On Saturday, Jan. 16th we left the kids and headed to the airport. We knew the kids would be in good hands with Isaac & Candalyn, Myra & Shane, Aimee & Matt, and Grandma Sherri & Grandpa Kent.
We met up with our entire group at the Atlanta airport. This included, Tom's parents, Teresa & Dell, Bryce & Sara, Maren & Tim and us.
Then we were off to Puerto Rico! Bryce had served a mission in Puerto Rico and had fun returning back.
When we got there ours and Tom's parents luggage was nowhere to be seen. So we got an "essentials kit" to get us by until our luggage showed up.
We then headed to our hotel. We had one room for eight of the ten of us to share, so we slept people everywhere... Mom, Dad, Sara and I in the beds, Tom and Bryce on the floor, Maren on the chair and Tim in the tub.
Our luggage showed up at 1:30am.
The next morning we went to an LDS church. It was such a neat experience. The church was small and the "halls" were all outdoors. The classrooms and Chapel were indoor though. It was a beautiful building.
The spirit was so strong as I sat in that meeting. I didn't understand hardly a word (it was all in Spanish), but knowing the church is still the same thousands of miles from home, and knowing it is the true church no matter where you are in the world was a huge testimony builder.
After, we headed to the our cruise ship, Carnival Victory!
While Tom and Bryce took the rental cars back, the rest of us went on board. First thing we did... eat in the buffet!
After the guys got back, we wondered off the ship to see El Morro, an old fort in San Juan. Little did we know we were there during some huge festival. The streets were packed with people, and it started to rain.
By the time we made it through the crowds, to the fort (which was closed anyway) and back on the ship, we were drenched!
The next day was our first port, St. Thomas (we had a stop every day on the cruise). Most of us went to the beach, where we saw a lot of lizards, big and small.
The guys often put on a "gun show" for the camera.
The water was pleasant and the beach was nice and hot. We also did some shopping (which we did at every port).
Dell and Teresa tried to find places for Dell to fly with his parachute, so we didn't see much of them on the ports.
The next day we stopped at Dominica. This island is known for its beautiful rain forests and natural pools. We headed through one of the rain forests to the Emerald Pools. It was a bit cold, but we had fun swimming in the natural water with the picturesque waterfall behind us.
We also drove around the island and got a great tour from our taxi driver.
That night we got to dress up for our first formal dinner.
It was also fun to see which towel animal was left in our rooms each night.
The next day was Barbados. This was our favorite beach, the sand was like warm brown sugar powder.
The next day went to St. Lucia. We decided to take a kayaking shore excursion with Bryce, Sara, Maren and Tim.
We also hiked up to an old fort.
This is one of our tour guides, who was a little odd.
Even though we had a stop everyday, we made the most of having fun on the ship too. We did Karaoke, ate, played games, ate, golfed, played on the waterslide, slept, enjoyed some of the cruise shows, and ate some more.
We also enjoyed another formal night.
Our fifth stop was St. Kitts. There wasn't much to do here, so Maren and I decided to get our hair braided.
The last stop was St. Maarten. We did go to a beach but it was on the French side of the island. Some people even forgot their swimming suits (don't worry, we left ours on).
We also found a store called The Yoda Guy. It was full of neat things from one of the artist that worked on Star Wars and many other movies. I guess he lives in St. Maarten.
Sadly, the week was over. We were back in San Juan again. We attempted to see El Morro again, only this time with much better luck.
And of course, a trip would not be a trip without a visit to The Hard Rock Cafe.
Tom and I were the only ones heading home that day. The rest of the family was staying a few more days. However, we got stuck in the Atlanta airport for hours because the airport had been shut down. We were supposed to fly out at 9:30pm Atlanta time, but did not end up leaving until 12:30am! We were very tired.
I did take a minute to go talk to Elder Bednar and his wife while we were waiting. They were also on our flight.
Finally, we made it home at 3am (which was 6am Caribbean time), slept a few more hours, then got up with the kids at 7am to give them hugs and their souvenirs.
It was a perfect vacation, relaxing, pampering, playing, fun!
2 comments:
Wow, those boys really like to flex for the camera, don't they?
Hey, that same festival was going on in San Juan when we were there exactly a year before. It rained on us, too!
Glad you had a fun time!
Fun stories. Those beaches looked awesome! Glad you guys had a great time.
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