When I saw my oldest son out on the water paddle boarding with his friends from the Beaches Teen Advisory Panel at Beaches Negril Resort and Spa, I have to admit – I was really jealous. They were having so much fun. Then I saw my husband do it – I held the camera. I was determined to do it when I was back at Beaches Negril for Social Media on the Sand.

When we were choosing our excursions, I put sailing at the top of my list.  I hadn’t been sailing since I was a kid, and I figured that I would just go all in on this trip.  When it was time to get out there, I was reluctant to… take off my pants.  You see, at some point when I was a teenager, my brother called me thunder thighs.

My dad and I on the beach. I was 16. With shorts over my bikini… with THAT body.

At no point after that did I wear a swimsuit without shorts, a shirt, or a skirt. I remember wearing sweatpants to a pool party at 22 years old. My friend told me I was insane and to take the sweatpants off. I refused. I knew the thunder thighs thing wasn’t true, but my older brother said it and I believed it. I told myself if I was that fit ever again, I would do it. Well who has time to wait for that? Not me.

I don’t know when I’ll have the body of a 16 or 22 year old again, so I decided that I’m not going to wait. The other Beaches Moms who were assigned to sailing came in all sizes, and while they slipped out of their clothes and put on their life vests, I clung to the hope that I wouldn’t have to take off those jeans shorts.  All at once I gathered up my bag and walked to the nearest bathroom.  I took off the pants and put on the bikini bottoms.  I was going in.

It felt amazing.

I started off sailing… there wasn’t much wind at first, so it was mostly sitting.

I text a few people to say I was going to do the stand up paddle boarding, and see if they wanted to join me.  I didn’t hear from them, so I just went ahead – pants free – and even asked a fellow Beaches mom to take some photos.

I knew that the photographer from SnapShots, the photography service for Beaches, was out in the water taking photos of our sailing class, but I was pleasantly surprised when he asked me for my room number when I was getting off of the paddle board.  I went to the photo studio later that night, gave them my room number, and picked up a CD of the photos I had chosen. They were really affordable, and the next time I am at Beaches or Sandals, I will definitely use the service again.  The photographer got these shots of me on the paddle board.

I was hesitant to share these, but when I showed them to my daughter, she was really proud of me for going out there… without pants… and getting on that paddle board.  I don’t hide my insecurities from her. We talk about the issues that we have – even if they are just in our heads.  I told her that I wasn’t so sure about posting close up photos of my “mom thighs.” She said, “put your mom thighs on your mom blog – they get it… they understand.” Then she repeated my own words to me…, “thick thighs save lives.”

So here they are. Mom thighs on my mom blog.

I would highly recommend taking advantage of all of the water sports and activities that are included with your stay at Beaches Resorts.  I did sailing and paddle boarding, but there’s also water skiing (Beaches Negril only) – my husband did that too, tubing, wake boarding, ocean kayaking, scuba diving, and more. See all the watersports that Beaches Negril has to offer here.

My swim top was provided by Lands’ End. Watch this video to see what I think of Lands’ End swim tops.

(I received free and discounted items and accommodations as a Social Media on the Sand attendee. I paid for my SnapShots photos, and it was definitely worth it. As always all opinions are my own.)