We are back!!

Hans and I got home this past Monday from our Caribbean Cruise. We had such a great time. I have felt a little overwhelmed to start the blog because the trip was so great and I almost don't even know where to start. We ended up taking over 450 pictures with our camera plus another four rolls of film for the underwater pictures. It really was an amazing week! I am so glad that I got to spend the week with Hans. We haven't had that long of a vacation for just the two of us.

Well it all started when Hans' mom, the kids call her Gree-Gree, got to come out and stay with the kids so we could take off on our adventure. The kids were all so excited to have her come and I'll have to post some of what they did with her as well. They have lots of pictures too! Rita came in on Thursday.. Even on the first day here Gree-Gree treated them to some yummy candy bars as she played Clue with them.

Tristen had scouts the first night and so she got to see him in his scout gear. She thought it was cute!The next day we spent the day showing her around and making sure she had everything that she would need. It was nice to get to show her around where we are living. We had a lot to do to get ready for the trip. We finished packing up around midnight and got up pretty early the next day. It was a long day of flights on Saturday. We started around 8:30am and ended up in Ft. Lauderdale at 10pm. From there we rented a car and drove down to Homestead were we stayed the night. We didn't really know our way around and after a few frustrating times we made it there. Boy were we glad to get to bed!

They next day we got up pretty early and headed out to do some last minute shopping. It is pretty hard to find swimsuits in October in Washington. However in Florida there were quite a few. We had some more hard times trying to find the car rental return. The map the rental place gave us was horrible so we ended up buying one. Once we figured that all out everything fell into place. We did our shopping, returned the car, and hopped on a shuttle to the cruise terminal.

Here is our ship as we started to get on board. It is the Carnival Valor.Finally on deck and moving inside. Can't you tell I'm excited!!The first place to check out - our room! It actually was pretty nice. We had quite a bit of space. Hans was reading up on all the stuff - room service, dress code (for dinner), etc. After this we headed out to explore.

We started at the top floor and worked our way back down. This was the top of the indoor looking down to the main lobby. The wavy lines is a dance floor. They had a great singer every night. It was fun to walk around the top floors on deck. It was beautiful and amazing how much stuff there is up there. We enjoyed the sights and got some cute pictures.Some more pictures -

On the first day we had an emergency drill. I had to get a picture of us wearing our life vests. Luckily it was the only time we had to Leaving Miami.....
The first day the boat was really rocking. Later we went out on the lower deck and were amazed by how big some of the waves were. As we were standing there we kept getting sprayed. It was kind of funny to feel the boat moving so much and watching all the people walking funny. It really felt strange. After a while we got used to it. Luckily we didn't get motion sickness at all!

This was at our first dinner. We sat with another couple at a table that overlooked the lower level of the dinning room. It was strange at first to have to have a forced conversation at first, but we soon ended up really enjoying Debbie and Alan. We were glad to have a great couple to hang out with.

The dinners were fabulous and the service was amazing. Every night our waiter would give us the recommendations for the starters, main course, and dessert. Each night was different and it was fun to try so many new things.

After dinner we headed to the top deck to see the beautiful view. It was our first moonlight night. It was breathtaking. The picture doesn't do it justice.

When we went back to our room we had this cute little guy laying on the bed. It is made out of towels.

I have a lot more to share but I will slowly get to all of it. Sorry this first one was so long.