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!
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