Mommy's Slippers

Jon caught Hannah wearing Mommy's slippers around the house tonight. Our little girl LOVES shoes - of all types and sizes, apparently.

Parasailing

While we were in Key West Jon and I went parasailing. I've wanted to go for a while now, but Jon had absolutely no desire to go. He'd planned on going on a fishing trip offered through the cruise, but it got cancelled the morning of due to mechanical problems with the boat. I had asked him a few times in the morning if he wanted to go with me and he said no. Then, seemingly out of the blue after lunch Jon told me we should check for tickets and that he might want to go. I was really excited to go with him...and later he told me that even as we were filling out the paperwork he was thinking about changing his mind. You see, Jon is afraid of heights, and parasailing certainly involves heights.

Fortunately, once we got going Jon really liked it! When we first started to move I don't think Jon was too sure...and there were a few times when we were in the air that he looked down and reminded me that if we fell we'd die, but other than that, he kept his eyes on the horizon and did great. It was so peaceful and beautiful. The boat captain had dipped us in the water at the beginning, which was fun and then it felt great in the breeze.

What a great excursion to end our trip! Enjoy the pictures!

Key West, Florida - Day 4

I can sum up our day in Key West in 3 words - hot, hot, hot!!! It was over 90 degrees with over 90 percent humidity. We spent our morning just walking around. We wandered around the city and then went down to the southernmost point in the USA for a picture (we'd been told it was a 10-15 minute walk, but it was almost 2 miles from the port!!!!). We went back to the ship for lunch, and then went parasailing (more on that in another post), and then in the afternoon we went out for key lime pie and to see the Hemingway House (which was about a mile from the ship, in the same direction of the southermost point...had we known this we might have tried to do it in the morning.....instead of walking it twice!).

Local artist painting on the beach
Southernmost Point!
End of the Road
Roosters are apparently very popular in Key West; you see them wandering all over the place!
After parasailing
Best Key Lime Pie in Key West!!!

Outside the Hemingway House

Our tour guide inside the house

Inside Hemingway's study over the garage

Coco Cay - Day 3

Day 3 of the cruise was Coco Cay, a private Royal Caribbean island. Our day was spent lying under palm trees reading, eating a good lunch, snorkeling, swimming, and just relaxing. It was wonderful to just sit around and do nothing.

However, despite a hefty application of sunscreen before we left the ship and about 3 re-applications (I set my watch timer for every 2 hours), we both still got pretty sun-burnt on our backs.....I think the lotion washed off when we were in the water (even though it was "water-proof"), and when we were snorkeling we were out there for a long time. Ouch. At least I brought the aloe vera with us "just in case."

Coco Cay IslandThe view from our spot in the shadeJon - all set for his first snorkeling expedition!!

Jon was really excited to snorkel. I'd done it for the first time when we were in Hawaii for Karen's wedding, but Jon had never done it. It was so much fun to see the fish - they schooled near the lifeguard stands and would come right up to your mask. There was also a sunken plane and canons to explore underwater. We even saw some jellyfish, but they were moon jellyfish, which supposedly won't sting you - but we weren't really up for testing that. We probably went out snorkeling 3 separate times in the 10-3 that we were on the island. It was a lot of fun.
Julie & Jon
Jon sitting on the floating mat
(there was a lot of seaweed in the shallow section)

The view of the ship from our chairs.

Nassau, Bahamas - Day 2

I first saw this sign over 10 years ago when I went to the Bahamas for the first time....You see, my Semester at Sea ship left from the Bahamas. My parents went down in advance of me to see me off (and then to have a vacation by themselves). They got to tour my ship and said that it looked big -- until the cruise ships came into port the next morning. It was almost surreal to think about that day and what I felt the first time I went to the port in Nassau; especially since my second visit was on one of those giant cruise ships!

I was really only there for one day back in 1999 and just ran around with my folks, so I didn't see a ton. This time was different (especially the fact that I wasn't sharing a room (and bed - a long story and memory I'd hoped to block out...) with my parents! The one thing I almost always did on Semester at Sea was to take the "City Orientation" tour - it almost always proved helpful at finding your way around later in the week, and I learned a lot of interesting tid-bits about where we were. Jon and I did a similar tour of Nassau.

Off to see the city!

Government building

Janice sews Hannah's name into the straw purse we got for her.

Traffic control

Our tour of the city was by van, so there were a number of residential areas and interesting buildings that we drove by, but didn't get to stop and see. One of the things that was impressed upon me was the stark difference in the income levels of people living on the island. You'll see a beautiful condo one minute, and a run-down building the next. I also learned that the flag is black, turquoise and yellow because it represents the things you see in the Bahamas - the sunshine, the water, and the people, since 85% of the residents are black. Fort Charlotte was one of the places we went on our tour. Interestingly, a number of forts were built to defend the islands from attack but were never used. They ended up using most of them for prisons at one time or another. Although the sky looks very ominous in one of the pictures, it didn't rain on us at all - we had a beautiful day.

Fort Fincastle was our next stop....

The next stop was right near Fort Fincastle - the Queen Victoria Steps. The steps were built by slaves and originally were an escape from the fort down to the beach. It took 16 years to complete the steps. Fortunately, we only walked down them and not back up!

Our last stop on the tour was to Paradise Island and the famous Atlantis Resort. The resort has its own private beaches (and you have to show a card to access them!), as well as a giant saltwater aquarium where they let people snorkel. Inside the aquarium they have manta rays (I'd never seen one before - they are huge), as well as sunken objects to make seeing the fish more interesting. Of course, Jon always loves an aquarium and fish, so he was enthralled.

Our Cruise

Jon and I took our first vacation without Hannah last week. And we had a great time! To be honest, I was a little nervous about leaving her - since she was born (well, I guess technically since she came home from the hospital), I'd only ever been away from her one night (for a business trip to Boston). Of course, when you are nursing for 15 months (she weaned totally at 16 months), it's just easier to be around. Jon and I thought that it would be good for us to get away and have fun, and IT WAS.

We did a 4-day Caribbean cruise. The ship left from Miami, but we flew to Ft. Lauderdale because Southwest had some amazing deals on airfare. I've included some random pictures below, but did a separate post for each stop the ship made. I absolutely love being at sea - it is so relaxing. Jon likes cruises because of the food - there is a lot of it. Our waiter would bring him an extra entree (and sometimes extra appetizers and desserts) every night. I think on the last night everyone at our table had 2 desserts! It was so nice to just hang out without responsibilities and just enjoy each other's company - after the stress of my pregnancy & Hannah's arrival, and the general upheaval of becoming parents, it was nice to just get away "like the old days." Of course, we missed Hannah and did think about her (on the way home I realized that every thing I purchased was for her!), but making sure that our marriage and relationship comes first is still important. After all, when she's all grown up and has left our house, Jon and I will still be "stuck" with each other!

Julie & Jon

Celebrating 5 Years of Marriage!

Our Ship

Majesty of the SeasTowel Art, provided by Susan, our cabin attendant

Our Assigned Dinner Group

Kevin & LeighAnn (newlyweds from VA),

and Molly & Justin (1st anniversary from CA)

Sunshine, here we come!
Although the ship ported in Miami (coming & going), we really didn't see much of Miami...just whatever the bus operator pointed out to us as we drove up the freeway to Ft. Lauderdale. I took this picture just to prove we were there : )