CRUISE (day 5-8)

Hopefully one day I will finish my blogs about the cruise.

Day 5 on the cruise we stopped off at St. Thomas. This was my favorite island of the four that we stopped at. It was beautiful. I enjoyed the scenery and loved the beach that we went to. At this island, I wanted to enjoy a beach, again, and do some shopping. I got to do both. I loved both of them. Matt and I were with big group of my family and we got this taxi.

He drove us around so that we could see a bit of the island. We stopped to take pictures at fun places.



This is the beach that we ended at. It was gorgeous.
Here is a lovely picture of Matt and I in the water.

Several people in our group went snorkeling here. I, at times get a little motion sick when I snorkel and wasn't feeling great, so I stayed on the beach. From what I heard, the snorkeling was amazing. Their were large fish. One of my brother in laws found a doggie treat and the fish would come and eat the food right out of their hand. I had a great time with Jennie and Brooke on the shore. The water and sun felt great.

Here is Jennie on the beach. This picture was taken by my brother, and you can really see how beautiful it was there.

On the way back to the boat, we stopped to take some more pictures.

This is black beards castle. It is the building to the right.

Then the harbor.

Then all of us that hung out that day. Dorothy, Jennie, Donna, Brooke, Kelsie, Sharon, Spencer, Debbie and Matt. We are missing Bryan because he is taking the picture.

While shopping I was able to buy a purse that I love and Matt got some fake Oakley sunglasses that lasted him about four months. Totally worth it!


Day 6
We stopped at Grand Turk. This was the one and only island that we decided to do an excursion with the cruise line. I liked doing both, excursions and my own thing. We got off the boat and had a few hours before our excursion time, so we joined a bunch of our family at the beach, it was a long walk down. As we were at this beach several people again started snorkeling and ended up finding a bunch of silver dollars. They were very delicate. Matt tried to dive for some, but after getting to them and coming to the surface they would fall apart and crumble.

Here is Matt and I on the beach with the cruise ship behind us, the some sail boats. I love that these pictures look kind of fake.


Sharon and Spencer joined us for our excursion, which started with snorkeling. This was fun because we were out in the middle of the ocean with a coral reef.
Here is Matt snorkeling.

Sharon Snorkeling
Sharon and Spencer together
Matt and I. We are not that good at taking these together.
Matt



A self portrait of Debbie

All done, and back on the boat. Notice the marks from our masks on our faces.
Next we stopped to swim with stingrays!! I thought this part was so much fun.
We kissed the sting ray.

Matt kissed the barb, which gave him good luck for 7 years.

I got a back massage. I really felt slimmy. It was weird.
Here is the guide showing us a trick with the stingray. He lifted it up and water came out of its mouth. If you notice, in the back their is a guy on the beach. If you look close you will notice it is my brother in law Spencer. What is he doing?
This picture was taken at the same time as the previous one, I am just showing it because again, what is Spencer doing?
Matt, Debbie, Spencer, Sharon

The four of us missed dinner with the family that night because our excursion was later than our dinner appointment. Here are the four of us at a table.
Sharon, Spencer, Matt and Debbie

Day 7
We were at sea this day. I don't have any pictures, it was another hang out day. My favorite part about this day came that night. If you have ever been on a cruise before you know that you are supposed to have your bags all packed, except for a carry on, and out side your door before you go to dinner. The staff come and get your luggage and have if for you the next day when you depart the ship. Matt and I were trying to get ready for dinner and pack our bags were getting frustrated at each other. I wanted him to get ready so that I could pack his clothes, he was no wanting to get ready at that moment, etc. We figured it out and got to dinner. All week at dinner our family had taken up two tables. The couples always sat together, but we moved around to different seats every day. This night we decided to sit the girls at one table and the boys at the other. I started telling someone how Matt and I had a disagreement while packing. Others started saying they had disagreements with their husbands while packing as well. We all went around the table and told our packing drama. It was awesome. We all had drama except for my sister Donna and Kristin. Donna said that she packed her stuff and Jeff still had not packed his stuff and she just didn't care. Kristin, who had been married at this time for three months, said that she just did it all while Mike watched TV. I laughed the hardest at this one. I wonder how long that plan will work.

Thanks Mom and Dad for the wonderful cruise. I loved the time to spend with you and all the siblings. I loved the time that it allowed me with my husband. When I am away from home I am able to focus and him and realize how truly I am in love with him, and how perfect he is for me. Thank you, thank you, thank you. It is a vacation that I will never forget.

THE CRUISE (day 3&4)

The third day of the cruise was a great one, because it was a relaxing day. We were at sea all that day and hung out by the pool, ate, and enjoyed one another. At one point I had decided I wanted ice cream, and it was convienent that their was an ice cream bar. Matt said he also wanted one, so I headed on my way to get two ones. As I was returning with my treat the ice cream started melting. I was eating mine as fast as I could to keep up with the melting, but could do nothing for Matt's. By the time I returned, his cone had melted all down my hand and looked delicious. He then asked me, "what did you do?", really, cause I totally meant to do that. I laughed at that for a while.

Kammi, Sharon, Donna, Jeff, Matt, Debbie
After we had been out for a couple of hours it started raining and people were scrambling every which way to get out of it.
I promptly went back to my room, expecting Matt to follow, but he never did. I ended up taking a nap and enjoying myself. Come to find out, the rain only lasted a minute, then when it stopped all of the prime lounge chairs were available, and Matt and the others took advantage of the situation.

After dinner we went to a show called MotorCity. They sang songs from Motown. I liked the songs, but as Matt stated, their was no soul in the group. It was just missing something.



Day four we stopped at St. Maarten. On this island, Matt and I had decided we wanted to venture off by ourselves. I was kind of excited. We had looked at different things to do there and had decided on an island. Off the ship, we got in a taxi cab. The cab drove us to where we could catch a boat for a short ride to this beautiful island. We walked to the opposite side of the island and were all alone on our own beach. Matt and I relaxed, read books, snorkeled, and just enjoyed the scenery. There were sailboats out in the water. It was beautiful.

Here is the beach. We ended up walking to the far end.


After a while we go hungry and walked back to the side of the island where the boat dropped us off. There were a few restaurants here and Matt was able to order lobster that he then went and picked out of a cage in the ocean. It can't get any fresher than that.

This is our server getting the cage that has the lobster in it.
More Lobster

Matt with the food that he had picked out.

Our table
Matt's food grilling
Yummy


Here are some pictures of the St Maarten, and the boat docked there.

THE CRUISE!! (day 1 & 2)

We had a vacation of a life time this summer. My parents treated all of my siblings and I, along with spouses, to a cruise. We went to the Eastern Caribbean. It was so amazing. I loved having that week with my siblings. All were able to come expect Sandi. We sure missed her. Her husband is in the Air Force and he was sent over seas and they were getting him ready and saying good bye. It was so fun being around everyone, and a cruise is perfect because their was plenty of time that we were able to all be together and plenty of space and privacy if needed. Also, grandchildren were not there. I enjoyed hanging out with my siblings without them having to worry about their children. Don't get me wrong, I love their children, but it was fun to be with just the siblings.
The whole thing started in Ft Lauderdale. We arrived on Saturday and boarded the boat on Sunday. We spent the day exploring, unpacking and eating. In other words it started off great. Here are a bunch of pictures from that day.

Walking across the bridge to enter the boat for the first time.
Kammi is excited!
Leaving Ft. Lauderdale
Muster Station. Jennie, Bryan, Kristin, Mike, Debbie, Matt
Matt
Our first dinner together. Kelsie, Jennie, Bryan, Mark, Karen, Larry, Dorothy, Matt, Debbie, Pam. We were too big of a group to all fit at one table, so this is only half of us.
Here are several of the boat.








DAY TWO - Princess Cays, Bahamas
The second day we went to Princess Cays, which is a private island owned by Princess cruise lines. It was pretty much a day at the beach. There were plenty of lounge chairs and food provided, and we just laid out, played in the water, read, and took pictures. I enjoyed it all, Matt of course could do with out the laying out, as he is prone to burning. Who would have guessed with the red hair.

In a boat that took us from the cruise ship to the island.
Brooke, Kammi, Donna, Pam, Kristin, Mike, Sharon, Debbie, Kelsie

This picture is fun because you can see Kammi, Brooke and Donna in it. I don't think Matt even realized that when he took the picture.

Our group, My parents, Larry and Dorothy, Karen, Mark, Pam, Kammi, Jeff, Donna, Sharon, Spencer, Mike, Kristin, Matt, Debbie, Bryan, and Jennie
Dinner that night. Kristin, Mike, Matt and Debbie
Mark eating who knows what.
That night we went dancing. They had a line dance night going on and I convinced a few of my sisters that they wanted to go. We went and it was actually really fun. One on the many highlights of the week.

Here is Sharon enjoying the music. I think she actually had Spencer dance with Kammi on one of the slow songs because we all kept dancing as couples and Kammi would sit all by herself. It was just cute to she Sharon enjoying herself.

Near the end of the line dance time, they played a game where everyone got in a circle and they elimated people by talent. Well, Sharon and Kristin got down to I think the final six or four. Then it came down to Kristin and one other. Then Kristin won!! Well the staff had her cheat to win, but she took that.
This was her prize. Alcohol, just what she wanted!
They were able to trade it in for this, much better!!
Thanks for a good night sisters and brothers in law. I love my country line dancing.