POOL PARTY at Toby's Resort (THURSDAY, JULY 3)

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Memoirs of an attendee

Even after a late night, the kids were up early, eager to see the new friends they had made the night before.  After a robust Jamaican breakfast of ackee and saltfish, boiled banana, yellow yam and Blue Mountain coffee, we made our way to the Baha Pool.

Surprisingly, other people were already there – I guess their kids were wired too.  We greeted everyone, set our things down and made ourselves comfortable.

The reunion attendees commandeered the pool deck like it was our own little island.  The pool is set back off the garden areas of 3 separate room blocks of the hotel with its own bar, and waiters from the on-property restaurant took our lunch orders, so we didn't have to leave the area all day.  Some of us soaked up the sun while others started a water volleyball game – guys against girls, go figure! It was a nice slow day and we all kept our eyes on the path so we could see additional schoolmates as they arrived.

Around 1pm, the yearbooks from Belair were offered around for viewing.  This was the highlight for the alumni.  With yearbooks spanning the school's 35 years we scrambled to find our own pictures to show the others, swapping books around when we couldn't find that photo we wanted to present.  However, the photos we'd have preferred to hide were quickly found by someone else and revealed to the group - “Oh, THAT's you!”  "Lord, look at the hair.”  "My gosh, I don't remember that photo.”  "Isn't this <so and so>?”  "Oh yes, they're living in <where it's what>….”  "Oh-h-h, this was my FAVorite teacher – the best!”  "Hey, remember this trip?”  The yearbook rounds went on for a good long time.

As expected, the kids showed no signs of tiring all day.  We gathered them for their afternoon Treasure Hunt which was led by clues, taking them into one garden, then up onto the pool deck, down to another garden and round and round.  The kids happily filled their goodie bags with toys as they moved from station to station.

Soon after, we gathered our stuff so we could rest and prepare for the evening event.