CARIBBEAN CRUISE: 2nd & 3rd Ports St. Kitts & Grenada

Monday morning, Steve and I got up early and headed off to breakfast. We were so excited to get off the boat and enjoy St. Kitts. We had an ATV adventure booked and I was excited to drive my very 1st ATV. As we walked to the buffet we noticed were actually pulling away from the island…which seemed odd, considering we should have been docking right about then. Within an hour the captain made an announcement that due to high winds he was unable to dock our ship after making a few attempts. So we were destined to spend a day on the ship and I would have to wait for another time to tackle ATVing.

We spent the day on the deck, sunning, reading, and eating. Then we got showered and all dressed up for our 1st formal evening. Steve had a bought a tuxedo especially for this trip and he looked HOT in it. I must say we all cleaned up and looked pretty good that night.




Tuesday morning found us docking in Grenada at 7:30 and Steve and I were one of the first ones off the ship. We wanted to take advantage of every minute we were there.

We walked around the city as the locals were making their way to work or finding a bus to get on. There were children dressed in uniforms on their way to school. We walked through what I would compare to a farmer’s market.

There were all sorts of fun spices for sale. I bought some nutmeg and cocoa and the woman I bought it from showed me how my favorite thing in the world, CHOCOLATE, starts out. It was interesting.

As 9:00 am approached we headed back to the ship so we could meet up with the rest of our group to do our next excursion. We drove for about 45 minutes, out of the city. Our driver pointed out different plants, explained that because of a hurricane a few years ago many of the houses without roofs, we saw monkeys and cool trees that would be fun to have a house built on. We got to the trailhead where we got sticks to help with our trek to the Seven Sisters Waterfalls.

Initially the trail was fine to walk on and we were able to look around as walked at the banana tree, different fruits, even a cinnamon tree that we got to taste. But then the trail got slippery, muddy and began to descend. There was not much opportunity to look around at that point because we all seemed so focused on not falling.

At the end of the trail we were pleased to arrive at 2 beautiful waterfalls.

There were TONS of people there…some just watching and taking pictures, some swimming and then there was Steve, Ken, Chris and Brian who decided they wanted to jump off the falls.

One of the locals that were there said they could show them the way to get to the top (not mentioning that we wanted $10.00 per person, until they got to the top) this was a little sneaky on that guys part, but I was glad the guys got to do it all the same. It was quite thrilling to watch them do it.

Not long after their jump we headed back to the trailhead and our driver. Right before we made it to the van it began to rain, which was quite refreshing after the hike. I wish we would have had a little more time at the falls, to swim, explore, and just taking in all the beauty.

CARIBBEAN CRUISE: 1st Port St.Thomas

Sorry I have been missing for a while.

Steve and I went on our cruise with 6 other couples from our neighborhood:

Brian & Suzanne,

Ken & Wendy,

Derek & Stacey,

John & Sandra,

Chris & Beth,

Mike & Nanette. (this is not Mike...he was off golfing)

We flew out of SLC on Saturday morning early and arrived in Puerto Rico where we boarded the Crown Princess to begin our cruise. Steve and I spent the evening wandering around the ship with Sandra and John, hit the buffet for some dinner and then settle in on the deck lounger to watch a movie. We pulled out of port at 11:00 pm and woke up Sunday morning in St. Thomas.
We dressed for our "Kayaking, Hiking, Snorkeling". We all gathered off the ship and took a van ride to EcoTours to learn a lottle more about the mangroves. We sat under tents and they began to explain what we would be doing and what gear we should bring with us. Then suddenly it began to rain...not just sprnkling, but raining HARD. it finally let up a little and we made our way to the docks to board our 2 person kayaks. I was so excited to get into the kayak. We began to paddle our way through the mangroves. We had a cool guid that explained way the mangroves are so important to the ecology of the area. It was actually very cool to learn about it all.
We beached our kayaks and were then instructed to find a hermit crab that we could enter in a race. at first glance you did not see the hermit crabs, but as we got closer to the trees and studies the shells on the ground a little closer you ound that there were actually little critters living inside.
I found a little one that was quite spunky...I called him Floyd and brought him over to the starting line. The race was on. Floyd was a little slow coming out of the starting gate, and towards the end really made a stronger effort, but only took 4th place.
Wendy's hermit crab won and this entitled her to an ice cream sandwich.
After the "Hermit Crab Races" we took a hike to ocean. It was beautiful...rocky...waves crashing. We took some cool pictures of the different couples in our group, but unfortunately we we unable to stay for very long. We were on our way back to where we had grounded to being the snorkeling portion of our excursion. It took me a few minutes to remember how to breathe, but once I mastered it, I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was so peaceful in the water. There was another guide that would point out some the cool critters that were in the water with us. We saw a VERY LARGE BARACUDA. That was pretty freaky. Before I knew it, our time was up. We had to snorkel back to the kayaks, dry off, have a snack and head back to the docks.
It was definitely a great first excursion. A little bit of a bummer to not have some sun, but we had high hopes that we would find that sunshine in St. Kitts, the next day.
That evening we had dinner in the DaVinci Diningroom and then we made our way to watch some Karaoke. Not only were we watching the Karaoke performances, but we decided to perform. First Nanette's husband Mike got up and performed the song "Getcha Some" by Toby Keith. He was very good. Nanette stood in the audience and cheered him on.

Then after 12 people had gotten up and performed it was announced that Nanette and the Pips (that was us) were about to perform. It seemed like a good idea at the time. We had picked the song, "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" by Cyndi Lauper. We all felt so good about our song choice, but what we had forgotten was there were only 4 lines to the whole 3 minutes of song.

It was a fun thing to do...

I can say I have karaoked...

but I don't know if I will ever do it again.

Valentines Day

It is that time of the year. Last night before going to bed, I set out cute stuffed animals for the girls and a box of candy for Zack. Then I popped out of bed about 6:00 am and began to make my heart shaped pancakes to help in the celebration. Little did I know that with all the snow we got last night, that school had been delayed 2 hours...UGH!!! I could have slept in.

Slowly, the kidlets wandered down stairs. Zack was the first to discover his goodies. He was followed by Belle and the twins stumbled down the stairs soon after. Everyone seemed to enjoy their Valentine breakfast and were tickled to get a stuffed animal.

This was the `14th year Steve and I have done the 14 Days of Valentines. I saw a neat idea on Ali Edwards Blog. So I printed of the inner pages of her book, but made a page for each of the 14 days. Then I wrote a reason each day of why I love Steve. Some were sentimental and some were silly. Today I will assemble all the pages into a book and give that to him when he gets home form work.

Steve's idea was to recap the last 14 years. Each day represented a theme from each year we have been doing this. I loved strolling down memory lane as I read each Valentine. I still love that we do this and one of the coolest things has been the children seem to enjoy it too. They love to see what Steve and I do for eachother. It is neat to share that with our children and they get to see and hear just how much their parents love and respect eachother

Chinese New Year

Today Katie and Becky came home from school so excited because they had celebrated Chinese New Year. They had volunteers come to their classroom to help in the celebration. They made these cute little hats, were given chopsticks and then made these cool dragons. They were excited to tell me that this year 2008 is the Year of the Pig (**update-I have been informed by a reliable source that 2008 is the year of the RAT...thanks Mabel). What a neat opportunity for the girls. I love when the children are exposed to the arts and history.

One of the reasons were are so excited about Chninese New Year this year is because our Grandma and Grandpa are on vacation in Taiwan with our Aunt Mabel and Uncle Chip. They are actually getting to participate in all the celebrations that are happening there. We are so excited to hear the stories of what a REAL Chinese New Year celebration is like. Mom has been taking pictures of everything and gathering momentos from all their journeys. How blessed we are to have Mabel in our family. She has lived in Taiwan and her father still lives there and have taken Mom and Pop to all the cool places and sites.

So happy Chinese New Year or "Gung hay fat choy" to you all.