Day #5: Dominica

Easily my favorite island from our cruise, Dominica hosts mountains, multiple waterfalls and a dense rainforest. The island receives over 300 inches of rain a year (to put that in perspective, Seattle gets 142, Denver gets 15), and all those trees and plants and waterfalls just called out to be discovered. (Hmm, maybe all that exploring is why I liked it so much?)

Our first stop was to these waterfalls that had formed inside a cave. We had to wade into the cave, then swim once inside.

The next few pictures were taken from inside the cave - they aren't the best quality, but still manage to give a sense of what it was like. Once we got inside the cave, we had to climb up the first little waterfall to get to the second falls further into the cave. Very Indiana Jones. Very cool.

The second waterfall:

When you looked up from some spots inside of the cave, this stunning canopy was overhead. I could spent hours doing nothing but listening to the water and looking at these trees.

After our cave exploration we hiked into Tafalgar Falls. Our guide was pretty insistent that we shouldn't get too close to the falls, it was a slippery and kinda difficult hike, but I managed to talk him into taking us all the way in so that we could swim in the pool of the falls. It was AMAZING!!! Swimming around a waterfall, taking in the lush vegetation, and enjoying the massaging of the falling water goes into my all-time favorite adventures! (We brought the camera up, but the batteries accidentally fell out of the camera and we weren't able to record it - dang!)

Another waterfall we passed on the way to Trafalgar

Dominica's multiple mountains boasted some amazing vistas.

Look at all that GREEN!!! It is such a dense, lush island. Love it!

Day #4: St. Thomas, Virgin Islands

Our first stop was in St. Thomas. (We were in the middle ship below.)

We had been to St. Thomas before, so we opted for a mellow day at Sapphire Beach.

Although the older kids were off with our parents, my sister and her little one came along with us. They were so stinkin' cute - now if they could just figure out how to play in the sand without blasting us in the processes, we'd be good!

The Caboose was totally lovin' watching these two "dragons" duke it out. If you look closely, you can see that the tail of the guy on the bottom had been bitten off. Yuck!/Yikes!/Interesting!

It was a beautiful beach, I'd say one of the best from our trip. It had great snorkeling too.

Day #3: Bon Voyage!

I should probably stop and explain how this whole cruise business got started. My mom had been tutoring Big Boy #1, as well as my niece and nephew for a couple years. To reward the kids for completing the very difficult, yet rewarding, Barton program, she offered to take them on a cruise. Big Boy #2 worked on workbooks while #1 was getting tutored, so he was eligible for the adventure as well.

Then she opened it up to anyone else in the family who was willing to pay their own way and wanted to come along. We ended up with this motley crew (our family, my sister's family, and our parents.)

Yeah, the matching t-shirts was my mom's idea. We were recognized all over the boat for the rest of the cruise.

BB#1's favorite part of the entire trip was exploring the ship. He was beyond thrilled to come aboard.

Dinner the first night:

Mom had a special "Congratulations" cake delivered to the table the first night at dinner. When the wait staff sang to us she had tears in her eyes.

This is the thing about my mom. She (1) sees that her grandkids are struggling, so she (2) researched and figured out what they needed to improve, then (3) learned, at her own expense, the program that would help, so she could (4) tutor the kids for years - free of charge, and then (5) to encourage the kids in their efforts she comes up with a reward beyond all imagination. Yeah, that's pretty much my mom. Amazing doesn't even begin to describe her.

Day #2: San Juan, Puerto Rico

All I have to say is Hallelujah for Marriott Rewards! We had enough points to book at night at Isla Verde Marriott, which came complete with this stunning view from our room:


And a swim up bar:

Diamond was in utter bliss; watching March Madness, in a pool, in San Juan.

Mix in some time playing in the ocean:

and some hammocks scattered along the sand:

I think the Caboose liked it too: