Fuquay-Farina, North Carolina

We didn't make it home on Sunday so we decided to pop in on Suzie and Zac. What a great idea that was! Zac took the day off of work and the kids skipped school and we all went ice skating. It was so fun. Anytime spent with the Ellett's is alway a plus.

Everyone got into skates. Even Zander

What a good looking bunch!

Here Suzie and Zac are with the boys. Lucas and Liam though this was way too fun skating between them. After skating we all went to the dollar movie. Suzie invited Lucas and Megan to stay for the week. I guess she didn't want the fun to end.

Everglades National Park

We had a day in Miami after our cruise. We decided to go to the Everglades National Park. This was not at all what I thought it would be. It was so nice Alligators everywhere. There was all kinds of wildlife. Here the kids are along the trail we went on. You can see one of the many birds in the background. We even saw a bird catch a fish and eat it. It is a lot more amazing to see in person then the discovery channel. What timing.

We saw several Alligators. I was amazed. I did not plan on seeing any. I guess at this time of year they are out. Barbara reminded us to run zig zag if one chased us. Luckily we didn't have to test that theory.


Here is the family outside the visitors center. We had such a fun time. I was glad to see the in-laws still smiling after a week with us.

Castaway Cay

We went to Norwegians Private Island. Castaway Cay. We spent the entire day at the beach. The cruise company set up a Scavenger Hunt for the kids. Meg and I participated. Of course we came in first. Here she is showing off her medal and bucket they gave her for winning. Lucas found a treasure in a sea shell. They told us we couldn't take any off the island, but we let him have one.

They also arranged a sandcastle building contest. Which we won again. The kids got squirt guns for this one. Luke was right. If you see the Rockets signed up you might as well not try. After 5 hours of beach time, a sunburn for Nick, and a few illegally taken shells we headed back to the boat.

Tortola

We enjoyed our stop here a lot. We took a ferrie over to Virgin Gorda and toured The Baths. This was very fun. They have a nice beach there that the kids loved playing at. We didn't have near enough time here.

Here Meg and Byran are. We are on the trail through the Baths. The Baths are a group of giant rocks. That have been there for hundreds of years. Over the years the water has worn away parts of the rocks. Lucas thought this was very Indiana Jones. On some of the sections they have set up ladders or a rope to help you climb over the rocks.

Of course Luke is my goof ball. How much cuter could he be.

The have lots of little pools of water all over along the trail. Here Barbara and I are. We should of had on our swimsuits. We would have been hot!!!!

Here we are still on the The Baths trail. It took about 45 minutes. It was a very nice trail.

St.Thomas

We went sailing in St. Thomas. We had a wonderful lady name Kathleen from High Pockets. She was so nice. She took us sailing and snorkeling. This was probably my favorite excursion we did on the cruise. Here Nick, Byran and I are snorkeling. We saw a few stingrays and lots of fish. I do have to say the water was a little colder then I thought.

Lucas thought of giving snorkeling a try. His toe hit the water and he was out again. He said it was way too cold.

I was proud of Meg. She got in the water and stayed in for a while. Even though she never got her face all the way in she did give it a try. I was so proud of her for stepping outside of her comfort zone.

Here Luke is with Paul the first mate. He was so fun. He appointed Lucas 2nd mate while on the ship. That was nice since Lucas asked if he was the swabby. Paul was so great with the kids. We couldn't of had a better time with Kathleen and Paul. They treated us like we were old friend from the moment we arrived.

Samana, Dominican Republic

Here we are in the beautiful Dominican Republic. This country is very unspoiled. I love it. I would have to say it was my favorite island. Here my father in law is sitting in the truck we tour around the city in. It was very basic. In fact the road are very unkept. So riding around in this was a very fun experiance. If you think of those movies where someone is hitchhiking in a foreign country and they get a ride in the back of a truck with chickens. This is how it felt minus the chickens.

We got to spend a very short time at Playa Ricon. This beach was very nice. It of course is not like all the beaches you go to with all the tourist. It does have a lot of seaweed. They do not spend much time cleaning it. Here I got to try fried banana's. They guy asked if I want to have ketchup and I though he was crazy. Just and FYI they taste just like fries.

We stopped by a blow hole. This was very active because it was very windy. The kids thought this was the coolest one they have seen so far.

We also stopped at a Marble Mine. This was fun to see. I even let the kids pick up a little sample on off the ground. Lucas thought this was a great treasure.

Our Ship

We had so much fun on our cruise. We cruised on the Norwegian Dawn. We had lots of fun on our sea day. The kids crew had many activities planned for the family. We did a Scavenger Hunt, The Matrix Hunt, Family WII Challenge, Family Amazing Race. While participating in each of them we were very competivtive. We came in first for the scavenger hunt and the matrix hunt. Lucas started talking smack. Our team name was the Rockets. Lucas would say if "you see the rockets signed up you might as well not join." He was very cute. On the Scavenger hunt we had to

get answers to many questions on a sheet of paper. On the Matrix game we were given a clue that would take us to another place on the ship. We would then have to call in for the next clue. Of course the WII Challenge was just playing on the WII having fun. Probably our favorite wash the Family Amazing Race. We had to pick someone to write and someone to role the dice. So Nick did our writing and Meg roled. Whenever our team rolled a six Nick would start writing until another team rolled a six. When your team hit 100 they gave us a clue and sent us on our hunt.

We had to bring our clue back and do a task. I had to blow up a balloon until it popped, Nick had to eat 2 cookies without anything to drink and fast, Lucas had to roll a pair of dice until he rolled 3 doubles, Meg had to color a picture of Bob the Builder. They gave her 5 colors to use. Each item was seperate and non of the colors could touch. At one point in the race Lucas tripped. When I helped him up he said "don't worry about me. If I fall I will be fine just go on." What the ultimate sacrifice for the win. Talk about team player.

We had so much fun. We looked forward to each of the activities they planned for the families. When I commented about how much I enjoyed each of them they said it was new and only on this ship. They should definitly do this on all of them.

Here of course is one of the many towel animals we had awaiting us when we came back to our cabin each night. The kids looked forward to seeing each of the animals. I think the elephant was our favorite.

Here we are boarding the ship. Of course they have the Kids Crew mascot there to meet the kids and invite them to sign up for the program. By the end of the week Lucas was crying because he was going to miss all his new friends he had made. Every day Megan would ask when it was time for her to go play.

They also had a great kids pool on the ship. If the kids weren't in the Kids Crew they were at the pool. This area had two slides, two pools and a hot tub. Here Meg is showing off her sliding technic.

Lucas tried to see how fast he could go down the slide. This was one of his favorite things.

Here the kids are in the pool. It also had two water guns. One on each side that you can swival and try to hit someone with.