Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Time of my Life!!

So, Last week Jake and I took our first vacation together! We went on a 6 day cruise to the Western Caribbean. Our 9 year anniversary is this summer and things finally fell into place allowing us to go without the guilt! I can't thank my Mom and Dad enough for coming up to our house and taking care of the kids...also, Brooke and Lauren for picking up the slack on a couple of the days! Knowing the kids were in their beds and in the BEST hands made it easy to relax and enjoy!

In case you have ever wondered what type of vacation is the best...I am not well traveled (as I make known often), but this cruise was exactly what I would have envisioned a perfect tropical vacation to be! Jake and I said over and over that we weren't disappointed or bored for a single second! In every way it was FABULOUS!

This was the view from a hammock I laid on in Haiti...I stayed in this spot for about 2 hours, Jake right next to me...perfection!

This is us when we first arrived at the beach in Haiti...I bought an adorable hat here, but be prepared for an onslaught of vendors begging for your business!


This was a coconut we bought for $2 from a sweet OLD man in Haiti. Jake remembered these from his mission to Brazil and we finally found someone selling them and had an island treat!


This is us in front of our AMAZING (world's biggest) cruise ship in Grand Cayman. I am wearing my "Haiti Hat"!


This is me in Grand Cayman...everything you have ever heard about the blue caribbean water is TRUE! We swam with masks on and felt like we were swimming in an aquarium...I think I saw Nemo there! Also, my legs are getting fried in this picture...I paid for this swim!

Here are Jake and I on our excursion in Jamaica. We went on a hike through the rain forest and would zip line from tree to tree. It was a BLAST!! The zip lines were thrilling and I didn't chicken out at all...in fact, I totally LOVED it! I got about 12 bug bites...but it was worth every one. We were glad we did our excursion here because the rest of Jamaica wasn't that impressive.

Here we are standing in front of one of the rivers our zip lines crossed.

When we were on the boat we hung out at this "Flowrider" most of the time. Jake got it down and I fell almost instantly every time! It was in a great spot on the back of the boat and while Jake rode the wave I read magazines and enjoyed the view of the ocean!

This picture is on the top level of the boat when we were leaving Florida...that's Port Canaveral, Florida behind us.
Anyways, as you can imagine I took about 300 pictures! These are a few of my favorites! It's been hard to come back home and be the Mom again...but by day 5 I was seriously missing the kids and I cried when I finally talked to them on the way home! I hope we don't have to wait another 9 years to do that again because I fell in love all over again and had the time of my life...I hope everyone gets to do something like this in their life!









8 comments:

jen said...

Looks like you had a blast and all I can say is that I am very very jealous!

Hotch Potch Girls said...

Wow is this the same Jake and Ashlee who didn't leave their kids to go on vacation? Glad you decided to change your mind so you 2 could enjoy each other. Cruises are so much fun. I'm sure your kids had a great time also, we enjoyed them on Mother's Day.

Shanna Nemrow said...

Hooray!!! I love the pics!!! You look so happy and relaxed!!! I'm SOOOOOOOOOOOO stoked for you guys!!

Audrey said...

OK so that not only looked but sounded like a slice of heaven! How fun for you guys! The only thing that would have made it perfect is if you had a few friends come along....(lane and i of course)!
Few things... never seen you so tan! You look adorable in your beachwear! And Jake looks super cool on that board thing in the wave pool!
What a nice refreshing trip! Glad your back safe and sound though!

Danielle said...

I KNEW you would have a blast!!

I am so glad you loved it! You guys look so cute and relaxed in all your pictures. The only problem with getting home- is not having a vacation to look forward to. Guess you'll have to plan another one!

Debbie said...

Hey Ash!

I had the time of my life being with the kids! Glad you had such a wonderful time. Karlee is the sweetest ever! Rylee was the biggest helper ever! Audree, well although she complained a lot was so cute and good! Spencer is such w wonderful little man and was happy every minute! A Grandma could not ask for more! And Sace anf TT had the best time too!

Love Ya!
Mom

mindy said...

That looks amazing! All the stuff I want to say was already said by others, so I'll just say that I'm super jealous! It looks like it was tons of fun!

Christy said...

9 nine years thats a long time...I'm so glad that you two got to go...Your trip looked perfect