Day 4: Port of Roatan, Honduras and New Year's Eve!

Day 4 of our cruise was our favorite day. We docked early that morning in the port of Roatan, Honduras. I have to say I was a little unsure of this Honduras thing. All I knew about Honduras was that the church used to go there on mission trips. Well, I was pleasantly surprised. We drove in a bus through beautiful green hills and jungles and then came to an incredible white sands, calm beach. The sand was great and the water even better. It was so calm that the kids were able to just play and play without getting smashed by waves every 5 seconds. It was awesome! It was such a relaxing day for all.

The drive to the beach. Honduras is beautful!

Playing in the beautiful water!

Clay & his sister, Alyssa!

Nathan is ready for some snorkeling.

Ryan, Nathan, & Clay

Clay & Ryan had so much fun snorkeling. They were able to go out and dive deep down to see all kinds of fish and sea life. Clay said it was so incredible.

Building her castle and refusing to look at mom.

When she does look, this is what I get.

It did rain a few times while we were there, but it blew over pretty quick.

This is the life!

Alyssa & I

Ryan by the cliffs.

Yes, the water was that clear and the fish swam that close to the shore. I saw some fish swim right over my feet one time.

Clay sat his drink down on the cliffs to take some pictures. All of a sudden people were yelling at him because this iguana had climbed down the side of the cliff and was eating the pineapple off his drink!

Sign of the future for sure!

Building sand castle with Mimi.

Busy working on the sand castle.

Mr. Tough Guy

Explorers!

Our bathing beauty!

The bus ride back to the boat. We sadly had to get back on the bus early in the afternoon to get back to the ship. This was how Nathan decided to go home. I'm not sure why Ryan is clutching Alyssa's beach bag like a little old lady holds onto her purse.

Pics from the bus.

That night was New Year's Eve. It was also one of our formal nights. Abby was super excited about wearing her "fancy" dress. She still asks to wear it. She does love to be fancy. We ate dinner in the dining room and then went to the hot tub. The hot tub became a nightly ritual. The kids just loved it!The 4 of us were actually exhausted that night from the beach day. So we weren't even awake when to ring in the new year, but from what we hear it was pretty fun on the boat.

They had the dining room decked out with hats and party blowers. The kids had so much fun with those. We heard alot of party blowers during that meal.

Abby & Ryan. Have a mentioned how much she loves him?

Ryan, Abby, & Alyssa

Day 3: Port day at Cozumel

Day 3 we woke up and had breakfast on the ship and then headed off the ship to see Cozumel, Mexico. We spent a while walking around and shopping when we first got off the boat. After shopping, we at lunch at a restaurant called, Pancho's Backyard. It was delicious! Some of the best food we had on the trip. After lunch we explored the coast while we walked back to the ship. The kids really enjoyed splashing in the water and finding different treasures.

Abby loved eating cereal from the little cereal boxes every day. She especially liked Rice Krispies because Ryan was eating them one day.
The kids both enjoyed all kinds of fruit on the ship.

Merry Christmas from Cozumel!

It was so unusual to see all the Christmas decorations everywhere while we were wearing our swimsuits.

These two are so funny!

I think that's Abby under there.

Here's Abby again in her favorite spot.

Abby found these maracas that she just had to have!

My boys!

Abby and Mimi

Clay, Ryan, & Grandad

Deep thoughts.

Back on the ship at sunset & getting ready for dinner.

I love this pic. I think it is just sweet.

Cruise Day 2

Day 2 was a day at sea. We enjoyed a day eating, exploring the ship, swimming, and relaxing. We had one questionable sea sickness episode this day. Abby threw up one time in the swimming pool after she had been in for less than 5 minutes. I'm not sure if she was guzzling the salt water or if she was queasy from the pool sloshing around. All I know is one minute she was swimming around and the next minute she had thrown up. I quickly scooped her up and carried her off. She was fine, though. 30 minutes later she was eating an ice cream cone. They had soft serve ice cream machines out by the pool and in the restaurant. So we pretty much had ice cream all week long whenever we wanted. The rest of the trip went without any sickness issues.

Getting ready for breakfast. Daddy does the best job brushing teeth! That's Abby's new Ariel toothbrush she got from Santa.

This is the Abby technique for eating a donut. She only eats the top. Whether is has icing or not. She just eats the top. Don't know where she came up with that, but you know Abs, she has a mind of her own.
Our kids love their Uncle Ryan and Aunt Alyssa.

My awesome family!

Day 2 was also our first formal dinner night. It was fun dressing up, but there is something weird about getting so fancy and spending so much time getting ready for dinner on your vacation. We enjoy being casual. I have to say though, these 2 looked awfully cute all dolled up!

They really love the windows!

Daddy's Girl!

I love my sister-in-law! BFF!

Abby and Nathan also learned that you could go up to the bar and they would give you as many cherries as you wanted to put in your Sprite. They caught on to this really fast and any time we walked through this particular bar they wanted to stop for cherries.

The Piano Man!

Aren't they handsome!?!