July 4th
We didn't do much for the 4th as we were leaving the next day for vacation. Canyon and Liam did poppers and we saw plenty of fireworks from the yard from the neighborhood.
Family Cruise
We took the Carnival Horizon from Miami to Aruba, Curacao, La Ramana, and Amber Cove!
1st stop was an overnight in Miami.
We were the 1st to arrive to the Essex Hotel and went to Burger Meister for lunch and hit South Miami Beach.
The rest of the crew showed up and we went for dinner at Pink Taco, drinks and ice cream.
Checking in for the cruise.
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We're on board the Horizon!
We were missing Parker and Zoey on this trip but so happy everyone else came this round.
Canyon and Aunt Kristy checking out the ocean view.
Our 1st towel animal was an elephant.
Canyon and Liam enjoyed the splash pad.
Kristy, Emily, and Caleb learned a dance.
A few dinners we had in the Meridian.
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Reuben's at the deli were so good. We made cards and learned how to make towel animals.
After 2 days at sea we hit Aruba.
We did the See and Sea excursion and had several stops on the bus tour.
Did not realize Aruba is a desert island. A lot of cactus here. Tour guide said everything on Aruba wants to hurt you. You see a nice patch of grass? It will have stickers and cactus in it so don't think it's safe to walk on.
Was just a little windy up on the Casibari Rock!
We stopped at the California Lighthouse.
We boarded a ferry to the sub at the Antilla Shipwreck where we saw colorful fish, scuba divers, and a sea turtle.
The Natural Bridge.
We headed back to nap and then walked back to Surfside Beach.
The next day was Curacao.
We took the trolley tour.
Dushi means wonderful, fantastic, delicious, great.
The Catholic cathedral actually is home to 3 religions.
Lots of color in Curacao.
And someone with a very fancy yacht.
For the kids, Dr. Seuss was on the cruise.
Next port was La Romana. We did not have a excursion here but there was a giant pool with a poolside bar and lots of shopping for the cruisers to enjoy.
Liam tried the drums but then got shy.
These 2 😁
Canyon's feels on leaving the big pool.
The crew made so many towel animals!
Amber Cove aka Puerto Plata in Dominican Republic
We took the all inclusive beach getaway.
Beautiful private beach with all the food and drink you want.
We swam and snorkeled. Liam saw a blue crab and I saw a horseshoe crab. There were lots of shells and coral.
David kept the drinks coming and was so friendly.
We had a lot of strawberry daiquiris.
Our towel pals.
Last night on board. Caleb gets a b-day surprise.
All the group pictures on our last night.
Time to say goodbye and Nana and Papa, Brian, Mel, and Tobey leave. The rest of us go to Top Golf for Caleb's birthday.
Then it's time to say goodbye to Kristy, Caleb, and Emily and we head to Dolphin Mall. What a great Mall!
But we also hit a smaller mall, Miami International which had a play place for Liam's pre-flight zoomies.
We finally made it back to Sahara and Jared's house at 1 am. Slept a few hours and then headed to the house.
Here are the port treasures.
What a fantastic time with family and adventures! Love our big family trips!
1 year weight loss journey
1 year ago I started on Semaglutide and hit my 50 pound final goal just in time for the cruise. I'm happy with the number on the scale, the size clothes I'm in, the way I look and feel in clothes... so now it's maintenance time.
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Before and after in same clothes.
Tampa Bridesmaid Weekend
Sahara was home for 2 weeks from the cruise and then headed back to Tampa for her friend Meeca's bachelorlette weekend.
They spent 14 hours at Epcot and walked 12 miles there. Rode a few really exciting rides but some didn't handle the G-forces very well.
They rented a pontoon and ended up stranded with an empty gas tank in the ocean. Nick, their captain, found dolphins and a sea turtle and they swam and docked on a sand bar. AAA for boats had to come rescue them. Sahara helped with the gas and docking the boat and they all called her co-captain. It didn't appear that any of them had been on a boat before because they all seemed clueless on what to do or how to do things. Luckily Sahara remembered some things from back in our boat days.
