Thursday, November 20, 2008

We're back!

We're finally home! Matt and I went on a fabulous cruise this past week, and we're finally settling down and adjusting to reality again!

We went on a Caribbean cruise with Holland America. Just for future reference, the average age on these ships is about 100, so we were like toddlers...There were seriously like 10 couples under the age of 40 on this ship. We were lucky enough to make some friends around our age, and it made the week so much fun!

Dinner on our first night

Us on the top of the ship on the windiest night ever!

Our first port was Key West. We'd never been, and so we rented bikes and just rode all over the island, seeing everything! What a beautiful island! I was just glad to be in the warm sunshine!
Our second port was our favorite; Belize. We'd been there before, almost 5 years ago, and were way excited to go back! We booked an excursion through a local company, and as fate has it, the only other couple to book the same one was around our age! We ended up becoming great friends with them, and hung out with them a lot during our week. The excursion was doing a series of zip-lines through the jungle, repelling, and then underground cave tubing. It was by far our favorite excursion! The saddest part was that we took a disposable underwater camera, because I was afraid to take the nice one on a zip line, and when I went to develop the roll yesterday, only 2 pictures of the entire roll turned out! So basically, you'll need to picture us flying through the rainforest...I'm so bummed! We seriously took about a million great pictures with that camera!
Our third port was Guatemala. This port was the reason we chose the cruise. We had planned on taking an excursion up to Tikal (the biggest of the Mayan ruins) for the day. I've been before, but Matt didn't get a chance after the mission, so we were excited to go together. Then we found out that it would cost an extra $1000 for the tour, and Tikal was out! We figure that for that price we could take the fam down and spend a couple of days there, and really see the sights! We ended up hiring a local to take us up to some amazing waterfalls. So, so beautiful! I have one other disposable camera that we used that day, so hopefully I can post pictures of this place! There was a lot of great shopping, so we bought most of our souvineers here.
The last port was Costa Maya, Mexico. We met up with our friends and spend the day snorkeling, shopping, and laying on the beach! It was a perfect beach day! Did I mention that our sunscreen exploded on the plane ride??? Super fun. Basically we were pretty crispy after the beach day!
We had 2 sea days, and made good use of them by playing trivia, reading, swimming, eating lots of yummy food, playing cards and Yahtzee, and doing anything that looked "active" on the daily activity list. We had the funnest time!

21 comments:

Reeses Pieces said...

Oh I'm so jealous. It looks like you had a blast. The food looks amazing and I love the sun kissed faces.

Heather Dawson said...

Jealous doesn't even describe what I felt when I read your post!! This looks so fun!!!!!

L said...

How fun!!! I am so glad you guys were able to go!!! You look so gorgeous and happy!!!

Missy Lee said...

Next time we are FOR SURE going! I need a vacation like you wouldn't believe. See you Sunday for Dinner. What would you like me to bring?

foxie4 said...

Sounds so fun!! Looks beautitful too hope you guys had fun!!

McMillan Family said...

I am so jealous. I would love to go on a cruse one day I hope. I love all of the pictures. Your kids are so dang cute.

The Homer House said...

Jylaire! How are you? Okay, that is dumb question, you are great, you just got back from an awesome cruise with just you and your husband AND you have adorable kids and do fun stuff all of the time...you are doing quite well I'd say! You look wonderful and sound just as wonderful! I love the blog!!!

The Cary Family said...

That sounds so fun! It's always so nice to get away without kids! Hey will you give Jenny my email address so she can invite me to her blog?? If you have it!

Jill said...

How fun!!!!!! Cruises are THE BEST. We totally need to do a couples cruise. I want to do Western Caribbean next. Your vaca sounded awesome, how fun for you guys! We've done Holland America each time, but they were full of Stampin' Up girls and tons of friends, but otherwise I've heard that cruise line is for old people. Ha! Glad you found some friends!!

Jamie Bowers said...

Good for you guys! How fun! Isn't Guatemala amazing?! We went to Tikal a few years ago. I agree with Jill, we do need to do a couples cruise!!

Joey and Nettifer said...

LOVE cruises! We went down to those areas and man Belize was my favorite! SO much fun!

Shaylynn... a girl, a story, a blog said...

How fun! Looks like it was a blast... I just was out in the mountains do a zipline... It's a stressful thing. Sorry about the camera!

Bellblogging said...

Fun! Ready for your next one??

Cathie said...

Looks fun!
Keith

Shellie said...

Looks like you had a blast! Ry and I can't wait for residency to be over to have a fabulous trip like this :)

AJ Gorham said...

Looks like a blast! Glad you were able to get out and have some fun with your hubby!

Jilly B said...

So, we would love to be invited to go on a cruise with you. Oh, that's right......SOMEBODY needs to watch the kids!!!! jilly

Heather Jones said...

How fun, it sounds like you had a blast. I have only been on one cruise ever. It was our Honeymoon and we both want to go again. If only someone would take 4 kids that long!!!My girls love pedicures also so cute.

Texie said...

J, it all looks so beautiful and warm...and relaxing. Well except for the cliffhanging or whatever crazy thing you said you two did in the mountains. Sometimes you Coopers are too daring for words. I miss you and love your guts! Welcome back.

Emily said...

It was fun hearing about your trip over lunch. Especially about the "The Amazing Race". You make me laugh!

Rachael said...

I love to go on cruises--they are the best way to travel and see the world. Sounds like a fun cruise! (even if it was mostly older people)