Freedom of the Seas

Alex has always wanted to go on a cruise. I have had my fears about it. You know, Titanic did sink! So for our 10th anniversary, Alex said we were going. We of course, had to go big!!! So we picked a 7 night cruise on the second largest cruise ship in the world. It was the Freedom of the Seas with the cruise company Royal Caribbean. We had three ports to stop at and three full days of sailing.
We set sail on a Sunday afternoon in really stormy weather. Alex got sick to his stomach that night and I was really dizzy that day and had a bad headache. Luckily we had some medicine we took and it helped a lot. On Monday morning, we were at the Bahamas. The island we went to was Cococay Island. It was still stormy and very windy, but we decided to get off the ship and see what we could do. We ended up going on a Jet Ski tour and it was amazing. Despite the cold weather, we had lots of fun. I was almost thrown off the jet ski nurmous times, but it made for lots of laughs. We also went on a fun water slide, and happened to be on the only adults doing it at the time!

Tuesday was a day of sailing and we explored the ship more and enjoyed eating lots of good food and ice cream cones. Wednesday found us at the Virgin Islands. We took a Catarmaran and went snorkeling. There was a sunken ship that we were able to see and some very beautiful fish. They had rum punch for us to drink on the way home, but we decided to keep the Word of Wisdom and not drink it. We then headed into town and found some coloring changing shirts and nail polish. The shirts are white until you go outside, and then they change color in the sun. The kids think they are awesome. The nail polish is clear until you go outside and then it is bright red.

Thursday we docked at Saint Maarten. We had some good friends that just moved from our Tucson ward to that island. So we asked if they would be our guides for the day. They took us to an abondened fort that the French used to fight off the pirates, and there were still canons there. We also went to a beautiful beach and played. Or rather I kept getting carried and dunked by the waves. We ate at a restaurant on the beach that is right by the airport and the airplanes fly right over us to land. They were so close and it was so loud. We had a good time being with our friends and enjoying the wonderful weather.

Friday we were at sea all day. We were so tired that we lounged in the lounge chairs and read books and ate ice cream cones. I froze and was the only one dressed in jeans, tennis shoes and my jacket while everyone around me was sun bathing in their sexy bikinis!

Saturday we went rock climbing and ice skating. We were laughing that we were in the middle of the ocean ice skating. But it was fun. I again froze as we were lounging so needless to say, I didn't get a killer tan. I burnt my shoulders pretty bad snorkeling and at the beach, but oh well. Alex got a really nice burn on his shins, but the back of his legs are as white as ever. We were able to see a magic show, comedy show, a band that looks and sounds like the Beatles, an actrobatic act, and lots of singing and dancing shows. We wore ourselves out, but had a wonderful time being with each other. We were fed great food and met some wonderful people. I think one of the best things was surprising everyone that we were on a cruise for our 10th anniversary and not our honeymoon. And then when we said we had left our four kids at home they were in even more shock. So it made us feel young! Maybe one day we will cruise again, but for now we are good. It was a great experience and we are so glad we did it.

Picture #1 first formal night; picture #2 random pictures they took; picture #3 second formal night; picture #4 in the dining room we ate at; picture #5 they sang happy anniversary to us and gave us a treat; picture #6 after we got done snorkeling.