Cruise February 2010

So I figured I better write about our cruise in February, since it was next on my list and it seems to be holding all the other entries back. We had a wonderful time...I mean how could you not on a cruise? We visited some wonderful islands and had a TON of fun...of course. We first flew to Puerto Rico, where we spent 3 days sight-seeing. I'd love to go back there....so much to see and do! We went to the national rain forest there...so pretty, and lots of fun little hikes. And also took a ferry out to Calubra Island....which has one of the top 10 beaches in the world. And yes it was Flaminco Beach is beautiful. The islands that we were able to see were St. Thomas, St. Kitts, St. Croix, and Barbados. We weren't able to see the island Dominica, because the day we got there the sea swells were to high for the ship to dock, so we spent the day at sea.

Some funny stories that happened while we were vacationing:

At the last minute of packing I threw Brady's day backpack into my carry-on, thinking it would be great for the hiking in Puerto Rico. Well when we were going through security at the airport, the guard found 2 pocket knives of a descent size in that backpack. Put there many months ago, by my little cub scout Brady...always prepared I guess. I started laughing, but the guard didn't find it too humorous...obviously. Those knives were immediately confiscated.

The first night at dinner on the ship, our 'booze' waiter came around to see what drinks we would be wanting with our dinner. His name was Amol, and he was from India. When we told him that we didn't drink, he asked if we were Mormon. So we all had a good laugh, because you really don't think you'll meet that many Mormons on a cruise. But he told us to meet him on the dock tomorrow at St. Thomas and he would take us to the local branch. There were 20+ people in our group, so we added a lot to the small branch. What a fun experience to attend church in a different country. Amol was baptized about a year ago, after meeting his now fiance on the cruise ship where they both worked. They are planning on getting married this October, and live in India, even though she is from Chicago. He became a fast friend, and would visit us every night at dinner, even though we didn't order any booze!

Nate and I missed our kids a ton, but I guess Jace missed us the most out of all of them. (And to think I was worried mostly about Hannah.) At church on Sunday, he was having a hard time, and the primary president took him out in the hall to chat with him and give him a little hug. When she asked him how much he missed his mom and dad, he just lowered his little head and held up all 10 fingers. Kinda breaks my heart...what a cutie.

Here are some pics from the cruise:


Nate and Sara, Darryl and Gayle (my mom and dad), Jeremy and Emma at dinner.

I found this 'snow/sandman' on the beach in Barbados, just thought is was funny that someone would make this on a tropical island.

Best idea we've ever had when going on a cruise is to take our own snorkeling gear. We snorkeled on every island, and other cruise guests would ask us all the time where we rented our equipment at. Nate and Jeremy were a lot more daring than Emma and I, and found some awesome shells...even with creatures living inside!

In Barbados we went on the Rainforest zipline. SO FUN! I will definately do this again...it was totally safe and the workers there made is quite entertaining!

The island of St. Kitts. On the left hand side of the picture is the Atlantic Ocean, on the right hand side is the Carribbean Sea. This was by far my favorite island. Here we went kayaking out in the sea...that was a blast and quite a good work out...too bad we forgot to take pictures on the kayak's!

Nate being bombarded with baby green monkeys. They were so cute! And after the locals would throw them on you...they only wanted $20 for a picture, with your own camera. Always trying to make a buck!

Formal night...Nate and Sara. (Thanks Aubree and Ashlee for lending me your old prom dress.)

We went hiking all day in the rainforest in Puerto Rico. So pretty and green, even for the dry season. As we were making our own trail we happened across these ferns growing on trees, just thought that is was a cool picture.

The rainforest in Puerto Rico. I'd love to take the kids here someday, they would have a blast.