Jan. 21: Half Moon Cay

Today was our beach bum day. We got off the ship around 9ish and hung out on the beach til 1pm. I took a dip in the ocean, no one would join me so I didn't stay in too long. Then Mom and I laid out for a while and enjoyed virgin Pina Coladas yum! We rented 2 "clam shells" so we would have some shade later in the day. After we ate lunch I didn't think I'd gotten enough sun on my lily white legs so I stuck them out from under the shade for 15 more min on each side and fried them! They were definitely white no longer!


Our ship, The Eurodam




The really cool bar ship





Mom will probably want to kill me for posting this, but I think she looks really cute and little in her beach wear

Dad being touristy with some other "dad" behind him

Jan. 20: St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands

St. Thomas was more low key. We took a bus/walking tour of the island. First we rode in this open air bus through the city and up all these crazy steep, narrow hills to the top of the island so we could look down on Magen's Bay. The water is sooooo pretty! We almost had like 3 collisions on the way back down the mtn cause the drivers are nuts!

Mom and me on our crazy bus tour!

Beautiful Magen's Bay

After the bus ride we got dropped off at The Rum Factory and Blackbeard's Castle. We did a tour of the Rum factory (the pineapple rum smelled really good) and then did a little shopping for souvenirs while the rest of our group had as many samples of rum as the could get tee hee! It amazes me how much people's lives revolve around booze!

Captain Jack, Me. & Mom (he had me hold his "breakfast")

Blackbeard's Castle, St. Thomas Skytsborg Tower (meaning sky tower), was built in 1679 by the Danes as a watchtower for the harbor of Charlotte Amalie. It was pretty cool going to the top of the tower and seeing everything! It's also amazing that something that old survives all the tropical storms and hurricanes and is still standing.

There were statues of infamous pirates surrounding the Castle. Each had a plaque stating who they were and what the did. Before we came to the island we listened to some pirate history and learned that Anne Bonney ran around with Calico Jack (the pirate Johnny Depp based his Captain Jack Sparrow character on). She dressed like a man and had a clever way of defeating her enemies. When she was in the midst of a fight she would tear open her shirt and expose her breasts...the man she was fighting would be so stunned that it gave her the chance to finish them off.

Anne Bonney & Dad

Me & Mom in the stocks

Jan 18: San Juan, Puerto Rico

Almost the whole time we were in Puerto Rico I had that song from "West Side Story" in my head!

Today was another adventure day. We went up into the jungle above San Juan and did a zip line tour through the canopy. There were 8 platforms we zipped to and in one spot we had to belay down...that scared me more then the zip line. I was a bit nervous, but after the first run I really enjoyed myself. The breaking system is your hand, they told us as we get close to the platform to put slight pressure on the line and it will slow you down. Apparently I don't know what slight pressure is cause every time I'd break it felt like I was jerking my arm out of the socket.

We were in a large group so we had to wait our turn to go. Dad went first, then Mom, and then me. The closer it got to her turn the more she started backing up...I had to keep scooting her forward in the line. Once they got her strapped in they told her to sit down and go...she just stood there and was actually stuttering "I...I....ummmm...I...welll...." Dad and I encouraged her and off she went. The guys in line behind me were like "she was really scared". I was so proud of her! She was scared the whole time, but didn't complain and said she was glad she did it, but would never do it again. Gold Star for my Mommy!

We went back to the ship to get cleaned up, nap, and eat before we heading back to shore to see a Juan Carlos, Flamenco guitarist, and some Latin dancing in Old San Juan. Of course they were handing out drinks as we all walked in and the guy gave us funny looks when we asked for coke. Juan Carols was amazing. He was born in Spain and started playing guitar when he was 11, by the time he was 14 he had permission from the Spanish government to travel as a Flamenco guitarist around the world, when he was 16 he was on the Ed Sullivan show. The dancers were pretty good...there was one girl that had more talent than the others....I really would've been happy without the dancing...but Dad said none of the husbands would've come with their wives if it was just a guitarist ha ha!

Caribbean Cruise! Jan 15-17

My parents decided they needed to escape the inversion of Utah in January and planned a cruise. When they checked out how much it would cost to add a 3rd person to their room and it was only $250 bucks I was all in! I hadn't been on a cruise since I was 12 or 13 yrs old (the Disney Big Red Boat) and was too young to enjoy all the perks of cruising! We took the red eye @ 12am on Saturday morning and boarded the Eurodam in Ft. Lauderdale. By the time we got to bed that night we'd been up almost 24 hrs! But we had a cute little manta ray towel on the bed with some chocolates and the next days schedule. Our Stewards are really nice guys from Indonesia.

We spent a day at sea and arrived on Grand Turks, an island in the Turks and Caicos island chain. While my Dad was scuba diving my Mom and I went on a dune buggy tour of the island. If you know my Mom she's not very adventurous but she decided on this trip she would break out of her comfort zone. It was a blast! The island it pretty flat and not very big, but the beaches are gorgeous and they have tons of wild horses and donkeys running around. It's also supposed to be the first island that Columbus set foot on when he discovered the Americas.


Lets Rock and Roll!






Wild Horsies


Possible location of Columbus' landing

Family Time During the Holidays

There were so many fun activities leading up to Christmas! We had the Annual Girl Party, we made cookies at Anne's house and had Christmas twice (once on THE day and once when Hy and Anne's family and Jason and Becki's family got into town)

Iceskating at Noah's in South Jordan December 29, 2010

Dec. 30, 2010 was Logan's B-day...we celebrated at Incredible Pizza! Happy 8th B-day Loguidio!