A Week Away

(Saying goodbye to FL)

We just finished an amazing week in the western carribean. We are so blessed to be able to share a warm vacation in the midst of a cold winter. We boarded the Independence of the Seas on Sunday afternoon and began our trip in true cruising style- giant lunch! We set our stuff in our staterooms and after trying every light switch and drawer (the children, that is) we set off to explore the ship. We spent that first day and the next doing things on the ship and eating, eating, eating.

Our first port was Grand Cayman. The adults have been here before and I was excited to show the island to the kids. We went to the turtle farm. They raise sea turtles here so that they won't become extinct. The oldest mama there is 75 years old and 410 pounds. They said she spends most of hr time at the bottom of the tank. I would too...

We also went swimming with the stingrays. This is usually really fun, but this day was quite windy so Eliza didn't enjoy the ways at all. She screamed and cried until she was back safely on the boat. Evelyn tolerated it for about 5 minutes. Luke and everyone else had a great time. I stayed on the boat with the girls and took a few pics. Though it wasn't as calm as it usually is we still had fun and were glad to show the kids the stingrays.

The second port was Jamaica. We had a day pass to the beautiful Hyatt. It was right on the beach and just beautiful. They had just opened the week before so they were still working on things, but we got to swim in the pool and ocean there and eat a yummy lunch. There were passing rain clouds all day and we had several misty showers, but it was thankful for the clouds as that meant we didn't get burned :) as our day winded down and we headed back to the ship the skies opened and we got an official liquid sunshine shower.

Our final port was Labadee, Haiti. It's Royal Carribeans private beach. We went to this same beach last year, and we were all excited to go back. It's just so beautiful and relaxing! The beach is perfect. The sun shone all day. The kids were happy and thrilled to swim in the ocean, play in the sand and splash in the splash park. It was the perfect ending to our ports! 

(I guess I didn't take any IPhone pics here. I'll have to add some when I get them off my camera. I'm sure that will happen soon...)

We spent the last day on the ship playing mini golf,

 JD rode the flow rider as we cheered him on, 

ice skating 

and splashing in the splash zone. 

We enjoyed every second of our balcony which was huge and since we had adjoining rooms with my parents it was double wide as well. 

What a relaxing day. Unfortunately we took turns being sick during the week and my time had come the last night. Being stuck in a comfy bed with the ocean in my view and my belly full of yummy food was the best way to be sick though. We are so thankful for this opportunity to spend time with my parents while enjoying Gods creation and showing our children bits of other countries. What a wonderful Christmas gift of time and family!