Living with the Alford's: July 2009

So today I have been dreaming of vacation in October since I have been talking about it everyday with our traveling couple Jessica and Erik(I know I know, I just got back from the beach-what a rough life you say). I thought I would post some details and pictures from our wonderful honeymoon since that is the last BIG trip we have been on and of course we had so much fun!

So if any of you know my husband, you would know that deciding on a vacation spot for our honeymoon was not an easy task. He is a cold weather person and I am a warm weather person. Not to mention he is a huge history buff and loves to go to different museums and learn about the history of our country, whereas I am ashamed to say I would be bored to death and prefer sitting by the pool somewhere. Since he is such a great hubby, he decided it was best to make me happy on the first week of our marriage to start out on the right foot so we picked a warm destination for our honeymoon. My husband is also an adventurist and not someone who can just sit at the beach sipping on a fruity drink all day so we had to pick somewhere where we would have a lot of entertainment and things to do other than go to the beach or pool so I of course had to compromise as well (we got the hang of this marriage thing early on!!) . So where did we decide on....??? We decided to go on a 7 day Royal Caribbean Cruise that took us to Cozumel, MX, Cayman Islands, and Montego Bay, Jamaica. To compromise with the hubby, our cruise left from the port in Galveston, TX so he did get a little history in and was able to see some very cool ships. Speaking of Galveston, TX, everyone remembers that little hurricane that went through there a few months ago, yep we were really thrilled about that at the time! Needless to say it did not mess up our plans at all and we were able to see up close and personal all of the tragedy and turmoil that that storm actually did cause in Galveston. It was a sad way to start out the trip but they are definitely putting things back together and will be better than ever!

Back to the honeymoon, below you can see a picture of our cruise ship, The Voyager of the Seas (which I would HIGHLY recommend). We took this picture as we arrived at the port out the car window so it definitely does not do this boat justice as to how HUGE it really was! It took us 2 days to just find our way around the place!

For any of you who have been on a cruise before, you all remember doing the most exciting emergency evacuation drill. Just what you want to think about before you leave port to go through the middle of the ocean with no where to go but down to the bottom!! What a way to start your vacation! See the picture below of my thrilled hubby (this was his 1st cruise, my second) as we go through the drill, lifejackets and all!!

So after we found our way around the boat for a while, we went for our first formal dinner. Of course one of the best things about going on a cruise is definitely the FOOD!! On a cruise you can order everything off of the menu if you want, all included in the price of your food. These are things you might never try again. We tried things like escargo (I had already had but the hubby had not) This is snail for those of you wondering and you should definitely try it, it tastes just like a mushroom. We had wonderful desserts, steaks, and our favorite was the LOBSTER. I had never had lobster before and usually my seafood tastebuds stick to shrimp and crab legs but I loved it! Andy of course loves all kinds of different fish so he tried all the fresh fish on the menu. It was definitely something you never forget because everything is so formal and nice, it's not something you do everyday. Here a picture of us at dinner on our first formal night:

Here is a shot of everyone at our table which was neat to meet people from different places with different jobs. One guy was a pilot for Delta Airlines and another worked in a state penetentiary (wouldn't want his job but he did have some crazy stories!!)

For our first day off of the boat we were in Cozumel, MX which was by far the best excursion of our trip (considering all of the other ones we booked were cancelled but I will get to that later). In Cozumel, we chose to go on a catameran boat, go snorkeling, and we were taken to a private beach island which was great. Well as you remember I said my husband is into adventure and I am not. Well I had been snorkeling before and it did not go so well. I can never figure out how to breathe out of those masks and operate the flippers at the same time so I was not super excited but going to brave the sea's anyways for my new husband and be a good sport. Well to say the least, snorkeling was my favorite part of the whole trip! I LOVED IT!! It was such a better experience than the one I had before. My goggles worked and so did my flippers! It was so neat to see everything under the water, it is just a different world under there. All of the fish and the coral were so beautiful, I could have stayed out there all day and it was such a great experience to share with Andy. He of course was like a kid in a candy store, diving under water and touching the bottom of the coral, I was not quite that adventurous but I loved it none the less! We had some really cute underwater pictures that we bought from the trip (of course they make money off of the honeymooners) but they are not with me now. I will have to post them later but I do have some that we took on our own on the boat and the private island. Another perk of the catameran was they offered free margaritas and beer. If anyone has had a margarita in mexico, they are just not the same as the ones here, they are soo good! So of course we enjoyed a few, AFTER the snorkeling of course!! When we got to the private island, they had all of these water toys you could play on which of course we took advantage of. See the photos below:

What a cutie!!

Our next port of call was the Cayman Islands. Once we left Mexico, our boat was really rocking. The wind was terrible and there were 13-20 foot waves. Luckily we never got sick but a lot of people on the boat did. When we got to the Cayman Islands, we had like snorkeling soo much that we chose a similar excursion, snorkeling with Sting Ray's among other things. Well the wind was so bad that they cancelled our excursion and many others. It was so bad we had to port on the back side of the island and take a taxi to the tourist part of the island. We were fine when we got there, we walked through many of the shops and got some neat stuff. Andy was impressed with Grand Cayman a lot more than Mexico, of course the town you can tell is cleaner and has a lot more money. The shops are higher end. We were able to buy a few bottles of authentic liquor as well as Grand Cayman's signature island, Rum Cake.

Here are a few photos of Grand Cayman (the water is so blue in the carribbean, it's sickening!):

Our last stop was supposed to be Jaimaica. Well as I said before, the wind was insane and the waves were 20 feet tall. Apparently at the port in Jamaica, there is only 25 feet from the bottom of the boat to the bottom of the ocean so they were afraid with the waves being so tall that they would take our boat up and down and we would hit the bottom of the ocean floor, so we didnt get to go to Jamaica!! We were totally bummed but we entertained ourselves anyways. Here are some random photos from the rest of our trip:

My hubby the adventurist climbed the rock wall on top of the ship, with crazy wind and everything! I was a nervous wreck but he made it out ok of course!

Our second formal night

The view of our dining room from the top down, there were 3 levels!

A picture from our last day hanging out at the pool on the ship

So there you have it, a little sneak peak into our honeymoon and a few of the many pictures we took along the way!

Well I know that I am not a mom yet, just merely the proud aunt of two little girls, the first: Kendle and then the newest addition: Katie-Blair. These girls are not your average kids to say the least. Kendle is the american idle lover, never shy singer and dancer of the family. Ever since she was born our whole family has not been the same. She is always the center of everything we do and we wouldn't have it any other way.

Now Kendle is a big sister, Katie-Blair was born the day after Thanksgiving this past year. She is full of life, always moving, splitting image of my sister. It's amazing how much they look alike.

Well as you can tell by the title of this post, today is Kendle's FOURTH birthday!! I remember the day she was born as we waited anxiously for the first baby of our immediate family. She was a week late, of course! Knowing how much patience the Jones family has (which is in negative numbers) she of course wanted to make us wait! As soon as she finally arrived we were all in love. I can not believe it has been 4 years ago and she is turning into such a big girl! I am not even her mom but I just can not believe my little Kendle is growing up so fast!!

So in honor of Kendle's birthday, I wanted to share with you all a few photo's of my adorable little niece and wish her a very happy 4th birthday!!

Kendle smiling as a baby