St. Croix

Last stop...St. Croix

We headed to Buck Island by water taxi--declared a National Monument by President Kennedy. The stretch of beach is surrounded by the barrier reef. We soaked up some sunshine as MacDaddy and Lil' Lefty snorkled and saw some neat sea creatures. They even caught a crab.

Adventure of the Seas Ice

See Coach Ron, I did get some power skating in. Don't you just love my blue, 2 buckle ice skates? They were crap!

St. Maarten

We took a 30 minute cab ride over to the french side of St. Maarten to Christianstead. He we spent the day at Orient Beach. Orient Beach is clothing optional. A-mac was glad to see the men stayed covered, but was grossed out by old men who chose to wear thong speedos MacDaddy didn't understand why many of the women went topless? 9 year boys don't like naked boobies! Plus the boobs we saw were out of National Geographic and not Playboy!

Back in Philipsburg, the capital of the Dutch side of St. Maarten, we strolled through the markets on the way to the water taxi. MacDaddy was excited to find the hat he wanted without the dreads attached.

Antigua

On Antigua, you could visit a different beach everyday of the year-including leap year! Antiqua has 366 beautiful beaches making it a tropical paradise. We took a taxi to Valley Church Beach. The water was sky blue, but very salty. It was gorgeous, sunny day with a temp of about 90 degrees. We all got sunburn, including MacDaddy who never burns, even though we used a sunscreen with a spf of 50. We have decided it was because of our sunscreen-- the spray is not as good as the lotion. It seems watered down and washes away in the water.

St. Lucia was a Ruff Ride

St. Lucia didn't seem to have swimming beaches so we decided to take a cab for an island tour. Needless to say, we didn't realize how hilly, narrow and windy the roads were. We spent 5 1/2 hours most of them in the cab going to an active volcano and waterfall. MacDaddy and the rest of the group didn't enjoy the ups, downs and overs. Oh, and I can't forget the smell of sulfur omitted by the volcano.

Next time I think we will stay on the boat or go snorkeling.

Barbados Rocks!!!

Our first port was Barbados, and it rocked!!! We ended up being taxied to the same beach we had visited a couple years ago (Blue Monkey Beach). I would go back again... jet skis and sitting by the beach. MacDaddy got the first of his cool hats made by an islander.

First Night was Formal Night

So we weren't in a tux and ballroom gown, but it wasn't shorts and a T - shirt either.

First Day on Ship - Adventure of the Seas

We were at sea the first day. Spent time exploring the ship. Found the slide!!!

Rio Mar San Juan

A picture of us as we were leaving the Rio Mar Resort in San Juan on our way to the cruise ship.

Passage to San Juan

I caught a stomach bug Wednesday night, but had important meetings on Thursday and Friday for work so had to fight through it. We left for Cleveland after my Friday meeting. About 100 miles outside of Cleveland, MacDaddy "barfed" in the back seat, while driving through a construction area, of course!

We arrived at Nana and Papa's house with MacDaddy sick and in his underwear. MacMom and Lil Lefty quickly followed with their bought of stomach virus soon after. At 1am, with MacMom crying and sick on the steps, there was no way we were leaving on the cruise. I spent the entire night sleeping on the floor with Lil Lefty waking every time she had to visit the bathroom.

At 6:00am, I figured there was no way we would catch our 9:ooam flight. A-Mac hadn't visited the bathroom at all. She was wavering. I felt much better, but not 100%.

We decided better to be sick in 90 degree weather than 30 degree weather and headed to the airport at 7:15am. Lil Lefty barfed stomach bile in the car, into a bowl, on the drive to the airport. Bowl provided unselfly by big sister.

We made it to the flight. Very bumpy 4 hour flight. A-Mac didn't make it all the way throwing up the last 30 minutes of the flight into a plastic bag we had bought.

Needless to say, we made it to a fabulous resort.

Goodbye Brace Face!

A-mac mid July 2007 after getting her braces on.

Today, AFTER 2 1/2 years and $6K+ Tin Grins are no longer in!