The Cruise Comes to an End

The last day on the ship was a Day at Sea as we headed back to Miami. We spent most of the day by the pool, trying to soak up the last few rays of Caribbean sun!

Libby loved the pool - especially this area where she could sit and play for hours on end! Just lounging around on the ship.

Some of our group with the greatest servers ever! We loved our dining room guys!

Libby especially loved Wi. He always had fun tricks up his sleeve to entertain her.

The morning of our departure was a sad day. But, don't worry, we gorged ourselves on the all-you-can-eat food one last time!

Even Libby became a bit gluttonous after this trip! Cheerios were a new discovery and she loved them. This face says it all!

Here we are on the back of the ship waiting for our turn to unload. We were the last group to unload, so it was a VERY long wait. But we enjoyed taking in the sights one last time.

4th Stop: Grand Cayman

Talk about saving the best for last! Wow! Grand Cayman was amazing! We were extra spoiled here because Amy and Mark's friends, the Roneys have a house there and came to pick us up from the ship and give us a private tour of the sites. Their house was incredible and they were so nice to show us around! We loved the Cayman Islands!

The Roneys picked us up in this gorgoeus neighborhood. We had fun checking out the amazing homes and all the iguanas that were all over the dock. Brad and my dad in boy-heaven! Hooray for boats!

Libby and I standing in the Roney's front yard. That's their guest-house on the left, and the rest of the house is further to the left. What a yard!

Brad's great find in the "front yard". If it wasn't for all of the jelly-fish, we would have all been in there splashing around. Turns out Brad's the crazy one, so he braved it alone.

Our family in the Cayman Islands - what a life! :)

Libby found another hammock and was in lounging heaven.

On our way to Stingray City in the middle of the Caribbean. Libby was all smiles!

The girls! This was supposed to be the original "30 year old trip" group, but we're sure glad we invited the boys this time - they would have killed us to miss out on this!

Libby enjoyed Stingray City as much as the rest of us (even more than Jen, actually!). She got to touch and kiss a stingray and loved it! They were huge (about 5-6 feet across) and just swarming all over the place. We had fun chasing them down and petting their slimy, rubbery skin. Thanks, Roneys for showing us a GREAT time - we loved it!

3rd Stop: Roatan, Honduras

Our third stop (and favorite so far - they just keep getting better and better!) was a small island off the coast of Honduras called Roatan. It was exactly what you'd imagine the Caribbean to be - jungle right down to the sand which was white and fine, and then water that was the most gorgeous aqua/turquoise color you can possibly imagine! Paradise, for sure!

Mahogany Bay was the port they dropped us off at and it was beautiful! They even had a ski-lift that you could ride down to the beach. But we opted to get a taxi and head to the other side of the island, and boy were we glad we did. We got to see so much more AND enjoy an incredible beach! This was the view from the top of the ship when we came into port - amazing, huh?!

Here we are at our side of the island - it was heavenly!

The pictures don't do it justice! The water really was the most amazing color I've ever seen.

Yeah, I'd say we were in need of a beach-day. Look at all those white bodies!!!

I love this picture of Jen and Libby!

She was born for this!

Aaaahhhhh, how cute!

2nd Stop: Belize City, Belize

Our second stop was in Belize City, Belize where we decided to do a cave-tubing and ziplining tour through the jungle. We tagged along with our new friends again and had a blast doing it!

(For those of you that follow my family's blogs, sorry for the repeat pictures!)

All the zipliners (well, except Libby) minus Jen who won sister-of-the-day by offering to watch Libby for us while we tore through the jungle. She's definitely doubting that decision after Libby decided watching her parents scream was not exactly her idea of fun and was traumatized the entire time! We only thought Libby was going to be ok with this!

The scene of the crime! This was our first little ride and Jen got to stand beneath us taking pictures as we came down. Apparently my "Wooo-hooo"ing sounded a bit too much like boo-hooing to Libby because she was convinced I was in trouble and would NOT stop crying after that! Thanks for being such a trooper with her, Jen! You're the best!

All was forgotten by the time we made it to lunch. Here she is just chillaxing Belize-style. She had fallen asleep on the cave-tubing part of our expedition and I think the rest had provided the recovery time she needed! ;)

I love this girl!!!!

A terrible picture of us at our lunch stop. Despite having served rice and BEANS (which I hate), it wasn't bad. We were all hungry enough that it tasted great - even to me!

After boarding the ship again, we cleaned up for dinner and participated in our nightly ritual: parade Libby around the ship and take pictures of her at all of the photographers' backdrops. Here she is at the "Under the Sea" setting. If only you could see the crowd of people lined up behind us to watch her pose and smile - she created a major fire-hazard, I'm sure!

1st Stop: Cozumel, Mexico

Our first stop was in Cozumel, Mexico where we decided to do a Mayan Ruins excursion. Turns out it was the perfect day for it because it was the only day of the entire trip that wasn't perfectly sunny the whole time. We did an LDS tour that related a lot of the ancient architecture and symbolism to the Book of Mormon which was really fascinating.

We took a ferry to Playa del Carmen before heading off to see Tulum. My parents are showing off our first glimpse of Caribbean sands and water - WOW!!! Even though it was only 6:00am local time, Libby was the first to hit the sand. Fistfuls at a time, she was loving it! Looks like we're ready for a great day! Turns out our tour guide, Alma (quite the fitting name, right?) was on what we affectionately termed "Alma-time" and we got to hang out at the local shops for awhile before we got started.

Thank goodness for the baby-Bjorn! That thing is heaven-sent. Libby loves it and it's sooooo convenient. The Tulum Ruins were amazing.

Those Mayans sure do know how to pick some prime real-estate! It was even more beautiful in the few moments when the sun would break through the clouds completely, but you get the idea.

Here we are at one of the royals houses. Apparently they didn't do any cooking or cleaning themselves so there were no kitchens in their homes. All the townspeople that lived outside the city wall would cook their food and bring it into them for each meal. Quite the life, eh?

The whole gang: Amy & Mark, Libby, Brad, & me, Jen & Jason, Mom & Dad, and our new friends we met on the ship, Meredith and Corry.

We're Off!

We loaded the ship on Sunday, March 20th in Miami to begin our non-stop party! It was so fun to meet up with everyone and load the ship together - a great week in store, for sure!

A star is born. Even at the check-in desk, Libby was wooing the crowds. She was the hit of the ship, as well as every port we stopped at along the way! As we left the port, we all hung out on the back of the ship to watch Miami disappear. The boys were enjoying their sodas which were to become a staple for their cruise diets.

Libby and I showing off our room.

Looks like she's gonna love it!

Here are my parents at our first dinner on the cruise. The dining room quickly became one of our favorite spots! We had AWESOME servers that we fell in love with, and the fact that we could order as many appetizers, entrees, and desserts as we wanted for FREE...yeah, it was an instant hit with our group!

Amy and Mark from UT.

Jen and Jason from AZ.

Becky, Libby, and Brad finish off the group. With such great company, we were bound to have a fantastic time!

The Trip Begins...

As a Foster family tradition, we always go on a big trip when someone turns 30. We try to do something we've never done before and since I was the birthday girl, I got to choose. I had never been to the Caribbean or on a cruise, so I decided to kill two birds with one stone and do a Western Caribbean Cruise. It was the trip of a lifetime! We took a red-eye flight to Ft. Lauderdale and arrived at 5:00am on Saturday. So, with a nice early start to the day, we decided to rent a car and drive down the Florida Keys. It was absolutely beautiful and perfect weather!

Libby's first experience with the Atlantic Ocean! So much warmer than our beaches on the Pacific! This was a little beach we found on the side of the road and passed out on for a few hours to recover from our flight. The sand and water colors were both gorgeous and we had a great time wading in the water.

Our little beach bum - face covered in sand and LOVING it! ;)

This was in Key West where we got to see the Southern-most part of the US and enjoy the nice shallow beach.

She's in splashing heaven!

In the water, on the beach, or on a sheet, that is one happy baby! ;)

We had dinner in Key Largo (where we got a free slice of Key Lime pie!) and Libby loved the Saltines. Finally, something she'll eat! ;)

More posts to follow soon!