The Moncurs: Jamaica

Our trip to Jamaica was wonderful. We had so much fun just relaxing at the beach, kayaking, sailing, shopping, visiting with the locals, watching the late night shows, playing games with friends, and hanging out/conversing with friends. We feel so blessed to be surrounded by such wonderful, close friends whom we have grown to love and see more as family to us then just friends. We were grateful to be able to go on a trip and spend more quality time with them, without all of our kiddos, and get to know each other better. We also loved Jamaica much more then our previous trips to Mexico. The food (yummy jerk chicken, ice cream, mangoes, and tons of fresh veges), and the hospitality was better. Although we were sad to leave, we were excited to see the kiddos. Since Mike always gets to be away from the kids and know what it is like to miss them, I wanted to have this moment: walking through the door and seeing them for the first time since being away. Amari was in bed, and Beck's was in the back room with Grandma reading books. Thankfully Mike filmed the entire reunion because it was priceless. Beckahm didn't know quite what to do with himself. I think he was so nervously excited that he showing via laughing hysterically. After really registering that we were finally home, he ran to me and gave me a big hug and kiss and said "I missed you mom." It totally melted my heart. I guess Lauri said the morning after we left he had a major melt down for about 10 minutes, and during the week he'd get a tad sad at momments asking where "mom was." Corrie relayed to me, after he had gone over to her house for a playdate one day, that he just looked around and said to Corries mom in tears, "where's my mommy, I want my mommy." Another adorable thing, before we left I found a book at the Library about Mom and Dad going on a vacation. In the story the mom leaves hangs pictures of their family in the childs room so he can look at them every night when he goes to bed. She also reminds him that no matter how far apart they are they are under the same moon, and that every night Mommy would blow kisses to the moon for him. I decided to do the same thing for Beckahm. I got pics printed of us and put them on Beck's wall and told him that when he looked at the moon to know I was looking at the same moon and that we loved and missed him.

When we returned home I asked him if he looked at his pictures and he said he did and told me how much he loved them. Amari grew so much just in the 5 days were gone. His four top, front teeth are peeking through, he has now started to pull himself up and stand/even walk a little bit, and he is crawling at lightning speed. Beckahm also looked so grown up. His personality increased by way of bravery and self-confidence. I noticed he has started using his imagination a lot more (talking to himself instead of just to us), he has started singing songs at random to himself, his attention span is better, and his vocabulary has increased. It was so adorable to hear him say the word "Jamaica." It was wonderful to be reunited with our kiddos again!