St. Thomas

What day are we on now, 5? Sure, that sounds right. Anyway, after a fun pirate themed night we woke up the next morning in St. Thomas. 

Yup, that's a pirate ship. Aaron called it the Jolly Roger (you know, Captain Hook's ship). There were a ton of boats in the water that morning and only added to the breathtaking beauty that is St. Thomas. 

We had our one and only excursion planned for St. Thomas, it was at the butterfly farm. In hindsight I'm really glad we only picked one excursion. It was perfect for the kids and allowed us to come and go from the islands as we pleased. 

We got off the ship the same time as my parents, my niece Melissa and her boyfriend Casey. My Dad immediately broke the rules and walked in the restricted area as marked by the bright yellow line.

Aaron immediately saw the word "sucker" written across Casey's forehead and managed to get him to carry him to the end of the dock. 

The butterfly farm was literally half a second away from the dock. It was a pretty decent size, and a part from the birds in front of house, a very neat little excursion. 

These butterflies were huge and absolutely gorgeous. If you had on any bright clothing they landed on you. Jill was ultra paranoid about this and I'm thankfully I didn't have in her any bright colors. 

The kids were over it after the farm and actually headed back to the ship with my parents, who were equally over the heat. Scott and I actually had a chance to explore some of the island on our own. I really liked St. Thomas a lot more than St. Maarten. We really didn't venture outside of the shopping area, but from what we could see on the hillside and such it was gorgeous. 

Dinner that night was back at Animator's Palate. This was hands down my favorite dining night. We were able to draw our own characters that would then be animated and shown on the screens around our tables. Jill took the liberty of coloring everyone, except Scott's, at our table. It was so cool seeing everyone's creations dancing on the screen.  

I should also mention on most nights we went to the show after dinner. Every night was a different Broadway style show. Jill was in hog heaven and I'm pretty sure did not blink at any point during them.  We also were able to see a few movies while on board as well. There is a movie theater on one of the decks that shows current Disney movies on the big screen, some even in 3D.  We watched Cars 2, The Avengers (well, Scott did), and Brave. 

Up next is another day at sea, and then Castaway Cay. Stay tuned!

Somewhere beyond the sea....

Days 2 and 3 of the cruise we were at sea. The first day was gorgeous, so we spent most of the time at the pool. There are separate adult and kids pools, and you can never guess where we were. Yup, the kids pool. 

Aside from the two pools in that area (a super shallow one for the little kids and then a regular pool for the bigger kids), there is also a kids only water slide, and a Finding Nemo themed splash area that is completely in the shade. The kids spent most of their time bouncing between the three areas. Jill even went down the aquaduck at one point since they are just tall enough to ride it. 

What I loved about the pool area is that they are always playing a movie on the "Funnelvision", so you can just relax and watch a movie. 

The 2nd night was formal night on the ship. We had dinner in Animator's Palate, which is super cool because the paintings come to life on the walls. This was hands down the most entertaining restaurant for the kiddos. That night we also officially celebrated my parents 50th wedding anniversary. As a present, we gave them a scrapbook filled with photos and letters from friends and family that have known them for the past 50 years. Some of favorite inclusions in this book were their friend Vince (they first met at his wedding) and their flower girl Kathy.  They also received a letter from the President and First Lady, as well as an autographed photo of Mickey and Minnie. 

I think the best part about all of this was that my Mom broke her glasses and couldn't read any of it. She had to borrow my Dad's glasses at one point. They absolutely loved the book and it makes for a great memory!

After dinner we took a big group shot with all 22 of us. Shockingly, we were not the biggest group on the boat.

Here's who is in the photo:

Top Row L-R: Thomas (Mike's son), Mike (my cousin), Ryan (Mike's son), and my brother Chris

Next Row: L-R: Casey (Melissa's boyfriend), my brother Art, David (Debbie's husband), Scott and Aaron

Next Row L-R: Me and Jill, Dad, Mom, Jeffery (Art's son)

Next Row L-R: Karen (Mike's wife), Pam (Chris's wife), Debbie (my cousin), Karyn (Art's wife)

Bottom Row L-R: Melissa (Chris's daughter), Kaitlyn (Art's daughter), my sister Cathy, and Lorren (Cathy's daughter)

The next day was spent at sea as well. However, the weather was not as nice as the previous day. My Mom, sister, nieces and I played BINGO to pass the time. Sadly, we did not win anything. Aaron spent most of his time in the kids area and Jill, Tay Tay, Lorren and I went to find Pepe the Prawn from the Muppets.

Yup, he has his own cabin on the ship. Sadly, he was not home, but you can call his cabin for a joke or he can woo you. 

That night we had dinner at the Enchanted Garden. The restaurant is based on the gardens in Versailles. It's really gorgeous in there, it was my favorite mainly because of the way it was decorated. Scott and I even snagged a photo of just the two of us.

Yup, we're adorable. 

Check back tomorrow for our visit to St. Maarten!