Warm weather, good friends and beautiful beaches!

While still on our amazing Maui vacation last year Chris decided that we were going to go on a cruise for our 6th anniversary. :) 

I didn't complain one bit...I mean who would? 

So we convinced some of our friends from Chris's work to come with us and headed off to the Carribean for 8 days. Then we thought, why not add an extra day in Orlando so we can play? Who doesn't like to play? 

We scored some free tickets to Universal studios and had so much fun on all the rides. 

 I was the camera woman for this ride. They were completely soaked and somebody had to take the picture right? 

Hogwarts! I'm such a Harry Potter nerd, so I had a blast! 

 Frozen Butterbeer. It was so yummy! Kind of tasted like Butterscotch candy in liquid form. :) 

 Luckily the lines for all the cool rides weren't too long. Especially since I had to wait for everybody else for the majority of them. 

Like this one. I couldn't go on. Chris chickened out. He said it looked like a throw up ride.  

Couldn't go on this one either. We all decided against it, because the wait was the longest in the whole park. 

 Kim and I sat out on this one. It was either ride this ride, or watch the parade. We chose the parade. It was an easy choice for me. Since pretty much 100% of the rides have this outside. 

Wait, Zoom in a little closer. 

 See it yet? 

No? Zoom in a little closer....

 Yup, that is why I was the photographer for the first ride, and hung out enjoying cauldron cakes, and basking in the sun for the other rides. Apparently once you find out if you're pregnant, rollercoasters of ANY kind are out. Especially if you are past 12 weeks, which I am. :D 

We are super excited, and I was happy to sit out on the rides for this particular reason!

On Sunday, Feb. 3rd (our Anniversary), we boarded the boat, and I called my kids to tell them goodbye for 10 days. I will admit, I cried when I heard their little voices. It was so hard to think I was going to have no contact with them for a week. It took me about 10 minutes to get myself back under control. 

But as the week went on, I somehow survived. Being in beautiful places and doing fun things with awesome people sure helped. 

Our first stop was Labidee (?) a private island off of Haiti. We got our own private cabana and it was incredible! We had sun chairs, cold water, a shaded couch and out own little swimming area. 

 The view

 Our cabana, and everybody getting lathered up because most of us are so white. 

Our next stop was Jamaica. We were a little nervous because we heard that Jamaicans don't like Americans at all. We decided just to do our excursion and go back to the ship. We were glad we did because a family on our ship got robbed by the cops while exploring. 

 The view from our room. 

 Ready for the ATV tour! 

 Our group with our guides. 

The next stop was Grand Cayman, and it was seriously INCREDIBLE!!!!! Everybody else went scuba diving, but since I can't Chris and I did our own thing. 

 Our ship.

 Our first stop was Snorkeling at the island's barrier reef. It was awesome! I normally don't care for  snorkeling, but I LOVED this! The water was so clear and you could see forever! 

 After Snorkeling we went over to this beautiful sandbar and swam with Sting rays. We got to hold them and feed them and pet them. They are so gentle and get so BIG! It was one of Chris's favorite things! 

This was one of our guides, he literally dove off the side of our little boat while headed back to shore to pick this up from the bottom of the sand bar. Awesome. 

 Then we had a few hours to kill, so we hung out at this beach. I could live at this beach for the rest of my life. It was so nice.

 We headed over to Cozumel the next day, and long story short, our original excursion plans fell through so we ended up swimming with Dolphins. Cross that off my bucket list. I LOVED it! 

I would have pics but they were $30 for ONE, and $400 for all. Lame. 

 These are the dolphins we were with. Lingo, and his girlfriend. They are expecting a baby later this year. :) 

 Finished up the week with some rock climbing and sun bathing. 

Vacations really are the best! 

The only thing that's much better is getting back home to my kids and them being beyond thrilled to see us! After hugs and kisses Maddie just kept grabbing our faces and looking at like "I can't believe you're back!" In the last three days I have lost count of the hugs and kisses she's given me, which is a big deal because she never gives kisses.
Boston just keeps hugging me and saying "I'm so happy we're together!" or "I'm so happy we're home!" 

They make this cold weather totally worth it.