We were able to get away about 2 weeks ago and take our kids on a cruise and then spend
some time in Florida just relaxing and doing a whole lot of “nothing”!
I hope you are ready for some pictures cause I have lots for ya!!!
Our ship – the Carnival Ecstasy – it is an older boat…
which was cool with us because with 5 in our family,
most of the newer ones make you pay for another room.
Not this one…we crammed all of us into 1 room:-) Hello fold down bunks and extra cot!
Needless to say we didn’t stay in the room very much!
So I have to admit I am a bingo junkie…call me an oldie, but I love to play.
At the last minute my hubby bought me a card for the first jackpot!
GUESS WHAT?
We won…along with 2 other people!
I was so excited when I jumped up and yelled Bingo…
then I realized that there were 2 other ladies just as excited.
Oh well, so much for winning the full jackpot!!!
Thank you cruise for paying for all our tips for the week though:-)
Our first port was Nassau, Bahamas.
We walked around just a little bit. Looked at a few things in the Straw Market.
Watched a parade. And then headed to the beach.
Can you believe this is the only picture I got of all of us together??
By the time the guy taking the picture figured out how to work my camera,
the kids were done looking and smiling. Lovely!
We brought some snorkel gear with us and taught the boys how to use it…
well, it didn’t really fit the scrawny one, so he had to stick with plain swimming goggles.
Our oldest didn’t even want to come out of the water.
We were ready to head back to the boat and he was in his own world watching fish.
He didn’t even see the shells that my hubby was tossing at him trying to get his attention:-)
Stop number two…Half Moon Cay island!
It was gorgeous!!! I wish we had more time to spend here!!!
We did some more snorkeling…this time with a barracuda.
Yup, you read that right.
A BARRACUDA…are we nuts or what?
Let me tell you, I was kind of freaked out.
Yes, the thing was just swimming around with about 20 people,
but I thought for sure he was going to take one look at me and think “Lunch”!
Luckily for me and my legs, I got out of the water and we enjoyed a BBQ on the beach!
Want to know something???
Desserts on cruises are actually pretty nasty!
Don’t let all these pretty treats fool you.
Believe me I know, because I tried almost every single one.
I have this theory that if we paid all this money for the cruise,
I had better eat enough to get my moneys worth:-)
And I have the snug pants to prove it!
Apparently my son felt the same way…
he was in awe with the soft serve ice cream machine that was in service 24/7.
I think his total was 17 bowls by the time we left the boat.
He even added bacon to his breakfast bowl.
Maybe a future foodie???
See I told you I tried a lot.
What? It was all for research.
I am a dessert blogger after all…I had to sample each one.
Luckily I did just sample…most of them weren’t even worthy of a second bite.
We figured that they make everything super cheap
because of the amount of food people throw away.
I was guilty of it too!
But if they would have just made it taste a little better, I wouldn’t have to throw it away, right?
The last night of the cruise and we were able to watch an amazing sunset!
It was absolutely breath taking!
Our God has created some amazing things and I am so thankful
we were able to see so many beautiful things this week.
After the cruise we headed to Orlando,
and finished out the rest of the week at the Sheraton Vistana Villages.
We spent our week swimming, playing tennis, shuffle board,
having an UNO competition, and swimming more.
Triple decker chicken fight anyone?
While we were here, this was as close to Disney as we got.
As much as I wanted to make it back to the Harry Potter world,
we decided not to spend the extra money.
So one of the days we headed to Downtown Disney for some shopping.
Although we didn’t actually buy anything.
It started to rain so we headed to the movies
and saw Snow White and the Huntsman. Great movie!
Our last full day we drove down to Tampa to check out the beaches there.
We made it to outside Tampa and all of a sudden it started to down pour.
It wasn’t looking very promising, but we kept going and sure enough in true Florida fashion
the rain stopped and the sun came out for a little bit.
We had about an hour of fun time at the beach, before we headed into town for some seafood.
It was a great start to our summer vacation
and I am so thankful that we were able to spend the time with our kids.
Thank you so much for reading my blog. If you liked this post, please leave a comment. Comments are a great way for me to see what is a blog hit or miss:-)
Lauren Akin says
June 14, 2012 at 8:02 AMLove the pictures looks like a ton of fun!
Veronica and Daniel says
June 14, 2012 at 11:00 AMWhat a fun vacation 🙂 My hubby and I LOVE cruises! They are totally our favorite way to vacation. My favorite pick is the one of your son jumping in the water at Half Moon Cay with the boat in the back ground. The water is so blue!
The Miller Five says
June 14, 2012 at 12:24 PMWhat a fun trip! Sorry the desserts were yuck. That’s why I don’t like buffets either. Everything tastes cheap. Yuck. So glad you were able to get away and have some fun!
Michele {The Scrap Shoppe} says
June 14, 2012 at 12:58 PMHow fun, Jocelyn!! I made the mistake of telling our waiter on our honeymoon cruise I couldn’t decide on dessert, and he brought me one of everything. I think there were 5 or 6 desserts available that night!! 🙂
It looks like you had a great time away! I loved seeing your photos on Instagram. 🙂
Lindsay says
June 14, 2012 at 1:09 PMOh, your pictures are just wonderful! Makes me miss our cruise from the spring! Gorgeous pictures, you have a beautiful family! And I totally gained 5 lbs from the cruise, just sayin’. 🙂
4Sisters says
June 14, 2012 at 3:55 PMWhat a fun way to start summer break!
Bummer that the desserts weren’t worth your time 🙁 You’ve got some great pictures to go with the great memories!
Becca @ Crumbs and Chaos
keri @ shaken together says
June 14, 2012 at 4:09 PMYou were in my neck of woods – we live right outside of Orlando and I totally recognize the sights at Downtown Disney – we ate at teh Rainforest Cafe this weekend 🙂 SO glad you had an amazing time and made it out without being a barracuda’s lunch!
Hayley says
June 14, 2012 at 4:20 PMThese pictures are beautiful and so is your family, Jocelyn! Your kids will never forget this awesome trip, and how cool was it to swim with barracudas and other neat-o, exotic fish?! Totally rad!!
Erin says
June 14, 2012 at 5:07 PMI would go on a cruise for the sole purpose of having a soft serve ice cream machine at my disposal 🙂
Mandy says
June 14, 2012 at 7:03 PMHow fun! Bummer about the desserts…
Aimee says
June 14, 2012 at 8:10 PMHow fun. I totally agree about desserts on the cruise. Even on the chocolate night, everything was pretty nasty. Thank goodness for delicious bacon in the morning though….mmmmmm.
You pictures are awesome!!!
Ashley @ Kitchen Meets Girl says
June 14, 2012 at 11:14 PMWhat a great family vacation, and what a great way to start out the summer! Your photos are gorgeous, and you have the cutest family!
Melissa @ A Dozen Years Later says
June 14, 2012 at 11:36 PMWe have been on mamny cruises and by far my favorite stop is always Half Moon Cay!! I agree about the desserts… nothing spectacular although I have had great key lime pie once on the lunch buffet and I do like the chocolate molten cake served at dinner. Did you ever try that?
Dorothy @ Crazy for Crust says
June 16, 2012 at 9:13 PMWhat a great vaca! And your pictures are so good. I’ve never been on a cruise; I can’t believe for what you pay the desserts wouldn’t be good. That’s…that’s….travesty!
[email protected] Made Me says
June 21, 2012 at 6:14 AMOK, is it weird that out of all these pictures, the only thing I noticed was how pretty your hair is?? How I wish mine would curl like that! But I am stuck with a curly ball of frizz that I am forced to straighten all the time. I’m telling you, it’s like clown hair without the bright colors. Totally jealous of your lovely lady locks!