Hanging out in FL

After the cruise we had a few extra days to hang out in Florida. Don't ask how those extra days got there.. just know that we had a lot of spontaneous fun with them.

First we rented a car so we weren't tied down to the Miami, South Beach area.

We drove to the Everglades where we jumped on an airboat and went for a whirl...  attempting to see some alligators in their natural habitat, however the impending torrential downpour put a damper on things.

Our boat captain tried desperately to circumvent the rain but we, the passengers, got tired of sitting around and told him to just go for it.

We did get to see some alligators and that was pretty cool, but we mostly just enjoyed the boat ride and the rain.

We jumped back into the car without a plan... turns out the driver had an idea in mind.. the car mysteriously ended up here

How can you be so close to the Key's and not visit for some Key lime pie? So we made a stop..or two :) as we were leaving the factory I saw a sign for Tuna Nachos and I had to try some! Turns out it was sushi on top of wontons, DELICIOUS! We ordered a key lime pie here too so we could compare the taste to the other.

The next morning we got up super early and headed to the place where dreams come true....Disney World!! Animal Kingdom was first on the list.. and yes that beautiful blonde is our friend! 10 points if you know her name..... She has been in a blog before... Hint: She took good care of me when I was in the hospital in Korea!

Because we had time we skipped over to another park.. well after we found the car we did :) Always write down where you park!

You can't really see the big ball in the background, but if you could you would know we were at EPCOT! While we were there we celebrated Nick's birthday at the German restaurant. We danced the polka together and it was fun.

In the middle of the day I got a call that our Scuba diving adventure was cancelled due to some bad weather, so we stayed up in Disney for another day. We were able to visit the other two parks before we headed home.

 Magic Kingdom

Hollywood Studios

When it comes to spontaneous trips, this one has to be one of the best.  Not only did we get to enjoy a fantastic time at four Disney World parks but we got to do it with a great friend.  We were doubly lucky it didn't cost us an arm and a leg either!  Let me tell you this trip is one for the memory books!

Nick and Amanda's Visit

Over a month ago, our friends Nick and Amanda came to visit from Baltimore. For those of you who don't remember Nick and Amanda, they taught with us in South Korea and they're super awesome.

They are planners so we knew all we needed was an open mind to explore. Our first stop was Salem, MA. It was a couple of weeks before Halloween and the place was packed full of people. We thought that Friday morning would be a good time because of school, but it was still busy.  

We visited the Salem Witch Museum and learned a lot of history there. It wasn't a typical walk-around museum it was a more like a show and history lesson.

Nick(Stevens) and Amanda being silly in the park. So did you know that the movie Hocus Pocus was filmed in Salem? I had no idea until Nick and Amanda told me... and Nick had never seen the movie (We forced him to watch it later on). I loved Hocus Pocus growing up, so it was fun for me to see the sites and then watch the movie again.

The school from the movie.

Annoying that it's blurry, but this is the house where the kids live in the movie.

Now moving on....... we visited a TON of graveyards this weekend, among them were Mother Goose, and other famous people whose names escape me.

Let's see if you can figure out their 6 bee's??

Bewitched!

We did a ghost tour and we were told to take lots of pictures with our flash. Sometimes you can capture a ghost.. hahaha.. my ghost looks like a tomb stone.

Skeptical Nick looks skeptical

So sad the picture was blurry but had to post it anyway.. I dressed like this scary guy! So glad I found him for this picture!

After Salem we got home way late. Saturday we walked all over Boston doing the Freedom trail, library and the Boston Public Garden. Again Nick and Amanda know much more than me. Apparently this is a famous bench because it's in the movie
Good Will Hunting. They had to recreate the scene.

I found a famous story book statue and had my picture taken with a little girl who reminded me of our friends daughter, Reagan Talbot.

We finished our Freedom trail walk at the North Church and had our picture taken.  This church was really interesting because back in the day your family would pay a yearly "pew fee" to be able to attend church and you would be assigned a pew.  To conserve heat, these pews were built into boxes with tall walls.  Since patrons essentially owned their pews they would decorate them and furnish them like their own homes to make them comfortable and warm.  All we could think of was how nice this design would be in our churches for child control.

Last on the list was to visit the Harvard Library and see a really really old Bible (an original Gutenberg Bible). Turns out you have to be a Harvard student to get in. Guess who sweet talked a guard and two (male) students to take us to the Bible? Okay it was me :) We got in to the see the Bible and it was huge and old!

We had such a great time traveling more of our state/city with Nick and Amanda, they sure did teach us a lot! So glad you guys came to visit!

Cruise to the Bahamas

I have been telling people I was 30 all year long. I have know idea why I am so excited about turning 30 when most people I know didn't want to cross over to their third decade.
Turning 30 is  a big deal in my eyes, I thought that people would take me more seriously in my career because of a silly number. Well it turns out a number is nothing if you still look like you are 19. The more I announced that I was 30 the more shocked the looks became. So glad that I have good genes.

Anyways, I wanted to do something special for my birthday because my birthday is always overlooked. I typically ignore my birthday and do something special for Nick on his birthday ( 8 days later)

This year we went on a cruise with Leigh and Anthony and had the best time!

We met at the Miami airport and waited FOREVER for our hotel shuttle, but that was okay because we were able to talk.

We had a great night's rest and great relaxing morning.
Waiting for the Uber..

We purchased Faster to the Fun passes with our cruise so we bypassed all the lines!! It was so worth it. We were so excited to get on the boat.. can you tell?

Once we got on the boat we found our rooms and changed into our bathing suits then we explored the ship.
Our room had a door to Leigh and Anthony's room! So cool!!!

We watched as the boat left the port. * as a side note, I put sunscreen on Nick every half-hour*

Our first morning we decided to wake up and watch the sun rise. We also played a crazy round of windy putt-putt. Nick made a hole in one! We thought it would be fun to do this every morning so we made a goal.... a goal that we totally didn't keep :/

Turns out our first day was at sea and our formal dinner was that evening so we got all dressed up. Our server for the whole cruise was Mr. Sticky and he took three pictures of us and it turned out that the third picture he took was of himself. This man was an amazing server!

We had few hangout spots on the boat as we enjoyed the piano bar and karaoke room.  

Grand Turk was our first stop. We got off the boat pretty early and did some shopping and swimming! We also went snorkeling here.. I don't have any pictures of that because I didn't want to bring my camera. Leigh had her GoPro so hopefully soon I will get the result of that excursion. While we were snorkeling we saw a nurse shark and Nick spotted two Flounder fish. 

Next stop was Half Moon Cay, Our favorite island. The island is owned by the cruise company so there wasn't anyone there bothering you. In fact, our servers got off the boat and cooked hamburgers and hotdogs for us on the island. The island didn't have a port so we had to take a boat to get on and off.  They called this process "Tendering;"  I didn't feel very tender.

 Nick and I went exploring and found a cute little crab.

 I wanted to dive into the water so badly, it was crystal clear.

 Going back to the Ship! What a great day of just sitting in the sun and swimming in beautiful water.

Our last island was Nassau and guess what??? It was my birthday!! I spent my birthday exploring Nassau!! What a treat! 

 We hit the main history parts of the city early in the morning .

Then we started to walk to the place I wanted to eat lunch.  As we were walking this sign was randomly on a building.

I knew we were walking the right way when we found a sign! Fish Fry... HERE WE COME!! I had read all about the conch salad and I had to taste it!

walking... walking.. and more walking.. FINALLY we made it! Cool local refreshments.

 and finally my conch salad! It was delicious and surprisingly spicy.

After we did some more shopping and then back to the ship to get ready for my Birthday Dinner. My dinner was so great. I couldn't have been more happy. 

 I even got a birthday card delivered to my room from the Carnival Cruise peeps and Leigh sang happy birthday to me.

Seriously I didn't want this vacation to end. We had such a great time with Leigh and Anthony and it went by way too fast. I'm so grateful that my little sister and my husband worked together to plan this for me. I love both of you!

I will leave you with a picture of this genius holding his Trophy (A piece of ship) that he won in a show because of his smart brain... and because of his smart sister-in-law yelling out the answers!