This is my favorite picture of the cruise. Let's just start with this.
A cruise with family without kids is super relaxing.
We went to the western Caribbean, and just missed the hurricane that blew through. It didn't kinda missed Florida too.
Our cruise had four stops:
Honduras, Belize, Cozumel, and Costa Maya.
In Honduras we went on a Jolly Roger Catamaran sail and snorkel.
The snorkeling was awesome. I haven't perfected an ocean dive, my ears felt like they were going to explode, but anyone that could saw some lion fish and a bunch of other awesome things. Next time.
I have no pictures of Belize, except that murky picture below, but we wanted to go to a beach and didn't do an excursion this day. Apparently Belize doesn't really have any beaches near Belize City where we docked, and they took us to a man made beach. Really it's just a tourist trap that felt like America, but all in all, it was fun to hang out, ride down the slide, try the rope swing, see a tiny manta ray, hang out in the sun. Amy and Luke and Bonnie and Jeff loved their excursion here, swimming with nurse sharks and rays at a smaller nearby island.
This is a little ray in the ocean. You can't really see it, but it's there.
My favorite stops were in Mexico. The people were so fun, and it was so fun to watch the guys speak spanish with them. I don't know why it always surprises me that Ben is so fluent and comfortable speaking in another language, he never does it around me! It definitely made shopping easier.
In Cozumel Ben and I decided to do a tour in a cave that was recently discovered that you can swim through. It's actually their drinking water so I wondered how smart it was to be leading tour groups through, but we liked it:)
We took a ferry an hour to Playa Del Carmen and then a van ride to the cave entrance. Before we got in we did a Mayan ceremony to bless us while we were in the cave. This is what a lot of the area looks like all thick and green.
My favorite part was when they had our group all hold hands, lay back in the water with our lights turned off and float. It felt like we were floating in space:)
My least favorite part was when I hopped out of the hammock we were laying in to get in our van after our tour and then 5 minutes after we drove off I realized my phone had fallen out of my swimsuit (not a great storage idea). They found it and were going to bring it with the next van...and I NEVER got it back. And it was new.
And that sucks. And that's life.
I hope it helped feed a nice family and didn't buy someone drugs.
My favorite day was in Costa Maya.
Cool show. Four guys climbed up that pole and then wound their ropes up and circled upside down and spun down. One guy played a flute the whole time upside down!
On our excursion we went on a short tandem bike ride to a tiny cave.
My hair does amazing things in wind and humidity, and helmets that don't fit.
Tree huggers beware!
After that they took us to a private island
We had lunch, paddle boarded, hung out and played some spike ball, Ben's new favorite game:
These guys went fishing for an hour or so
All Ben really needs in life is to catch a fish every once in a while. This was perfect.
Our two days at sea were super relaxing and fun.
The top deck had a ropes course, water slides and a rock climbing wall.
Also disappearing into the abyss are the pictures of Ben climbing the wall.
He climbed the hardest section and made it to the top! One of the workers said in his four months (?!) on the ship he only had seen 2 people make it to the top. They told him he won a free ice cream (along with everyone else who gets free ice cream on the ship, haha)
I told the kids that story about their dad and Macey cautiously told me that she loves both of us, the same, but sometimes she is more proud of one of us, more than the other. She makes me smile! And I better step up my game!
Sometimes I'm trying to be funny and it turns out awkward
And sometimes I'm not trying to be awkward and it turns out super funny. Or just super awkward.
I also had fun on the zip line...
One foot game night
I of course am super bummed about losing my phone but luckily Carly was there!
Most of these pictures are from her. And I have a disproportionate amount of pictures of Jessi and Stefan but they're cute:)
I loved the entertainment on the ship. We went to singing, dancing, comedy and magic shows, and even danced with the dancers one night.
We also karaoke-d one night. I sang two songs with the two groups.
Just about the time in the girls' song I was thinking we weren't half bad I caught the expression of a man in the audience. It was a certain kind of veiled disbelief/disgust/concern. That's when I realized it didn't sound quite as awesome as I thought it did. But who cares!
(Drop the mic!
Food was definitely a highlight. One of the cruise entertainers said the average weight gain is 7-14 pounds. And it's delicious:) We had a dining package as part of the tickets and Bonnie had arranged each night so we could all eat together at different restaurants on the ship.
I loved the Italian restaurant and Ben loved Teppanyaki. We got another opportunity to sing there while the chef cooked our food and folded us origami dragons and dinosaurs.
It was usually a little chilly:)
Macey asked me to document the food and dessert! Here's just a few. They're so pretty:)
I'm not going to lie I'm super bummed I didn't get to try this fruit, whatever it is that tastes like candy and can't be exported to the US. I love trying weird/new food!
I have never tried escargot and tried it. I think it's one of the grossest foods I've tried just because of the squishy slightly gritty texture. And the body shape with the antler things, whatever they are. They are always smashed on our sidewalk. Oh guh, they're so gross.
These cute people tried the fruit things:
The crepe station!
I just love not making my bed every day or cooking or doing dishes...real life is so different:)
Of course this wouldn't have been possible without someone taking care of our children!
My mom and dad left on their mission two weeks before we went on our cruise!
Becky and Brett took the three munchkins, and took better care of them than we could have.
They did so many fun things too. We love you guys, you are seriously awesome.
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