Shay and I got to go on a cruise with some of our friends. When we left Utah is was COLD and SNOWY! We couldn't wait to get to the warm weather in Miami and the Caribbean but first we had a layover in Chicago and then onto Ft. Lauder dale where we taxied into Miami.
We stayed in a hotel Saturday night and Sunday went and had breakfast and finally got to board the ship. Here are some pics from breakfast and on board with Miami in the background.
 |
| The group checking in to get on board, YAY! |
 |
Our group is Shay and I, Matt and Linsey, Tim and Wendi, and Curtis and Ashton.
|
We had a "Dress Up, or Not" Dinner. That's what the cruise called it! We chose to dress up and enjoy the evening. The food was good and we ended up eating at the restaurant the most.
(Besides the Buffet of course!)
Below are some pictures of the Crystal Atrium on the Ship.
 |
It was really windy outside, we went on the deck and my hair would not stay out of my face!
|
On Monday this was view from the pool deck all day. So relaxing!
On Tuesday we were in Roatan Bay Islands, Honduras. We took a taxi to Foster Beach and when we got there it was scary looking. We pulled up to the back of some building and Corby our guide told us to send a girl and a guy with him to check the beach out and make sure we wanted to stay. But luckily they came back and said it was good so we hopped out of the van and went to the beach. It was beautiful and my favorite beach the whole trip. On the way to the beach we saw a little boy scrambling out of the road because he had just been hit! Corby was training to be a paramedic so he stopped to check on the kid and said that he was fine but was scared and wanted to get home because he didn't want his mom to beat him!! How sad! The whole time this is going on the driver of our van is honking the horn and yelling at Corby, "Let's go, Let's go!!!" I think all of us girls were on the verge of tears. Sure hope that little boy is OK.. Here are some things I learned about Honduras and then pictures. They have low crime rates because the prison system is so terrible no one wants to go there. Maybe we need to adopt a bit more of that here! There is no alcohol age limit so they don't have many alcoholics there. Corby said he'd been to Italy and hated it because it was so cold. It was warm and in the high 80's. Corby also had his first kid when he was 14, he is now 28. Crazy!
 |
Here we all are with Corby.
|
 |
Here the guys are about to go snorkeling on that little boat behind them. They had fun!
|
Wednesday we went to Belize City, Belize. We had to tender in to the port on a little boat because the water is to shallow for cruise ships to get there. Some of the girls stayed and went shopping for some great deals on purses and I and the guys went cave tubing. I'm sure the other girls would have come but one was pregnant and couldn't come so the others were nice and stayed. It was a lot of fun but we were hurried the whole time so instead of floating along the SLOW current we had to paddle ourselves the whole time we were in the water. It was a 30 min. hike and then 1-1 1/2 hours of tubing. Plus a 1 hour drive there and another hour back. Our guide, Javier did a great job. He was easy to talk to and made the whole trip fun. He is 40/41 with 3 kids. He said he works 2 jobs to he can provide his kids a good education. He takes his job as a guide very seriously, he stays current on all of Americas politics and lifestyle. He taught us a bit about Belize too. They also have horrible prisons so, low crime rates. He said they pay very high taxes but have great roads and 99% free health care. Another thing I thought was crazy is that they have trees that SPONTANEOUSLY COMBUST! Yes you read that right. They start on fire and the pods explode sending the seeds into the air to land a grow more trees. This of course causes brush fires and they were EVERYWHERE! It looked like a war zone... Apparently no one worries about the fires because the soil is so wet from the humidity that they put themselves out by the end of the day. We didn't get many pictures this day because we couldn't bring our camera in the water. Here are just a couple.
Thursday we went to Costa Maya, Mexico. This was a little shopping center with a salt water pool in the middle of it all. We shopped around a bit and I only found one thing that I liked. A turquoise necklace. I said "Shay, come with me and see if we can get this necklace down to thirty or forty dollars." I thought it would be around $80-$100. NOPE, try $1,250.00!! I told the guy I couldn't afford that so he told me he could give it to me for $1,000.00. I said, "No I only have $40." He put his hands up in front of him and shook them back and forth as he said "Oh no, no!" I laughed and said thanks. Darn it! I really liked that necklace. Then we went to the beach. It was a little resort with beds, chairs, paddle boats, kayaks, and a bar/restaurant. They were still rebuilding from Hurricane Dean (that was 4 years ago)! After a bit the girls and Matt decided to go back and do some shopping again so I stayed with Shay, Tim and Curtis. They were snorkeling and Tim saw a Sting Ray and they all saw huge Conch Shells, and lots of colored fish and even little sharks! They said 15 more minutes of snorkeling so I started cleaning up our stuff and after 15 minutes tried to get their attention to come back in. Well they couldn't hear me so after 10 more minutes one of the workers got on his jet ski and went out to tell them to come back in. They didn't even notice him ride up, he had to blow his whistle at them! I guess they were lost in the underwater world... We made it back with 15 minutes to spare so we hurried back to the boat. Here are a few pictures.
Here is a video of the beach and some HORRIBLE Mexican serenading that was going on.
Friday Shay and I layed in bed watching movies and napping most of the day. It was nice and relaxing. That night we played a game with a bunch of the cruisers called The Quest. You have team captains and you have to perform tasks or find items and take them to the Cruise Director, Andy. Some of the items were, keys, a piece of fruit, dentures, bras... It got crazy. One of the guys from each team had to dress up like women so all of women were trying so hard to get them ready. Here is the guy from our team and some other pictures.
 |
The guy in the middle with brown hair and a white shirt is the Cruise Director. He was really good at his job!
|
Saturday we went to Key West, Florida. Again the girls wanted to shop and I don't like shopping so I went with the guys to a beach. We decided to walk, it took us 40 minutes and the beach was not good! So we hung out a little bit and then took a taxi back. Not much else about this day...
Sunday was travel home day. We got off the ship at 10 am and to the airport at 11 am. We thought we could check our baggage and then we'd go eat somewhere but you can't check your baggage in any earlier than 4 hours and our flight didn't leave until 5 pm. SO, we just sat around in the airport all day and then once we got on the plane they delayed our flight due to lightning so we sat on the tarmac for another hour... we got home at midnight. We were more than ready for a hot showers and our bed.
Here are a bunch of random pictures from the trip.
Shay got randomly picked out of the audience one night during a performance by Sharkbait. They set up chairs and had 4 guys lay back on each other then they pulled the chairs away leaving them to fend for their own. There is a video as well.
 |
Trying to get a good picture of these guys was impossible.
|
 |
This is the best I got.
|
 |
Tim told us girls to make our Motown faces because they were playing their hits in the back. Who knows what kind of face that is!? So this is what you got.
|
 |
Here is a cute one of us.
|
 |
This group is called Second City Troupe. They were so funny. They do sketch comedy and improv. Most of the SNL cast (past and present) has come from this company.
|
Well, there you have it. My first post in MONTHS and it's big one. I came back 3.5 pounds heavier but tan, happy and closer to my husband. I am so grateful we got to go on this trip and I will never forget it! Thank you to those who made it possible!
