Happy Anniversary Jen and Bob!

Happy Anniversary to Jen and Bob! The fastest trip down memory lane here for you highlighting the awesome-ness of y'all!

Hawaii party in your early datin' years

Engaged in NYC all decorated for Christmas and married exactly one year later on the most perfect winter day with those giant snow flakes and fresh snow from the storm the day before:

and last year you announced to the family that you were going to be a family by welcoming this little dude in the most spectacular way with fireworks and all:

Happy Anniversary to you two and may you have many more years of happiness and love!

St. Martin or Saint Maarten (Dutch or French?)

Our final port of our Caribbean cruise was St. Martin.  We opted for the 3 hour tour.  Our bus left late since another cruise ship was taking forever to disembark and get their bodies to the bus.  Plus a family with a 3 year old got on the bus and the kid practically screamed the entire time since it was his nap time.  All of us on the bus were not happy with the family.   Agree that children are unpredictable and you do not bring them on a bus where you cannot "leave" for the next 3 hours.  Pick the beach excursion where you can shop and relax on the beach all day.  Other than screaming toddler it was great.

 I thought our yard was large for a push mower but this guy takes the cake.  And below is just a typical house that we saw along the way.  Not your "view from the ship" ocean view villa.

 Our guide was great telling us some of the history of the island plus a few jokes along the way.  Apparently she and the bus driver own quite a few of the nicest houses on the island.  About an hour into the tour we stopped for our Sea part of the See and Sea tour.  We were going to take the half submarine boat.

 It was really neat because we took the boat out to a reef that was re-building after one of the hurricanes and a diver jumped in with fish food to lure the fish close to the windows for us to see.  We were also treated to seeing a sting ray and sea turtle (but they were far away so their photos didn't work out).

 A little over halfway through our tour we stopped in a city on the opposite side of the island from our ship for a 30 minute at your leisure shop/explore.  We sat at a local bar and had a beverage.

 Luke had this beer and I had a Coke.  Twisty island roads and hills plus the little boat ride brought back some icky feeling. p Cost $2.50.  For both!  If we knew how cheat it was we'd have tossed back a lot more in that 30 minutes.

 Our last stop of the day overlooked a few of the inlets/harbors of the island.  Amazing views but absolutely nothing in the area (hello skyline bar???).

 If you are looking to build a place there is space available.  You can see the roads to the town houses in the background.  Not that pricy to own/buy but the airfare to get there on a regular basis would probably do you in.

 With time after our tour we exited the bus and opted to pay for the water taxi from the shopping district back to the boat.  We had 3 hours before we had to be back on the boat.  We walked along the boardwalk, checked out a few shops and settled on having lunch.

 It was quite toasty out on this particular day.  Outside the restaurant was a man singing and playing the kettle drums.  We enjoyed the atmosphere and our lunch.  But there is food on the ship?  Yes, but it is buffet food and I much prefer non-buffet food.  Plus we tried some local Jamaican' Jerk chicken flavored thing.

 We took a stroll in the warm waters of the ocean before boarding the water taxi back to the ship pier.

 Items purchased in St. Maartin--food and drink (we are not shoppers--unless it is Disney).

 Cheap drinks near the boat so Luke tried a local/Caribbean beer (very Corona-ish) and I indulged in a margarita before heading back to the ship.  While we enjoyed our trip to the Caribbean we were ready to get back to the mainland (at least I was) and visit Disney with all the holiday decorations (dream and drool for me!)

 Not sure if the video below will work but if it does it's of our wait staff entertaining us after dinner one night.  They danced this particular night and another night.  On our last night they sang to us.  So much fun and entertainment to be had on the Carnival Dream FunShip.

Sea Day and St. Thomas

We had our first full day at sea after the Bahamas.  It was pretty uneventful for us since I was still not feeling quite right.  I was getting better but we just lounged in the shade, read our books and relaxed.
We made sure to have a view of the Lido deck for the hairy chest contest.  They really do try to have activities all day at different places to cater to everyone.

 We had a nice sunset that evening, but it was not as beautiful as those on the Lake her in NY.  We both agreed on that--even after seeing the sunset a few other evenings.

The frog decided to wear my sunglasses near our FunTimes for St. Thomas port day.  St. Thomas was much better than the Bahamas.  We enjoyed our excursion, even though it wasn't a big to-do type thing.  

 When we pulled into port I could tell that I was going to like St.Thomas much more.  It just looked prettier (don't judge a book by the cover... I know).  Our balcony overlooked a Senor Frogs and although it was only like 9am they had music gong and people at the bar drinking.  At least we were entertained by them later in the day as we were deporting.

 Our excursion was a short walk from the ship to the skyride.  It was basically a ski lift to the top of the hill to check out the view.  We loved the view and although it was slightly overcast it was still a decent view.  I think it also kept it from getting too hot for us.  I was starting to feel better and hoped it would stay that way (it did!).

 They had a small bar and gift shop in a shaded area at the top.  They let us sample two frozen concoctions.  I enjoyed the Key Lime one and Luke fell in love with the Bushwhacker.  Basically a mudslide/grow up milkshake.  Feeling like I was still rockin' from the boat I went the safe way with a Coke.  

 After our sky line event we had a few hours before needing to be on the ship.  We took a taxi to the downtown area (then walked back the 1 mile to the ship).  There were chickens running around the parking lot where we were dropped off.  

 The big thing to do in the Caribbean is to jewelry shop but I am not that kind of person so we just took in the atmosphere.  We had lunch at a local restaurant called the Green House. We were seated by the open windows and enjoyed a beautiful view of the harbor while we dined.

 Feeling better I had a margarita and Luke went for part 2 of the Bushwhacker (out of many for the remainder of the trip).  First off, booze is super cheap on the islands.  People apparently just get off the ship, stumble into a bar and then get back on the ship so they don't have to pay ship prices.

 It was funny on our walk back to the ship after lunch to see places decorated for the holidays.  Pine trees and garland are not what you expect to see since I associate Christmas with snow and cold.

 Christmas in the Caribbean--everything but snow!

 As you can see it was getting stormy so we chilled on the boat even though it wasn't close to deportation time.  Many people got soaked, we took a nap.  Partook in a flooded game of mini-golf where the water hazards were real and enjoyed the view as we left port.

Bahamas

Sunday morning we arrived in Nassau, the Bahamas.  We only had a few hours off the ship before we would spend a full day at sea.  I was excited to get off the ship after waking up still feeling nauseous.  We weren't rocking as much but I just needed some land.  Too bad our shore excursion was a clear bottom kayak adventure.  

When we arrived in ports we were told over the PA system when we could go down to the Gangway to exit the boat.  They scanned our ship card and we left.  When we returned they'd scan our ship card again (their computer had a photo of us that appeared with our scanned card for security reasons).

 There were 3 other ships in the Bahama's that day as well.  You can see them as we rode a boat to our kayaking area.

 We rode alongside Paradise Island.  Apparently a lot of wealthy people have places here.  If I remember correctly this is one of Oprah's property's (unless the guy on our little adventure was just making stuff up).  We also saw Beyonce and Jay Z's place, Michael Jordan, Chuck Norris and Tiger Woods to name a few.  The guy that owns the Atlantis also has a place there not too far from the Atlantis.

 We had fun paddling our kayak around but were disappointed about the fact we had to stay in a small area and there really weren't many things to look at through the bottom of the boat.  There was a very little part where there was some sea grass and fish.  The rest was just sand and nothingness.  Other people snorkled but we had fun just soaking up the sun and paddling around.

 When we returned from our excursion we had about an hour before we had to start heading back to the ship to make sure we were on time to depart.  We went in a few little stores and Luke ended up with a t-shirt that he liked.  Nothing was striking my fancy and the one market area we walked though bothered me since all these people were sitting in their flea market style booths trying to get you to buy their stuff.  It felt stuffy and crowded to me so I just wanted to leave.

 The cute little lighthouse on Paradise Island.  I was happy to be leaving the Bahama's and was hopeful that the remaining ports would be better (and they were).  I was feeling a little better so we went back to the ship.  The temp wasn't too bad so I decided to get my run in for the day.  Whoo-hoo for a whopping 10 miles on the deck of the ship.

 I watched as the Atlantis disappeared on the horizon little by little with each lap completed.

I know, I am on vacation and am worried about hitting my miles for the week to keep up with my marathon training.  I think I would have won an award for most miles run on the ship decks that week if they had a prize for that.  I finished the week with 42 miles.  

 That night we skipped dinner since it was a "formal" night and we didn't like the dinner menu.  We went to the Lido deck where they just had the normal buffet dinner.  I felt sick to my stomach again that night.  At this point I am thinking it is a combination of the food and the ship rocking.  It is the combination and I feel better after another day once I've gotten used to the oils and such for the foods.

 We end the day with an elephant wearing my shades.  Seriously loving the towel animals in our room each night.