Roatan

Roatan was the stop that I was really excited about. The weather was iffy and literally started and stopped raining 3 times in 15 min while we were sailing into shore haha Trav was super burnt from our day at sea and day at the beach. We forgot sun screen and probably would have been fine but we didn't wanna take any chances so we stopped at a little shop in town and paid $18 for, what turned out to bed, mostly zinc oxide!!! So annoying! And that crap doesn't rub in... so Trav looks like a nut job in our pics haha

We met our tour guide and ended up being the total odd ones out in the group! Everyone in the group knew each other... then there was us... and one other lady HA! We stopped at the iguana farm first. Honestly, I had kind of forgotten that this was even part of the excursion but we loved it! And luckily, some people were scared of them HAHA so.... more interaction for us! We held the baby ones first. They were so fun! While I was holding a tiny baby, they put a bigger one on my shirt and it climbed right up onto the top of my head! After that, we went down to where the adults are and fed them leaves. I loved it and could have done it all day.

After that, I was totally on a high already and we went to see the sloths. I was in absolute heaven! I love all animals and had really looked forward to holding a sloth. It held right on and I couldn't help but rock/sway it haha It felt just like holding a baby, except it actually holds on haha When Trav held the sloth, it kind of just laid it's head on his chest haha it was the cutest thing!

After sloths, we went in with the monkeys. They were really fun and crazy. I had a bobby pin in a twisted part of my hair (so it was in really tight). The monkey saw it and went to work on my head and pulled the bobby pin out with its teeth!! It was crazy!! One of the really shy ones came down and sat on Trav's shoulder. The tour guide gave her a big treat for being so friendly and brave.

After the sloths we were supposed to go in with Parrots but they were being unusually aggressive so we went straight to the macaws and held them. That was kinda meh for me. I was a little scared of it honestly but it was a fun experience.

Grand Cayman

Monday was our first stop, Grand Cayman. We had been notified the night before that our excursion, Parasailing, had been canceled due to weather. We had been watching the weather and knew that this may happen but it was still a bummer. We debated picking another one and ultimately decided on a private beach excursion. The boat cannot go close to shore so you have to take a water shuttle in. This was kind of a pain but it went fairly smoothly and we found where we needed to go for our excursion. 

The city of Georgetown was a bit of a letdown for me. It didn’t seem very nice or interesting. People drive on the left side of the road and constantly honk their horns but it’s more of a friendly honk! Not like the honks I am used to. We walked through a few shops, bought a diet coke, and headed back to the waiting area. I couldn’t believe how warm it was! We rode a bus to the beach and got VIP seats! People kept walking by and asking us how much we paid for the chairs and how we got them! Apparently paying for the excursion was worth it haha We walked along the beach, ordered nachos that cost $29 haha! And seriously just enjoyed ourselves! 

I was nervous to go out into the water because I had never been in the ocean and I really suck at swimming but trav slowly got me out there. I was paddling around and got really excited, until I swallowed some of the water! Salt water! Yuck! I had no idea it would be like that. Trav got a good laugh out of my reaction though. We brought an action camera that is waterproof so we tried it out in the water and took tons of silly pics. It was so fun to spend that time with Trav and it felt like we were just dating again. No cares in the world and just flirty and enjoying each other’s company. We sat next to some people who were from Virginia. They were 25 and had one child. The woman was completely amazed that we had 3 children so close together haha it was funny because in Utah, no one bats an eye at our situation but on the cruise, people were very surprised to learn that we had 3 kids in 4 years! We chatted with her a lot and she invited us to meet them at the club that night. We were super awkward about it haha but I felt flattered for the invitation!

Cruise Journaling- Departure and Day at Sea

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Ok so I am going to do this journaling style, so there will be a lot of annoying details, but I just really want to remember everything about our trip.

Little background… Trav and I will celebrate our 10-year anniversary in March and we had never done a REAL vacation together. We went to Vegas for our Honeymoon because that’s all we had the money for. Since having children we have gone to Disneyland twice and San Diego once and we always drive. Trav and I had never been on a plane together. Since getting married, we have worked really hard and avoided vacations because of responsibility.

A few years ago, we decided that we wanted to go on a cruise for our 10-year anniversary. I knew it would be expensive and was doubtful that it would actually happen but Trav was insistent that we had earned this. If you know us well, you know that our marriage has been extremely difficult. The first few years were brutal and a lot of difficult things went on with us, but we have persevered! We began pricing things out and saving money. We got a chase southwest credit card and started putting everything we could on that card to earn us points. We booked the cruise in Feb 2019 and went in Jan 2020. We earned our plane tickets there and back with points and had the cruise paid for several months in advance. We also ended up booking an excursion at all 4 ports. This wasn’t our original plan but this really was an “all out” vacation for us so we went for it!

We dropped the kids off at Trav’s parents’ house on Thursday night to prepare for our 6:25 am flight on Friday morning. I did better than I thought… I didn’t cry… but it was extremely difficult for me and it was a moment that I had dreaded since booking the cruise. We were away from our kids for 9 nights total and the most we had been away from them previously was 2 nights. My dad picked us up at 4am on Friday. Check in went well and we even got to sit by each other on the plane. I sat in the middle and trav got the aisle seat. The gentleman by the window was very kind and it was an uneventful flight. We flew to Chicago where we did not change planes. They let us off the plane though (if we wanted) and I was surprised to see Christmas decorations still up at the Chicago airport! We boarded the plane again (window and middle seat this time) and a teenage/early adult guy sat by me. We flew to Atlanta this time and had a 2-hour layover. The airport is huge and there were tons of restaurants but we decided to have a burger and hotdog at 5 guys. After waiting about an hour, we were able to board our last plane to Ft Lauderdale. We sat in a window and middle seat and a woman with dreadlocks and a mask sat next to me. When we landed it was chaos! So many people were trying to get Ubers. We requested an uber on the app and waited… we had never done the uber thing so it was a little nerve racking for me. However, I was pleasantly surprised when the person who picked us up had a very nice clean care and was super friendly! She was from Columbia and suggested that we see the new Hard Rock Hotel/Café! We had never heard of it but after she took us to the hotel and we settled in, we decided to try it out! Our hotel was a funny family owned joint that was a lot nicer than it looked! We paid $160 for one night, thanks to it being a night before cruises leave. We took another uber to the Hard Rock and it reminded us a lot of the Bellagio, a lot of gambling and shops with a water/music show. It was really fun to see and we went to bed that night totally exhausted from the day.

The next morning we got up and ate some snacks we had packed for breakfast and requested an uber to the Miami Port. It was a lot and traffic filled ride. Our uber driver did not speak English well but he was kind and we made it where we needed to go. They took our luggage right out of the uber and we got in line to go through security. That took about an hour and then we were on the boat! We were a few hours early and had absolutely no idea what we were doing so we followed the crowds up to the Lido deck where all of the food was. We waited in line and got our first cruise meal… burgers from Guy’s Burger Joint. The deck was packed with people and music was blaring. I’m sure we looked like fish out of water as we attempted to figure out where we were and what was going on. Eventually we found our room and were able to put our luggage away when it was brought up. We got some fruit (to balance out the burgers haha!) and found some lounge chairs on deck. We called the kids to wish them one last goodbye and the ship finally set sail! There wasn’t much to do till dinner but we had a hard time finding the dining room so we were a little late. We sat with another “couple.” We had a hard time figuring out their relationship at first. Man and Woman…. Not married…. Not a couple…. Not siblings… old friends from college!!  It was a little odd but we thoroughly enjoyed spending every evening with them and talking about our day. It was fun because they were not the kind of people that we would typically connect with, but they were so fun and nice and I really was sad on the last night! The ship had lots of shows throughout our voyage. We enjoyed the shows with singing and dancing most. The cruise director, Kyndall Fire, was also hilarious and honestly enhanced our cruising experience!

The next day was a Day at Sea. We got up and ate a light breakfast and exercised. The boat had a track on it so we just walked/ran for about 45 min. People might think that exercising on vacation sounds weird but honestly, I love to exercise but I never get to do it without feeling guilty that I am not watching my kids. So, to be able to exercise guilt free was definitely a “vacation” activity for me. We also made the decision to always take the stairs on the ship. We did this partly because the elevators take a while, and partly for our health. We got in swimsuits and laid out a lot. We read some of our books. I learned the thriller dance on the lido deck. We ate. Went to shows. It really was just a chill and relaxing day!

June 2019 Recap

Well summer is pretty much over! It’s gone by crazy fast, even though we really didn’t have any plans haha So I am going to recap our summer by month. We moved into our house on May 21 and Chance only had one more day of school after that, so we will consider buying a house our first summer event! 

The boys were both able to attend the Orem youth soccer summer camp. It was really good for both of them! Coleman hasn’t actually been old enough to play soccer at all yet, so it was his first experience with it, and he did great. He was the smallest and most likely the youngest in the camp but he worked hard and I feel like he improved. Coleman has this way of weaseling his was into people’s hearts and this was no exception. He made friends with a few of the “coaches” (who were high school students) and basically got special treatment haha They were so good with him! They cheered him on and helped modify things so that they were realistic for Coleman. 

Chance was usual self, an awesome listener and a hard worker. He is starting to get different skills, such as the various ways to kick the ball with your foot. I like seeing things start to click with him and seeing him be able to move the ball with more dexterity. 

 Chance played tball. This was a little frustrating because we tried to have him play up and be in coach pitch but they would not allow it. We felt like tball would be a little boring for him, and it kind of was, but he had a great opportunity to learn to be a leader. Even his coach commented that she was glad that Chance was on the team, to be an example and a leader for the other kids. Another mom commented that Chance was the “star of the team.” Even though it’s just tball, I couldn’t help but feel proud of him. In the first few games, he was the only kid on the team who did anything when they were fielding. Every hit, he would run to the ball and throw it to first haha it was pretty funny to watch. After a while, the other kids started catching on and they ended up being a pretty good little team! Right now, Chance says he likes soccer better than tball, but when it came time to play tball, Chance was super excited. We will just keep having him do everything til he gets older and decides to play just 1-2 sports. 

                                                   

We celebrated Father's Day and Trav's Birthday. For his combined present, he got a "real" tool box! We were all pretty excited to have dad's tools organized!

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We also got to go to the splash pad with Lilly and Ellie. 

                                                    

                                           

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Chance did another soccer camp through the Orem rec center. Coleman wasn’t old enough to do it, which was a major bummer, but he went and watched Chance. This camp wasn’t as “serious” as the other one but it was still great practice and learning. We tried to do Chance in a third soccer camp but it ended up getting canceled, which we were pretty bummed about.

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There was a windy day and we decided to try flying kites. CC literally got all tangled up in hers. Chance tried really hard and looked good in the pic. Coleman rocked it and kept his kite in the air almost the whole time.

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Cousins came into town for a few days. We played in water and did perler beads. We also watched the Summer Fest fireworks!

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The kids got bikes this summer! This may seem like nothing but Chance has refused to even try to ride a bike and because Chance wont do it, Coleman hasn’t really been exposed to it. Our neighbor boys all like to ride bikes so I think that helped spark Chance’s interest. We went to walmart (like we have done several times in the past) and tried out a few bikes. Chance was really getting the hang of it and he wanted one so we ended up getting some from dicks (hoping for a little better quality) and the boys have been loving them! We wanted to try to get the training wheels off before the end of the summer but after Chance’s injury, that may not happen.

                                                           
Just a few more random fun pics.