The Woods: Cruising With Our Friends

We went on a cruise with our friends the first week of February. We have been talking about doing this for a long time and finally we made it happen. We knew we wouldn't get another chance to so this for a while. None of us are pregnant or have babies that are nursing so it was a good time to go. Unfortunately not everyone could come but we had a blast with those that did. We went with Danny and Karly Adams and Chad and Liz Giles.

Our kids stayed with Robin and Ted for the first few days. We left Smithfield late Friday night and drove to the airport.

Our flight left after midnight. We were able to sleep a little bit on the plane and we also watched some shows. We flew to Atlanta where we had a layover and then flew into Ft. Lauderdale and arrived Saturday morning.

Let's just say that Karly and I are not light packers!! I always bring way too much stuff. But... It is better to be prepared right?! From Fort Lauderdale we got on a shuttle and went to Miami where we got on our cruise ship.

We got onto the Carnival Liberty and had a good look around the ship and then got right to the eating and had a good burger and fries. We then laid by the pool and listened to some fun music while the ship set sail!

Josh started his dancing the second he got on the ship. He is a good time!

I have beautiful friends!

The guys were all so happy to leave and be able to turn off the phones and relax from work, school and other meetings.

And us girls were excited to have a break from the regular routine of motherhood and enjoy the sun and relaxation.

Once the ship set sail we got settled into our rooms and went to dinner at the dining room. The food was great and we had such a fun time just sitting there talking and enjoying our meal.

Chad and Liz

Josh and Ashley

Danny and Karly

After we are we went to a show in the theater. There was a competition and if you know josh he is all about games and competitions. He was on his feet so fast! And not just on his feet but standing on the table where he soon was told to get down. He didn't get picked but still had a good time making a fool of himself!

On Sunday morning we got to The Half Moon Cays in the Bahamas. It is a private island owned by the Carnival cruise line. We just relaxed and enjoyed the beach all day. The water was beautiful, the sand was white and the company was great!

Josh only wished this was our cabana! We tried to rent one a couple of weeks before we went on the cruise, but they were all reserved.

After a day at the beach we got on the ship and set sail. That night was the Super Bowl. It was so fun to sit on the deck and watch it outside while sailing. The Giles and us were going for the Seahawks and the Adams were going for the Broncos. We were sooooo happy when the Seahawks won!

Josh participated in a competition to show who was the biggest fan. He had to do his victory dance. It was pretty awesome!!

His team won so they got a prize. He got a t shirt and a bucket if beers that he have to his teammates:)

The next day was a day at sea. Josh and I slept in and then went to breakfast and then we met up with the others by the pool. We hung out and played games, read and I drank a lot of diet cokes.

That night was one of our formal nights. We all got dressed up and enjoyed dinner. It was just so nice to sit down to dinner and be able to talk to each other with no interruptions from our kids.

Chad and Liz

Danny and Karly

Josh and Ashley

The next morning we ported in St. Thomas.

Because it is a U.S. Territory we all had service on our phones!

When we got off the ship we got on a taxi truck thing and went over to Koki Beach.

These four snorkeld while Liz and I say in the beach enjoying a diet coke and our books. I am not a big fan of snorkeling. It makes me sick, claustrophobic and kind of freaks me out!

Chad is always a good time and a good person to laugh at. He is so dang funny and is always doing something stupid to make everyone laugh. This trip would not have been the same with out him there.

So like I said before, Chad is hilarious. He would just lay there limp in the water and let the waves roll him up on shore. People walking by were laughing and all of us were dying laughing too!

Josh and Danny enjoying the sun!

We had a great day at the beach. When we were done there we took the taxi back into the town center and found a place to eat.

Then we looked around the town and walked back to the port.

That night we ate dinner and played games. It was a lot of fun.

The next day we were in Puerto Rico. We got off the ship and walked to the fortress. It was a former Spanish fortress that would protect Puerto Rico from other countries who were trying to take over the island. It was built in the 1500's. It was so cool to see.

After walking around the fortress we took a taxi to the town center and went to a restaurant where we ate a Puerto Rican dish called Mofongo. It is mashed plantains and pork. It was delicious!

We took advantage of our phones having service and face timed our kids!!

We were so hot from walking around all day so Danny and Josh jumped off of the pier.

We then laid by the pool as the ship set sail.

That night after dinner, Karly and I really felt like dancing so the two of us went and got our groove on! It was pretty fun until we looked around and realized that most of the people dancing with us were teenagers!

It was a crazy night!

The next day we arrived in Grand Turk. It is part of the Turks and Caicos island. It is a tiny island. The island is 7 miles pone and 1.5 miles wide.

We took a taxi to a very secluded beach. We were able to see so much of the island on just the drive there. I liked this island the best because we got to see peoples houses and how they live. It wasn't as touristy as the other places.

We had such a great time on the beach. We laid out, swam, the boys played football, the girls read, and we rented some paddle boards.

The paddle boards were so fun but really hard. It is something that I would love to do again so I can get better at it.

We had a funny experience with the paddle boards. When Chad and Liz were out on the boards, Chad fell off and the current was so strong it took the board out and he couldn't catch it. He decided to let it go and he would swim to shore and then get a boat to go out and get it. We didn't know what was going on. All we could see was Liz coming toward is and then Chad's board getting further and further away but no Chad. We looked down the shore and we saw chad running with the oar in hand telling us what had happened. Luckily a boat brought it in for us, but Liz was not happy with Chad. The rest of us thought it was hilarious!

We walked down a street with some fun little shops and got some awesome food. It was a local place. We got conch fritters. They were soooo good!

This little girl was so dang cute and he same age as Stella. I had to get a picture with her!

That night was another dressy night. We ate dinner and played games!

The last day we spent at sea. We didn't even get any pictures. We were all enjoying our time relaxing and taking in the last bit of sun we could get. That night we all ate way too much and then played games:)

We played poker with sugar packets. We had a blast and are so lucky to have such great friends. This is a trip we will always remember and hope to have many more!!