Cruisin' Down the River, on a Sunday Afternoon...

In January, Jer and I were privileged to go on a cruise through the Caribbean. Jer, along with several other employees, won this trip through Melaleuca and it was so awesome...I wanted to be sure and get it documented in my blog! The ship we sailed on was called the Westerdam and it was truly incredible, as you can see!

This is a picture of our stateroom. The workers who cleaned the staterooms kept it looking pretty much exactly like this. It seemed like any time we left the room for anything we'd come back to the room looking perfect. In fact, there's a joke on the ship that if you get up in the middle of the night to use the restroom, you'd come back to a made bed!

Off of our state room was a private veranda, and since we were on the back of the ship this was our view. It was so beautiful, Jer and I loved to go out here and enjoy the weather and smell of the ocean.

On our veranda were lawn chairs, so a lot of the time I'd take a book out there and just read to my heart's content!

We sailed from Fort Lauderdale, Florida and our first stop was at Grand Turk. This is a picture of the beach there. Jer learned to snorkel in those waters, he says it was unbelievable! Tina and I mostly sunbathed in the lawn chairs and read our books...boring? Absolutely not, I never get to just sit and read when I'm at home!

Our next stop was at the Grand Cayman Islands. This is a view of the streets there.

Chris and I enjoying Grand Cayman. We had just finished snorkeling and I actually went! One of my biggest fears is the ocean because I hate the idea of so much water around and under me with no idea of what is in it. It took me a little while to stop hyperventilating into my snorkel but I kept reminding myself that sharks smell fear so I needed to calm down. After awhile, I totally forgot my fears and truly enjoyed myself. The coolest thing Jer and I saw while we were snorkeling together was a stingray that had to span 5-6 feet across. It was swimming along the bottom of the ocean and we followed it for awhile.

After the Cayman Islands our last stop was in Cazumel, Mexico. The beach was pretty crowded there so we spent our time at the Mayan ruins. They were so amazing, it was hard to believe that thousands of years ago the people lived here and so much of it is still standing today. So much of their architecture has symbolism attached but I can't remember it all.

This was a hole in the ground that supplied their underground irrigation system.

Out of our group, the tour guide chose Jer to jump down in the hole and check it out

Jer in the hole!

This is the view Jer was looking at. He said that our camera couldn't pick it up but there were tunnels going all different directions from the hole. As the rain came down it would filter to the hole and from there the water would run through the different tunnels to supply water throughout parts of the village.

Chris, Tina, Jer and I at the Mayan ruins in Cazumel.

Mayan Ruins

The vegetation throughout the ruins were so beautiful.

An ancient archway...amazing, huh?

One of the gathering places for the villagers. I feel so blessed to have gone on this cruise, I saw and experienced so many things that I never thought I would. It was so relaxing and I loved knowing the kids were with someone who loves them and would take good care of them (thanks Ashlee, I love you!). It was wonderful for Jer and I to have that time together, and I'm so glad Chris and Tina had the chance to go also. It was definitely a vacation I'll never forget!