Cruisin'

Seeing that it is almost Fall Break  {Santa Rosa Beach here we come!!}, I could only find it appropriate to share Spring Break !? Better late than never!!

Last March about 7 days before spring break, our good friends The Waggoners called and asked us if we wanted to join them on a 7-day Caribbean cruise!! It is very uncharacteristic of us to:
A. Be spontaneous
B. Take a luxurious Vacation
C. Spend Money
D. All of the Above!


But we did it and had such a great time! 7 days flew by. The kids were awesome travelers. We can't wait to do it again someday!

We left at 6pm on Friday after work and drove through the night to Miami! CRAZY! But we made it safely and it was worth it!!
Leaving Miami's South Beach...

Our Ship, The Norwegian Pearl:

There was so much to do without even leaving the ship. The kiddos loved swimming, sitting in the "kid hot-tubs"when it was chilly,  visiting the "Kids Club", playing shuffleboard, basketball, rock climbing (!), seeing nightly shows, and not to mention unlimited cookies & ice cream!!!! --which was my personal favorite!!

 Kids playing shuffleboard on deck

 The giant slide!

Gabe on Rock Wall!!

Reading in our awesome ocean view lounge beds! And Clint & Leah snoozing...

In our cabin... {note that look Amelia is giving!}

Me & my sweetie...

Our Island excursions included Samana at Dominican Republic, St. Thomas, Tortola and unfortunately our last stop on Great Stirrup Cay was cancelled due to rough seas :(

 At Samana, we found a friendly little guy who took us to our own private beach! For a brief moment as we traveled 45 minutes over a mountain by dirt road, we worried that we may never return to our cruise ship...leaving civilization with a complete stranger is probably not recommended.

but it would not have been a bad place to be deserted :)

St. Thomas...beautiful. Opted to tour this day instead of beaching it. We visited black beards castle instead. Hmmm...next time probably will take the beach option.

 The kids all got "keys to the island" and loved Black Beard' castle!

 Group shot :)

Locals...eek! Just swaggerin' around...

Tortola...
Beautiful.

You have to rinse the sand off somehow (!!)

Whale siting!!

One of the kid's favorite things was to come back in the room at night and see what kind of towel pet the housekeepers had left behind. They were so awesome!

I'll be the first to admit how reluctant I have ever been to go on a cruise, but I must say, it was one of our best week's ever!! 

I'll leave you with some beautiful sunrises...