The Cruisers are BACK!

Thanks to my wonderful and fantastic parents, Joe and I were able to relive our cruisn' days. We had a whole week of fun and relaxation without the kids on Royal Carribean's Freedom of the Seas. It's the biggest ship out there right now.

Here's Joe relaxing on the balcony of our room. One of my absolute favorite things we did was sleep-in and then order room service breakfast which we ate on our balcony. The life!On our previous cruises, Joe and I would be super busy trying to squeeze in as many activities as possible...from art auctions to excursions to sport events on the ship. Not this time. For me at least. I took advantage of the "no kid" time and sat in the hot tub, read by the pool, and slept!Isn't this cool? It hangs over the ocean. So I relaxed while Joe kept up his usual regime of trying to do every activity possible. What can I say? I love to relax, he loves sports. During down times, he could be found rock climbing...Surfing on the ship's flowrider. Sometimes he'd be up at 8 AM to be the crowds on this wave. He actually got pretty decent...I did not dare try it after watching the majority of surfers wipeout in 2 seconds. Plus, some swimsuits were lost!While I laid around like a "slug" as Joe referred to me, he entered the ping pong and the speed rock climbing tournament...and actually won both. "I get better with age" qoutes Joe triumphantly, since I tease him all the time for being "old". Joe owes his gold medals to the 10 ice-cream cones he gets a day. I owe the extra pound I put on to these twist cones. The machine is right by the pool...what else am I suppose to do?Our first stop is Labadee, Haiti. Beautiful place!These swim mats are my favorite things! I could continue my lounging in the ocean!Our next stop: Jaimaca. The thrill of the cruise was our drive up a mountain on a 1 lane, 2 way street. It was the mix of cliff drop-offs and horrible Jamaican driving that made my life flash before my eyes. This picture is of 2 cars in front of us stuck b/c neither of them honked like they were supposed to let other cars know they were coming along a curve in the road. Thankfully, we made it to our excursion where we tubed down the White River. It was absolutely beautiful and there were fun rapids along the way. I managed to be one of the few that flipped over...of course!Along the way, there were some Jaimacan families barbequing while the kids played in the river. They wanted Joe to take a picture of them.We snacked on some burgers and fresh cococanuts afterwards. This picture is for my parents!
3rd stop: Grand Cayman. We'd been there before, but thought we'd try snorkeling. It actually wasn't too bad...there were some pretty coral out there. That's me snorkeling with our ship behind me. So here is a fun couple that we dined with every night. They are Chris Fountain and Amy Diamond from England. Chris is actually a soap opera star in England and a pretty well known celebrity. His girlfriend Amy is a model and singer who has sung all over, in cruise ships, tours around the world, and a show in Vegas. It was interesting to see people (from England) recognize him and ask for autographs. They were even invited to dine with the Captain which I think is a pretty big deal. Anyways, despite our completely different lifestyles, we got along really well. Hanging out at 70's night.4th stop: Cozumel. We've been there plenty of times and love just going to a beach with good food and things to do. We went with our Chris and Amy. Joe and Chris played on the waverunners.

And football in the ocean.

While Amy and I floated out to sea (literally, the boys had to come and get us) and relaxed by the beach.

So that concludes my very long post of our very wonderful vacation. It was just nice to get away and focus on Joe and I for once. Thanks mom and dad for giving us that opportunity to be free kids again. We love you and are so glad you survived the week!