Caribbean Paradise

Jesse & I spent last week on a Caribbean Cruise. It was paradise.

Well, aside from all the decisions such as,

Should I lay out?

When do I flip over?

Do I read?

Do I sleep?

How late should I sleep in?

 What to eat, lobster or prime rib?

 What to drink, daiquiri or margarita?

 You know, it was tough... very tough. 

We dropped the kids off with Jesse's parents Saturday night, picked up our friends Todd & Erin on the way to the airport early Sunday morning, and were in Orlando by 12:30. After a short bus ride to Port Canaveral, we boarded the ship (Freedom of the Seas) and were off for a week of pure bliss.

Monday morning we woke up in the Bahamas. We tendered over to Coco Cay, Bahamas. It's a small island owned by Royal Caribbean. It was a bit cool to get in the water, but nice enough to lay out and enjoy the sunshine. We did a little shopping, saw some wildlife (mainly iguanas.)

We also parasailed. 

300 feet up in the air.  I was TERRIFIED!

Jesse threatened to cut my rope if I didn't quit whining about how scared I was.

He's so supportive.

First Formal Dinner on Monday night.

The next day we were on the boat the entire day. Jesse & Todd were in meetings, so poor Erin and I had to lay out in peace and quiet. It was awful. All we talked about was how much we missed our guys and how horrible it was to be without them for a few hours. :-)

Wednesday we ported in St. Thomas. I think this was my favorite day of the whole trip.

This was an old fort and lookout bunker on a small island just off of St. Thomas.

We had signed up for a Sail & Snorkel Excursion. Aside from a bit of sea-sickness we were all feeling on the way back, we had a blast. Carl & Katie were our guides. We sailed out for about an hour until we got to Turtle Bay. On the way out we saw the island of St. John as well as the British Virgin Islands. When we got to Turtle Bay, we all got our gear on. Within a couple minutes we were already seeing sea turtles and sting rays. Katie (our guide) was wonderful. The fish followed her every where. She thinks it's because she feeds them the left over crackers and cheese from the sailboat and they remember her. There would literally be swarms of beautiful tropical fish trailing behind her.

Carl & Katie

Erin & Erin

Two sea turtles

Sting Ray trying to camoflage itself with sand.

Crab that Katie dove down for and brought back up for us to see.

Me holding a white sea urchin.

Katie diving down to show us more stuff.  Notice all the fish trailing around her.

The next day we ported in St. Maarten. St. Maarten is an island split between the Dutch and the French.
 

That's me standing in front of our ship.  It was HUGE!

We ported on the Dutch side and then took a Jeep and Boat Excursion around the entire island. The jeep adventure was an adventure of it's own. We were in a jeep with Todd & Erin and there was a caravan of 4 jeeps altogether. Traffic was insane but then you throw in these suicidal mo-ped drivers who would swerve in and out traffic while driving down the centerline of the road, inches from nailing their heads on the side mirrors of each car that they passed. It was wild. The boat adventure was death-defying as well thanks to Todd & Jesse. Each couple had their own boat. All I could do was hang on. I made it, barely.

Jesse & Todd in the jeep. 

I think this is Marigot Bay.

Fort St. Louis

A few pictures from the death-defying boat adventure. 
It was actually a lot of fun.

We also stopped at Orient Beach. We took a little stroll down the beach and discovered a nude beach. Sorry, no pictures to share!

Head down, stare at the sand and get out of there as fast as you can. 

Whatever you do DO NOT LOOK UP! 

We wrote the kid's names in the sand for them.

This was the group we were with from Winfield. 

Left to right: Phil, Todd & Erin, Mike & Vicki, Erin & Jesse, Jill & Jay.

Leaving Orient Beach.

Getting ready to board the ship at St. Maarten.

Parade on the final night of the cruise.

Here's a picture with Oneil, our Stateroom Attendant. He was from Jamaica man!

And here's Maricar.  She was our Waitress each evening in the dining room. 

I begged her to let me take her home.

Maricar had quite a sense of humor. The first evening of our cruise, Jesse ordered a steak. His steak comes out and he asks if she has any steak sauce. She names off a couple and he says to her,

"Do you have Country Bob Sauce?"

I died. The look on her face was priceless. So for the rest of the trip, each evening, she'd greet us as, "Sir Bob and Mrs. Bob." One evening she asked how long we'd been married and when I told her almost 10 years, she replied, "I can't believe you don't have wrinkles from this man." She was a riot. I wish I could have tucked her in my suitcase and brought her home with me.

Friday and Saturday we cruised all day. They guys had meetings again Friday, (another dreadful day spent laying out in peace and quiet) and then we spent Saturday enjoying some of the many activities on the ship.

Climbing the Rock Wall

(Jesse is the climber on the left.  He's reaching up and ringing the bell.)

This was our final night in the dining room.

We were off the ship by 8:00 AM, on our flight home at 12:30, and home by 5:30.

I'm counting down to our next cruise. 
I say our 15 year anniversary, Jesse says 20.  We shall see!

Happy 8th Birthday Kaylee Rose!!!

Kaylee celebrated her 8th Birthday this past Friday.  We were out of town, so I'm just now getting to her birthday post.  I'm turning my blog over to Kaylee today and letting her type up her own Happy Birthday post because that's what SHE wanted to do.  Couldn't say no to that!  So here goes!

My favorite things,

Food-Fettucine Alfredo

Animal-Dolphin

Color-Light Pink And Light Blue

Sport-Basketball

Icecream-Peppermint

Toy-Shrinky Dinks

Thing To Do-Play New Super Mario Bros. On DS

Subject In School-Math Facts

What Do You Want To Be-Nurse

Movie-Tangled

Book-Haunted Castle On Hallows Eve


Here's a picture from her Skating Party we had for her on Jan. 15th.

Snowbaby

This morning, we ventured out into the fresh fallen snow.  This was Anden's first real experience with snow.  Not that it hasn't snowed where we live, but last year he was only 6 months and this year, we just hadn't gotten him out in it yet.  But this morning, at breakfast, he pointed outside and said, "Snow," for the first time.  He's not a man of many words, so after being asked no less than 5,342 times by the older two hoolagens, "Can we please go outside," we bundled up and headed out.

This is Anden just as he'd stepped out the door.

It took him no time to reach down, grab a handful, and....

eat it.  Nothing better than fresh WHITE snow.  :-)

Wheeee!  Still licking his chops on the way down the hill..  He loved it!



And now he's inside enjoying a nice warm nap in his nice warm bed.

Sweetness

I woke up this morning listening to my boys over the baby monitor... well actually, I woke up to a loud thud (their bedroom is right above ours) and I laid there waiting to hear if the thud originated from Anden rolling out of bed or Jacob jumping out of his top bunk.  No cries were heard, must be Jacob.  The next thing I heard melted my heart.  I could have laid there forever and listened to the two of them.

Jacob: "Good morning baby Anden... time to wake up."

Anden: "Uh?"

Jacob: "Anden, want Jay-Jay to come lay with you?"  (Jacob swears Anden says, "Jay-Jay" for him.)

Anden: "Uh?"

Jacob: "Here Jay Jay will lay with you."

Anden: "Uh?"  (If you haven't caught on by now, "uh?" is Anden's catch-phrase.)

Jacob: "I love you baby Anden.  Here lets lay here in your bed and stay warm."

Anden: "Uh?"

I cannot remember the entire conversation (if it can really be called that) but it went on for a few minutes and was so nice.  I think I should have tape recorded it and set my alarm clock to wake me up to that every morning.  In fact it put me in such a good mood that I made these for breakfast:

Okay, not such a good idea to wake up to sweet boys every morning, which then puts me in a good mood, which then makes me want to bake muffins for breakfast, which then makes me consume at least a dozen muffins, which then makes me have to buy bigger jeans, which then puts me right back into a crappy mood... kind of defeats the purpose... "Uh?"  Did you follow that?

Here's the recipe for these ever-so-scrumptous, can't eat just 1 muffins.

Applesauce Blueberry Muffins
(Makes 12... I usually double the recipe because Jesse and the kids get cranky if they don't get any.)

1/2 C. Butter (softened)           1/2 tsp. Salt
1/2 C. Sugar                            1 C. Blueberries
2 Eggs                                     1/4 C. Butter (melted)
1 3/4 C. Flour                          1/2 C. Sugar
3/4 C. Applesauce                   1/4 tsp. Cinnamon
1 Tbsp. Baking Powder

Cream butter & sugar.  Beat in eggs and applesauce.  Stir together flour, baking powder, and salt.  Add to butter mixture.  Spoon into greased or paper muffin tins.  Stir in blueberries.  Bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes or until golden brown.  While still warm, dip top into melted butter and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar mixture.  Then devour them and don't feel bad about it... it has applesauce and blueberries for crying out loud!  Enjoy!