YAY! VACATION!

We had sooooooo much fun on our Cruise! It was the first time Jamie & I have ever had a weeks vacation together and it was worth every penny! We went to Haiti, Jamaica, Grand Cayman and Cozumel, and left Kaiya with my parents. I wasn't sure how we would do without our sweet baby for a week, but we did fine, until I heard her voice in the background of the phone when we got into port at the end of our trip. Then all I wanted to do was go home. But I am getting ahead of myself! Here is our basic itinerary.

Day One: At Sea
Having a day at sea is the perfect way to start a cruise, we just laid by the pool and did nothing. Then that night we met the people we would be sharing our dinner table with, and they were fabulous. We all got along very well, and got to know each other over the course of the week. There were Nick & Justine from Indiana, who were our resident cruise & wine experts (on the right in the picture). Kai and John are from San Diego (on the left), Kai is so nice, and has a talent for drawing people out of their shells, and John who will soon be a police officer is a "magician" with the goofiest tricks ever. Everyone was so much fun to get to know!

Day Two: Labadee, Haiti
Haiti is probably the most beautiful place we visited. It was so lush, and the water was as clear as bathwater. There we went snorkeling out at a reef, and saw phenomenal coral & tropical fish, as well as squid, giant crab, jellyfish and sea urchins. We saw the remnants of an 80 foot boat that was destroyed by hurricane Hannah, and then dragged around the bay by hurricane Ike. You could see the exact path the boat took when it was moved around by hurricane Ike, because it destroyed all the vegetation it was dragged over.

Day Three: Ocho Rios, Jamaica
In Jamaica we went inner tubing down the white river. The river went mostly through a beautiful rain forest, although we did go through a few areas where the road came near the river and we could see people selling fish and things. It was wonderful. The crazy part was walking around the tourist areas, where about every 10 feet someone would stop you and ask if you what you were smokin' or if you wanted any "mountain herb". One guy even asked us if we had everything we needed for our party...I have never heard so many euphemisms for marijuana, and I never hope to again!

Day Four: Grand Cayman, British West Indies
Here we went snorkeling again at a beautiful barrier reef and saw a TON of fish, including a moray eel. Then we went swimming with sting rays. I think that was my favorite part of the trip. The boat took us out to a natural sand bar a few miles out from shore, where the water was about up to my rib cage. The water was again, as clear as bathwater, and before we even jumped off the boat, we could see these ENORMOUS rays swimming all over. They ranged in size from 18 inches all the way to 5 feet across. And MAN were these things FRIENDLY. At first they were a little too friendly for me, and I freaked out a little at first. I mean these are the animals that killed the Crocodile Hunter after all! Jamie just jumped right in and started petting them and feeding them, but it took me a little while to get used to them just swimming up on you. A few would swarm you at a time, and they were so big and strong they would push you right over! Jamie fed them squid and the custom is that if you kiss a sting ray on the nose, you will have 7 years of good luck; so Jamie just leaned right over and kissed one. I waited for our guide to hold one steady for me before I kissed one. But I did it and that is the important part, right???

Day Five: Cozumel, Mexico
Here we forwent the beach for something a little more meaningful. We went to the Mayan Ruins at Tulum. It was an amazing experience, and a total testimony builder. We had a tour guide, who showed us around, but eventually we met a tour guide with a BYU hat on, who gave us more LDS related information. I wish we had been able to stay with him the whole time, because when we walked through the gate and looked down over the beautiful structures, I felt like I was transported back to the Book of Mormon times. I guess that there really has never been an official church stance about the relationship between Mezzo-American ruins and the Book of Mormon, so you can't say for sure that the people who built them were Lamanites or Jaredites, etc... but just being there I felt like I could see wicked King Noah and Abinadi testifying to him. It was really pheonomenal.

Day Six: At Sea
Again, a perfect way to wind up a cruise is with another day at sea. We slept in, lounged by the pool and just enjoyed our last day.

Day Seven: Port Canaveral & the Kennedy Space Center
We had such a late flight on Sunday, that we decided to take a tour of the Kennedy Space Center before we went home. Our tourguide was officially a grumpy old man, who was like a great Uncle who you dreaded going to see. He hustled our group from place to place, and regurgitated facts from the posted signs. It got to the point that it was hilarous, and our group was just kind of laughing. He would wave his little clip board and run around gathering up the group like a crazed mother hen. But we did get to see exactly how astronauts go to the bathroom in the orbiter (not shuttle as we learned from Uncle Ralph) and that alone was worth the price of admission.

Overall it was a fabulous vacation, however I am so glad to be home with my sweet baby & be back to my full time job of Mom.