Thompson Family Cruise

This past December Jordan's parents took all of us (their kids & kids in-law) on a cruise to the Caribbean in celebration of their 40th anniversary. How nice is that!? This just goes to show how much they love their family that they wanted all of us there to celebrate with them. I honestly have the best in-laws ever and I am so grateful for them! We had the best time on the cruise, it really was such a fun trip! Thanks so much Lee & Phyllis, we sure love you! Happy Anniversary!

Leaving the SLC airport on our red eye flight.

Here we are hanging out on the boat. It was so fun watching the shows, relaxing in the sun, and of course it wouldn't be a Thompson family trip without lots of game playing!

Watching a comedy show. They actually had some pretty good and clean comedians. I was pretty impressed since Jordan and I had to walk out of a comedy show on our last cruise.
Bingo! Breanne & Cole convinced us all to go play Bingo and it was pretty fun! They even won some money! (PS We had just worked out so I look kind of nasty. It was pretty trippy running on a treadmill on a cruise ship, I had to grab on a few times!)
Wes had the great idea for all of us to go play a game of basketball. I have actually never played basketball before except for maybe middle school gym class. It was so fun and a way good workout! Jen and I were the only girls that ended up playing and while the boys gave us a few breaks on the rules they were still pretty ruthless! And sweaty, yuck! Picture Ben Stiller in slow motion playing basketball in Along Came Polly. That may have been how I felt at some points of the game...

Pictures of a couple of the yummy dinners. We had 2 formal nights and it was kind of fun to dress up a bit! I got to pull my old high school winter ball dress out of the closet, it's only been 10 years since I wore it last!

Our first stop was supposed to be San Juan but there was something wrong with one of the engines on the boat, so we weren't able to stop. Jordan and I have been there before but we were still pretty sad because we had signed up to go kayaking at night and see the bioluminescence which would have been really cool. Oh well! So our first stop ended up being St. Martens. When we went there on our last cruise we spent the day walking through all the shops and going to the beach so we were excited to explore the island more this time and see both the Dutch & French sides. Susan found us some scooter rentals and it was the coolest way to tour around the island!

Waiting near our cruise ship for Jordan & Travis to come pick us up and take us to the scooter place.

We were able to scoot around the whole island and see some really beautiful sights...

Yes, that is a man.

We were able to make it back to a yummy crepe place for lunch that we had gone to before and that was recommended to us by my family who found it on their cruise. So, if anyone ever goes to St. Martens, ask me about this place! Then we ended the day at shore with a kayaking excursion since we didn't get to do it in San Juan. Jordan wasn't too excited for this one, but I love kayaking so he kindly obliged:) Everyone went but Trav & Jen and Cole & Breanne. They kept their scooters and went to check out the local airport. The planes fly in so low that people like to go stand under them and watch them come in. It sounded pretty cool.

Our next stop was the beautiful St Thomas! This is where Jordan and I went scuba diving for the first time on a discovery scuba expedition. We only got to go down for about 20 minutes but it was enough to make us get certified as soon as we got home. Jordan has been able to go once since then but since I was pregnant at the time, I hadn't gone since my certification. Needless to say we were both super excited to get to dive again! So Lee, Jordan, and I split off from everyone else for the day and got to go out and make 2 dives. I was super nervous since it had been so long since I'd gone. I had a bit of a rough start clearing my ears on descent during the first dive which made me extra on edge, but thankfully by the second dive I was relaxed and comfortable. The second dive was a lot better anyways, it was in the coolest area with coral reef and little rock canyons that we got to swim through and it had way more animal life. Right as we were ascending one of the dive leaders noticed a giant sting ray on the bottom and while Lee and I were already headed up and missed it, Jordan was behind us and got to go see it. I was pretty jealous! Especially since he was supposed to be my buddy and stick with me and he didn't even try to tell me what was going on! Sorry Jordan, but you were the worst safety buddy ever! He kept leaving me and at one point he even knocked my regulator out of my mouth and didn't even realize it!

Our last stop was to Princess Cays. It was the perfect end to the trip! We relaxed on the beach, went snorkeling, found seashells for our kids, and Breanne, Jen, Susan, and I rented a paddleboat. It was so pretty and peaceful!

And here we are waiting at the airport to head home, playing games of course! Notice the boys found some comfy wheelchairs to hang out in.

It was such a fun trip and probably the perfect length. Just enough to feel rejuvenated and relaxed and ready to get home to my kiddos! I had been so nervous about leaving them since I never had before! The first night on the ship we were all gathered together planning the activities for the next day and I caught myself saying that something at 2pm wouldn't work because that's when Tyler would be napping. Ha! I think I needed the break! And of course the kids didn't even care one bit that we left them, they had a blast with Grandma & Grandpa Lords. Thanks mom & dad for taking such good care of my babies!