Cruisin’ {Part Three} The End

Hi Y’all!  So, I am a little bit bugged tonight.  Not only was this post supposed to be done a week ago and I somehow let it fall through the cracks, but then I got it all ready to go today, after getting interrupted 101 times (can anyone relate?)  I walked away from my computer to attend Casey’s work picnic and when I came back to finish ONE sentence before I pushed the publish button, I found that my computer had completely shut down!  Grrrrrrrr…dang update.  Why did I NOT think to save the post before I walked away?  I swear, everything that has to do with computers these days takes twice as long for me lately.  My computer is so incredibly slow it is KILLING me.  That is part of the reason I haven’t posted lately.  That and Casey and I went out of town last weekend and I can’t get my groove back.  Another grrrrrr….

Moving on to Jamaica!  This was my favorite stop.  The four of us rented a Taxi for the day.  Meet our Taxi driver Mr. Kingsley.

Nice shot right?  I was entertaining myself in the car.  Our destination was Dunn’s River Falls, but we also got to sight see a little bit too, which I loved.  Not only that, but we had some really funny and interesting conversations with Kingsley while we were driving.  He was also listening to a bizarre talk show part of the time.  I am laughing right now thinking about it.  :)

One view of the Jamaican Island. 

Jamaica currency.

The Banana Truck!  Kingsley all of the sudden pulled off to the side of the road and said he wanted bananas. He gets out of the taxi calling in his Jamaican accent, “Hey, Banana Man!  I want some bananas!”  I love the way they talk.  I can still hear his accent.  

After driving past so many other things that made me want to jump out of the car and take pictures, I was ready to forget about Dunn’s River Falls and just drive around with Kingsley all day. 

But we didn’t do that and of course Dunn’s River Falls was awesome.  Since I was behind the camera the whole time, I don’t have any photos of me and Casey so here is one I love of Tami and Tony.  We love you guys!

This was taken right before hiking up the waterfall that is known as Dunn’s River Falls.

There were so many different levels like this to hike up.  This doesn’t do justice to what it was really like at all.  We would hit a plateau and I would think we were at the top and then I would look up and see that there was more to climb.  That happened over and over again.  It was a lot of fun!

The four of us hiked the whole thing twice and then everyone but me hiked it a third time while I walked along the outside edge and took pictures. 

Some Jamaican shopping that we passed through.

Then it was back to the taxi.  Everyone was tired after that and enjoyed reading on the way back to the ship while my eyes were still glued out the window.  It is fun that we can each do what we enjoy while we are together and not feel like we have to keep the others entertained.  That is when you know you have a true friend.

Tony asked Kingsley if he wouldn’t mind stopping for a Diet Coke on the drive back. A detour? Yes, thank you very much.  You know I loved that!  We even got to do it twice because the first time Kingsley went into the store and came out saying they didn’t have Diet Coke.  We started driving down the road a ways until we realized he was going to a different city to get Tony a Diet Coke.  Come to find out they had Pepsi at the previous store just not Coke.  It was funny!  So back to the store we went.  

We were in downtown Jamaica I guess and the kids had just gotten out of school. They probably thought I was crazy for taking pictures of them, but I couldn’t resist their blue uniforms.

We only drove through for such a short time, but I loved seeing how other people live. 

That’s it folks!  It was a great trip that Casey and I enjoyed for so many reasons.   I would do it again in a heartbeat if it wasn’t for leaving the kids and the $ factor.  Maybe once a year???  I wish, but I don’t know.  We are so thankful Casey’s mom was able to come and spend time with the kids while we enjoyed a big getaway.  They enjoyed her company and are still talking about their time with grandma, which is priceless!

Cruisin’ {Part Two}

I am back to share more about our cruise. :)  I am making head way on all of these photos.  I’ve enjoyed sorting through them and seeing how much fun we had.  Our second excursion was Grand Cayman.  I realized I hardly took any pictures there.  We planned on going to Stingray City where we would have swam with the Stingrays, but it got cancelled.  It was so incredibly windy for the first part of the day.  We ended up making it a beach day.  Darn it!  :)

And that’s it for Grand Cayman!  We were with Tony and Tami and just enjoyed the day together lounging on the beach, reading, eating lunch and getting in the water for a little bit.  It started sprinkling while we were there!  Then it started pouring so we made a run for it.  It stopped shortly after it started and then we were back to the beach.  It made for an interesting day.

The rest of this post is all about our days at sea.  It is a bunch of random photos.

These are some pictures I took while getting back on the ship after an excursion day.

One of the activities the men enjoyed on the ship was a dodge ball game.  Casey and Tony had a ton of fun.  It was pretty competitive.  The game director warned them that if one ball went overboard the game was over.  They weren’t going to bring more balls out.  Needless to say the game didn’t last very long.  My husband just happened to be the one who threw the ball over board.  Whoops!  Game over.

We spent plenty of time enjoying the sun.

We would go back and rest before dinner and get ready for the night.  Casey always laid on the bed and read the Cruise Compass while I was getting ready.  He loved planning our days out.

All dressed up for dinner.

One night sunset was at 7:15.  It must have been our last night there because of the time change.  People gathered around to watch the sunset one last time.

We had Johnny Rockets on the ship.  We enjoyed a yummy lunch there one day.  So good!  I went back to take these pictures one night.

Some more random pictures of the ship.

I so wish I was there again!  Definitely fun times.

Next up is Jamaica, which happened to be my favorite. :)

Cruisin’ {Part One}

I am dedicating this week to Cruise photos and March Happenings.  Lots of posts to come.  I am getting all caught up before Easter!  Before I know it Summer will be here.  I am feeling the pressure to get some things accomplished.  I have been waiting for this burst of motivation.  Hopefully it stays awhile…

A couple of weeks ago we had the opportunity to go on a  Caribbean cruise with another fabulous couple whom we love.  We left out of Galveston one Sunday morning.  We were away from the kiddos for 8 days and 7 nights.  I was nervous about that at first.  It was the first time we had ever been away for that long.  We missed them, BUT we thoroughly enjoyed our time away and just being a couple again!  It was an awesome vacation.  We had 3 excursion days so I thought I would break the cruise photos up into 3 posts by excursions.   I will throw random photos of our days on the ship in there too. 

Let’s get started!

This is proof I was a new cruiser.  Casey and I wore the  little stickers they passed out for awhile and then decided they were nerd dots, but of course I had to get a pic  before we threw them away. 

We enjoyed our days on the ship just as much as the excursions.  There was so much to do!  The first activity we did was rock climbing.  Well, Casey and Tony rock climbed.  Tami and I cheered them on below while reading our books.  We were on vacation!

Our first excursion was Cozumel.  Casey and I rented a scooter for the day and did our own little tour. 

We had fun driving around like we knew what we were doing.  Casey knew what he was doing.  I was just along for the ride.  He was nice enough to indulge me in some shopping.

He did his fair share of shopping too.  He is so funny!  He served a Spanish speaking mission in Mexico, so a piece of his heart is there.  He loves to be with the people and can talk to them forever.  Every single shop we would go in he would get into a detailed conversation with them.  Well, I guess I don’t really know how detailed it was since I couldn’t understand.  I just know that their faces would light up once they found out he spoke Spanish.  He was my lucky charm to shop with.  They REALLY wanted us to buy things once they discovered they could carry on a real conversation with him.  Then they would tease him and ask why he never taught me Spanish.  ‘Cause I’m a little set in my ways I suppose.

Here they are wrapping up a couple of shark tooth necklaces (for the boys) with great care.  It was serious business.  They even made us one extra because they only had one and we needed two. 

Next up was the beach. 

Give me the beach and a book and I am one happy girl.

You know those questions, “Do you prefer a cozy cabin or a sunny beach?” 

I prefer a sunny beach all the way.  I am definitely more of a summer girl than a winter girl. 

The (top) book was a little juvenile for me, but an easy beach read. 

That’s it for now.  Back to the ship we went.