Oh my goodness! My 30th birthday has come and gone and I am still in awe of the people who surround me. I can't remember a time I felt more loved, spoiled and celebrated!
My coworkers and friends went out their way to make my day joyful. They decorated my classroom, bought my lunch and gave me presents. My students were so generous and I got more gift cards and cards than I can count!
That evening after work, my parents got into town. They took us to dinner at one of my favorite restaurants, Flying Bear. We had a great time and spent the evening going over babysitting duties because my amazing husband was whisking me away to the Bahamas for 4 days!
Detailed directions, insurance cards, POA papers...we were serious! LOL
Dustin and I got up early Friday morning, took the babies to school and hit the road. We were in Cape Canaveral by noon. We got through security and on the ship by 12:45. We took "The Majesty of the Seas" a Royal Caribbean Cruise and highly recommend it. Dustin and I have nothing but positive things to say :)
Here we go!
Once we were on the ship we spent the whole first afternoon exploring, and getting situated in our room. We got a room with a large window which worked out great for us. We felt otherwise it would have been claustrophobic!
Facetiming the babies!
After exploring and laying by the pool for a while, we set sail! We were out to open sea by 5PM. Our dinner reservations each night were at 6 so we spent the evening in the fancy dining room and checking out the night life. We checked in with my parents and the babies ever so often (we bought the wifi package) and found that they didn't miss us at all!
Of course Dustin ordered escargot....
Percy, our attendant, opening our wine :)
Midnight Snack :)
Dessert by the pool
My babies were still awake at 10:00PM!
The next day we spent the day in Freeport. We did lots of shopping at the markets and had lots of photo ops. After boarding the ship, we spent the rest of the day by the pool which is my fav! We watched a belly flop competition and relaxed. It was amazing.
We relaxed until dinner time and then headed to the room to get gussied up for the Captain's Dinner. This was so fun because we NEVER get dressed up!
We spent the rest of the evening listening to the live bands, at the piano bar and enjpying everything that the ship had to offer. It was a beautiful night!
Dustin's 2nd dinner....ox tail stew :(
Piano Bar love
Late Night balcony fun!
The next morning we got to Cococay, Bahamas bright and early. This is a privately owned island by Royal Caribbean and it is the most beautiful place I have ever been in my life!
Shot of wheat grass
After breakfast, we headed out to the ferry that took us to the island. We spent the whole morning exploring the island, hiking the nature trail, and kayaking in the ocean!
Ancient Ruins
After an adventurous morning, we grabbed a couple beach chairs and relaxed in the sun. Dustin read his book and I enjoyed the view :)
We headed back to the ship around 1, dropped off our bags, and headed for lunch.
Then back out to the pool we went!
:)
The Island
That night, we headed for the dining room for our last nice dinner.
Have I mentioned how delicious all the food was?!
My silly boy <3
After dinner, we headed to a show and enjoyed a comedian and some singing/dancing. It was a cool experience.
And then it was time for a midnight snack :)
We finished up the night by enjoying a karaoke show. Some people were amazing and others not so much. It was quite the experience! LOL
We headed back to the room late that night!
The next morning, we set our alarm for 6 so that we could watch the sunrise. We did not sleep well that night because the waves were intense. I was bothered by the motion more than Dustin the whole week but this night in particular was rough! You could hear all of the patrons talking about it at breakfast the following morning.
When the alarm went off, we headed for coffee and to watch the sun rise. It was beautiful.
Sunrise
And just like that, our vacation was over. We got off the ship and through customs fairly quickly and were back in the car before we knew it.
What a great weekend
We were home by 2PM and our babies were oh so happy to see us! My parents stayed for a while to chat and then left around dinner time. Dustin took X to Target to pick out a toy for being s o good while we were gone while Luke napped in mama's arms :)
Goodbye's are hard!
Daddy spoils them rotten!
They've had their eyes on this toy forever...
Here are some cool videos from our adventuring...
A special thank you to my parents for watching the babies so that Dustin and I could have our first vacation alone since becoming parents nearly 5 1/2 years ago! We love you and appreciate your generous hearts so very much! And to Dustin, thank you from the bottom of my heart for taking me on such a great trip. I'll love you forever and never forget this special time we had together :)
Thank you to everyone for the calls, texts, emails, gifts, well wishes, etc! I felt so loved and have a feeling my 30's will be my best decade yet :)
