Days Filled With Joy

2/13/10

Hannah and Ellie have been asking to go ice skating for a very long time, and today, they finally got to try it out!

Hannah was so excited...she could hardly contain herself!

Trying to walk on the skates. It wasn't quite as easy as she thought it would be!

Hannah and Daddy had so much fun skating together. She sure wanted to hold on tight! Hannah was so proud of how big she was, and she was actually pretty steady on her skates!

Ellie's turn was next. She wasn't quite as cautious as Hannah. She refused to let Greg hold on to both of her hands (she only wanted him to hold on to one)! She did pretty well, but she took quite a few tumbles. She didn't mind, though. She always got right back up to try again.

If you look closely, you can see all of the bumps and bruises. Poor kid! She was such a trooper, though!

I am FINALLY getting around to posting about our cruise! Warning this will be very long, but I want to get it all written down so we will remember.

About two years ago, we started talking about taking a cruise with some friends in the winter of 2010. I'll admit, I was excited about the idea, but I never REALLY thought it would happen! Well, after much planning and anticipation...we did it! In January we boarded the Norwegian Jewel for a 7 day Western Caribbean Cruise with three other couples. Our dear friends, Clint and Amy, Ryan and Natasha, and Mark and Melanie were able to come with us! We had such a great time...lots of laughter, relaxation, great entertainment, and amazing food (especially the oatmeal raisin cookies)!

This is our ship, the Norwegian Jewel. I couldn't believe how big the boat was! It took a while to even be able to find our way around the boat! The ship could held 2,300 passengers and 1,100 crew members.

The pools.

This is what our room looked like. Not a lot of extra room, but very nice. We got an inside room (no windows), and I have to say, it was wonderful! I have never been able to sleep in so well...it was great sleeping in our own little cave!

The stewards made little animals out of our towels. We had the same steward through the entire cruise, so they got to know us fairly well. I have never had such great service in my life!

We played a few games of shuffleboard. It was a lot harder than it looks, especially on a moving boat!

One of the greatest parts of the cruise was the amazing food! It was so much fun to get dressed up each night and get waited on hand and foot! The food was all inclusive, so of course, we ordered appetizers, main course, and dessert at every meal.

One of our favorite restaurants on the ship was Tsar's. It was a dressy restaurant. I really enjoyed getting dressed up each night. The first night we dressed up, we took pictures of the group.

The whole group: Ryan and Natasha, Mark and Melanie, Greg and I, and Clint and Amy

Look at these handsome men!

The girls.

Mark and Melanie

Clint and Amy

Ryan and Natasha

Greg and I

We just HAD to get a picture of all of these bald heads! (Thanks for being such great sports, guys!) Can you tell who is who? I couldn't believe that Greg actually had the most hair of the guys in the group! People on the cruise kept asking if the guys were all brothers...I think it must have been the hair (or lack of)!

This was one of our favorite chairs on the ship.

Our ship made stops at three different ports: Roatan, Honduras, Belize City, Belize, and Costa Maya, Mexico. The small boat is one of the tenders we had to take to get to land while in Honduras and Belize.

Our first port was Roatan, Honduras. We had scheduled a zip line tour with Mark and Melanie through The Pirates of the Caribbean Canopy Tour, the longest and highest zip lines in Central America! Here we are all geared up and ready to go!

I have to jump off of WHAT!?! I know the picture probably doesn't do it any justice, but notice that you can't even see the end. This was our very first zip line! It was a little scary to take the first leap, but once we got going, We all felt totally safe. What a rush!

Greg

Melanie, Mark, Greg, and I after our zip line tour. The water was so beautiful!

Our next stop was Belize City, Belize. Mark, Melanie, Greg, and I scheduled a cave tubing adventure through Major Tom and the Fun Team (nice name, I know)! I have to say, this was my absolute favorite of the entire trip! We started with a long bus ride through Belize to get to the rain forest. The guys who led the tour were so entertaining, and they taught us a lot about their country. Next we hiked through the rain forest and learned a lot about the trees/plants growing there. We got to try a lot of different plants...we even ate termites! They actually weren't too bad. They tasted like mint! When we got to the water, we had some time to cliff jump into the river. It was so much fun! The picture above is Mark jumping in.

Greg

Melanie-Melanie was pretty nervous about jumping in, but after a little convincing, she did it! Way to go, Melanie!

Our group tubing down the river. We floated through a massive cave system in the middle of the rain forest. It was so beautiful!

Our last stop was Costa Maya, Mexico. We didn't have anything planned for that day, so we found a resort with a beach, went snorkeling, and bartered for massages along the beach. It was a very relaxing day.

Before snorkeling, they gave Mark this tiny life jacket. We laughed so hard when he put it on!

I was so scared to jump into the middle of the ocean to go snorkeling! The waves were huge that day, and I think I was scared of getting swept away from our group. Amy coaxed me into the water and stayed with me until I calmed down (thanks, Amy!). It didn't take too long for me to be able to relax and enjoy the beautiful reef below. In the picture above, I'm holding a starfish. We also had a group of three huge stingrays swims right under us! Pretty amazing!