Cruise

We had a fabulous time on our cruise to the Bahamas with friends and family! HUGE thanks to my mom and dad (and sister) for taking care of Sydney, she had so much fun and we know she was well taken care of!

I would highly recommend taking a cruise with family/friends, it was so fun to have people on board that we knew!

We left Sunday evening from Pasco and flew all night, with stops in Salt Lake and LA before finally arriving in Miami on Monday morning. We arrived at 6 am, and we couldnt board the cruise ship until noon. So we went to an outside shopping complex that was right on the water. We were super exhausted so we just hung out and relaxed there until we could board. I think that was the longest 6 hours of my life. Next time remind me NOT to take a redeye flight. Finally it was time to board and we met up with a bunch of family and friends for lunch! We spent the first day exploring the ship, napping, and eating! It was a nice relaxing day!

Day 2: We were still pretty tired from our trip to miami and not used to the time change yet, so we slept in which was super nice! Our stop for the day was Grand Bahama Island. We met up with our group (most of them) and headed to the Island. We had so much fun at the beach that day!

Burying each other in the sand (some had a little too much fun with this by giving the ones buried extra body parts, hahaha), swimming in the water, which ended up being a bit colder than we thought it would be, and just soaking up the sun! We also all passed around coconuts, which we later realized had a bit of alcohol in them, oops! Guess there is a first time for everything! I could have sworn there wasn't anything in them, it tasted fine to me. Guess I was wrong about that!

After we got back on the ship we met up with everyone for dinner. Dinner on board was very nice, the food was good, not great, but good. But the best part was you could order anything you wanted, as much as you wanted, for free! Ahhhh it was so nice! That night we watched the comedy show on board, which was funny! I along with a few other family members were participants in the show. Good times!

(Fred with the comedian)

Day 3: This was such a fun day! Our whole group booked an excursion together and went to Atlantis! I had never been there before but it didn't disappoint! We easily could have spent a few more days there! We spent the day floating on the amazing lazy river, going on water slides, enjoying the aquarium, and more! I would definitely recommend going there if you have a chance! In the evening we enjoyed dinner and more shows on board!

Andrea, Brooke, and I at Atlantis

Part of the group at dinner one evening

Day 4: Thursday was spent relaxing at the beach, soaking up sun and enjoying each other's company! The ship stopped at the cruise line owned island and it was great. We rented snorkeling gear, and a giant "party" innertube. The guys had lots of fun with the tube playing king of the mountain and trying to get eachother off of it. Im pretty sure at one point we had a record number of people on the tube, which said maximum occupancy was 4 people.

After returning to the ship we again met up for dinner with the group. Later, we watched the Newlywed game onboard, in which Marshall's parents and his brother Dallas and his wife participated in. It was hilarious!

the hubby and I at dinner

Day 5: Sadly we had to pack up and leave the cruise ship! We had a great time on the cruise! After getting off the ship we took a taxi to find our motel that we had previously booked. Online the place got really good reviews. In person however it was a completely different story. Without question this was the junkiest place we have ever stayed. The only good thing about the place was that it was right on the beach, which was way nice! We walked to a nearby restaraunt for lunch, which ended up having some really amazing food. On our walk back to the motel we all decided to walk on the beach. That was our first mistake. Our second mistake was ignoring the sign that said "you may encounter nude bathers". We really didn't think there would be very many. We were wrong. Very wrong. We saw more skin than we ever have in that short walk back to our motel. We were not aware when we booked our motel that there was a nude beach about 100 yards down from it. Haha! We went to dinner later that night and had the most expensive dinner I have ever eaten. It was way good. But crazy expensive. I still have a small heart attack every time I think about how much it cost! We spent the rest of the evening walking around Miami at a huge outdoor shopping complex.

We spent the next couple days enjoying Miami and soaking up as much sun as we possibly could! We also went to the Miami Zoo which was great! One of my favorites that I have been to! They build the exhibits so that you feel so close to the animals! We also got to be there when they fed some of the animals, which was awesome! We watched as they threw live fish in for the otters, and the otter would chase the fish down, catch it and eat it whole on the rocks. Then we watched as the zookeeper fed oranges to the monkeys. It was such a fun experience!

I personally loved Miami and would go back there in a heartbeat! It was sunny, warm, the beaches were great and there is lots to do there! We were sad to leave it behind, but it was great to come back home to our sweet girl that did amazing while we were gone!