As promised, a long and yet short version of our trip!!
We had an AMAZING time, ate way to much food, found paradise, met great friends, relaxed and got recharged, got a tan/burn and can’t wait to go back- especially to St. Thomas!
This was our boat in the back ground!
We left on Saturday morning from my parents house after dropping off the babies and headed to Port Canaveral to throw all our cares away- at least for a week!
FYI: I know myself to well to attempt doing this blog without organization so for those purposes lets go day by day shall we?
Day 1: Sea Day (we arrive)
Checking out our ship~ The biggest one in the Carnival fleet: Carnival Dream.
….with an 18 hole putt putt course!
…and with the largest water park out of any of their boats!
Oh yes and the beautiful 12 story lobby!
I spotted a manatee as we pulled out the port!
We did a quick scan of the ship and then it was time to get serious- THE FOOD!
We headed straight to the buffet and Lou was reunited with his love from our first time cruising – The ice cream!
Lou and one of his 1st of the 576,497th ice creams he had! 
I felt like Tucker every night we got to our room, I would get so excited after seeing that “they came” so I would walk in and scream “THEY CAMMMMME”… and we wonder why Tucker wakes up each day thinking every morning is Christmas? :)
Lou got so used to it by the end of the trip he would get sad if I forgot to say it and demand I get excited and say it!
Day 2: Nassau, Bahamas
First things first- breakfast and we killed it!
First stop- Straw Market of course!
We had a impromptu change of plans after walking downtown and witnessing other tourist directly across the street from us dash in front of traffic yelling and stopping cars to get to the same side of the rode we were on- while others stores locked their doors as the cops went running towards the actions with guns drawn-It was so scary- Alex grabbed my arm and said “run”!
At this point we decided to leave downtown and go snorkeling :)
So we took a taxi to Paradise Island (home of Atlantis) and signed up for something safe and fun!
We hadn’t planned on snorkeling in the Bahamas so we had to do a “hold the towel up for each other” dress change :) 
Bahamas definitely has one of the prettiest beaches we have been too, Dominican, Mexico and Jamaica got nothing on it! 
This is maybe the last picture I took with MY NEW underwater camera because when we got on the boat to go snorkeling (of all things)- I tested it out and it was acting very funny, sure enough: broken!
So I hate to tell you but no under water pictures will be provided, good thing I brought my big camera!
Here’s our captain!
The snorkeling trip wasn’t the best but It was a good excuse to go on a boat ride- an expensive boat ride!
Someone’s catch of the day! 
Shortly after our snorkeling trip we went back to the ship to get ready for dinner!
Lobster!
This night was the “Captains Dinner” so we had to dress up “elegantly”….
Did I mention we fell in love with our dinner partners on the very first night?
Ashley and Kris- oh the trouble we caused!! haha
We seriously questioned if Carnival did an in depth questionnaire we didn’t know about because Ashley and I couldn’t have been more alike!
Our waiter each night- who we LOVED as well- named Alex was given a memo that we were celebrating our 2 year anniversary and surprised us with a song and candle lit cake!
The only catch was you had to kiss during the whoooooole song of “happy anniversary to you… etc”
I swear there was something about this trip and people wanting to see us kiss! :)
Even people who would serve us a drink on the islands would say “If it’s good i want to see you kiss!”
After dinner we went to a show at the big “Encore” theatre room!
It was huge!
The sun really wore us out each night, I don’t think we ever made it out past midnight…..
“THEY CAME!!” 
They left us a baby elephant almost every night!
Apparently I am not as good of a mom as i thought- his head fell off :(
Day 3: Sea Day
Best thing to do on sea days: EAT, lay out and EAT!
But what else do you do on vacation?!?!
That night was SO exciting for Alex, he was determined to meet the Captain and Chief Engineer of the ship who were at dinner that night… so by the end of dinner we/I had enough drinks to work up the courage to go up to their table and ask the captain to meet my little boy husband and to take a picture with him….
anything for Lou…..
We later stalked them out again ran into them again and talked to them for a while, they were both from Italy and so nice!
Chief Engineer on left and Captain on right
Day 4: St. Thomas
We honestly had no idea what we were in store for with St. Thomas! It was the most beautiful place we have ever been!
We could not wait to get off that boat and explore!
Everything was picture perfect*
Cobblestone was everywhere and it was all so well kept!
Then it was the best part of the day…. time to pick out a spot for lunch!!
We picked for a cute restaurant in an old rum factory: Glady’s Cafe
Oh and I must mention the Pina Coladas- both in St. Thomas and St. Maarten, they were the best we have ever had!
Oh and these convertible trucks were everywhere- so cute!
We took one to go shopping….
I was actually approached on the taxi by another couple from our ship…the girl said we sit near them every night at dinner and they “Love” our laughs! Alex and I immediately apologized because we know we (mostly Ashley and I) "are the loud ones” every night but she said she enjoyed it and it actually made her laugh!
I couldn’t wait to report that back to Ashley- we were celebrities! 
Did I mention the shops were amazing?!?!?
After all the shopping and eating it was time to get to business!
We heard Magens Bay was rated in National Geographic's top 10 beaches and HAD to check it out!
I am so glad we did!
Crystal Clear*
It was perfect and to top it off we ran into out friends Ashley and Kris who had the same idea as we did to venture out to Magens bay!
There’s Kris’s head in the background! 
This is my most favorite picture of the whole trip!! 
Am I cheesing enough Lou?
It was soon time to say goodbye to St. Thomas and Magen’s Bay but I have a feeling we will be back….
The sailboats really make it picture perfect! 
Day 5: St. Maarten
The next day we woke up in St. Maarten with room service which is so fun when you don’t have to pay for it!!!
We pulled in to port on the Dutch side of St. Maarten but these water Taxi’s will take you anywhere! The whole Island is only about 32 miles across! 
So we took one of the cute water taxi’s over to Phillipsburg (the capital) for shopping and site seeing before hitting the beach!!
The shops were so cute and colorful along the boardwalk - most looked like old houses….
Except these types of “shops”, talk about bag ladies! These women would walk around all day with tons of souvenirs for people to buy… I do not know how they do it with a smile on their face?
Actually I don’t know how they do it period without suffering from heat exhaustion!
It was beautiful but definitely the HOTTEST place we have ever been! I’m not sure what it is about that place but when the sun came out it literally felt like it was sizzling your skin!! 
By this time we were sweating and no longer into shopping- so we headed back to the boat for lunch, ice cream and advice on a good beach! 
After we got our hunger fixes taken care of and stripped to our bathing suits we got on a land taxi and headed over to the French side of the island to explore Orient Bay! 
The beach was no Magen’s Bay but it was still gorgeous and the water felt amazing after walking around in the scorching sun! 
There were two friendly wild dogs on the beach while we were there although they had collars? They weren’t very interested in us I assumed because we had no food :(
Before heading back to the boat we found a little shack that sold St. Maartens pride and joy (as well as their only export off the island) Guava berry!!!
It was amazing and definitely my new love- they make Pina Coladas with it (above) and once again I was told if it was “not just good but amazing” I needed to kiss Alex! 
He got a big smooch- promise!!
That night we had dinner back on the boat which entailed the Cha Cha dance around the dining room….
You got a hat if you participated…. Lou was not the best sport!
(Kris and “I Gede”- our sweet bartender each night at dinner)
We loved this part of every night- it was a bit ridiculous!
Don’t for get to have some more fun- Fun, fun, fun!
Day 6: Sea Day
This was my first day getting sick a little bit during lunch but I was serious about getting tan before going back so off to the pool we went! 
You should have seen the amount of sunscreen I packed- we had each number and they were lined up on the little shelf as if we had ten people to cover!
Unfortunately this day it was pretty overcast and I do not have the luxury of being one of those people (like my husband) who can take naps… so while he slept I ate cheesecake! 
He woke up to an empty plate- I did save him cookies though!
That night was another elegant night- except Alex only brought one elegant outfit- whoops!!
…and at this point had no more clean white undershirts…. but on to more important news- The dessert that night was more CHEESECAKE!!
The boys were so “good” with dessert usually asking for a scoop of sherbet where as Ashley and I would usually ask for 2 different desserts- even if they weren’t on the menu!
Our waiter Alex totally understood our sweet tooth's and always “made it happen”! He also had the best tricks up his sleeve, like balancing 2 forks on 1 toothpick and then doubling it!
Day 7: Sea Day
Our last day was a sea day and the weather was amazing!!
So amazing I needed these bad boys ;)
We weren’t really sure why the sprinklers and slides were in the “kid” section of the boat but we sure did spend a lot of time over there during our sea days!
More than the pool actually! 
That’s me :) 
Here is Alex going down!
I was actually sad going to our last night of dinner Ashley and I were weirdly alike- it was scary! Did i mention we even came to dinner with braids in our hair the same nights and both loved taking pictures of our food, so on the last night we took pictures of each other taking pictures of our food :) 
Everything was amazing! Simply amazing and it was very much needed! It’s so weird to think Alex and I both have school behind us now… since we have known each other that’s all we have done, school, school and more school!
I couldn’t have asked for a better graduation present and 2 year anniversary gift!!!
Thank you!!
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