I'm on a Boat

It is so strange to plan a vacation for 2 years,

save up all your money,

count down each and every day,

and then....it's over

All we are left with is amazing memories and about 1500 pictures, haha

It truly was a vacation unlike any other!

I made a video of most of the pictures and a few videos:

Day 1

We flew into Miami and spent the night on South Beach.

We stayed at Westgate South Beach (which is ON the beach)

The sky was purpley, the ocean was blue, and the air was thick and warm.

(my curly hair was so happy!)

It was heaven!

DAY 2

We drove to the Port of Miami.

It was so exciting to finally board onto the ship!

We boarded the Carnival Destiny, and headed right to the buffet.

The ship was HUGE, we got lost so many times.

The inside looked like a fancy mall/casino/hotel.

The Lido Deck was my favorite, it had a few pools, bars, food, and a BIG screen TV

We finally took off and it was amazing,

the boat was so smooth (none of us got sick!)

(thanks to my dad's pills that he gave us and Grama Pat's seabands for Max)

That night we had our first fancy dinner- my favorite: smoked duck

Then, we went to the sushi bar and had some hot sake

*droooooool*

Day 3

Sea Day- we saw Cuba! It was crazy!

We played shuffle board, mini golf, and the boys tested out the Carnival Club

(they hated it)

We spent all day having cocktails by the pool

HEAVEN!

That night was Formal Night

(you know what that means! Lobstah!)

"Can I get lobster AND prime rib?"

"Yes!"

We all dressed up super sex-ay and had a lovely dinner by a pink sunset together.

Me and my FAVORITE boys went up on deck and had some late night pizza and relaxing.

Day 4

Ocho Rios, Jamaica

We took this giant sail boat to Dunn's River Falls

We hiked up with my kiddos and both of the old ladies

We made it!

It was breathtaking.

The Jamaicans were so pushy though, it was kind of scary

They would say "You shame me" if you didn't buy their stuff

On the way back, our "Cool Runnings" boat gave us free rum

(fine for the women, bad idea for the men!)

We danced like crazies!

Matt passed out on the beach while the girls shopped and the twins got lost

Yikes.

Me and Max got separated from the group for a minute, and I was nervous.

But, the beach was BEAUTIFUL and we all made it back safely

Day 5

Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands

This was my favorite day.

We were unable to walk onto the port because it is too small,

so we had to all load into smaller boats that took us to the island.

Then, we went to another boat that took us to....

Stingray City!

It was..................I'm speechless

We swam with these HUGE rays below our feet.

Max has never been happier.

Our tour guide was awesome, happy,

and had the COOLEST hair that looked like jellyfish in the water

My only regret- Jack slept the whole time

He woke up at the end, but missed out on the stingrays.

Oh well, guess I will have to take him again!

Then our boat (the "Mickey Mouse") took us to Rum Point Beach

No free rum this time (thank god)

We snorkeled in the crystal clear water and found so many creatures!

The coolest? A little ray and an OCTOPUS!

Eeeep!

We got back and shopped like crazy until the little boat took us back to our big boat.

That night we partied fiesta-style at the Cinco De Mayo party on deck

They had wide-mouth Corona's, free hats, and coconut MONKEY cups!

Max ate plates and plates of chili cheese fries.

DAY 6

Our last sea day.

We didn't do anything this day, which was nice.

The parents nursed their hangovers in the Adult Only section,

and me, my boys, my brothers, and my Whit drank our oil cans and laughed our butts off.

We were so sad to go.

Day 7

Back to Miami!

"The kids" went back to Westgate and shared a 2 bedroom suite

(the parents and old ladies went home)

We had a room right by the pool (and the OCEAN!)

And we felt like we started a new vacation!

Day 8

We got up early and walked (FAR) in the Miami heat to

the Holocaust Memorial

It was..............again, I'm speechless

But, seriously, what a powerful place.

The statues seemed to be reaching out for help,

and they had the saddest song playing while we took in everything.

That was a major mood killer.

We went back to the hotel, ate dinner on the boardwalk, and played Pictionary all night.

Day 9

We woke up early again and took the bus up Collins Ave.

We went to Haulover Beach, which is...ahem....a nude beach

I have never seen so many tan butts in my life!

We stayed for about 3 minutes, then ran away (fast!)

We went all the way back down Collins Ave to Lincoln Road.

It had so many cool shops and the famous Miami Ink!

The guys there were actually really rude and wanted to charge Park too much,

(plus, they only had a 3 star review!)

so we went to another tattoo parlor down the street (that had a 5 star review!)

We all decided to get Miami tattoos- it was such a rush!

Park's wins for originality, Ty's wins for hilariousness, Whit and mine ties for prettiness,

and Matty's totally wins for overall best tattoo- it is AWESOME!

(it better be awesome because it took 5 hours,

5 hours of me and the boys stuck on Lincoln Road, ugh)

We ate soooo many cuban sandwiches and empanadas!

Day 10

Me and my little ones dug our feet in the sand and sniffed the sea air one more time before saying good-bye to the ocean

*boo hoo*

We spent the rest of the day on an airplane

*double boo hoo*

and came home to Grampa Dan, our kitty, and our doggies

It was OH so good to be home!

I can't tell you how awesome it was.

It truly was unforgettable.

That one will be hard to top!

I love my family and my little world-traveling boys!!!

PS

I know the pics fly by fast in the slideshow,

but I could only make the video 15 minutes long or else youtube wouldn't upload it.

Here is the ENTIRE album that you can look at (or download) as slow as you want:

(just click on the pic below)

Cruise/MIami Vacation 2011