Last Day of School

The last day of school came and went. I can't believe after the summer all my kids will be in school. It's crazy to think my kids are growing up so fast. We had another swim party for the last day of school. Both Jack and Jay invited friends over and we had some neighborhood families over. We had quite a few people swimming and playing and it was great. I love the end of the school year. It just means sleeping in and less of a schedule. Which I like right now but will be ready for a schedule come August. We had a great time swimming and the boys did really well in school this year. Kate and Keelie hanging out and swimming. I'm sure this will not be the only picture of them swimming in the pool this year.

 Jay with Kaden and Carter. He is such a nut and loves having friends over.

Jack, Jay and Kate on the first day of summer. I think they watched about five hours of TV. We were bums and were very happy about it.

Sounds a Little Fishy to Me

Jay had his second grade production of "Sounds a Little Fishy to Me." He got to be surfer dude #2 and said about four lines that he memorized. It was a cute production and a lot of work goes into memorizing the songs and all of the lines. I loved watching Jay and he is so dang cute.                   

Jay and Kaden after the production it's cool that Jay has a cousin his same age.

 

Mother's Day

 Mother's Day is sort of a day that I really like yet it stresses me out at the same time. I am reminded that there is a lot I need to do as a mom and a lot of stuff I need to teach my children. And then I worry about what to get my mom and what to get Ryan's mom. THere seems to be a lot of pressure on Mother's Day. But this year I really tried to not worry about things as much. I still did but I really tried to appreciate what I have and not what I should be doing. It made a difference. Yes, I

Last stop....Hoboken, New Jersey

 Just when we thought the party was over and we had to get off the ship we made one last stop to Hoboken, New Jersey. We wanted to go to Carlo's Bake Shop where the show "Cake Boss" is filmed. We took a van to the shop and then hung out at the street fair eating pizza. The best part was we carried our luggage with us and totally stood out. None of us were ready for the fun to end so we stayed in Hoboken as long as we could then headed to the airport. We had a great time and Driggs is already planning the next cruise. I'm on board.
All of our luggage outside Carlo's and all of us walking down the street of Hoboken. Like I said we stood out just a little bit.

 Brian, Ryan, Ryan and Kevin with Fast Eddie, in the red shirt, and his friend. Fast Eddie took care of us in Hoboken and even got us a Suburban to take us all to the airport.

Fourth Stop.... Bermuda

Bermuda was by far my favorite island. It was so clean and pretty and the colors were amazing. The houses were painted pretty colors, the trees were so green and the water was the most beautiful color of blue I have ever seen. I always say my favorite color is the color of the sky but I think it now might be the color of the water in Bermuda. We got off the ship and were suppose to go on a snorkel trip to some ship wrecks but the water was too rough so we rented scooters and drove to Horseshoe Bay and I was in awe. We climbed to the top of a little hill and looked down into the water. We saw huge rainbow colored fish because the water was so clear. It was so dang cool. We hung out on the beach for awhile then got back on our scooters and drove to Hamilton, the capital city. We found a nice place to eat dinner and just hung out. The next day we were right back on our scooters and started the day at John Smith's Bay then down to Warwick Long Bay and Jobsons Cove then on to Horseshoe. Again so amazed at the beauty. We ended the day with Ryan cliff jumping at Admiralty House Park. We are already trying to figure out how we can go back to Bermuda and stay longer than a day and a half. It needs to be longer.  

 

 The view from my scooter. I could have snapped pictures of the water the entire ride.

 Ryan and I at Horseshoe Bay.

 Ryan and I at Warwick Long Bay

 Hailey & Steve, Laurel & Ryan, Lynne & Kevin, and Ryan & myself at Warwick Long Bay

 Ryan and me at Jobsons Cove

 Ryan, Bentley and Driggs getting ready to jump. They only had time for one jump and wish they could have done more.

 Ryan doing a back flip off the cliff. He freaks me out when he does this but he loves it. Yikes!!!

Third Stop....Tortola, British Virgin Islands

Third stop was Tortola, British Virgin Islands. I loved this stop. We got off the ship and found Deon who took us on his boat to the Virgin Gorda Baths. When we got to this island I think we were the only people on the beach. It was so incredibly beautiful and peaceful. I didn't want to leave. Eventually other people came but for about an hour and a half we were all alone. We hiked through the baths and climbed up on rocks. Once we got to the beach where we wanted to be we snorkeled and hung out with the group. The water was so clear and I think you could see about 50 feet to the bottom of the ocean. Incredible. Every stop just kept getting better and I am so glad we got of the ship early and made it to the island. We had a great time.

 Ryan and I walking around the island.

 Ryan and Rass on the back of the boat. Deon the boat driver was great. He took us straight up to the beach and let us off then picked us up when it was time to leave.

 The crew on Deon's boat. We are only missing Brian and Holly. We had such a great time.

Second Stop...Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, U.S Virgin Islands

Second stop was Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas. And it was even better than St. Maarten. I didn't think it was possible but it was. We got off the ship and went straight to Coki Beach and set up camp. We ordered Island Girls and had a tab under Arizona set up for us. We snorkeled all day. The fish ate dog bones out of our hands and the water was so clear. I was in heaven. We had such a great time. I really didn't want to get back on the boat.
Ryan with his Island Girl drink, it has pineapples, bananas, strawberries, mangoes, coco lopez to sweeten it up and some ice. We only had two but I could have had about 10, they were that good.

Coki Beach sign. I really liked it here.

Me and Ryan getting ready to snorkel. I think I could have spent the entire day in the water.

 Rass, Wolfe, Bentley, Driggs, Shield and Ryan after a day of snorkeling.

First stop...Philipsburg, St. Maarten

Our first stop was Philipsburg, St. Maarten. It was incredible. I had never seen water so blue. We got off the ship and right away rented jet skis. We only rode for about 15 minutes but is was beautiful. In fact in the middle of the ride I made Ryan stop just so I could jump in the clear blue water. It was amazing. From there we went to Mullet Bay. We hung out on the beach and swam in the warm water and laughed at all of the topless women and men in speedos. After hanging there we headed to Maho Beach where the planes land and take off right over your head. We had such a great day and didn't want to get back on the ship. The gang at Mullet Bay.

Ryan and I at Mullet Bay.

 Chrissy, Chanda, Ali, Laurel, Hailey, Dyan, Lynne, and Holly hanging out on the beach.

 Ryan and myself at Moho Beach. The planes would fly in over your head and when they would take off the engines would blow you over and blow sand all over the place. It was pretty cool to see but I am really glad we were only there for about 30 minutes. It would have gotten old to have sand blow on you the entire day. That and the topless 60 year old waving at everyone was another reason to leave. Lots of laughter this day.

Ryan at the duty free store. My boys get such a kick out of the word duty that I had to take a picture of the sign so they could laugh.

Couples Cruise....Boat life

Wow!!! What a great time we had on our couples cruise. The islands were incredible and the boat was fun. I'm starting with the boat life. We had so much fun hanging out with all the couples. We did everything from eating crepes at midnight to watching horrible shows and some good ones, to dancing and karaoking . We had a blast, made good memories and laughed a lot. Ryan and I on our balcony with San Juan in the background. It was so pretty and I was so glad we had a balcony.

Ryan and I on the ship the first night as it's leaving San Juan.

 Ryan, aka Tosh, and Steve, aka Sebastian, on stage with the illusionist, Jason Bishop. Somehow the illusionist put himself in the box and his assistant in the bag and they switched places. We were all amazed and laughed at the boys on stage who gave fake names. The illusionist even commented on Ryan's, aka Tosh's, skinny ankles. It was an amazing show.

 The entire crew after dinner one night. All 16 of us. Chase and Ali Hawkins, Steve and Hailey Shield, Richard and Chrissy Rassmusun, Ryan and Laurel Driggs, Brian and Holly Ricks, Kevin and Lynne Wolfe, Ryan and Dyan Ricedorff, Richard and Chanda Bentley.

 The girls table. The last night at sea we split the boys and girls up. It was really fun getting to know these girls and laughing with them. Lynne, Chrissy, Hailey, Holly, Ali, Chanda, Dyan and Laurel.

 The gang in the elevator. We would all cram in the elevator together and jokes would be cracked the entire time.

Ryan and I all dressed up for formal night. It was fun to get dressed up and eat dinner with everyone.