Celebrating graduation Caribbean-style!

For the past almost 8 years Dan and I have been saying we were going to reward ourselves for a fun vacation for his graduation. That vacation changed several times, from Disneyland to Disneyworld to a few other places here and there. But when our friends Dallas and Abi went on a Western Caribbean cruise and came home with great pictures and tons of fun stories about cruises in general, we decided to add it to our list. When they told us they would be willing to go on another one with us if we decided to go, it sealed the deal. We couldn’t think of anything more fun to celebrate getting through Chiropractic school than celebrating it with friends from school who have been such a big part of the last 3 years for us! I am so glad we did it, and still think of that trip almost everyday.

We were on the Carnival Conquest, which left out of Galveston. The ship was huge and beautiful. The service was perfect. The food was incredible. I can’t think of much else to say about it, except that I hope it’s something we get to do again. The staff took such good care of us, and our server at dinner even remembered how much Broden loved grapes and had a huge bowl of them waiting for him at dinner every night when we sat down. Jacey LOVED getting all dressed up for the fancy dinner nights. (Ok- who am I joking? I did too!) We also loved the yummy food 24/7, hanging out by the pool all day, and how carefree everything was before we went back to one more week of school and clinic chaos before graduation.

Waterslide on the ship that entertained Jacey for hours every day

If she wasn't on the waterslide, we could usually find her here, in the hot tub.

Broden loves grapes. Luckily, too much fruit doesn't cause problems in my kids (if you know what I mean...:)

Did I mention how much we loved the food? We ate at the buffet most days for lunch, and there was a different theme every day. One day the theme was chocolate. For lunch. Can vacation possibly get any better than that? (OK, so maybe we felt a tad sick afterwards, but it was worth it!)

Since our family isn't big into the casino stuff, and we didn't usually go to the late entertainment shows because our kids were tired, our family entertainment in the evening was usually spent in the family kareoke lounge. It was pretty entertaining, but my favorite part was watching Broden stand backwards in his stroller singing along with the handle of his stroller as his microphone.

One of our kids favorite things on the ship were the self-serve ice cream machines that were all over. Dan and I decided before we left that since it was vacation we were going to treat the kids and try really hard to say "yes" whenever we possibly could. Needless to say, that meant a lot of ice cream and two very happy children. And our kids rewarded us by being happy, cooperative, and SO much fun the whole week- even pumped full of sugar and on very little sleep. They didn't even whine too much when we got home and eating and sleeping rules went back to normal.

Speaking of not enough sleep, look at this poor kid! The last night was the "Carnival Legends" Kareoke Show, which we did not want to miss. Problem was, it didn't start until 10:30 p.m. But since it was the last night and the last big celebration, we decided to give it a try. Broden was such a good sport! He didn't even cry, and just sat there and hugged his inflatable replica of our ship the whole time while he listened to the music. (Which he still sleeps with every night) I didn't realize how tired he really was until I saw this picture.

Disembarkation morning. Can you tell someone is not very happy about getting off the ship?

As much as we loved our days at sea, it was even better to get off the ship and see so many beautiful places. Our first stop was Montego Bay, Jamaica. We went on an excursion to Dunns River Falls in Ochos Rios. It was so pretty, but not quite as child-friendly as we were told when we booked it. The falls went down directly into the Caribbean, and our kids loved playing in the water. We also had fun watching Dallas and Abi climb up the falls, and if we ever went back without kids that would definitely be on our list of things to do.

Dunn River Falls in Jamaica. Isn't it gorgeous?OK, so maybe we were just a little envious of Dallas and Abi for getting to climb the falls!But instead we had lots of fun watching our kids throw sand in the water!

Our next stop was Grand Cayman, which was my favorite beach by far. We went to the Seven Mile Beach. The sand was so soft and powdery, and the water was warm and clear. The city was clean, and the people were friendly. We loved it so much that we tried to think of a way for the guys to open up a joint practice down there with a few other guys from school so each family could spend a few months down there every year. Too bad that’s not a more realistic dream. It rained some that day, but as soon as it stopped it was beautiful again. It was so relaxing, and our kids LOVED it.

Finally, our last stop was Cozumel, Mexico. We started out the day at a public beach with a few amenities, but then Dallas and Abi went exploring down the beach and found Playa Mia, which was a beach resort with way more to do. Dan took Jacey out on the kayak and then took her out to the floating trampoline to play with Abi while he and Dallas did a little snorkeling. What did Broden and I do? Well, he was fascinated with a huge concrete dock that went out into the ocean almost the whole time we were there. We had lots of fun running up and down that dock. I did convince him to take a little break to play in the sand and get filthy, and he also had his first taste of authentic Mexican food (which he loved), but mostly he just loved running up and down this dock. At least he’s easily entertained, and at least if I had to spend a day chasing him around I’d rather it be a beach than anywhere else!Broden, our light eater, found his appetite on this trip! While at Playa Mia we ordered a HUGE plate of nachos, and he ate almost the whole thing!Merry Christmas from Paradise! I have to admit it felt a little wierd laying on the beach listening to a tropical version of traditional Christmas music, but I think it's something I could get used to!

Our last night at dinner the restaurant staff sang a little goodbye song about our week at sea. Jacey started crying during the song, because she was sad to get off the boat. We’d been talking about our “big boat vacation” for months, and it definitely exceeded our expectations. The next morning it took all of us (and the promise of an ice cream cone after breakfast) to get her out of bed. She knew getting out of bed meant getting off of the ship. Overall it was a great way to celebrate a great achievement!