It was in March. It really almost feels like it was a dream from long ago. Sometimes I close my eyes and picture Jordan and I on a sandy beach in paradise. Then I open my eyes. Yes, sometimes it makes me cry to think about it. It was especially hard right after the cruise when I was diagnosed with a case of "post cruise blues." Seriously, I gained 5 lbs, 2 weeks after the cruise - I eat my pain away okay! Now, for the most part, I just feel happy when I think of our amazing vacation with our amazing friends. We had been planning this cruise 3 years prior as a dental school graduation trip. So it had a lot to live up too and I'm happy to say that it met every expectation. I also have to add a special thanks to my wonderful in-laws for watching our kids. It was so reassuring to know they were in good hands :).
Our trip started in Puerto Rico where we toured Old San Juan. We loved just walking around enjoying the warmth and the culture. We were able to eat some delish Puerto Rican food while we were there which was amazing!
Then it was time to board the ship! (ours is the one on the right) It was so much bigger than I even imagined and it kind of freaked me out that it could actually float! The ship was seriously magical - I loved it. Eating dinner on the boat was one of the best parts of the trip. It was like having a fancy date night every night! Our view was amazing - we sat at the back of the boat by the window and got to watch the sun set and have a beautiful view of the ocean every night. One of the noteworthy desserts was the chocolate melting cake (pictured below). No really, it was to die for and lets not even mention all the soft serve ice cream we ate...
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| All the gals! Britni, Mel, me, Amy, Taryn |
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| We loved our cute server! |
St. Thomas
Our first stop was in St. Thomas where we woke up to this amazing view from our ship. Can you say paradise?! On this day we headed straight to the beach where we relaxed, swam, and snorkled.
Barbados
Our next stop was Barbados. We had a planned excursion through the ship where we go to ride a catamaran to a place where sea turtles hang out and swim with them - pretty amazing :). After, we just hung out on the beach. Unfortunately, Jordan was not feeling good and ended up throwing up on the beach! He still had to ride the catamaran back to our ship. I felt so bad for him. He ended up going to our room and sleeping the rest of the day and luckily felt better by dinner and didn't have any problems the rest of the trip!
While Jordan was sleeping off his sickness, the rest of us just walked around Barbados buying souvenirs and I ended up being talked into buying the coconut and drinking it! I must say, it wasn't too bad and I was told it would increase my libido. I'll just leave it at that...
St. Lucia
Next stop - St. Lucia. This was Jordans favorite day (all of the days were my favorite day). We found this really cool tourist dude named Big Dave. Let me tell you, he had that name for a reason! He was so great to show us around the island where we tried the fruit, and saw all of the beautiful scenery. He then took us to a private beach where we kayaked, snorkeled, ate lunch, and relaxed. It was a perfect day.
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| The boys :) Jay, Nate, Nelson, Ryan, Jordan, and Big Dave |
St. Maartin
Our next stop was actually St. Kitts, but a few of the couples including us were just ready for a day on the ship to read our books, take naps, and just relax. You know, all the things you never get to do once you have kids :). It was just a fun relaxing day. So the next stop was St. Maartin. This day started out with us just exploring the island and figuring out which beach we wanted to end up at after lunch. We picked such and amazing beach. It was probably my favorite beach of the whole trip. It was absolutely beautiful! This was our last beach day so it was kind of hard to leave, but we were happy to end on such a high note.
After we got back to Puerto Rico we had about a day and half to explore some more. At this point we were all missing our kids pretty bad (especially taryn, whos baby was hospitalized for RSV while we were on the cruise) but we knew we couldn't waist the last day so we went to the rain forest to hike around. It was so pretty and such a perfect way to end our trip.
