George Town, Grand Cayman

On the fifth day of our cruise, we spent it in The Cayman Islands!

 It was a little cloudy this day and it gave our poor burned skin a nice break. We spent the morning on the Seven-Mile Beach. This was by far the nicest beach of the entire cruise. It was big, clean and not busy at all!

 There are no words for this place! It was beyond paradise!!

We played in the sand, Dave buried my legs and dug out tunnels haha and we built a sand castle sea turtle.

Yep we like to be different!

 

I swear I was happier than these pictures make me look...

We went on the coolest excursion here! We took Kayak's out to Cheeseburger Reef(voted one of the best snorkeling places in the world), tied them up to a buoy and were able to power snorkel all over the place! Wanna know why it's called Cheeseburger Reef? It's because if you look straight on to land where you're located in the water there's a Burger King directly in front of you haha NO JOKE! It was nuts how many different kinds of fish and coral we saw! The sad part about this day was that literally an hour before we went snorkeling our water proof camera BROKE! So we didn't get any pictures of our own. We snorkeled for a couple hours and saw an actual shipwreck! The story is that in the 40's the ship was carrying a ton of rice and hit the bottom and sunk. The government then went and blew it to pieces underwater then dragged it closer to the shore so people could dive in it. SO COOL! It was so neat being able to see everything that goes on under water!

Kayaking :)

After our fun day on land it was time to get back on the ship! Since our dinner time wasn't until 8:00 we went to the Royal Promenade (an on board mall) and had some pizza! That took a total of about 8 minutes so we went ice skating! And then we played on the front of the ship! The sunset was breathtaking :)

Finally it was dinner time!!

Our awesome dinner crew

Formal night #2

That pretty much sums up the day we spent in Grand Cayman. It was the prettiest place on Earth and I wish I could make it my permanent home! Maybe some day :)

Tomorrow is our last stop, look forward to it! It's so cool!

Falmouth, Jamaica

Our second stop was in Jamaica!

  Jealous? 

You should be, and this is why..

It was GORGEOUS!! 

We went to Royal Caribbean's private beach, Red Stripe Beach. White sandy beaches, crystal clear water, employees raking the beach so it was always smooth, and our own little restaurant! It was paradise! The water was so warm and calm, we want to move to that beach forever haha

While we were sitting in the water just flirting with each other Dave actually got stung by a tiny jelly fish!! It hurt him but it wasn't bad enough to get any kind of medical attention. 

 After my man got stung on his tummy.

We were able to try Jamaica's famous Jerk Chicken and oh my delicious! This stuff is to die for! They also make this really dense bread twist that goes with the chicken so well! We could eat it every day! 

 

Once we soaked up a lot of beach time we went into town to shop. And shopping, we did! It was so much fun bartering with the locals for souvenirs. Everything was so cheap, yet so much time and work went into everything they made!

This was how the market looked, everywhere!

We ended up buying a few wood carvings, a bracelet, and a Jamaican ukelele!

After our shopping, sadly it was time to get back on the ship. But the fun wasn't over!

Somehow we ended up at the pool with literally no one else there. We loved it :)

 We swam, enjoyed the drinks and the ice cream!

 He's so cute :)

 Pretty :)

 

For dinner you have the same waiter and assistant waiter every night. You're also assigned a table with the same people at the same time. Which was so cool. We were able to meet the nicest people and got to know them all week long! This particular night was a dance in the dining room while you eat night. 

It was fun, and funny!!

After we partied for a little while we finally chilled out and ate. The assistant waiter was the cutest, quietest little Indian guy ever. He brought around a tray of bread every night but he was so quiet half the time we didn't know he was there! Kind of sad. But this night I chose the banana muffins. The word got around the staff that I was completely infatuated with the bread that every time I turned around the waiter was bringing me more and more.

When they came around with the dessert menu, I was so overly stuffed that I didn't want any. The waiter wouldn't take no for an answer.. So he brought me yet another plate full of banana muffins to take to my room and sent me on my way! I ate a total of 18 banana muffins that night haha

 

This was one of the funnest nights on the cruise! Jamaica was amazing and I definitely recommend it for anyone's vacation destination!

A bunny! :)

Labadee, Haiti

Our first stop was in Labadee, Haiti. It's a very poor but very beautiful place! All the locals were so friendly and always trying to sell you things. They had the nicest beach, but it was busy! We had a few hours to kill before our excursions so we did a nature hike that seriously went straight up! It only took a few minutes to get to the top and once you were there, the view was phenomenal! 

After our hike we went para-sailing!

Coolest. Ride. Ever!

They strapped us to a 400 foot rope, told us not to hold onto the bar cause it will cut off our fingers, hit the gas and up in the air we went! We saw for miles!!

Way up in the air. Our camera was completely zoomed in and this is as close as it got!

Next we went on a jet ski tour around the island. It was neat to learn about the culture while still having fun on the waves. We learned that so much of Haiti doesn't have electricity or any type of running water.. I would die! We're so spoiled here in America! We stopped at a beach called Paradise Cove, it's voted one of the top 10 beaches in the world! It was gorgeous. While we were there about 12 guys in canoe's came out and tried selling us wood carvings. They were so cool but who takes their wallet on a jet ski? We stopped at a beach that's featured in Pirates of the Caribbean but I forgot the name of it, dang it! But basically that part of the island is exactly like in the movie, lots of alcohol and lots of prostitutes!

We hung out on the beach the rest of the day pestering all the little crabs :)

We had a blast in Haiti!! It's a gorgeous island with friendly people. Once we were back on the ship and headed for our next stop we well, partied!

 Dancing under the stars family dance party.

Holy crap this was so fun! Basically it was a big dance off/mosh pit/karaoke party! And you better believe Dave and I ended up on the cruise DVD for our awesome dancing... Twice!! We're kind of famous now :)

I looked forward to the towel animals :)

Sorry for the 50 pictures but it's a lot to document! The next like 7 posts are going to be like this haha

Where's our second stop? Anyone wanna take a guess?

It's coming up tomorrow!!

cruise day 1 + 2

Once we were on the ship and all settled into our room we went and explored the 14 decks. Our ship was seriously so awesome! We found a spot on the ship that became our favorite place to relax and take naps, located the soft serve ice cream, and got our tan on all before we even left the dock!! But once we left we joined in the traditional celebration of leaving the port (basically its a big party on the top deck). Dave was so excited that we saw a Navy SEALS submarine, he made me take pictures!

Those tubes on top are deployment capsules that shoot out mini subs. Pretty cool right?

Once we were out at sea we sat back and watched the horizon disappear.

We ate ice cream every day!

My Titanic moment. Ha!! 

 1st formal night. My poor fried hubby!

We were having the best time just cruising the ocean having a great time with each other! We let loose and just laughed, danced, and drank lots of yummy beverages (virgin of course). Wanna know where our first stop was? Then you'll have to come back tomorrow :) 

Isn't the suspense killing you?!

our caribbean cruise

One month ago we drove from Texas to North Dakota.. 23. Freaking. Hour. Drive. It was the longest most boring day of my life. Once we got there we slept, for an entire week. haha we were so tired! Dave's little brother left for Johannesburg, South Africa to serve a two year LDS mission from the smallest air port I've ever seen.

Once he was in the air our big family went for breakfast at the most amazing little diner ever. I'm kicking myself in the butt for not taking a picture of their pancakes but they were enormous!! I'm talking bigger than a normal size dinner plate!! Massive! But SO good! Anyways, once we were home Dave and I went and got pedicures and I got my nails done by Dave's very talented sister. It was the funniest thing to watch Dave suffer through a pedicure (the man's got crazy ticklish feet).

 haha

The next morning at 3:30 AM we drove to the air port and flew to Orlando, FL. It was my first time being to Florida so I was pretty excited! And it was mine and Dave's first time flying together.

Once we made it to Orlando we went to our hotel and freshened up. We then wandered around Orlando and came across the yummiest Italian Restaurant! Buca Di Beppo.

Luckily for me it was in the mall so we just had to go shopping!! All we bought were some sunglasses for each of us ha! The next morning we woke up and boarded the bus to take us to our cruise liner! 

We finally made it and everything went so smoothly getting on the ship. The first thing we did was head to the buffet. We were starving! Our ship was MASSIVE! We chose Royal Caribbean's Freedom of the Seas and we're so glad we did! It towered over all the other ships in the port!

The Disney Magic ship was right next to ours and it was so cool looking! If we ever take Kyson on a cruise we're so doing a Disney one!

This was the best week of our lives, there was so much to do and so much involved and I'm so excited to share it! I took a TON of pictures, so watch out! :)