Last week Ryon and I were able to take a wonderful vacation with his family. We cruised the Western Caribbean on the Freedom of the Seas. It was awesome to spend some quality time and to catch up with our loved ones whom we don’t get to see very often.
I don’t think we’ll be cruising again for a while now. We need to get me through school and get our own house again, so our priorities will be elsewhere. (However, my dad has been throwing the idea around the last couple days, and I don’t think it’d be too hard to get us back on a boat:).
We headed out to explore the ship shortly after boarding:
The boat was all decorated for Christmas! These giant gingerbread houses, Santa, his reindeer and fruit arrangements welcomed us aboard!
And this ginormously gigantic Christmas tree. Look how big it is! It was so beautiful. Merry Christmas!
 |
Sprinkles is an essential ship feature that we headed toward very quickly! A self-serve soft-serve slice of vacation bliss just waiting on Deck 11 for you to fill up another cone! Mmmmm . . . we love you SPRINKLES!
We hung out up top for a while and just took pictures with everyone.
Ryon and I were so excited to be in our favorite happy place together.
Love this girl!
Our first night at dinner:
We had THE BEST table in that gorgeous dining room. We were straight to the back and had an entire level/balcony all to ourselves. I could not believe it when I saw it!
This angle was so weird. But this was Ryon’s first dinner.
The next day the boys tried out the flow rider:
The Jensen boys
Wesley
Ryon
Spence
And the girls and I soaked up some sun (between the clouds) and read for a while.
Oh, and so did Dad. 
First Formal Night:
This picture kind of shows our private balcony.
If you like pina coladas . . . We do!
Mary and Nick waited until the cruise to tell us they are pregnant! A girl . . . pretty please?!?!
You can’t see it well in this picture, but Sheena rocked this flowing black dress. It was beautiful.
Sara looked so gorgeous this night! And Spence cleans up rather well himself.
Mom bought this beautiful pant suit especially for the cruise! It was so formally perfect!
Super Spence and Super Ryon!
Sara and I worked sooo hard to lose weight to feel good about ourselves for this vacation, and to just live healthy lives. That has been the real focus for us, which has been awesome. We have made some great progress both mentally and physically. I’ve made mental changes that I never had before. We still have some work to do together, but I am so grateful we have had each other for support and and good kick in the butt when it’s been needed. She got me to run my first 5K, and we are scheduled for future 10K’s and I’m sure we’ll do the Hillsboro half this year. I ran almost 5 miles outside shortly before the cruise, and I would have never done that before we started running together. The most I’d ever run in my life was four and a half on the treadmill. So, suffice it to say that she has been a invaluable support to me.
First Port of Call: Labadee, Haiti
When we first stepped off the ship we stepped away from the other people to take pictures. I will be forever made that I just gravitated to this stupid yellow thing. I don’t know what the heck I was thinking! These pictures would have been so perfect without it. Some things even photo shop can’t fix. Maybe a little . . .
In any case, Labadee was as beautiful as we could have hoped. It was the day with the best weather. (I will never cruise in December again, I can tell you that!) But we all had a blast that day!
Billie and Jeff celebrated their 34th wedding anniversary on the cruise. They were even in the love and marriage game show, which played on the stateroom TV’s for the remainder of the week. I was laughing so hard I was crying while watching that game show. It was hilarious. I have wonderful in-laws!
Sweet ladies in my life . . . and a stupid yellow thing! Arghhh! It made sense at the time, I promise!
The ship provides a huge BBQ lunch for everyone on the island. Spence and Ryon were very happy with the ribs and chicken!
After lunch, we decided to take a kayak tour around the island.
Ryon and I were less-than-fantastic kayak partners. It was really fun, though! We learned a lot about the settling of the island and its relationship with other parts of the world, including the U. S.
Headed back for dinner that night:
And ate some sweet, yummy desserts!! Well, we had those every night. I’m not typically one for lemon merengue, or any pastry really, but this one was sublime! I loved it, even the crust.
We loved this piggy towel animal we found in our room that night.
And were a tad confused by this one we found on another.
Second port of call: Georgetown, Grand Cayman
Tendering out with Mary and Nick.
I love this boy of mine!
There were several ships like this speckling the gorgeous Caribbean water as we tendered to shore. There was a lot of pirate décor and paraphernalia in Georgetown.
We headed to Hard Rock Café first thing. It’s our tradition to go to
Hard Rock wherever we can. We got our traditional onion rings with the most amazing BBQ sauce I’ve ever tasted. We loved it the first time we tired it in Miami, and I’ve never tasted its equal. I got a cute hoodie there as well.
There’s something therapeutic about being 30-something and acting like you are six!
Delicious monster burgers!
After Hard Rock, Mary, Nick, Spencer, Sara, Ryon and I all went snorkeling. We had brought our own gear and found a great spot. The fish were beautiful, and there were HUGE carp in schools of at least a dozen. A little unnerving at first, but very cool. Ryon and Spence swam out to that raft that sat between the shore and the cruise ships. Sara and I cracked up at them jumping up and down on them.
We headed back to the ship and took some fun pictures on the way.
On our way back to the ship, Ryon and I decided to stop in a little shop to look for some little toys for Tan and C. In a little fridge at the back of the store we saw it . . . ICE COLD cans of the Dr! (Unavailable on the ship) They were $2/can, but we splurged and got one!
Sara and Spence saw us with them and immediately went and bought two. So, we got another one. It was the best Diet Dr. Pepper ever! And it was fun to share that time with Sara and Spence. We all share a love for the Dr.!
One night, despite the large dinner we’d eaten, six of us crammed into Sara and Spencer’s little room and ordered room service! The poor guy had to wheel a cart with six trays of food to our room. It was awesome! That was one of the most fun nights of the cruise.
Shhhh! We even made Spencer call back and order a couple more orders of fries. This is what he said on the phone in his cheerful Spencer voice. It was hilarious: “Hi, uh, could we get a couple more orders of french fries? We ran out.”
Third port of call: Falmouth, Jamaica
Sorento’s Pizza was a place in the promenade that had free pizza until 2 am. Spence, Ryon and Nick LOVED it! They made many, many trips. This was my favorite kind of pizza that they served:
We found a duck in our room on the second formal night:
Fourth Port of Call: Cozumel, Mexico
I absolutely love shopping with my mother-in-law. She cracks me up. She loved Mexico. She bought two gorgeous chess sets, several pairs of sunglasses, adorable Latina dolls for her grand daughters, and on and on. I got this picture of her on our way back to the ship. She was lugging all her bags, filled with new purchases, and a new hat on her head. This is one of my favorite pictures of the entire trip:
Ryon and I bought ourselves some sweet Foakleys!
Relaxing in the Solarium: A fabulous element of our vacation.
On our last day at sea, Billie slept in this chair for almost five hours! Happy vacation to her!
And a pensive moment at the back of the ship for Ryon . . .
Our favorite ice cream with Sara and Spence. Many times at home we have each gotten a pint and watched a movie together, so this was special. And if the Dr. was going to be MIA all week long, at least we could indulge with Ben and Jerry!
Oh, it was funny the morning we came back to Florida and could access the internet while we waited to get off the boat. We were all on our phones reconnecting to the world. We’d all had an awesome time, but we were ready to go home and see our babies!
This cruise was an unforgettable opportunity to spend time with family while being separated from our life responsibilities. It’s one we will remember with fondness.
2 comments:
I just love this post. I want to be back there with all of you. I loved being with everyone that we don't get to be with on a regular basis.
Oh so jealous! You know how to cruise with style. I love all the pictures and what a blast! You look amazing Annie and are so beautiful. Love your cute outfits. What an amazing vacation to remember.
Post a Comment