Tired of this tired old tie I got on
Sick of this traffic jam that I'm in,
We all get sick of it all now and then.
When I've had it up to here I go down there.
To guitars, tiki bars, and a whole lotta love!!!
Our Kenny boy just summed up the past week and a half for us! We just returned from the most amazing vacation! Last February, I decided that it’s best time to escape the snow and freezing cold and go to paradise. Well, one year later 10 of us found ourselves at the most beautiful beaches and places in the world. We had such a fun group! Jordy’s brother BJ and his gorgeous wife Nicole came. BJ invited one of his best buddies and his wife, Ryan and Kari and Nicole invited one of her best friends and her boy, Megan and Matt. Last but certainly not least, was Suzy and Ben. Poor Suzy and Ben got the stomach bug, but were still able to join us for most of the fun. It was so hard for me to only choose a few pictures so I have decided to take you through our amazing journey to paradise… I am going to apologize in advance for my extremely long post and pictures with lots of skin showing. I really tried to choose some pictures with the most skin NOT showing but its impossible when you have been living in your swimsuit for the past 11 days…
We went on a Royal Caribbean cruise to the Southern Caribbean. Our ship deported out of San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Our 1st stop was in St. Thomas. Jordy’s buddies introduced us to St. Thomas few years ago and this is where we went on our honeymoon (Oh baby). So we knew exactly where we wanted to go and had it timed down to the minute to get a full days worth. We were one of the first peeps off the boat and the last ones back on. We rented our own boat with a captain to Virgin Gorda (a British Virgin Island) and went to The Baths. The Baths is a stellar natural attraction with exotic pools and grottos formed by giant boulders that are scattered across an amazing beach.
The Baths
Checking into customs at Tortola
Entering The Baths
Wahoo!! Sexy, sexy...
We stopped by St. John on our way back to St. Thomas so that we could check back into customs. We had to stop by Cinnamon Bay (another favorite beach of ours). Kenny Chesney and lots of other celebrities have a house right off of Cinnamon Bay. Kenny’s album Be As You Are is all about the Virgin Islands and one of our favorite albums to listen to. During our first trip to St. Thomas with Jordy’s buddies, we had his album on repeat and visited all of the places that he sang about. We are all now huge Kenny Chesney fans! Kenny and our trip to the islands is who and what converted Jordy to country music. Thanks Kenny baby!
Cinnamon Bay
Our 2nd stop was in St. Maarten. We rented 4-wheelers and explored the island. There is a Dutch and French side of this island. We first visited the Dutch side and wanted to check out their airport. Their airport is right next to a beach (or part of a beach I should say). The planes look like that are going to land in the water. They barley clear the cars and peoples heads as they land. The boys should have read the huge warning sign in front of them before being sand blasted as a jet was taking off (boys will be boys). I am actually grateful they didn’t because it was one of the many highlights of our trip. Seeing them being picked up off their feet, running out of their shoes, hearing Ryan scream like a girl and diving in the water with their clothes on from the huge wave of sand. We had to check out the French side so that we could check out the nude beaches that I have heard so much about. To my surprise, there were actually some nice twins and we did see some that we were warned about. Orient beach also had huge waves that we played in. It was so much fun and a work out trying to survive in the waves Ha!
Our "WARNING" sign
To give you an idea of how close the beach is to the airport
After Matt, Ryan and Jordy dove in the water
Our sexy men!
Ben and his little Dingo...
Our 3rd stop was in Antigua. We decided to sleep in this day and to make it more of a relaxing day. After eating delicious pancakes (it was national Pancake Day), we went to a nice beach and chilled. The boys snorkeled and the girls relaxed. Antigua was pretty but not our favorite stop.
Nicole and BJ
BJ found a huge conch shell
Our 4th day was in gorgeous St. Lucia. St. Lucia is a giant rain forest and is so lush and green. They are famous for their bananas and are super delicious (along with their rum punch)! Ha ha! We went and saw their rain forest, gorgeous botanical garden, waterfall, active volcano (stinky), Pitons (2 huge volcanic mountains), and beaches. It was raining on us but felt so good. We missed Suzy and Ben this day due to their stomach flu.
The Pitons
Jordy and Nat overlooking the Pitons
The volcano reeked of sulfur. It was still very cool!
BJ and Nicole
Our 5th stop was in Barbados! This was my second favorite stop (St. Thomas being my first). Barbados is stunning! We took a glass bottom boat to a turtle bay and swam with turtles. Yes, I made it in the water and didn’t have a panic attack like I did with sting rays on our last cruise. Swimming with the turtles was such a cool experience! They were friendly and you were allowed to touch them. After swimming, we hit up a beach called The Boatyard. We seriously felt like we were on a MTV Spring Break beach. It was packed and had great dancing music playing, ropes swings and water trampolines. We could easily spend a week in Barbados. Next time I’m there, I’m going to Crane Beach (highly recommended by Dave & Jamie) baby!
Jordy meeting his new friend
BJ getting ready for a graceful dive... yeah right! ;-)
Ohhh!! Cute brothers!
Our last day on the cruise was a day at sea. It was a very nice and relaxing day. Below are some fun pictures from our delicious dinners and gorgeous sunsets. During our formal nights, the boat provides photographers that take cheesy prom-like pictures. Check out Ben and Suzy’s prom pictures…
Ding and Dong drinking our delicious Miami Vices (half pina/half strawberry)
Ryan and Kari dancin' the night away..
Our group!
Ben was born to model!
The captain of our ship opened the helicopter pad located at the very front of the ship. We were enjoying the sunset and noticed a school of dolphins swimming with our boat. We have a sweet video clip. I will add it to our blog soon. We of course had to have a Titanic moment too…
I would absolutely recommend this cruise to anyone. The service and entertainment was fantastic and our boat was gorgeous!
A week later, it was bye bye to Suzy and Ben (SAD!) and hello to Puerto Rico (we deicide to stay a few extra days in PR since we were already there). We stayed at the La Concha Resort (A Renaissance Hotel). This resort was unbelievable! It is brand new and is decorated very cool and modern (so up my alley). We found out quickly that it is the place to be in PR. We were chillin’ on the beach with Deion Sanders, “Packman” Jones (scary), T.O. (Terrell Owens) and many other Dallas Cowboys. Deion Sanders so was so cool and nice! It was so entertaining seeing all of their hussy and plastic girls they were with. We saw more twins flashed in the lobby of the hotel than we did on a nude beach. There were not many compliments made! Ha ha!
One of the hotel pools
Hanging out in the lounge in our hotel. Again, obsessed with the decorating...
We went to Culebra (an island right by PR) and went to a very pretty beach. Culebra is known for amazing snorkeling and everyone that went loved it. The next day we went to see one of their famous forts. We found it very fascinating and so historic and had to eat and shop in Old San Juan too.
Ryan being oh so sexy on the beach!
We almost had to camp on a beach in Culebra. Our tour boat oversold going back to PR. Luckily the captain was in a good mood and came back for us. Yahoo!
El Morro Fort
Old San Juan ~ I loved their houses and streets
Our favorite thing that we did in Puerto Rico was the Bioluminescent Bay. We did a kayak tour through Red Mangrove trees and entered a large bay, all under the moonlight. In this bay there are light emitting dinoflagellates that glow when anything touches the water. The mysterious blue-green light is crated by micro-organisms. Fish flash by in dark water (scary fish), and putting your arm in the water is like floating through stardust. It was such a magical experience and so worth all of the mosquito bites. I wish we had a picture of the glowing water. We didn’t have the right kind of camera to catch the light. I guess you need to see it for yourself!
Cruzin' through the Mangrove trees
Puerto Rico was awesome! Thank you SOOO much BJ and Nicole for the hotel and for being our roomies (and especially putting up with my fan noise while sleeping). We love you guys and we’re so proud of you doing so well away from your babies. We so missed some of you that we’re going to come and will need to plan another trip. You were definitely in our thoughts! A HUGE thanks to our amazing crew! Thank you so much for the best vacation ever! Smooches to all of you!! Now back to the real world…
