Caribbean Trip with Kyle & Angie

Stanton and I spent a really fun week on a Caribbean cruise with our friends, Kyle & Angie.

I didn't want to take our big camera, so I relied on my new iPhone's camera for all our pictures.  When I say "new," I mean new.  As in, I got it in SLC the day before we left for our trip.  It's a high-def camera, but the fact that I hadn't used it before meant that some of the pictures were less than satisfactory.  I'm still figuring out some of the tricks.  It did manage to document the trip, at least, so  enjoy the few pictures I took. 

 

 This is the exact same picture, with 2 different settings.  I couldn't decide which one I liked, so you get them both.  This is in Ft. Lauderdale at Port Everglades right before we sailed away.

 Getting the cute couple shot of Kyle & Angie.  They were awesome travel companions.

 Formal night.  I have to admit that I love this night on the cruise.  I love the excuse to get dressed up and pretend like I'm sophisticated for a night.

 This dude was one of hundreds on the island of St. Thomas (US Virgin Islands).  They just chilled in the sun and posed for pictures.

 On the beach at Grand Turk of Turks and Caicos Islands.  A nice chill day (our last stop on the trip).  I liked their shopping/swimming/beach setup.  Very tourist friendly.
We snorkeled a bit on our own (no booked tour) here and saw a HUGE school of those fish that make shapes on Finding Nemo.  Even cooler, and a bit creepier, though, was the barracuda stalking them.  Stanton and Kyle saw an enormous one, by the time I had my turn, that one had moved on and I saw one about half the size.  They're pretty ominous and I definitely felt a bit of that "fight or flight" instinct kick in (the fLight part of that instinct).

 Commandatore Alfredo Marzi.  He's the head chef for the entire Princess Cruise fleet and did a really fun cooking demonstration on the cruise.  He also autographed the cookbook he wrote (and we bought).  Yes.(in my best Napoleon Dynamite voice).  Oh, and he's Italy's culinary ambassador to the world or something.  His title "Commandatore" is equivalent to being a Lord in England. 

My favorite dish on the whole cruise (and that's saying something -- Princess has the most amazing food on board).  This was a seafood salad that was out of this world amazing.  I would eat it every day if I could get seafood that fresh and have someone prepare it for me and do the dishes afterward.  Anyway, it was divine.  Light, citrusy, fresh, bright, perfectly seasoned, little taste of heaven.   

 Seriously, these pictures are SO out of order.  I just want to get them blogged so I can get ready for the holidays.  Anyway, this is some funny evidence of my attempt at cancer-free vanity.  I (we) wanted to have a little color before the cruise, so I (we) got the Mystic spray tan twice.  I pretty much sucked it up with the barrier cream that's supposed to keep your hands and feet from giving away your secret.  Ha ha.  Thankfully it wore off a few days into the trip.  I (we) might just be the only person (people) ever to come home from a Caribbean cruise whiter than when I (we) left.

 The Holiday Inn Express we stayed in the night before we boarded the ship had this fun little sign out for us.  Right on, Ang!

 First stop once boarding the ship?  Buffet, Baby.

 Thanksgiving dinner for a light lunch?  Yes, please.

 Blurry, but could Angie be any cuter if she tried?  Love this picture of her.

 In the atrium area.  The Ruby Princess is the newest of the Princess ships and is big.  It was pretty identical to the Golden Princess we took to Alaska this year, so by the end of the trip, I felt like I had finally figured my way around the thing.  It's really quite remarkable and HUGE.

 This was before the seasickness set in.  Ang and I both have a history of sea sickness and both came prepared with our Scopalomine patches behind our ears.  Mine did the trick, but Angie has been having inner ear problems and ended up being pretty sick for a good chunk of the trip.  It didn't help that their room was on the very top and very front of the ship -- the furthest away from the rudder, and therefore, the most rockin' room on the ship.  Angie was a total trooper, though, and had a good time in spite of her discomfort (that's putting it delicately).

 One of our favorite parts of vacationing:  Naps!  And reading.  I read The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie and The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag (the first two in a delightful crime solving series starring the 11 year old witty, precocious chemist, Flavia de Luce) and started Secretariat -- since I didn't finish it, it will probably be a long time before I'll get around to reading it at home.  They were fun reads and Stanton is now halfway through the first one.  I've got to order the next one.  The chance to just relax and read is a highlight of any vacation for me.

 Some really fancy formal night shots.  I thought the background was particularly classy.  But hey, it beat the lighting in the piazza.

 Kyle & Ang on formal night.

 Our first stop (should have been our second, but our captain diverted us away from the Princess Cays due to bad weather and really choppy seas.  This was the choppiest cruise I've been on.  There was very little "smooth sailing," but it's still pretty incredible to realize how little movement there is on the ship compared to what's going on outside.  When they decided to divert us, it was because we were in the midst of 17-foot swells in the ocean.  Crazy.  We sort of followed the tail end of Hurricane Thomas much of the trip.  We had a little rain and wind, but not enough to make life miserable -- what it really did was make for some rougher seas to travel.  Again, not helping with Angie's sea sickness.

Anyway, St. Maarten ended up being our first stop.  We had booked a kayaking shore excursion before we left and I'm so glad we did.  We've never really booked shore excursions before, but I am SOLD.  It was a blast and such a fun way to explore the island beyond the shops and diamond sellers (crazy crazy crazy how many jewelers have shops on these islands).  We spent probably 2 hours on the water in a double kayak while a group of guides led us around part of the island and gave a little history tour.  St. Maarten is divided in half with one half being a French possession and the other half being a Dutch possession.  They've been that way for a few hundred years and seem to like it just fine.


 

 Just a little view of the massive ship.  This was on St. Thomas.  We did a Catamarand sea and snorkel excursion on St. Thomas.  Another fun excursion.  We got to spend about an hour in the water seeing sea turtles, stingray, and other fish.  The reef took a HUGE beating from Hurricane Thomas and was pretty meager, but it was still neat.  I asked the tour guide how long it would take the reef to recover and she said 10 years.  They don't get hurricanes too often and will be anxiously awaiting the recovery of their island's sea life.
The catamarand ride was a lot of fun, too.  Open and fast and wet.  It was a fun excursion.

 These next few pictures are from our tour of the galley (the enormous kitchen where they prepare all the food for the cruise).  This was after the culinary demonstration by Commandatore Marzi on the last day of the cruise.

  I especially admired the pastry chefs' work.  This fellow here carved this rose bouquet from turnips -- for some reason, he decided to share one with me.  It was very charming.

I didn't bring it home, but I did get this super classy picture with it.

 But seriously, look at what they do with sugar!  It was pretty impressive.

 Arguably Stanton's favorite hang out on the cruise.  This is the little International Cafe in the Piazza.  They serve a variety of desserts all day, as well as gelatos (hello eggnog and nutella gelato), specialty salads (the shrimp salad and Greek salad were both delish), and sandwiches.  Stanton's goal was to eat a pastry or dessert every time we passed the cafe.  He came pretty darn close.  I think the only time he missed was when we were in a hurry to get to our dinner table on time.

 This was the uppermost deck on the ship and provided a little sanctuary from the noise and smoke by the pool decks.  It was windy, but a nice place to read and nap.

 This is Samdeep, our junior waiter.  He is from India and was very sweet, although a little shy.  He's carrying the Baked Alaska, the traditional dessert served on the last night of the cruise.  All the junior waiters waltz through the dining area with their desserts aflame (only now they have a fake light instead of actual fire (a change from even last year).  I guess the recent ship fire on Carnival has made all the cruise lines a little wary.  It was still a lot of fun and a cool tradition.

This is Zosimo, our head waiter.  He is from the Phillipines.  We got to know him pretty well throughout the cruise and were really impressed by his dedication.  He has been working for Princess for 7 years and plans to do 4 more contracts with them (10 months straight at sea, 2 months at home with his family times 4).  He has a wife and 2 children, ages 9 and 4.  This is a really great way for him to earn a good living to support his family, but he said over and over to us that he won't do any more than 4 more contracts because he feels like he's missing out on raising his children.  He said the younger one doesn't know who he is when he comes home and that he wants to be a good father to his children.  It was heartbreaking and inspiring at the same time.  He was a cool guy.

Well, there ya have it, sports fans.  The most disjointed travelogue ever.  The trip was really fun, the company was great.  The kids were tended by Stanton's great Accounts Manager and her husband, Deyette and Duren.  They had a good time.  BUT, we all missed each other like CRAZY.  I haven't ever felt the longing for my kiddos during a vacation that I did during this trip, and Stanton felt the same way.  We missed them so much and really wanted to have them with us on the cruise.  The long day of travel to get home about did me in -especially when we realized we didn't have the Jeep keys when we were ready to call Park n Jet to come pick us up from the airport.  Thanks to a very fervent prayer (during and after the complete emptying out of every suitcase and bag we took), we knew we needed to call Park n Jet to see if the keys had fallen out of Stanton's pocket in the van on the way to the airport.  Sure enough, they were in the lost and found.  Huge sigh of relief and prayer of thanks.  We left SLC at 11:45 pm and got home at around 2 am.  We said goodbye to Deyette and Duren (who, I think, were thoroughly WASTED after a week with 4 kids, homework, extracurricular activities,  kids missing their parents, and a baby on the way --- What TROOPERS).  After they left, we went downstairs and woke up each child individually to tell them we were home.  Chloe was so sleepy, but had a genuine and humongous grin on her face.  She couldn't stop hugging us.  Briggy and Cannon were happy, but pretty much asleep.  Lily, as soon as she realized we weren't a dream, got a huge smile on her face and then burst into tears.  When we hugged her and asked her why she was crying, she said, "I just missed you so much!  I'm so glad you're home!"  Oh, our hearts melted.

This morning, Brigham came into our room and when he realized we were actually home, he burst into giggles and said, "I believed you were home and you're here!!!"  He snuggled in bed with us and had a lot of hugs and kisses for us.  Cannon was next and was affectionate and excited.  The girls came up last and the emotions continued to flow.  Chloe hugged me so tight and in her morning prayers, said several times how grateful she was that we came home and that she wanted to always do good things because she loved her family so much.

It was so amazing to see their reactions this time and how similar their feelings were to our own during the trip.  On our previous trips away from them, they've been pretty chill and haven't really seemed to notice we're gone.  Not so this time and we felt the same way.  It was a signal to us that maybe it's time to start taking these trips as a family.  Not necessarily cruises, per se (although a Disney cruise is high on my list), but family trips and vacations.  They are getting old enough to enjoy them and life is just funner when you experience it with your family.  I think we all needed this trip in a strange way.  It sure opened our eyes and our kids' eyes to how much we love and depend on one another.

Kyle and Angie were such fun travel companions and we had a really great time in the Caribbean...NOW, on to the HOLIDAYS!

And now I will mention (brag) that I exercised every day of the cruise.  I averaged 2.5-3 miles on the treadmill every day except for the last Saturday wherein I swam laps for 25 minutes instead because I had a pokey thing in my foot from Grand Turk.  Stanton got it out later after we bought a sewing kit (with needle) on the ship.  Anyway, I'm hoping the fact that I worked out every day will somehow make the transition back to Jillian a bit easier.  I shouldn't hold my breath, though, because I really enjoyed my dining and snacking on the cruise.  But hey, 30 minutes of treadmill beats zero, right?

(Jill, you asked where I got my yellow shirt -- it was from Walmart this summer.  It was only $8!  If you can still find it, I bet it will be on killer clearance!).  If you want to borrow mine in March, just pay the shipping and I'll send it out to you.  Heaven knows I won't be using it here in March!  Where are you going?)