Vacation Part Two

I finally have a few more vacation photos from the Disney cruise to share. I was just going through and deciding which ones I want to have printed. I love doing that - it's like re-living the best parts of the trip. So many stories jumped out at me that I want to tell. I wrote them in my travel journal but now really just want to sit down and scrap them too.

Just before we left, Nico lost both of his front teeth. That's scrapworthy just by itself. And the funny little lisp and smile he sported all week long is something I don't want to forget.

The Aquaduck. I'm not sure if my pictures truly do it justice. It's this amazing water roller coaster ride for two through a clear tube.

At one point you go off the side of the boat a bit, a couple of fun drops and a light show at the end.

It runs the entire length of the cruise ship and can I tell you I rode that thing more times than Nico. At night, while in port, during the day. I loved it.

I even snuck my water camera on and got a shot from the inside.

Orient Bay, St Martin. The single most beautiful beach I've ever visited.  Waves that are just right, turquoise water that is crystal clear and sandy ocean floors with not a rock, jellyfish or wad of seaweed the entire day. We definitely want to come back here one day.

Nico felt the need to kick back and relax.

Then he made the mistake of snapping his little fingers at Dad, which led to a nice refreshing dunk.

 

Instead of going to St. Thomas, we decided to take an excursion to St. John's for some snorkeling. Can't remember the bay, but it was a beautiful spot and I knew Nico would enjoy it. What could go wrong?

Ever have one of those parenting moments when you're not so sure you've made the right decision and you start second guessing yourself at the last minute? Well, that happened to me oh about 10 seconds after he jumped into the deep blue sea. At first, he started to freak when his snorkel filled with saltwater and he drank it. "Well, that's what happens Nico when you cannonball off the boat like Mom and Dad told you specifically not to."  

We had a  few panicky moments until I got him settled down. And then... he loved it. I was a little nervous the entire time. Keeping him close to me and stopping him from touching the reef was interesting.  

The very last stop was Disney's private island, Castaway Cay.

 The beach was beautiful and there was so much for Nico to do. We went snorkeling with the stingrays here.

 Nico immediately reached for the largest one.

And spent the next half hour, swimming above them, feeding them shrimp and learning the stingray shuffle.  We all enjoyed this. It was definitely one of the highlights of our trip.

Love how this guy looks like he's waving goodbye to us. I have to find a clever way to scrap this. Maybe as the last page of the album?

This picture reminds me of "Where's Waldo." I remember how beat and done we were at the end of this day. We were one of the last families to get back on the ship. We loved Castaway Cay that much.

One of the best parts? No cell service. So this guy's Blackberry didn't work. And I loved that for large portions of the trip he could not be reached. That is so very rare for him.

 And guess what? The company survived without him. Ha!

 As all good family vacations do, this one came to an end way too quickly.

If you made it through this epic post -- thanks! Between my travel journal and this blog post, I have a dozen page ideas floating around my head. Coming soon!