Thursday, November 19, 2009

Carribean

This past week Adam quit his job, his day job that is. He is now a full time business owner. Please bless bluehouse has a good season. Last year he earned a cruise through his day job employer Fidelity. So we thought we better cash in on it before he closed the door on them. Hooray, we went to the Carribean. Thanks Fidelity and thanks husband for all your hard work!

We were gone for NINE days and had to leave Grant. I was pretty much freaking out since I have never left him overnight with anyone but Adam. Adam's mom took him for the first 4 days and my mom took him for the last 4 days. The picture below is of our little guy on the way to the airport to drop us off. (i looked at this pic like 10 times a day while we were gone. since i earased my camera memory card just before we left this was the only pic of him i had on the camera).

We flew into Miami and stayed the night there since our ship didn't leave until the next day. Here we are chillin in our hotel room...adam thought his head looked too big in the first picture, so he made us take another one with MY head closer to the camera. Yea, the first one's better.


What we saw of Miami was really pretty. I've never been there, but it seemed nice.


Here's our ship leaving Miami.

The first day we hung out on the ship. Then stopped in Costa Maya, Belize, Cozumel, and Grand Cayman. It was a perfect, much needed get-a-way. Oh, and we ate sushi everyday, so good.

Our first stop, Costa Maya. The weather wasn't the greatest, but we went snorkeling and found some pretty beaches.

And we saw a sunken ship.

Went Kayaking.




Found cool coralish rock plants.


Our next stop was Belize. We decided to do a cave tubing tour so we could see the jungle, since we were going to be on the beach every other day. This is our guide/guy that owned the thing, who drove us there in his sweet range rover and never stopped talking. I loved him. He reminded me of Mrs. Nieves (for those of you who know her, they had the same voice, weird i know).

We hiked through the jungle to get to the caves. It was pretty awesome.


We saw a ton of termite nests, and our guides ATE them. sick. They said they tasted like pineapple. gross.





Here we are all suited up for the adventure. Yea, I took this picture and my arm isn't long enough, it's pretty attractive.



When we got out of the cave we played in the water and did some cliff jumping. I can't believe I'm plugging my nose.

The next couple of pictures are of Belize city.



Cozumel was our next stop. It's a small little island that has great beaches and tons of good snorkeling spots. We decided we wanted to see most of the island so we rented a scooter and went beach hopping. It was probably my favorite day of the trip.



Can you believe that water!! It was seriously like a bath tub. So warm. We found a great little beach on the side of the island that isn't the tourist side so there were only like 5 other people there. It was beautiful, more perfect than I could have expected.





Then we drove and found some ruins.

We drove some more and found the popular beaches.

Then we got back to the ship and had a fancy dinner.

Grand Cayman was a our last stop.

We had some locals take us out to this sandbar in the middle of the ocean to swim with the stingrays. On our way there on of the local guys on the boat dove in the water and came up with this star fish! He passed it around for us to hold.

It was so weird being out in the middle of the ocean and only in 3 feet of water. The stingrays there are used to having people close by and they just swim right up against your body. Adam even gave one a big kiss!


They felt so strange, not slimy or fishy but kind of like velvet.


Then we went snorkeling and saw some really pretty sea life. I still can't handle how perfect the water was there. It was a million times better than Hawaii.

On our way back to shore one of the local guys on the boat dove in the water again a came out with this conch! Then he cracked the shell and pulled it out! AHHH. Then he cut it up and we ATE IT! I'm serious. He cleaned it (i guess he cut out the guts?) and then he sliced it up and gave it to us to eat. I thought I would never have the chance again to try it so I did. It tasted like swiss cheese. For real.

Back on the boat enjoying the sunset.

On our way home. It was a perfect trip.

I was so excited to see Grant I couldn't stand it. I thought he was going to be all sad with us being gone, but turns out he loved being at Grandmas.

He went up to the Hepworth cabin and chilled on the patio furniture...

And he ate popcorn with Grandpa Pierce, probably one of his top 3 favorite activities ever. He probably didn't even miss us. I missed him though. We're glad we're home:)

8 comments:

Three Lads and a Lis said...

what a lovely time you had - my senior year of high school we went on a cruise, we stopped in cozumel and Grand Caymen and another place (can't remember) - I love grand caymen and sting ray city and I'm with you - the water is 100 times better than Hawaii, it is gorgeous.

I've always wanted to go to Belize, it looks beautiful! So glad you had a little getaway, I know it's hard to leave the little one(s), but worth it when you know they are in good grandma and grandpa hands!

Congrats on the business owning life - God bless in all those endeavors.

Becca said...

What a fun trip!! I'm so happy your guys got to enjoy some time together...that is the best! Grant is too cute!

Keri said...

Oh my gosh...I can't take it. I need a get-a-way. Look at that water - I LOVE IT! Your pictures are so pretty.

Natalynn and Paul said...

I love Miami and the Caribbean. Seeing all your pictures makes me homesick! So fun that you guys were able to squeeze in that cruise!! Looks like you had a blast.

Joy and Ted said...

Your trip looked AMAZING!! I loved ALL the pics. We have to talk about tubing in the tunnels of Belize. I did that exact same thing, BUT it was a nightmare. I have to tell you the story. It was crazy!! let's talk soon.
Love ya!

Evans Fam said...

WE have got to go on a cruise...after seeing all those pictures I am going to make it happen somehow. I LOVE the Cayman Islands! And how fun that you got to go for free! Good job Adam. And good luck with Blue House....when we are no longer poor grad students and live somewhere with good skiing (I hope) I will be a bigger supporter I promise! Grant is adorable!

Sylvia said...

Oh man, I need a vacation without my kids BAD!! You are so lucky! I can't believe all those neat places you got to go to...and all that gross stuff that was eaten along the way, ha ha!!

Lillie said...

I started rolling at the big headed pictures... then picked it back up at the self portrait with your short arm. This post was great! And what a fun trip... oh how I love a vacation...

And a full time business owner... so exciting!