The Cruise From Angie's Camera

Just in case you were wondering...

Good thing we took our cruise already!

In Barbados we got dropped off at a place were you could walk to three different beaches and we were just wandering around wondering how to get to one of them and then we caught a glimpse of this down an alley way... BEAUTIFUL!

On our first day and we sat out in the direct sun for a few hours before walking 45 mins back to our ship... we learned a little after that day... it is worth it to pay for umbrellas and it isn't necessary to always pay for a cab. (especially when you're on a cruise and you literally don't feel a twinge of hunger for an entire week... it felt good to get a little exercise!)

So on Barbados we burned the first day, St. Lucia was the second day and we did a bus tour to stay out of the sun. The third day we were at Antigua and we got these cool beach umbrella things! I know, I know... I have a double chin in this picture... but give me a little grace.... we were on the cruise... I'm doing my chin lifts every day now... what?? I swear!

And my mom worried if Jeff ate... I think this was her 4th cone of the day! They had free soft serve ice cream by the pool and we'd come back on the boat, grab some food and a cone and a seat and continue our relaxing until dinner time.

St. Maartin was probably my favorite island!

They had these steel bands at every port... this woman was cracking us up! She had one too many rum samples and was dancing with the band members.

Finally talking to the girls!

Snorkeling on St. Maartin!


Our husbands are so wonderful to us! They paid for us to get beach side massages with real Aloe Vera plant squeezed right onto our backs and shoulders! Our sunburn felt completely healed and we never did peel!

Jeff and Angie doing the salsa dance that they had learned the night before. Jake and I tried taking the lessons with them... but that ended up being a big mistake! Boettchers just don't have rhythm... Jeff lucked out and married a beautiful PuertoRican princess who could make anyone dance on beat... me... not so much! Love you Honey!


The only food we felt that we had to buy off the ship were these amazing crepes made on St. Maartin! Jake experienced Nutella for the first time in his life and now I know how to make my husband VERY happy!

The ship was so big, that even for this far back I still couldn't fit in the first and last letters! If I took another step backwards I would have fallen off the dock!

Our legendary game of Spades... legendary because Jake and I are so bad at it! It all comes back to the 6 of Spades... I shouldn't have played so nice in the beginning... I had to opportunity to crush and I played with mercy... haha, that same mercy was never returned to us!

Great, great memories made! So glad we went! Would do it again in a heart beat... but will probably have to wait about another 20 years or so!

Our 5-year-Anniversary Cruise!

We took the trip of our lives last week when we went on a 7 night cruise to the Caribbean Islands on a Royal Caribbean Cruise. My brother Jeff and his wife Angie came with us, they had been blessed by a cruise last year and they said the only thing that would have made it better was being there with people they loved... so we took their advice and invited them to come with us! So glad they did, we had so much fun making memories together as couples and we still had plenty of time just the two of us! This picture is the inside of the cruise ship. It had stores were you could buy stuff... like a $13 bottle of aloe (and we actually had to buy it cuz we got so fried the first day... it killed me!) and it also had a pizza/coffee shop where everything was free. You could go there anytime of day or night and always get pizza hot out of the oven and make amazing coffee drinks! Angie and I probably had at least 3 mocha's a day... still going through major caffeine withdrawal! They had a rock climbing wall which we did on our first day on the boat. I love their faces in this picture! Angie looks determined and terrified, Jeff looks like he's shrugging, "It'll be a piece of cake!"

Stylin' in their helmets!

Behind us you can see the basketball court and mini golf. They also had an arcade, roller skating rink, and ping pong tables on this level.

Jeff went up first, followed by Jake...

They both made it all the way to the top! Jake is ringing the bell in this picture.

Angie and I went next. She fell after her first attempt and starting cracking up... she was a really good sport!

Again her face cracks me up! Notice me in the background totally cruisin' up that wall... at this point my muscles were totally shaking though and I was too scared to stop!

The guy that was holding my rope liked to make people feel like they were free falling before he tightened the rope... not so funny... ;)

Our first formal night at dinner

Sunset at sea

They had amazing shows on the ship! Our favorite was the one the audience participated in called "The Love and Marriage Game Show." This picture is from the second night when they had a band impersonating the Beatles on stage. Jake said they were really good and he really enjoyed it... I just liked being with him and sitting through something without any interruptions!

Every night after we'd go to dinner and then see whatever the show on the boat was, we'd go back to our rooms to change and there was always a towel animal waiting to greet us! I loved having our room cleaned not only once in the morning, but again at night! I never felt like I had to straighten anything!

The first day we went to Barbados and got totally fried out in the sun. The second day we went to St. Lucia and decided to do a bus tour so we could see more of this beautiful island and not be in the sun so much. You can see our cruise ship in the background here.

St. Lucia

We had a great bus driver who knew when to keep going and would also stop at different spots so you could enjoy some of the local experiences. This is one experience we could have done without! This guys wanted us to give him a couple dollars and he would "let" us pet his boa! Honestly??

We saw a real volcano... very cool and very stinky!

They do have a Home Depot on St. Lucia so we decided that if there was ever a church plant there, that this would be an acceptable place for us to live ;)

We got up really early one morning for sunrise... and then promptly went back to sleep... ahhh... that was the life!

This one made me laugh out loud! We came in one night only to find a bunny holding our remote and watching the Spanish channel!

Picture of our room to give you a feel for how small it was. We decided that it really didn't bother us though. There was a place for everything and it made it cozy to relax in bed, watch a movie, and order room service!

We arrived in San Juan around 10 a.m. Sunday morning and our plane didn't leave until 5:45, so that gave us lots of time to look around! It was beautiful!

They had this park there that must have been a highlight for the local children, but it was pretty scary to me and Angie. There were hundreds of pigeons there and a guy would give you a bag of bird seed for a little money. The kids loved feeding the birds and then running through them and making them flutter around... it was really disturbing to anyone who has ever seen the movie, "The Birds" though!

The wall around Old San Juan

A Couple More Thoughts:

1) Our girls did wonderful with my mom the whole week! She was a heroic servant functioning on very little sleep the whole time (our girls cry out a lot and she has trouble getting back to sleep). She did very brave things with them too... like taking them to Ocean City for the day... I don't think I'll even attempt that this year! They did a great job responding to my mom and even though our little two-year-old went without discipline for a whole week, she did a great job transitioning back to our authority and the way she has been trained to honor and obey us (don't get me wrong, she is far from perfect, but she didn't try any new stunts!) We didn't see them until they woke up Monday morning and they cried for my mom at first since they were disoriented about where they were (my mom drove them around until they fell asleep and then put them asleep in their own cribs), but they immediately stopped and were very happy to have us home!

2) I did fine not missing them too much on the cruise. I was very concerned that the ache in my heart that I felt for them would over shadow the fun we were having, but it didn't even become a temptation until Friday night and it was easily pushed through! Praise God!

3) One of our favorite things to do on the cruise was stay up late and play Spades every night with Jeff and Angie. We found a room with cards and other board games in it and we were usually the only ones in it. It was so much fun being adults together and enjoying a wonderful redeemed relationship with my brother! Whoever would have thought 15 years ago that someday Jeff and I would want to go on vacation together? God has been very good!

4) Seeing so many different islands was fun and I can see where traveling and seeing this beautiful world that God made can be very addicting. But I felt God speak to my heart about that. If this earth was all there was, how could a person not spend their life trying to see and enjoy all that it has to offer? But we have a hope beyond this world! Someday we will be on a new earth, a redeemed earth! There will be no poverty, no sickness, this world will be untainted and even though we'll be enjoying Jesus for eternity, I'm sure that part of that will be enjoying His new creation too! So if I never get to go to another "tropical island" (you should hear Mackenzie say that... it is so cute! She was telling everyone that her mommy and daddy were on a tropical island!) I know that this life is not the end and there is something far more glorious that St. Crioux and St. Maartin waiting for me on the other side of eternity!

5) I am so grateful that God gave us the resources for this amazing vacation and so grateful that I got to go on it with my best friend! I thanked Jake every day for taking me on this amazing vacation, but we really both felt that it was from the hand of our Lord and are both very grateful!

Aubrey's 1st Birthday!

Aubrey got a beautiful pink castle for her birthday... the girls love it!


We had a "playdate party" for our neighborhood friends and church friends and it was a blast! We had great weather and all the kids crawled around and played together... it was exactly what I was picturing! Uncle Deedaa came and he pretty much stuck with Kenzie as her "sharing coach"... although he did get to sneak in some Aubrey time! He is such a HUGE help all the time!

My two preggo friends!! Can't wait to help them with the insanity they are getting themselves into... two under two is tough!

I love my mom's face in the background... she's imitating how Aubrey was walking around with her Easter basket the day before!

My friend Rachel and her adorable daughter, Makayla!

The Princess Spread... all one-year-old favorite foods!

Our Birthday Girl!!

Her little face lit up when we sang to her... it was so cute!

A little help with blowing out that candle!

More birthday cake!

And then I had the lunatic idea to have a pinata... I got a really great deal and it was too cute not to pick up! It was pretty funny though... my mom ended up having to step on it to get it to budge!

Ava's turn with the bat!

It was stuffed with little playdoughs, bags of cheerios, plastic flutes, bubbles, and lollipops for the older kids.

They were SO cute!

I was teary-eyed and overwhelmed at all of the friends God has blessed us with! There are so many others and we didn't have room to invite everyone... what a blessed problem to have!