Our faces actually hurt from all the laughing and grinning we were doing throughout the entire drive.  It was especially fun driving that dune buggy over and through obstacles where we would never have taken our Jeep.  Okay, that’s not entirely true: we have taken our Jeep to places much more challenging but never with such total disregard about damaging it.  You really can have a lot more fun with someone else’s toys!

We also managed to squeeze in a few hours of snorkeling from the Sandals’ catamaran Red Locks…

I am really at a loss to figure out just who that fat olde guy is in so many pictures with my hot young Bride.

I don’t believe that scaling Mt Everest could have been any more challenging than the time I spent being pushed, pulled and prodded along by an assortment of very young physically fit kids who were scampering upward as if someone were handing out free money at the top.  We did manage to complete this exercise relatively unscathed and with all of our various parts in working order at the finish line.  Two words: NEVER AGAIN!!!!

Another of the tours my Bride discovered was much more to my liking…

As is also becoming tradition, we spent the 10 days encompassing THE birthday and anniversary at Sandals in Ocho Rios, Jamaica…

With their unlimited food, beverages and included water toys there is very little of an additional nature most folks could imagine to do.  Of course my Bride is a wee bit more creative than “most folks” and was soon very busy booking tours to other parts of the island.

 Dunn’s River Falls was one adventure that I am quite happy to have done and even happier to have lived through.  Climbing up a rushing waterfall over slippery rocks is not an activity any 70-year old person, male or female, of sound mind should be attempting

I simply cannot emphasize enough how wonderful the food was at all of their restaurants and how special they treat you, not only on special occasions, but always.

 And we never knew exactly what kind of critter awaited when we opened the door to our room each evening…

It is once again THAT time of year:  Zook’s Birthaversary Month!  And every year I am just as surprised as I was the previous year that it is happening yet AGAIN!  Exactly how this “tradition” ever developed is something I am still at a loss to figure out but I’m pretty sure it was not my idea!  So the mystery remains as to whom to blame…

Oh well, I guess I inherited the crazy gene from my crazy sistah.  Everybody has one, knows one or IS one!  If some of the following pictures seem vaguely familiar to you, think of the movies “Dr. No” with Sean Connery and “Cocktail” starring Tom Cruise…   

After a birthday celebration at the French restaurant, Le Gourmand, we returned to our room and found this little surprise…

We drank so many of these things during our stay that every bartender knew exactly what we wanted and would have them ready for us by the time we reached the bar.  It’s really great being “locals.”

There are numerous restaurants to choose from including the most casual and laid back to those that required men to wear long pants and a buttoned shirt.  I believe the ladies could have gone in their birthday suits without any difficulty.  Man, talk about a double standard!

 Speaking of birthdays…

With that I believe we’ll call it a wrap until next time.  Although we have thoroughly enjoyed our 2 visits to Ocho Rios we have decided to expand our horizons a bit and have already booked our next Birthaversary at the newest of the Sandals resorts on Barbados.  If you have some time to spare next August, come join us!  Hugs, CC and me

This so called “Wet and Dirty” adventure consisted of 5 couples chasing a guide through the forest over rock and mud covered roads and through water filled pits at near warp speed…

  Birthaversary, Part 31                                                   August 29, 2015

Sandals is also a great place to try all those tropical drinks you see them sucking down in just about any movie set in the Caribbean.  Our personal favorite is the mango daiquiri…

That “cup” is made entirely of chocolate!

When our anniversary rolled around a few days later, we headed back to Le Gourmand for the Chateaubriand (this is a thick cut of filet mignon that is specially prepared to be fork tender).  And, once again, it was a fantastic evening…