Vacation! (we did miss you, Ashlyn!!)

Christopher and I just got home from a wonderful week with our dearest friends, Ashley & Alex. The four of us went on a cruise, and left our sweet baby girls at home with their grandmoms (THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU to my mom for loving Ashlyn while we were gone). We had a blast...it really was great being able to relax and not have to change a single diaper for an entire week! BUT, I really missed Ashlyn. Ashley really missed Ava. Do you think it is weird that I wanted to hold and touch every single baby we saw on the ship? Literally. I would follow strollers around. I even touched one baby on his cheek (ok, that might have been a little too much and I do express my sincerest apologies to the mom who probably thought I was a lunatic who wanted to kidnap her baby). But I missed soft baby cheeks!!!!!!! I missed chunky leg rolls. As soon as we turned into the driveway yesterday, I literally jumped out of the car and RAN inside my house (I could not even wait for Christopher to park the car). And then, there she was...all smiles...and those same sweet, soft cheeks...just as I like I had thought about every day we were gone.

Day One - Set Sail!

Missing Ashlyn already. That is a given. BUT we were so excited to start our week of fun!

Day 2 - Bahamas

We rented a Hobie Cat to sail around in the Bahamas. Let me clarify...the boys did the sailing...Ashley and I just relaxed and enjoyed the ocean breeze. We saw 2 enormous stingrays that seemed to just swim around our boat...definitely a highlight of the day!

Day Three - At Sea

Although I am sure that no one will be surprised, Christopher and Alex participated in lots of activities during our "at sea" days. Which is exactly why I LOVE traveling with friends. I can sit and read and he can run around playing ping pong, basketball, surfing, ect...I am so proud of my husband...he won 1st place in the ping-ping tournament and the basketball free throw tournament! Way to go honey! As you will see below, Ashley even got in on the action with the bean bag toss!

Day Four - St. Thomas

I like to call this day..."The Day of Broken Promises and Shattered Dreams" Ok, maybe that is slightly dramatic. Let's just say the day did not turn out exactly as we expected. We ventured off the ship with high hopes and expectations...but ended up re-boarding about 30 minutes later. We (ok, the guys) wanted to rent mopeds to ride around and explore the island...but we did not have our drivers licenses or credit card when we got off the ship (what were we thinking??) Then we thought about getting a cab to take us to a beach but we could not decide where to go. Then we thought about trying to find someone to take us out on a boat ride so we could go snorkeling...but there was no one to be found. In the end, we just went back to the ship, ate our sorrows away, and ended up enjoying a relaxing day by the pool since most everyone else was on the island, undoubtably doing all the things we only dreamed about. Best part of the day = this great pic we took from our balcony!

Day Five - St. Marteen

I will call this "The Day We Almost Died" or maybe better yet "The Day We Were Rescued". At this point, I am sure you are wondering what happened. Ok, see the picture below? That is what happened. We rented this "Hobie Cat" thinking that since we had taken one out a few days earlier, we were now experts. Ohmygosh...we were SOOOOOOO wrong. First of all, this bad boy had 2 sails and we really did not know how to operate them. Our first clue should have been when we almost CRASHED into a boat that was anchored out in the ocean. Our second clue should have been when we felt like we were about to tip over because the waves were so big. And the third clue...coming DANGEROUSLY close to ROCKS! BIG ROCKS! With waves smashing into them!!!!!!!! I hate that I don't have more pictures to document our near death experience...only memories. Needless to say, when we saw the little red motor boat coming from shore to rescue us, we were all EXTREMELY RELIEVED and only slightly embarrassed. haha!

After we were safely back on land, they asked us if we wanted to take some sailing lessons on an actual boat (Wait a minute, I wonder what made them think we needed lessons???) We agreed thinking, "This will be sooo fun!" However, about 30 minutes into our "sail" I thought I was going to be sick. I have to say, seasickness is the worst feeling ever. I am trying to decide which is worse, feeling seasick or pregnancy sickness. Acutally, I think they are about the same. My husband was not feeling too great either. I think maybe now he understands a little bit more about how I felt during those first few weeks being pregnant with Ashlyn. It was pretty fun though, minus the nausea.

Day Six - At Sea

What did we do all day? Sit, sleep, read...pretty boring stuff...but we needed to recooperate from Day Five. That was literally enough adventure for the entire week.

Day Seven - At Sea (almost back home...)

Again, more reading, relaxing, sleeping...at this point, I think we were all ready to get back home to see our babies. Ashlyn and Ava, we missed you sweet girls!!!!!!!!!!!!

Great week! Lots of fun memories. But I have to say, the best part about the entire week was seeing Ashlyn's eyes light up when we got home yesterday. That always is the best part, huh?