25 Spring Break Cruise: Grand Cayman

 Next stop: Grand Cayman

We split up from the Pools that day.

I was in charge of planning the day out for us,

and I didn't do a great job of prepping Andrew

and Care Bear for what to expect.

And some of my plans just didn't go as I expected, either.

We visited the Cayman Islands National Museum.

It was just a short walk from the port.

And we enjoyed it.

It had some fun exhibits and we learned a lot.

From there, things went downhill...

I planned for us to visit a farmer's market.

We walked there.

But it was not real close.

And no one else had worn good walking shoes

(because I didn't tell them to...)

I do like getting a glimpse into the island

away from all the touristy parts.

It's fun to see different street signs.

This tree was magnificent!

Loved the blooms on this tree.

The farmer's market was just ok on a weekday afternoon.

There aren't a lot of stalls open, so our options were limited.

We bought some bags of fresh fruit and homemade bread.

It was yummy.

But not very filling.

My next plan was to take a cab to the beach.

However, we weren't in a great part of town to

catch a cab! :0 D'oh! So we walked and walked.

And Andrew's feet were killing him.

He finally decided to just head back to the boat. :(

Caroline and I stopped at a thrift store.

It was interesting.

Then we found a gelato shop with free wifi.

THAT was a good stop!

We got online, cooled down, and enjoyed

a delicious, cold treat!

Grand Cayman is beautiful!

Back on the ship, we played cards with the Pools.

And enjoyed another yummy dinner at the dining room.

The girls tracked down the boy band and got a pic. :)

That night we spent some time exploring the ship.

Andrew never looks small!

It was a beautiful evening.

Andrew got his soft serve.

You could see so many stars!

DAY AT SEA

I didn't take many pics of our next day at sea.

It looks like the girls got mocktails.

And I know we played some trivia.

I spotted a bird.

A brown booby, I think.

We dressed up again for dinner that night.

There wasn't a great place to get a photo.

Someone got beef wellington for dinner.

The desserts are always so pretty.

In the atrium, they have glass elevators that face

each other. It was fun to see Julia in there

at the same time that we were. Hi, Julia!

2025 Spring Break Cruise: Cozumel

 Spring Break 2025 was FANTASTIC! Oh, we had such a great time. We cruised with our friends from the stake, The Pools. They have one daughter left and home and she's Caroline's age. Even though we're in different wards, they go to the same school and have gotten close over the last year or so. We thought it would be perfect to spend the break together. And it was! They had never cruised before and I think they enjoyed it.

We cruised on the Celebrity Reflection--another new cruise line for us. It was for six nights and departed out of Ft. Lauderdale, way down by Miami. Andrew flew down. Caroline and I took a leisurely road trip. 

First stop: Savannah

Stopped by SCADstory again.

It made me want to go art school again.

We LOVE walking around the cute streets of Savannah.

And visiting Forsyth Park.

Then made a quick stop in Richmond Hill, GA

at Sterling Creek Park for some birding.

No good birds, but this blue pond was pretty.

We got a hotel in Jacksonville.

We had time for a workout before bed.

Next stop: St. Augustine!

Bear had never been.

She fell in love with it just like I did.

It's so cute!

And historic

And beautiful

And European-feeling.

Loved taking her to some of the fun spots

Marianne and I found last time we came.

Made our first Buc-ee's stop of the trip. Yay!

Stopped at Plantation Preserve to do some birding.

Got to see this awesome Yellow-crowned Night Heron.

And a cool lizard.

And some ibis and gallinules.

Then we picked up Andrew at the airport and

stayed the night in Ft. Lauderdale.

The following morning was Sunday and we had time to

go to sacrament meeting before getting on the ship.

It was Easter Sunday and we were excited to worship.

In my research, I could only find a Spanish ward that

met at the time we needed, so that's where we went.

We used Google translate for Care Bear and it mostly

worked great! (The Pools were at an English ward,

so apparently my research wasn't great. Ha!)

Eventually, we all met up on the ship!

Andrew, me, Bear, Julia, Trevor, and Heather.

We got two balcony rooms for the parents and an

interior room for Bear and Julia to share.

It worked out perfectly!

It's always fun to explore the ship on day one.

They had an empty workout room 

that made for some cool pics.

Two tall girls!

We ate together every night in the dining room.

It was great. We loved it.

A sampling of our fancy food.

I think this was a beet salad.

That night they had an ABBA party in 

the atrium. Perfect!!

We had so much fun singing along!

A little snippet

DAY TWO: DAY AT SEA

Had fun playing some of the trivia games on board.

Heather and Trevor won one of the word games!

Our ship had a dedicated game room and some

of the tables had an electronic top where you could play

games and it would keep scores for the week.

We would enter BYU as our score and had fun

filling up the leaderboard.

This was one of my favorite parts of the ship!

They had an adorable little bakery/cafe with

these yummy treats that were included

with your cruise fare. The line could get long,

but I visited this place often!

I saw a dolphin jumping in our wake!

So cool!

That night was a formal night,

so we got dressed up fancy and went dancing.

We had the dance floor to ourselves!

And we tore it up!

The Pools enjoy dancing, too, so that was fun.

Ready for our fancy dinner!

Obligatory "Andrew-is-too-tall" pic.

Or he would maybe say height-discrimination pic. :)

DAY THREE: Cozumel

In Cozumel, we took the Pools to Chankanaab,

one of our fave spots. We couldn't wait to go snorkeling.

And it didn't disappoint!

The water is so clear and the fish are amazing!

We got to sit on swings for lunch!

Andrew and I walked around the park and did a little birding.

Saw a cool iguana.

And a Yucatan woodpecker

That little sparkle of turquoise in the middle of that tree

 was THE most beautiful hummingbird I've ever seen.

It is SO bright turquoise and it just hang out in front of us!

I'm not sure if it was a Green-breasted Mango or a Cozumel Emerald.

And after a few hours in paradise, it was time

to catch a cab back to the ship.

That night we went to a show together.

The entertainment was pretty good.

Caroline and Julia especially enjoyed the boy band.