Trip of a life time

Well we have been busy this month so busy it is already February. So here is what we were up to in January. Mike and I went on a trip of a life time. We went on a cruise for the first time. It was two years in the making and worth it. We made plans with Mikes family for all the adults to go on a cruise together. It ended up being 5 of the 7 couples (including mom and dad). Not to bad for a family of 6 kids! We had (see picture to right in order) Mike and I, Danny and Nicole, Les and Peggy (Dad & Mom), Dave and Linda, Paul and Elizabeth (not pictured) We went to the Western Caribbean including Cost Maya, Guatemala, Belize, and Cozumel. It was my first time out of the country and our first time away from Maggie for more than 18 hours. It was hard to be away from her but we all did just fine. Maggie stayed with Rheid and Sherri (my brother and sister-in-law) who live just a few blocks away from us. She had a blast and only had one bad day (at least that's all they will tell us about). Here is a run down of our trip:

Day One: Saturday-New Orleans
We flew into New Orleans Saturday night. Mike lost his sunglasses at the airport in Denver and I lost my cell phone in the taxi to the hotel. (Things are not looking good) Luckily we had planned to cancel one of our cellphones when we got home as mike has a work one now. So what can I say about New Orleans, well... not my kind of city. If you aren't into drinking and nudity, don't go to Burban street.

Day two: Sunday-New Orleans Tip to Board the ship!
We woke up to rain and cold. Now you would think people from Colorado and Utah would bring coats with them on Vacation right? Nope just jackets/hoodies. We had to walk a few blocks to the trolley that would take us to church. It was fun to go to this not so small branch in New Orleans. We we came out of church the sun was out and things were starting to warm up. We (meaning all but Paul and Elizabeth who were staying at a different hotel) decide to walk to the pier where the ship is, with our luggage. It was now a nice day and it wasn't fare (less than a mile). So Mom Peggy in a wheelchair and the rest of us go walking in Parade style. The looks we got from some. The walk wasn't bad but we broke both of our big luggage bag wheels by the end. Oh well they have served us well.

The Ship- We went on the Norweigen Spirit. It's funny it looked big but not Huge as we boarded on the 7th of 13 levels. It was like a very nice Hotel inside. It took a few days to figure out your way around the ship without a map. We had a very fancy lunch all together and then headed to our rooms. They were small but not to bad. We were on the 4th floor as Dave (the only one to have been on cruises before and the one with the worst sea sickness) said that this was the best floor to help with sea sickness. We had a port hole in our room and the water was maybe 15 feet below. It was beautiful to wake up in the morning and look out at the sea. The bathrooms were small, one person at a time please, but by the end of the trip we didn't even notice. That evening we watched as we started to sail on the Mississippi River out of New Orleans as the sun set, it was beautiful.



Day 3: We woke up seeing nothing but ocean and blue sky. Wow what a sight. We had a very nice relaxing day with good food and just hanging out. The boys played basketball and the girls got some sun. We played card games and even learned how to line dance.

Day 4: Costa Maya- the water was sooo beautiful, a light teal blue soo clear you could see the reefs twenty feet under. We took a two hour bus ride to Kohunlich a Mayan ruins. It was very beautiful and very cool to see things that date back to before Christs birth. Amazing. Mike's mom was able to go with us but found the ground to bumpy to ride on so Mike and his brothers carried her in her wheelchair from site to site. It was kind of funny as that may have been how they carried their Queens during that time.



Day 5: Guatemala - None of us had much excitement about going to Guatemala as there really weren't that many things to do, no beaches and not so clean water. When we woke up it was beautiful (ok not the water). It was very green and lush. We rented a taxi and all of us but Mike's mom as there was going to be a lot of climbing again. We went up into the mountain and they have a little wildlife reserve that had beautiful waterfalls that we got to swim in. I can check one thing off my list of things to do in my life. It was my favorite thing of the whole trip. Mike loved going back to the area he Served his mission for our church. St Tomas was in his mission area but he never served there. We got to call home and check on Maggie. I got to get my first stamp in my passport. Funny how Mike's first stamp in his passport was from Guatemala (from his mission). We had some extra time that day so hung out by the pool and Mike, Paul and Danny did a synchronized swimming routine that was so funny.


Day6: Balize- We had to take little boats into the port. We got on a bus with some crazy guys that took us to a jaguar reserve (no we didn't see any) and we went cave tubing. The tour guys were so funny and took great care of us. We walked through the rain forest for 15-20 minutes and then we got in tubes and floated down the river throuh these huge caves that were any where from 10 feet to 100 feet. It was very cool and fun. After tubing we went to a open market where we did a lot of bargaining shopping using the barder system. It was great fun but I felt a little bad until you hear how much they came down in price and how quick. All you had to do was walk away.


Day 7: Cozumel- We were really excited for Cozumel. We rented a catamuran sailboat. The water was so blue and beautiful. We had a blast for the first hour, then every one started to get sea sick as it was really bumpy. They took us to an island while they made lunch and we started to feel better (well some of us). After dinner we went Spinniker riding. It was a big sail that was connected to a swing that was connected to the sailboat by a rope. It went about 20 feet in the air. It was so fun and scary all at the same time. Very Cool! Nicole and I went snorkeling for a few min out in the middle of the ocean. It was so much harder with the waves and stuff. We had fun but we were ready to get off the boat and back on our big ship. We got to do some quick shopping and then run for the boat.

Day 8: at Sea- We didn't do much that day as we were sunburned and tired. We watched movies and took naps. Mike and I were ready to be home. We missed Maggie and we tired of the rich food. Though Mike never got sick of the 10pm hamburgers and is still having cravings at 10pm. The trip ended with a beautiful sunset. The perfect end to our trip.


Day 9: We got off the ship early as we were told it can take hours to get off and we had a noon flight. So Danny, Nicole, Paul, Elizabeth, and us played card cames for two hours in the airport. We had so much fun being with Mike's brothers and Sister-in-laws and can't wait to do this again. Maggie was excited to see us and us her. Sherri said she was going to brain wash her while we were gone so she turned to Maggie in the car and said "Hey Maggie what kind of music do we like?" Maggie yelled " Country" (for those of you that don't know Mike hates country). I laughed so hard so did Mike.