Spring Break Cruise!

We had a fantastic time on our cruise.  I think Cruises are the perfect vacation for moms.  No cooking, no cleaning, just good family fun.

Wow it was amazing.  I loved our setup too.  We had the four older kids in the cabin next to us.  They loved having their own room, with no nagging about cleaning up their clothes. :)  We had a nice quiet clean room for Soren's naps.  It was great!  It was way easier than I thought it would be to have a two year old with us.  He was totally pampered.  It might have been a little rough for him to adjust to not sleeping on top of me when we got home.  The kids totally bonded and had so much fun running around the boat together.  We are already planning another trip and hoping that we can convince some cousins or friends to come!

The kids were loving all the sugary cereal especially.  Each of them would generally walk out of breakfast with a pile of boxes of Fruit Loops, etc.  I had to laugh.  I think Simone got 13 ice creams in one day.  Dinners were super fun.  The kids liked all the seafood.  Especially the lobster.

Our good friends the Harwards came too and that made everything so much fun!  My kids absolutely love the Harwards and so do Jared and I.  Katie and I have been friends since Noah and Elise were babies and I think Katie will always be one of my favorite people on the planet.  She inspires me and is so much fun to be around.

Our stops were Jamaica, Grand Cayman, and Labadee Haiti.  I knew the kids would love Stingray City but I didn't really know what the other ports would be like.  We picked the cruise because it was perfect for Spring Break.  It ended up we LOVED going to the Blue Hole in Jamaica (By far our favorite excursion ever on a cruise) and just hanging at the beach in Labadee.  We were on the Independence of the Seas, which was a really fun ship.  I loved the movies under the stars.  I'm not too big a fan of the cheesy cruise ship performances, but I do love having something to do that is kid friendly each night and the movies under the stars were perfect.  

We stayed in Ft. Lauderdale for a few days after the cruise.  It was one of the best parts of the trip.  The kids and Jared went fishing in a torrential downpour and caught a ton of fish.  So much they came back early even.   Miles caught a huge wahoo.  Everyone caught a bunch of black fin Tuna and Bonita.  The bonita was used for bait for the next group.  We got to bring everything else home with us.  A freezer full of wild caught fish is a good thing to have!  The water in Florida is a beautiful color and the beach was very fun.  The waves don't hold a candle to Newport though.  But the fishing sure was better!

Just a week before the trip Jared worked so hard to reach the rank of Presidential Diamond.  Toward mid-month we realized we were close enough to make it happen.  I had my doubts if we would make it but my husband pulled out all the stops and reached his goal.   Jared has an amazing work ethic.  Although he enjoys what he does so much I hardly think work ethic is the right way to put it.  I think he is just energized by working and likes the people he works with and it is fun for him.  I am super impressed by him and think he is pretty amazing.