Day 3- Sea Day

At this rate it will be December before I get though posting about this cruise. My goal is to be done with it before Halloween, or I am never going to be able to catch up on everything we have been doing since we got back.

Luckily, this is a quick one! Our first full day of the cruise was a sea day. I had every intention of bringing my camera around with me so that I could document what we did on the ship, but that just seemed to be the exact opposite of what I was supposed to be doing~ relaxing! I wanted to enjoy not having any responsibilities, any obligations, not knowing what day or even what time it was. We got to sleep in, work out, eat, play miniature golf, rock climb, eat, watch a volleyball tournament, play cards, eat, and see a couple of variety acts and comedians. That night was one of the formal dinner nights. We didn't go too formal~ but it was still fun to get all dressed up and not worry about if someone was going to pull on my necklace or get their dirty paws all over my dress. It was a great day to be at sea!

Day 2- San Juan

On Sunday we opted for a change of scenery, rented a car and drove out to the rainforest. It was amazing how much the landscape could change over quite short distances. It was so lush and so green! Beautiful!

This is the view out of a look out tower in the middle of the rainforest. There was so much moisture in the air~ and here you can see the clouds coming down on the mountain top.

From that same look out tower you can see an isolated house built up off the ground on the bottom right of the picture and San Juan on the shore in the upper left corner. Like I said~ not much distance between the two, but a dramatic change in landscape.
We went on a hike down to a waterfall. At the start of the hike was this drinking fountain. I just like how they tried to make it look more natural.
All along the way there were small open air buildings. It took us a while to figure out what they were for~ there are very sudden down pours and they are meant to provide shelter during the rain. (We didn't experience it on this hike, but later in the week we got a taste of it!)
There was such a large variety of foliage! These trees were one of my favorites! The branches were soooo... thin and LONG. They were one of the tallest trees and their branches wove themselves all over the place~ it reminded me of an octopus! At some points you could see one of the branches but you couldn't see the tree anywhere because the branch had grown so far away from the trunk of the tree. It was bizarre! Here's one of the leaves from the tree above~ CRAZY!!!! They were the largest leaves I have ever seen! The stems were about 10-12 inches long. I carried one all the way out to bring it home to Shayden (she has been learning about leaves in her class right now and this would have been an AWESOME show and tell). After leaving the rainforest and driving for 10 minutes we got back out of the car and it was completely shrivelled up! It had so much moisture in it when we left the rainforest, and the air changed so much in that 10 minutes that it was dry as a bone and crumbled in your hands. At least I got a picture of it.

I was very thankful that this was the extent of "wildlife" that I encountered during the hike. I am not very keen of bugs/insects. So I was happy that this little lizard (about 4 inches from nose to tail) was all I saw!
The hike to the waterfall was beautiful. The water was FREEZING!!!! I don't know how these boys got in, I dipped my toes in and that was enough. Besides, who else would have taken the pictures of them in the water?!
Instead, I spent my time playing with the new filter I got for my camera and admiring the pedicure I got before leaving on vacation!

There were some gorgeous flowers! They ranged from very exotic and fragrant to inpatients! It was funny to see such a variety!

This was awesome! This guy was doing karaoke/ preaching from his car on the side of the road. He would sing a song (it's hard to see, but he's got a microphone in his hand) and then talk for a minute or so and then start singing again. I didn't understand one word of it, but it certainly was entertaining!
This was one of the buildings you could see from our hotel swimming pool. It caught my eye and it took me a while to figure out what it was that seemed off to me~ can you see it?! Almost every window in the building is different!
We spent most of the day in the rainforest. We did a little bit of shopping and had dinner, along with another gelato, before leaving to get on the boat. We took a taxi to the dock and as we were unloading our bags, paying the driver, getting the tags on our luggage, getting our passports and cruise documents out, we didn't notice that Korby's backpack didn't get taken out of the van! It only took us a second to realize, but the cab had already pulled out. The guy helping us with our luggage took off sprinting down the road and actually caught up with the cab! There wasn't anything irreplaceable in his bag, but needless to say that guy got a pretty good tip.

So begins our cruise.... We sailed on Royal Caribbean's Adventure of the Seas. There were about 3,100 passengers along with 1,500 staff! It was huge!!! We spent most of the night just walking around the boat, trying to get a bearings of where everything was, sitting in one of the 7 hot tubs and unpacking! It was a very full and very long day!

Day 1- San Juan

Ready for an onslaught of pictures?! I thought you were. Don't worry~ I won't disappoint! Since I came back with just over 600 pictures on my camera I thought it would be best if I broke up our trip into 1 hour increments!!! Then I thought that might be a little too overwhelming, so I am going to just post 1 day at a time.

Late last Friday (October 3rd) we kissed our kids goodbye and sent them off to a variety of family and friend's houses, while Korby and I along with another couple set off for San Juan, Puerto Rico! We arrived Saturday early afternoon. We dumped our luggage at the hotel room and set off to explore old town. I didn't really pay attention to the historical details of everything (that is Korby's job) I just took pictures of things I thought looked cool.

Along the edge of big chunks of the island they had built forts to protect their city. It was amazing!

This was a very run down part of town, but if you look closely you will see a Dish TV on top of almost every house! I guess there are just some things you can't live without!

It was amazing to see how the city has just built around the fort (the stone wall in the background).

At the edge of the island, where the largest part of the fort was, there was a large green park where people were picnicking, flying kites, walking dogs, running, it was beautiful.

There were look out towers all along the fort walls and sections that used to be used for cannons.

Right in the middle of the big open area was this beautiful cemetery! We couldn't get down to it on foot, but we got some beautiful views of it from the top of the wall.

I caught a bird in flight and it validated my "special" artistic rendition of a bird in flight~ by drawing the letter "V!"
This monument probably had some important information and facts on it, but oh well, my lens didn't zoom in that far! One of the look out towers. You could walk down into them. It was an amazing view.
While walking through old town I was totally drawn to the balconies. They were beautiful! So many different colors and most of them so well maintained (which was impressive for how old and run down parts of the city were).

The stained glass in this door was beautiful. I wish you could see all the vibrant colors in it better.
All of the doors and windows on ground level had bars on them. But instead of the ugly, straight black bars that you would see in the US, they were all so ornate and decorative. In this picture you can see right into the person's house.
Most of the building were attached to each other. But each one was very unique. From the architecture, the window style, the balcony, the color, just about everything was different from one building to the next. I have never seen a more colorful city!
This is just a store front. I love the contrast of colors, the sharp lines and the shadows that add to the dimension of the picture.

After we explored the city, and as the sun was setting, we went to a nice dinner. Then went and got gelato (delish!!!!) and walked on the sandy beaches of San Juan. By our hotel, which was pretty close to the beach, they were having a cultural festival with singing and dancing, along with a string of street vendors! It felt so surreal to be there, but so wonderful at the same time. All this, and we still have 7 more days to go!!! Until then....

Bon Voyage

Korby and I are leaving tonight for a 7 night Caribbean cruise!!! When we get back I am sure I will have more pictures than I will know what to do with. Until then.......

Messy but Cute

These were taken a while ago, but I just had to post them. We had spaghetti one night for dinner and Jackson Loved it! As you can see from the pictures!

Check out the place mat, the cup, the table, the bib, the hands and how can you miss the mess on his face?!

How could someone this cute make this big of a mess? I thought we were past the messy baby stage?

Shayden Look-alike Meter

MyHeritage: Family tree - Genealogy - Celebrity - Collage - Morph

Tanner Look-alike Meter

MyHeritage: Look-alike Meter - Pedigree - Dynasty