Cruisin'

Ok, so I think I'm the luckiest lady alive. I mean seriously, who gets to leave their two lovely toddlers (and their husband) for a free week long cruise in the Caribbean with their two sisters and mom and dad (four of my favorite people on earth!). I got to do that! I still can't believe it wasn't just a heavenly dream. I loved every single second of it.
My mom and dad were guest speakers for an LDS group on the cruise so we all got to go for free. The first few days I just kept pinching myself when I no one spilled anything and I didn't have to get up once or wipe anything during a 5 course dinner and I could just talk and talk and talk about super interesting stuff for hours on end. By the end it was starting to feel normal (funny how quickly you start taking things for granted). We spent most of our waking hours talking about really stimulating, inspiring things. My brain felt like it was getting a work out that it's needed for 3 1/2 years.....and it felt so good!
We stopped at some really interesting places. It felt so good to be outside of the US for even a tiny bit....it brought back so many thoughts and feelings and memories from the time I've spent overseas....and even though it was way too short it kind of snapped me back into a more global perspective that I've kind of fallen out of as I've been drenched in suburban toddlerhood.
Our first stop was Cozumel, Mexico where we went across to some ruins (Tulum) just south of Cancun. It was so beautiful there, standing right by the ocean. It was so interesting to think about who might have inhabited that place so long ago.

My mom and dad are seriously THE BEST! They are so fun to be around....and so darn cute!

Next we stopped in Belize, which was really run down and interesting. We quickly walked away from the cruise port and into the downtown area (where there were no more tourist) to get a feel for what life is really like in Belize. The people were so friendly to us and we got to stop and talk to a bunch of darling, uniformed school children.

Awesome old house in Belize

Shawni and my parents left us in Belize to go and do more responsible things. Me and Saren got to be upgraded to my parents sweet balconied room and best of all (sorry Shawni) we got to go to Roatan (an island off the coast of Honduras). I LOVE that island. I wish I could just go and live there. It is beautiful and lush and the I can talk to the people in Spanish.....I loved it.

We got to go to an amazing butterfly and bird garden and then spent the afternoon at a perfectly picturesque beach with crystal clear water. Here I am with a pair of kind of crazy birds at the bird garden pecking me to death. One of the birds was named Charlie. He was well named - mischievous and full of himself just like my little Charlie.

We also brought some toys into a local school there and got to talk to the school kids. It was really interesting (and I'm sure really disruptive to their school day....). I loved it though, those kids were so cute, and so curious and it was so nice to know Spanish and to be able to talk to them about their school experience. They seemed so on top of things, and actually excited about learning.
Probably the best part of the whole cruise was the awesome towel creations that our room steward put in our room each night. Or favorite was when he told us to look in our room and that he really hoped we didn't mind that "the dog was reading our bible."

All in all I had the time of my life (i mean, how could you not!). I did miss Jeff (a lot), but I'm confident that he fully enjoyed being home alone (the kids were in NYC with my brother and saintly sister in law).

Now it's on to real life. But man is real life good after a break like that! I can't believe how in love I was with my little family when I got home. There is nothing like distance (and third world places) that make you really appreciate all you have.