Food!!!

 One of the best things about the cruise was all of the amazing food. I'm not sure how, but I was able to keep the weight gain to a couple pounds. We ate so well for every meal and if I ever felt like a snack, or munching on something, there was always delicious food to be found. The second day on the ship we found the snack place that was open 24 hours a day, which wasn't the really important thing to us, but they had pizza almost all day long. The whole time I only tasted one thing that I thought was really horrible, but Viddy didn't think it was too bad. One night Michelle's dinner came with wasabi mashed potatoes and as soon as they got in my mouth I had to get them out. They were vile. 

Chicken with some sort of cilantro sauce.  

Lobster. For those of you who don't know, I am not a seafood person. I try it whenever it is offered to me, but I never order it at a restaurant or willingly cook it at home. However, Viddy loved the fact that there was some type of seafood offered every night because he doesn't get it regularly. 

Prime rib. Just as amazing as it looks. 

While we were there Viddy's parents celebrated their 35th wedding anniversary. Our waiters and a few other people sang Happy Anniversary to the tune of Happy birthday to them. 

 Some of the best things that we had on the cruise:

French Fries (I know it's weird to list these first, but seriously amazing! Pretty sure we had them everyday)

Flourless chocolate cake

Cold fruit soups

Vegetables

Cream of Asparagus soup (Again, weird I know, but after trying a bite 5 people ordered their own)

Sourdough rolls

French Toast with whipped cream and strawberry sauce

Pizza

Chili Dog

And tons more, I just can't think of them all right now.

 This picture just reminds me of how awesome our waiters were. They treated our nieces like royalty and brought them special things every night at dinner. They always brought a bowl of fruit out just for them, and would bring them extra dessert in addition to what they ordered. 

On the Ship

Here are some of the things that we did on the cruise ship that I was able to get pictures of. There were tons of things to do on the boat, and there was a lot of eating amazing food the whole week which will probably need a post just for that. 

Rock climbing. Over the years I have learned that I scream involuntarily when I am dropped or fall really fast, like on roller coasters. People around me think it's hysterical and I have tried really hard not to scream but I just can't help it. So when I reached the top of the rock wall the person belaying me dropped me really fast. I think they probably do this to a lot of people but they probably don't always get the response that they got from me. I screamed of course and then when I stopped a couple feet from the ground they guy looked at me and asked if I was ok (he didn't bother to ask that before) and then let me down slowly the rest of the way. Later that afternoon I had a complete stranger come up to me and say "That was some ride down the rock wall you had today" So apparently I got the attention of other people on the ship :)

Lizzie and me racing. Pretty sure she won, but it was still fun. 

Lizzie, Viddy and Michelle before rock climbing the second time. Take note of Viddy's sun glasses - they are different from the ones that he had on the excursions. That would be because I accidentally knocked his sunglasses off the boat into the ocean. Just a couple minutes before I did it I bumped his glasses which were hanging on his shirt and he half joking said don't knock my glasses off. Then just a few minutes later I hugged him from behind and knocked them completely off. It was pretty funny but at the same time I felt bad for losing them. Luckily Michelle brought an extra pair and he wore those the rest of the week. 

The shows that we went to were for the most part a lot of fun. This was the first time that we went to the ice show. It's pretty amazing what they can do on such a small rink. We also went to a xylophone player who was incredible, a comedian, and a couple shows with the singers and dancers. 

This was the first formal night on the ship. It was fun getting all dressed up and having a fancy meal. 

Viddy about to enjoy his lamb.

On the deck after dinner.

On the deck after our stop in Jamaica. That is Jamaica in the back ground.

Lizzie and I were twins with skinny jeans and stripes. 

The second formal night. 

Lizzie and Viddy making creepy faces.

 Viddy and his mom.

All of us before dinner on the second formal night. 

Just the girls. 

I love this picture. I think it captures just how much fun we had and how crazy Viddy's family can be, especially when we are all together. 

Just chilling in the beautiful weather.

We went miniature golfing and it was super windy which made it a little harder to play, but even harder to hold onto your hat. This is Viddy's dad losing his hat and it flew onto Viddy's brother-in-law as he was trying to putt off the hill. 

There was a soft serve machine on the boat and we definitely made use of it! We also had fun mocking people's attempts at making ice cream cones. 

 We got up really early one morning to see the sun rise. I know we look super hot in our pajamas and with eyes that look like they didn't get enough sleep - probably because they didn't.  

One night during dinner I went to the bathroom and left my camera at the table. This is what was on my camera when I came back. Got to love it! 

I recently cut my hair pretty short and it wasn't until this trip that I was totally in love with it. It was a pretty big change for me and for a while it just felt like I had a wig on. But after this trip and being able to make my hair look fairly decent with little to no effort, and also being able to have Viddy do crazy things to it like the picture below, I have decided that I like it. 

I didn't get pictures of just laying out, reading, watching movies, and laughing hysterically because we were having such a good time. It was an awesome cruise and hopefully we'll be able to do it again someday. 

Cruising!!!

Viddy and I took a cruise with some of Viddy's family. To say that it was amazing would be an understatement. There are tons and tons of pictures, so I'm planning on posting them in sets. Viddy's family drove down and spent a few days with us in Houston and then we sailed out of Galveston. Our first stop was Cozumel Mexico. We went dune buggy-ing through part of the jungle and then stopped at the Jade Caverns where we jumped off a ledge into a natural pool. The dune buggies were a ton of fun, but speaking from experience, they weren't as fun when you had to pee. 

We were super stylish with bandannas over our faces so that we wouldn't breathe in all the dust and the goggles. We drove through mud, ran into a few trees, went over a jump and got some air and just had a fun time. 

 In front of our boat. It's amazing how big it is and everything that it has on it. 

 The second day of excursions we stopped at the Cayman Islands. Here we had to take a smaller boat from our cruise ship to the island. 

Our first stop was the Turtle Farm. Holding little baby sea turtles was one of the coolest things. Did you know that you can calm a sea turtle down by stroking the underside of its neck?

Next we went to an aviary in the turtle farm where we got to feed some birds (it's hard to see, but there is a little bird sitting on my hand in the picture below)

This bird landed on Viddy's chest and then walked up it to sit on his shoulder, he hung out with us for a little bit. 

After the aviary we went snorkeling with some cool looking fish and sea turtles.

Our last stop in the Cayman Islands was Hell. 

Our third day of excursions was in Jamaica. If I had to pick a favorite place we visited it would be here. All of the places were awesome, but Jamaica was sweet!

With part of Jamaica in the background. This was the first stop at a botanical garden. It used to be a hotel, but since it was so far away from food and shopping, they turned it into gardens. 

At the gardens in front of a waterfall.

 After the gardens we went to a hotel where they fed us Jamaican food for lunch. This is the patio that we sat on and had lunch.

Our final stop in Jamaica was Dunn's River Falls. Here we climbed up an amazing waterfall. Here is a picture of part of the falls. We climbed the falls for quite a while and it's impossible to get a picture of everything that we climbed at once. 

This was all of us before we went into the falls being nerds and lining up in the shade of a palm tree. 

Lizzie and me before climbing the falls. It doesn't look like it, but she loves me :)

 Viddy and me in the falls. This was before I had gone completely under the water, so I was trying really hard not to... that didn't last long!

 Viddy's family standing in the freezing water. Ok, it actually wasn't that cold, but they ran us through the ocean water first and compared to the ocean water it's cold. 

 And we finished! It was a ton of fun and I was pretty proud of myself for doing it because usually I would have been terrified of falling and cracking my head open but we all finished without major injury. 

These are just some of the pictures from the days that we did excursions. I will have another post with pictures of us doing things on the ship and then another post of some of the amazing things that we saw (scenery, plants, animals). 

And just a side note. A few weeks before the cruise I got my first pair of prescription sun glasses and they are amazing to have. I'm a little sad that this was my first pair because they are so awesome! It is amazing to be able to spend the whole day outside and be able to see and not have a headache after from all the sun.