d had enough sun for the moment.  It’s easy to think that you’re not getting over-exposed to the sun, but then it hits you later on in the day and it can be brutal if you haven’t been wearing sunscreen and the proper protective clothing, like a hat, for example.

Later, after we’d all eaten burgers and fries and nachos for lunch from the Sunset Grill, I went to the Health Spa for a total body scrub, having made an earlier appointment with Donna, a very nice Jamaican lady who’d approached me for an appointment while we were at the waterpark.  I decided that I deserved to spoil myself this week since that’s what vacations are for, and thus the total body scrub was a done deal.  First, I was told to strip down to my underwear, don a robe and take a short sauna, a really authentic Finnish one, which lasted about 15 minutes.  Then, Donna took me to the massage room and told me to lie face down on a table layered with soft towels while she proceeded to scrub me from neck to feet with soft water and sea salt.  I’d never experienced this kind of thing before and it felt absolutely wonderful!  There was soothing music and scented candles and Donna herself was a total professional when it came to doing my body scrub.  After that, she took me to a private shower room and told me to take a warm shower to wash off all the salt and, after I did that and dried myself off, she took me back to the massage room and proceeded to give me a very soothing massage with deep body moisturizer.  I liked this experience so much that I wanted to tip her appropriately, but didn’t have any extra US or Jamaican cash on me, so I went back later and left her a $10 tip.  I also booked a pedicure for tomorrow, something that was way overdue, but – hey! – I’m on vacation this week so now is the most appropriate time to do this kind of activity.

The rest of the afternoon was kind of quiet, as, Dave was napping and Brent and James were busy with their usual activities.  That was the idea – they would keep themselves busy and I would be left alone to read or write or both, and to relax!  And, that is exactly what I did!  However, I did start to get a little bit bored and so I went looking for Brent and James later on.  When I caught up with them, I was introduced to a couple of American women they’d met who were also on vacation at Sunset Beach Resort.  Brent wanted to play mini golf with them, but James told me later that he changed his mind and didn’t play with them, he just watched.

The evening started off with dinner, followed by a suggestion by James that we play Monopoly, a board game that Dave had brought with him.  I said I would play too, but in reality, I was kind of miffed at James’ suggestions of how to play the game properly.  After all, I’ve played this game hundreds of times, unlike him (he’s only 9).  But, finally we all settled down to play the game and, ironically, I was really losing big time!  James actually won the game, doing it honestly, by playing by the rules.  That kid is so smart; he can win most games of chess and checkers, as well.  Then, Brent decided that he was going out for the evening and wanted to know if I would babysit James.  I told him I would because that was the arrangement – he would keep James busy during the day and I would look after him in the evening till Brent got back.  Honestly, I do not mind doing this – it’s a labour of love.  I love that kid like he belongs to me instead of Brent.  Anyway, that’s all for today.....tomorrow is another day!

One more thing – we made a reservation at one of the resort’s a-la-carte restaurants on the resort.  It’s an Italian-cuisine restaurant and you can only eat there by appointment.  It’s called La Bella Vita and our reservation is at 8:00 pm tomorrow evening.  They have four different seating times – 6:00, 7:00, 8:00 and 9:00 pm.  So, our dinner will be a little later than usual tomorrow, but we can always snack our way through the afternoon and early evening!