Life: January 2012

Last November we went with some friends on a Caribbean Cruise, it was a BLAST!

Our ship was Royal Caribbean's Freedom of the Seas. It was a very nice ship with a wonderful staff who took such good care of us. Lots of fun was to be had on the FlowRider surf simulator, rock climbing wall, ice-skating rink, 3D dreamworks theater, Royal Promenade shopping, cantilevered whirlpools, mini golf course, and the H2O Zone water park, not to mention the fabulous eating options.

The weather was not the best and we had to forgo our first stop, which was Cococay Bahamas, but there was so much to do on the ship that we didn't mind one bit.
So, our next stop was St. Thomas, the weather was kind of cloudy but we hit the beach anyway and did some snorkeling.

Just had to tryout the macro function on the new pocket camera:)

Because of the cool weather we discovered something new "sand fleas" and yes, they bite. So, about 3 days later we were covered with little red itchy dots.

Our last and favorite stop was St Maarten, which we thought we might have to stay and take up residence on a count of we cut it really close getting back on the ship. They have some traffic issues, and island time is different than ship time.

Julie and I went on an amazing private horseback ride that ended up in the ocean. It was soooo fun!

Then we took some rhino boats and drove along the coast. This is a must do if you ever go to St Maarten. It was soo cool, we drove through a ship graveyard, and stopped for some snorkeling along the way, I drove the boat on the way back and missed the clothing optional beach, but I'm told there were some interesting sites I missed:) They recommended not taking our cameras for this, but I really wished I had!

Oh, and this ship was our neighbor the "Dream"

The lovely Promenade

This was formal night, which I have to admit was more fun than I thought, I don't like to dress up:)

The guy on the left had a tie on but it came off quick after we left the dining room- pilots are such rebels!

After eating a fabulous dinner in the dining room, we would then change our clothes and hit Johnny Rockets for fries, Sundaes and shakes....because we could. I don't think I ever had a chance to get hungry, we just ate and ate and ate!

The upper deck activities were fun, we felt like we had to try everything at least once!

Dave let me win at mini golf!

Our room attendant would tidy our room twice a day, and at night he would make a different animal out of the towels,

Ice skating in the Caribbean!

Our farewell meal, they sang to us:)

This is all of the groups luggage, but this being our first cruise, most of it's ours, ya know... cause we had to bring everything.

This was one of my favorite parts. I have never been away from these guys for very long and I was soooo excited to see them!!!!!!

Now this was by far the funnest vacation we have ever taken, but there is a dark side, I happen to be one of those extremely rare cases where my land legs never returned. It has been two months and I still constantly rock like I'm on a ship. Mal de debarquement is the name of the "condition" and I'm not gonna lie, It has been pretty miserable and life changing. If I had known that this would have happened I definitely would have passed on the cruise but part of me is glad I didn't know because I will always have the fun memories with my dear friends.

This has been our craziest fall yet. We've kinda laid low the last couple of years but thought that since Kate is two now we could handle a little more on our plate. HA! So our fall was filled with ballet twice a week, soccer 4xs a week, violin 2-3xs a week, tumbling once a week and piano 2x a week, with the occasional choir concert/recital...humm no wonder i didn't have time to blog and it flew by so fast.

. Abby loves BALLET!

Last spring Bree tried out for LADY MADRIGALS at school, she loves it. They are a very impressive group and we just love the choir director. He is so fun, but also really knows is stuff.