Claire turned 17 on December 20th.
A few years ago I had promised her that we would go away and do something special for this 2012.2012 birthday. Even though our family circumstances have changed, there was no changing or modifying this promise! Last year we started looking at our options and Claire, who is always cold, chose Barbados as her destination to celebrate her birthday.
Along with Claire, we packed up Cole, Chloé, Caden along with friends Austin and Victoria. Yes, me and SIX kids on a "road trip" to Barbados for a few days before Christmas.
We got to Pearson for 6AM and the journey began!
Such a GREAT group of kids.
I love that the kids were always involved. Either with the entertainers at the resort - or participating in making their own entertainment. There was A LOT of singing!
For me, other than the constant sound of the ocean waves, the best part of the trip was eating breakfast every morning. I would head over to the restaurant with the two younger kids while the older kids were still fast asleep. It was lovely.
My boy Caden HATED the heat. It was about 30*C every day and Caden is really a cold weather boy. He spent a lot of time in the warm ocean and the cooler swimming pool. Many laps were swum to keep him in condition for the Appleby swim team.
My mermaid LOVED it. Hours were spent in the ocean. So wonderful to see that smile!
I'm sure the kids thought I was taking photos all the time, but really, I didn't capture enough group shots! Have I mentioned how great these kids were? Everyone made comments about how I must be crazy to be on "holiday" with all of the kids, but by the end everyone was commenting on fabulous they all were.
Lots of critters everywhere.
Getting ready to leave, we enjoyed our last lunch and the last rounds of rum punch (for me) and strawberry daqueris (virgin - kinda) for the kids!
Ready for another wild opposite-side-of-the-road trip. We were all relaxed and happy to have enjoyed a wonderful holiday. Christmas Eve had arrived and it was time to head home.
Hello Montréal? Yes. All plans aside, direct flight be damned, there was a mechanical issue and we ended up being redirected to deplane, clear customs, get luggage, get new boarding passes, go through security again and change planes. We landed in Toronto at exactly 11:58PM.
Merry Christmas!!
