DETAILS

Before I tell you about my cruise....I need to give a fun update of what's been happening since we got home. Sophie is a happy kid. She's napping well and going to sleep well at night. Hallelujah! If you remember, she was anti-sleep before we left and threw a fit about naps and bedtime. She does great going potty. And, she's hilarious! She suddenly is doing this deep laugh that is so funny. I should try to catch it on video...especially since that is all my camera will do. Her prayers are getting longer and longer. We try not to help her anymore. Tonight, she said, "bless I be a prophet day (meaning today)." It was hilarious. Yesterday, our wonderful neighbors across the street hooked her up with a three story fabulous doll house that she is OBSESSED with. Their girls had gotten a new Barbie house and outgrew the Fisher Price house. I'm not sure she's ever been so obsessed with a toy. She tells us she doesn't want to eat or do anything else so she can keep playing. It's such a nice house with lots of furniture and people and fancy lights and sounds. It's as tall as Sophie and probably cost a pretty penny. It's only four years old. So, I decided, I really like free stuff. HELLO! We all know I LOVE free stuff and borrowing/sharing with friends. Some of my friends have been telling me about freecycle.org for a while, so this morning I decided to check it out. I found a posting that was posted late last night for a swingset by a woman named Amorette. It's not a very common name, so I emailed her and said, we'll take it and if it's the Amorette that lives four houses down from me, we'll be there quicker to get it! We won't have to borrow a truck. Sure enough, it's the family four houses down, so we're getting it tomorrow night. Sophie is SO excited! She's been going over to our neighbors house two houses down to use their swingset. Those are the highlights from the last few days (oh...plus the beautiful weather and the tons of fun we've been having walking with friends and playing at the park). We're getting the dirt for our garden tomorrow and I can't wait to get my starters in there and soon have fresh veggies at my fingertips!

Cruise. Sorry, I'm going to make this short and sweet and to the point! We cruised on the MSC Orchestra (gorgeous and impecably clean). MSC is an Italian line and probably has the most diverse of passengers. So, they have a lot of different taste buds to please. Adam enjoyed all the food, but I was pickier. Which was fine. I didn't pork out and get fat! I'll find out how much weight I've gained at my prenatal appointment Thursday, but honestly, I'm not sure how much of it can be blamed on the cruise. I feel like my baby has grown so much. I've only been feeling movements really low in my pelvic area, and now the baby is stronger, bigger, and moving everywhere, even on top of my belly. So, food according to my taste buds was just okay. They did a really lousy job with seafood which is something I love to order since I don't cook it at home. I wasn't ever hungry though. Our company at our dinner table was wonderful. Everyone was really great. We had great conversation and laughed a lot!! We always spent 2 to 2 1/2 hours at dinner chatting it up!

The entertainment was absolutely fabulous! Amazing musicians, singers, dancers, acrobats. Every night was fantastic. My sporty husband isn't one to jump at the chance to go to something musical but I love that sort of thing, so it was nice that it was included with the cruise.

The weather was amazing the entire time. Windy or breezy most days which helped cool us off from the blaring sun. Only one day was there no wind and boy it got HOT!

They had a large screen on the pool deck that they showed movies on most of the nights around 10, so they were done just in time for the midnight buffet. We only went to one of them - Eagle Eye (so good!) and only went to the midnight buffet twice, on Easter and for the Magnifico Buffet when they had all the sculptures and decadent food. They also had one featured free movie each day on the tv in our rooms, which was nice for passing the time if we were tired.

I got in a lot of naps, often times went to bed by 10:30 PM (8:30 Utah time!!) and got up when my body automatically gets up (at 7 Utah time). I read on our balcony every morning while Adam slept in. It was so lovely. I'd order room service for breakfast and go out there and eat and read to the sounds of the ocean! One day, we spotted dolphins swimming alongside the boat while we were looking out from our balcony. It was awesome!!!

Cayo Levantado had the most beautiful beach. We went kayaking. St. Maarten was interesting and good for shopping. We did lots of walking/shopping on the Dutch side and then took a cab to the French side to Orient Beach (half nude beach...haha). It was interesting to see how much nicer the French side was. Antigua was a dump. I don't know why they stop there and I didn't feel good that day. A little faint from the heat. It was kind of weird. Nassau Bahamas was our favorite. As you can see from the pics, we loved Atlantis on Paradise Island. We will return some day. We only had two at sea days. We never felt sea sick, but the rocking made me a little dizzy the first few days, but it wasn't discomforting, just a little weird.

It was such a relaxing week. I read Jeffrey St. Laurent's book Being Fulfilled. If you are trying to be more efficient with your time and goals, this is the perfect book. It was a wonderful vacation and so nice for us to be able to focus on each other and ourselves with no distractions. Before the cruise, I felt very exhausted and not motivated to do anything. Now I'm back to my old self (thank heavens!!!).

What details did I forget? Ask questions. No, we don't have great tans. We covered ourselves in sunscreen multiple times a day! And I don't sunbathe. I'll sit in the sun for thirty minutes max and then I feel like I'm getting skin cancer (haha!) I think I might get more sun this week at home just playing with Sophie outside. I got a good base though to start the spring out with.