Grand Cayman

I was SO bummed this morning when we woke up to pouring rain. As we got up and got ready so early and then travelled by tender to land, I wondered why the heck we even bothered getting out of bed.

We had originally booked a snorkel and sting ray tour, but upon getting to land decided to take a bus tour so we could try and stay a little bit dry. The bus tour was actually pretty cool. Best part was turtle island. Hundreds and hundreds of sea turtles. It was amazing. And we got to pick 'em up and play with them, big ones and baby ones!

By the time our bus tour ended....hallelujah, the sun was blazing! We made our way back to the ship and saw that our snorkel/stingray tour was still available. We hopped on a bus, which took us to a boat which took us out to the middle of the ocean (sandbars). We were then able to hop off the boat into crytal clear warm water to do a stingray encounter. I would highly recommend this to anyone who comes to the area. Touching and holding the stingrays was incredible! Unfortunately, Emma was completely terrified and ended up back on the boat to observe.

Next it was off to a reef for snorkelling. The water was 10-12 feet deep, so being the non-swimmer that I am I decided to stay on the boat with Emma. After Terry had been out for a few minutes, he insisted that I put on some snorkel gear and come have a look. I very hesitantly did so (ok, he had to beg me, I was terrified). I got in the water and put on the gear and took a quick look under the water. Again, very cool. But when I looked up, the current had already pulled us about 50 ft from the boat. I started to panic and Terry had to help me back to the boat. Thank goodness we made it, it was very scary for me!

We just got back on the ship and cleaned ourselves up and are heading off for another awesome meal.

Such a great day today! My first time swimming in the ocean! :)

Cozumel

I've tried and tried to upload pics to blogger and it just won't work. Must be the crappy internet here on the ship. A bazillion dollars a minute and the slowest connection in the world. So, a quick rundown of our last couple days....

Yesterday we enjoyed a relaxing day at sea and a fun formal night. Emma and I got our hair done all fancy in the salon and dressed up in our best dresses along with all the rest of the family. We enjoyed a super fancy dinner in the restaurant, the special being a lobster and shrimp dinner. Mmmmm, SO GOOD. And the best thing about being on a cruise if that if you're not full after your first lobster meal, you just go ahead and order another one! There were a few people in the family who took advantage of this. Terry had prime rib dinner with lobster for dessert. :):)

After that we went for family photos. Unfortunately, we weren't able to get a photo with our whole crew, as one of Terry's sisters succumbed to seasickness and stayed in her room most of the day. Hopefully on the next formal night we'll get a shot of all nine of us.

Today we ported in Cozumel, Mexico. Weather was overcast, but warm at first. We had our excursion booked at an all inclusive beach resort with Terry's sister and niece. We mainly sat around on the beach, while the girls enjoyed time in the pool and in the ocean. Terry and I also did a couples massage at the spa...my first massage ever. It was fabulous.

After coming back to the ship to clean ourselves up, we headed out again to do some shopping. We bought a bunch of stuff, but got caught in a torrential downpour on the way back to the ship. We were soaked. We were glad that we had left Emma back at the ship to play at the kid's camp.

That's all for now. Sorry no pics. Will try to update pics on facebook, but not sure if that will work either. If not, I will post more when we get home.

Love and miss all you family!

Hello, from International Waters

Hey there!
Found a few minutes to squeeze in a post. I've decided posts will be short and sweet. Internet on the cruise ship is about a bazillion dollars a minute! I'm typing as fast as I possibly can, so sorry if there are any typos!

Made it safely to Miami yesterday, despite a few delays. Apparently there were a few nasty storms across the US that caused many problems for the airline. One funny story: About 10 minutes after our flight left Edmonton, Emma was looking out the window and saw some lights. She turned around and asked me "Mommy, is that Florida?" LOL! Poor kid didn't know how long of a day she was in for!

We stayed our first night in Miami. It was super humid due to some torrential downpours they had the day before we got here. But what an amazing feeling to step out of the airport into this warm weather!

Today was spent embarking on the cruise ship and getting our bearings. The best part was leaving the hotel and grabbing a taxi for all nine of our family members and luggage. They were trying to convince us that we needed two vehicles, but we are cheap and insisted on the one minivan. Only $25 for nine of us and all our luggage to the cruise ship...squishy, but a great deal! :):)

Sorry, can't put pics on right now. Tried twice and wouldn't work. Not going to waste any more precious internet minutes tonight. Bye for now!

Only 2 days to go!

Somehow this past few weeks has gone by in such a blur. Crazy busy at work and trying to plan and prepare for our upcoming trip has been time consuming. I need a vacation from planning this vacation already! Thank goodness I took a couple days off beforehand to finish up those odds and ends.

The house is cleaned, aside from the tree being taken down tomorrow (sniff, sniff!) Oh well, I'm sure I won't miss it after we leave. Bags are pretty much packed as we took the time to "practice" pack a little while ago. Why, you ask? Well, we decided after hauling 2 large suitcases and 2 carry-ons to Hawaii last year, and 3 large suitcases and 2 carry ons all across Ukraine for 2 months, that packing around all that stuff sucks. I guess we are a little bit more seasoned now when it comes to travelling. This time around, we each get one carry-on suitcase. Yup, that's all. Well, except for my purse and our laptop bag. So you can see why we need practice. Fitting everything I'm going to need for 2 weeks in a small carry-on suitcase is a challenge. Thank goodness Emma doesn't need alot of room for her stuff, so I can sneak some of my stuff on hers. :):) Otherwise, it would never happen.

Just wanted to put on a quick post today because I don't imagine I'll have alot of time before we leave. The laptop is coming with us, so we can keep in touch with family and friends by e-mail and FB. The big question remains...to blog or not to blog? I'm not sure how it will go. I would love to blog about our entire journey, but will I have time? I will, afterall, be on vacation. We'll see. I'd like to try.

Take care, and a very Merry Christmas to all of our family and friends. You will all be missed!!!!