Florida

We started our time in Florida by visiting the Kennedy Space Center.  I'm a really big space nerd so, I had to go.  Howie found it to be quite boring, but he was a good sport.

We got to meet an astronaut!

Then we went and checked into our hotel in Orlando.  The next two days were spent at Universal Studios Orlando!  We were going to do Disney World, but we just didn't have the time.  Maybe next time we're in Florida.  Here's the Hard Rock Cafe in Orlando.

Day one of Universal Studios, we visited the Islands of Adventure park.  This was our favorite between the two.  Cool rides and it has the Wizarding World of Harry Potter!

I can't even tell you how cool the Harry Potter world was.  SO cool.

I got a picture with the conductor of The Hogwarts Express. I stood in line for a few minutes to take my picture with him and when I finally got up there some guy tried to cut in front of me.  The conductor yelled at him.  Hehe, he's got my back.

Hogwarts!  We waited in line for quite some time to ride on this ride the first time.  Every other time after that it wasn't too bad.  Both days we were in Universal Studios it rained during the afternoon so, I think it scared crowds away.

The line into Hogwarts is very entertaining.  They even have a room you get to where the pictures talk to each other.  Pretty amazing.

We must have had at least five butterbeers while we were there. They were so, so good.

They had all kinds of fun things to take pictures next to.

We ate dinner that night at the Hard Rock Cafe.  The Orlando one is the biggest in the world.

Day two of Universal Studios was Universal Studios!

This attraction let you experience what it would be like if you were in a twister.  Well, witnessing a twister at least.

The Mummy!

We did the Men in Black ride.  You got to shoot aliens and stuff for points.  I beat our entire car!  I'm cool like that.

Awesome time in Florida.  Can't wait to go back someday.

Caribbean Cruise

We've been back from vacation for a couple weeks now so I suppose it's time to catch up this blog.  We had an absolute blast on our trip.  I'll tell ya all about it.

We flew in a day before departure and stayed at the Radisson at the Port in Cape Canaveral.  Here we are waiting for the shuttle to take us over to the ship.

Our ship was called The Freedom of the Seas and it was beautiful!  Here is a picture of The Royal Promenade.  It's a long alley down the center of the ship with restaurants, shops, bars, etc.  Very impressive.  We spent a lot of time here.

Checking out the boat. 

Kids pool area.

Rock climbing wall.

Adult pool area.  I spent a lot of time here!

Coco Cay, Bahamas
Our first port was Coco Cay.  I was looking forward to this port the least for some reason and it turned out to be a great time.  It was the perfect initial stop for this cruise.

There's our beautiful boat!

Hammock living.  That's how we roll.

We got a tip from an online video that Barefoot Beach was the best on the island so we sought it out.  It was VERY nice.

Howie found a shaded cabana...

while I laid out on my floating beach mat.

We forgot to take our camera with us on our sea-do adventure, but we got to ride on one!  It was super fun, but it hurt.  We were both sore for several days afterwards.  That thing really beat us up.

That night was our first formal night. 

After dinner we walked the deck of the ship and caught the sunset.  So pretty.

St. Thomas
After a full day at sea, we arrived at St. Thomas.  This island was beautiful so I was a little sad that we booked an excursion that took us away from it for the entire day.  But, that just gives us a reason to go back someday, right?

We boarded "Blackbeard's Revenge" for a full day of sailing and snorkeling.

Plenty of turtles to be seen!

If you look at this picture just right you'll see a stingray!

The boat crew gave us pirate tats.  We felt pretty hardcore.

After snorkeling, we sailed on to a little beach that is not as well known.  It's on a smaller island just south of St. Thomas.  It was so nice.  They served us a Caribbean BBQ and gave us time to play.

Such a pretty stop.  We loved it.

 St. Maarten

We had a blast in St. Maarten!  We did a zip line treetop adventure tour and it was the coolest thing.  We ported on the Dutch side of St. Maarten, but drove over to the French side for this excursion.  It was at a place called Loterie Farm.

We had to wear these harnesses with attachments on them for the course.

We climbed trees, walked across bridges, ziplined through the trees.  So cool.

Hard Rock Cafe St. Maarten!

After our excursion was through, they dropped us off in town to do a little shopping before heading back to the ship.  I got a beautiful jewelry set from a store called Effy Jewelers.  The Caribbean is THE place to shop for diamonds and gems.  Just beautiful.  Speaking of beautiful, check out the dining room we ate in every night:

Cruising is the bomb!  Here is who we ate dinner with:

We got to know some neat people.  There was a couple from Maryland, a couple from Virginia, a couple from Illinois, a mother-daughter duo from the Washington D.C. area, and then us.

After the cruise we spent some time in Orlando, FL before going back home.  I'll save that for another post since this one is already so long!