Saturday, August 16, 2008

Pictures - Final Night

Our last night on board the Carnival Imagination Cruise Ship....


Brian took us "out" for milk shakes and cookies. YUMMY!




Pictures - Nassau

Ahh, our final (and least favorite) destination. I am SO thankful we and our kids had this opportunity and I truly enjoyed every minute and experience of this cruise EXCEPT our time in Nassau.


That could have been because we were "taken" within our first few minutes of being there...


We knew all along that we wanted to let the girls braid their hair in the Bahamas. Especially Madison because her hair is so short that I can not braid it yet.



So as soon as we got off the boat and the locals asked if we wanted to braid the girls hair we all got excited and said "yes". I told them I wanted to do just the front around the face. Several other little girls had it done that way and it looked really cute. They told me $3 a braid and I thought that was REALLY high. But I swallowed it knowing I was in a touristy area and it was better to pay $3 a braid than to venture into town to look for a deal.



So we all sit down and two women started combing and parting the girls hair and they both start telling me I should do the WHOLE head and that they will do big braids and it will look SO cute. I try to tell them that it will be a lot of braids and very expensive but they keep insisting they will do big braids and "they take care of me". Well I'm a DUMB tourist. I never asked what that meant. I didn't settle on a price before I said ok. I just wanted my girls to "experience" the Bahamas. Well $300 later (Yep! $300), a panic attack and a quick exit here are some pictures of my girls and their Bahama experience.





Before



During - they DO look happy


And finally - a $300 hair do. I still want to throw up when I think about it!

Pictures - My Birthday


While we were at Half Moon Cay our room steward (at Brian's direction) was VERY busy decorating our stateroom in honor of my bday.


And as a special birthday surprise he left me 12 chocolate covered strawberries. Oh, were they delicious!!!



Pictures - Half Moon Cay

I do believe Half Moon Cay (pronounced Key) is the MOST BEAUTIFUL place I have EVER been!!! It is a private island in the Bahamas owned by Carnival. Only 35 people live there. The only way in or out is by boat. (We had to take a boat from our ship). I'm convinced there is NO ozone though. The sun was blazing hot which felt fabulous. But I was SO paranoid that the kids were frying like french fries I bathed them in sunblock every hour on the hour and then made them wear their shirts too :-)
Working together for a common cause - The "cause" UNKNOWN :-)

Sadie was very busy saving Ethan and her daddy from the Alligator in the Ocean - Who Knew?

Once she saved them - she became the desired bait!

The kids enjoyed hours of fun on this "water" park and it was a sad moment when the ship's sounding bell called us away :-(
Look at this water - my ONLY wish would have been to stay here longer and skip Nassau ALL TOGETHER.

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Pictures - Grand Turk

We spent Wednesday at Grand Turk. What a beautiful island! And gorgous beach! The water was as clear as crystal and the sand was soft and white like baby powder. Breath Taking!

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This is a picture of the ship from the shore of Grand Turk.

Pictures - Day at Sea




Tuesday was our day at sea - and these slides are where Ethan & Sadie spent most of their day. Sadly Madison was too short to join them and she was quite bothered by that! Thankfully by our last day Brian convinced the slide patrol to let her go down (just once). Oh, was she thrilled!!!
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Cruisin' The Eastern Carribean




We just got back from a 6 day 5 night amazing cruise on Carnival's Imagination!!!

This was an unexpected opportunity/blessing! And WOW are we so THANKFUL!

Our family has several "Holiday's" in the month of August and so we celebrated them all on board. -- All 3 kids "Gotcha" Days, Brian & I's hook up anniversary, my bday and the last week of summer. WOW!

We visited Grand Turk Island, Half Moon Cay and Nassau. I'll post lots of pics and more details next.

Boys!!!



Gotta love 'em!