Tortola/Virgin Gorda

Next stop--Tortola. In Tortola we took a boat to another island called Virgin Gorda. This is us on the boat--we had front row seats!

Here's our ship as we rode past it. All these pictures were taken with our underwater film camera, and the quality isn't the best but it gives you an idea of what we were experiencing.

Once at Virgin Gorda we headed to The Baths. It's a place on the beach with really large granite boulders that we climbed on and through. We walked on the sand and in places we also waded through water. It was really amazing and really fun. A lot of our pictures didn't turn out, oh well!

Antigua

In Antigua we went to the beach. It was very relaxing and hot.

St. Lucia

In St. Lucia we went on a driving tour. Our guide had lots of information about the island and it was interesting to learn about it all. I couldn't believe all the windy roads though!

We saw a banana plantation.

We stopped at some fishing villages and bought banana ketchup. In this picture Mike is being shown how cassava bread is made.

We also got a great view of the Pitons, the pointy mountains in the background.

We visited a botanical garden with this waterfall. We saw lots of different types of plants and flowers and trees. We toured a drive-in volcano, went to a beautiful beach with black sand and saw where parts of the most recent Bachelor TV series were filmed. We also went snorkeling and saw some neat coral.

Barbados

In Barbados we went snorkeling with sea turtles. It was amazing! I couldn't believe how big those turtles were.

The Ship

The two of us on one of the formal nights:

Our dinner companions. The ones pictured here were from New Brunswick, Canada.

This next couple was from Buffalo, New York. We thoroughly enjoyed everyone's company.

The view out of our obstructed view window:

We met a lot of nice people everywhere we went. Most often their first comment to us was, "Oh, so you're on your honeymoon?" Nope, folks, not even close!

Back to Puerto Rico

We loved Puerto Rico! It was so pretty and fun. When we got off the ship, we rented a car and drove to the rainforest. We hiked some of the trails and had a good time exploring.

After the rainforest we checked into our hotel. It was so nice. Below is the view from our balcony. I got it on Priceline for a really good rate.

That night we went to a bioluminescent bay. Simply put, it's a place where bacteria (or something!) live and they glow bright neon colors when they are agitated. So, we went swimming in it, in the dark, and we glowed and the water around us glowed. It was one of the highlights of the trip. We couldn't take any pictures cuz our camera wasn't able to capture the images. But, if you're interested, I found some pictures on www.biobay.com/cd/webhtml/right.htm

that might give you an idea of what it was like.

We flew home the next day and we were glad to get back and see our kids. A big thanks to our parents who took such good care of them.

Winter

Just a note to let you know we are great! Not too much to report but here are some pictures from the last few months.

Family Pictures

While we were with Mike's family (see previous post) we had some family pictures taken. Here are some of them:

Mike's parents and siblings:

House of Fun

The first weekend in December we spent the weekend with Mike's family. His parents rented a house (Three Peaks Lodge) to enjoy. It was perfect for the kids. Everyone had a great time. One wall in the living room had been converted to a small climbing wall and there were two slides and lots of fun toys.

Here's Blake trying out the slide:

Thanksgiving and Trees

We spent Thanksgiving with my family in Island Park. We had a wonderful time. We rode four-wheelers and played in the snow and even cut down our Christmas Tree.

The tree:

The tree turned out to be a lot larger than it appeared in the forest. It takes up a good portion of our living room. A lot of people's first reaction to it has been, "Wow, that is a big tree." And, yep, it is! I dare say next year we will try for a smaller one.