Cruising the Caribbean

As we were packing for what I knew would be the best week of my life, I asked Spencer if he thought that this would be the culminating moment of our entire lives. He looked at me doubtfully and said, "A cruise to the Caribbean? No". (Whatever... it totally was...) How could a week in paradise without your kids not be?

It is interesting, though, how I couldn't wait to get away from the little rug-rats. And then when the moment of truth came, I bawled my eyes out while cuddling my 2-year old, trying to say good-bye. That is the hardest part about being a mom. You can't stand to be with them or without them.

Anyway, thanks to my parents, who decided to treat all of their children and spouses to a Caribbean cruise with their inheritance money, we were able to go on this amazing trip. If you have never been on a cruise, I would highly recommend it, especially the Caribbean. All we did was sleep, eat, snorkel, and lounge by the pool or on the beach. It was so relaxing and beautiful. Here are some pictures:

SATURDAY: Flying to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida
SUNDAY: Boarding the Cruise Ship

The first thing we did was EAT!!!

Then we watched as we left the port and entered open water
We had to have a safety jacket practice, and yes, there were enough boats.
The main staircases
One of the decksMovies were shown non-stop out by the pool

More pools
And more pools at the back of the ship
MONDAY: Princess Cay's Island in the Bahamas

riding in one of the life boats over to the island, since there was no port

I had to get the ship and a palm tree in the background
snorkeling here was pretty good
the mother and the father
Brooke, Kammi, and KelsieEveryone (Dad, Mom, Karen, Mark, Pam, Kammi, Jeff, Donna, Sharon, Spencer, Mike, Kristin, Matt, Debbie, Jennie, and Bryan)

Dinner that night. We had 18 people, so we had 2 tables
TUESDAY: at sea
We traveled to the southern portion of the Caribbean and then worked northwards


Formal night for dinner
Mom and Dad
Donna and Jeff
Pam with Brooke and Kelsie (Donna and Jeff's girls)
Bryan and Jennie
Karen and Mark
Sharon and Spencer
Debbie and Matt
Kristin and Mike
Kammi with Spencer and Kristin, who felt sorry for her! haha
We went to a show that night
And they went to a movie under the stars
WEDNESDAY: St. Maarten in the Caribbean
We just hung out at the beach

playing games
THURSDAY: St. Thomas
This island was the most beautiful with the best snorkeling.
Our lovely taxi that took us all over the island


FRIDAY: Grand Turk
We went on a snorkeling/stingray excursion with Debbie and Matt

Here's Spencer and I snorkeling at a reef off the coast of the island
Waiting for the stingray to sting us
Spencer getting fresh with the stingray
I decided to make him jealous as well

Debbie and Matt couldn't let us have all the fun. I think Matt even licked the stingray's barb!

Debbie let the stingray give her a little back massage.
We missed the family dinner that night, so we ate alone
SATURDAY: at sea
We liked reading or playing games after dinner. This is us just chilling
SUNDAY: fly home. It was the perfect vacation, but I was ready and rejuvenated to see my kids again!

Thanks Mom and Dad for the best vacation I've ever experienced. And thanks to Bryan for all his professional pictures that I used in the post instead of my own!