Day 9: St. Croix

Our last day on the cruise ship was once again cloudy :( as we docked in St. Croix. Despite the clouds we packed our beach bag and headed ashore to hit the beaches. It was so humid I was pretty uncomfortable, but we had pre-purchased transfers from the pier to our choice of beaches along the coast line of St. Croix.

Once on the beach we got hooked up with the BEST beach chairs ever. They had pillows, foot rests, and reclined but weren't low to the sand. To keep the passing rain showers off of us we also rented an umbrella. We went for a swim in the ocean which was quite rough and had a strong under tow due to Tropical Storm Erica which had passed over the island the day before. Despite the weather, the water was still warm and nice! After my swim I laid back in the beach chair to enjoy the crystal blue water and our last day in the Caribbean. Within seconds I was asleep and stayed knocked out for a good two hours! Ahhh, the joys of being pregnant in the first trimester. There is nothing better than a nap on the beach. :)

On the last night of the trip we snapped a shot of our assistan table waiter and head waitress who were fabulous. A.R. and I were both a little disappointed with the overall food offered in the main dining hall compared to the quality we've both experienced on past cruises with Royal Caribbean, but the staff was still wonderful.

Our asst. waiter, German (L) and head waitress, Oono (R)

Day 8: St. Maarten

After the thunderstorms on Thursday night we woke up to overcast skies on Friday in St. Maarten. We had cancelled our tour we previously booked as it wasn't safe for pregnant ladies and decided to just check out the island on our own and do some shopping. Once again we hit up the Windjammer Cafe for breakfast and then headed ashore.

By the time we ate and got outside it had started to rain again (the rain storms were the leftovers from Tropical Storm Erica) so we hailed a cab to the shopping district. St. Maarten looked very much like St. Lucia with the mountainous terrain and was quite beautiful even in the rain. We started to browse the shops downtown on the Dutch side of the island. Within seconds of starting to shop it started to down pour, so we slipped into a shop and I was met with knock off purse heaven. They had Prada, Coach, Gucci, etc. and of course I had to indulge. I got a cute new brown Coach purse.

Next, we started to browse some jewelry shops which was just about every other shop on an entire block, but the rain wouldn't let up and to go from shop to shop we kept getting soaked. Considering we already had colds and afternoon spa appointments coming up back on the ship we decided to call it a day and head back to the port. It's a shame the weather wasn't better as we would've seen more of the island and probably even gone to enjoy the beach.

After we got back on the ship we went to the spa for our massages. A.R. got a hot stone massage (totally jealous!) while I got a Swedish massage. They wouldn't let me have a stone massage as it could possibly over stimulate me and cause preterm labor. :( Either way my massage was wonderful!

Day 7: Unexpected Day at Sea

On Wednesday evening it was brought to our attention that our cruise ship would not be docking in Antigua on Thursday as planned as the island was being hit by Tropical Storm Erica. Instead, we had been rerouted and planned to stop in Dominica. Our tour scheduled for Antigua was automatically cancelled and we signed up for river tubing in Dominica. I've heard it is beautiful there, so we were excited for the change in itinerary even though I had really wanted to see Antigua. On Thursday we woke up to stormy weather and the view outside our balcony despite the weather was beautiful. That view would be all we saw of Dominica as we slowly cruised past the island. The seas were too choppy for us to dock and we could see the waves were so high they were crashing over the pier where we would've walked to the shore. The ship's captain made an announcement that we would have a day at sea and the whole navigation crew was keeping a close eye on Tropical Storm Erica, but she had slowed down overnight stalling over part of the Southern Caribbean.

The shore of Dominica with the waves crashing up into the road.

The mountains of Dominica covered in clouds

Since it was rainy outside we mainly watched movies, went ice skating, browsed and shopped on the Promenade deck, scheduled our spa appointments for the next day, played air hockey in the arcade, and enjoyed watching the storms and waves from our private balcony. I had caught A.R.'s cold so it was nice to just rest and relax all day. That night we went to the ice show (which was pretty good!) before getting ready for the second formal night. Our stateroom attendant surprised us with rose petals on our cabin bed that night with a card congratulating us on our first anniversary which was really sweet. After dinner the storms really picked up...there was so much lightening the sky was constantly lighting up and loud claps of thunder. We watched them from awhile on our balcony before going to bed. I even took a video where you can here the thunder and the wind whipping around. The next day we were hoping the storms from the outskirts of the hurricane would pass so we could dock in St. Maarten.

The cast of the ice show onboard the cruise ship.

A surprise from our Cabin Steward

Bright and early the next day the captain made an announcement that we had sailed through wind gusts of up to 80 knots the night before and that the closets we got to Tropical Storm Erica was around 75 miles. Most of you remember another tropical storm that visited us on our wedding day...Tropical Storm Hanna. She hit on the way to our reception and the storm raged outside while the party went on inside the reception hall. That night back at the hotel they had lost power and were on generator power, so we ate leftovers from the reception by just the bathroom light watching the storm outside. It was so very romantic!! How fitting we had a visit by another tropical storm on our first anniversary. :)

2nd Formal Night

Cool Towel Monkey rocking our shades.

Day 6: St. Lucia

We woke up to cloudy skies and a light drizzle in St. Lucia thanks to looming Tropical Storm Erica, but the view outside of our cabin from our balcony on Deck 9 was spectacular. The rolling mountains of St. Lucia are absolutely gorgeous and I would go back there again for a day or two stay in a resort before island hopping to another hot spot (um, St. Maarten!). After another breakfast of waffles and strawberries we headed off on our jeep safari excursion through St. Lucia. The streets were VERY crowded, bumpy, and tight and despite the fact that it was Wednesday it seemed nobody was at work except our tour guide staff. The downtown area where we docked looked quite poor which was sad to see, but I like to get the real story behind the places I visit.

On an overlook in St. Lucia

The crowded streets of St. Lucia

After a surprisingly bumpy jeep ride through some banana plantations where I seriously thought our child was going to make an early appearance (note to self: Jeep safari = NOT a bright idea when pregnant) we cruised up the side of one mountain and down the other en route to our destination. The scenery was beautiful (even after getting a mouth full of fruit flies in the middle of the banana fields). We got to see where all of St. Lucia's gas was brought in and stored, their water plant, the bay were one of the James Bond movies was filmed, and we even got to taste test some fresh coconut, bananas, and bread fruit. At one stop along the way we were accosted by a peddler trying to sell us some local goods. Of course our whole jeep caved in and got assorted hot sauces, a really yummy sauce called banana ketchup, and real local unsweetened cocoa in a stick form that smelled absolutely devine. A.R. and I brought home a thing of cocoa and got some sauces as a gift to some of our friends.

The bay where James Bond and Pirates of the Caribbean was filmed

Hot & windblown on the jeep safari

Our last stop was to hike a short trail to view a waterfall in the rainforest of St. Lucia. After some more bumps in the jeep and seeing the houses precariously built on the side of the mountain on stilts (one house had stilts 3 stories high!) we arrived to our hiking spot. We each got a walking stick and made our way into the cool rainforest which was such a relief in the humidity. The waterfall was pretty, but not as spectacular as I thought it would be and the rocks were so slippery we didn't go that close up. We weren't allowed to swim in the water because it actually flowed into the town's drinking water suppy but we did walk through it and take some pictures. On the jeep ride back to the port we passed through more countryside and saw all the kids walking home from school for the day in their uniforms. Most of the schools there were built by the Hess gas company which I thought was pretty cool.

Hiking through the rain forest

The waterfall, we went further back after the other people left.

Once we got back to the boat we showered and had a huge lunch before we took a nap. A.R. had caught a cold after getting chilled on our snorkeling trip in Barbados in the pouring rain, so he wasn't feeling too well and I liked taking advantage of sleep since the 1st trimester can be so exhausting. :) We had the late seating at dinner so we had some time to kill since it had started raining by the time we got back to the cruise ship. We were supposed to go to the ice show that night on the boat but slept through it, so instead we played Quest after dinner which is like a huge adult scavenger hunt. It was so much fun even though our team didn't win. We also scored tickets to the ice show (it's free) the next night so I was happy.

Pregnancy Brain

I have a very serious condition that is starting to affect my work, home life, and state of well being. It is called pregnancy brain or in other words can't. remember. sh*t. Some examples of this rare but completely curable condition (it lasts all of 9 months and is only experienced by pregnant women):

Example 1: A.R. and I commute to work together on the days he doesn't have class. One fine Tuesday evening I was waiting for him to call me to tell me to meet him down in the lobby when I looked at the clock as it turned from 5:15 to 5:30 and onward. I kept trying to call him and just kept getting his voicemail. Figuring he forgot to tell me about a late meeting I started to get annoyed. Then I was starting to get pissed as my stomach growled with hunger pains and my eyes were heavy with fatigue. I thought about sending him a mean email to call me ASAP when at 5:45pm I realized that I had driven myself to work and A.R. was in class right where he was supposed to be. Yup, I'm an idiot!

Example 2: A.R.'s birthday was the 29th and since we couldn't do anything during the week with his classes and Lily's kindergarten (more to come on that) I promised his mom I'd bring a cake over and we could celebrate during our normal weekly get-together on Sunday. Well, Sunday dawned all bright and sunny and we went to church and then to his mom's as usual. We were chatting with my brother and sister-in-law and cooing over their newest little one when it started to get uncomfortable. A.R.'s other brother had had back surgery so we decided to all drive up to their house a good 15 minutes further north and visit. When I got there my sister-in-law whispered in my ear and asked me if I got the cake. My response, "What cake?" Her all knowing gaze told the story as she pointed towards my husband. Frickity Frick! I forgot my own husband's birthday cake for his celebration. What an arse I felt like. Luckily, my other brother-in-law was still in the car so he stopped to pick one up to save the day (and my reputation with my mother-in-law!).

Example 3: I was meeting one of my bestest buds for dinner this past Tuesday and going to a restaurant that I used to frequent say maybe 2-3 times a month for happy hour or salad bar at lunch time when I worked in the area. While driving there I got the bright idea to call my mom to wish her a belated birthday and catch up. Big mistake. Within 10 minutes I was headed in the wrong direction, then I hit traffic and got the bright idea on how to bypass it by going a mere 30 minutes out of my way. I have no idea what I was thinking and where I was going. I'm lucky I didn't hurt an innocent driver on their commute home because I was so clueless. Note to self: obey the law and STOP talking on your cell phone while driving...at least while you are still pregnant and have only half a brain! :)

Example 4: I ran out of contact solution last night and needed to get more before I could go to bed tonight so I head to CVS. While there I think it's a good idea to get the two birthday cards I need for upcoming kids birthday parties and I see a fall wreath and table runner on sale that would look great on our front door and new dining room table. Oh, and I get some candy to fill up my bowl at work. Only when I'm in the car about to drive out of the parking lot do I realize I FORGOT the one thing I went there to buy. Contact solution. And so I parked again, went in, and actually got what I had gone there to get.

Be careful ladies...some day this condition could affect you, too!

Day 5: Barbados

Our cruise ship: Adventure of the Seas

We woke up early on Day 5 in Barbados to snorkel and swim with sea turtles. After a hearty breakfast in the Windjammer Cafe (I think I had waffles with strawberries pretty much all 7 days on board the boat) we went portside to enjoy our day. It started off bright and sunny but the water was quite choppy. I started to feel queasy as soon as we got on the smaller boat (I was fine on the cruise ship), so I popped in a Preggie Pop Drop and was so relieved that it did the trick. Of course my darling husband was another story...

Before A.R.'s sea sickness kicked in

Our first stop on the snorkel excursion was swimming with sea turtles which was absolutely incredible. I actually got to pat one of them a couple times. A.R. was able to see them up close and personal until he just couldn't handle the water anymore. I finally found him back on the boat popping my Preggie Pop Drops like chocolate trying not to hurl over the side of the boat. He ended up eating all of the candies I had brought with me, so it's a good thing I was okay!! I wasn't supposed to tell anyone, so shhhh!

A.R. after the sea sickness kicks in...

Me snorkeling by the ship wrecks just before it rained.

The second snorkel stop was two ship wrecks off the shores of Barbados in a bay that used to be used to receive shipments and people before the pier was built. One of the wrecks was a tug boat and the other was a much older ship. A.R. was too queasy to get off the boat so I snorkeled alone as he took some pictures from the boat. About halfway through this stop it started to pour rain and our boat headed for the last stop of the day to a private beach. We spent our time there swimming in the rain in the bluest water you can imagine. If I hadn't been pregnant I would've been sipping some rum punch at the same time. :)

The sea turtles swimming with us

After our shore excursion was over, we headed back to the pier sopping wet and shivering and did some shopping. We ended up buying some souvenirs and even got a stuffed turtle for our little one. Then we got back on the boat and enjoyed a huge lunch and a nap. Overall, Barbados has beautiful beaches but I wasn't that impressed with the island. It was a lot like Nassau, Bahamas or any other plane Jane Caribbean island. That night on the cruise ship was 70s night and it began with a serenade by our dining room staff and then continued with a show on the Promenade deck complete with a tribute to the Village People which was funny stuff. Check out the video below and the hottie in the Indian suit on the left. :)

Our dining room staff sings for us

Can you tell which one is the virgin?

Vacation Days 3-4: Aboard Adventure of the Seas

On Day 3 of our vacation we woke up at our hotel in Old San Juan (Caribe Hilton) and had a light breakfast at the Starbucks in our hotel. Then it was time to pack up our things and bring the rental car back before catching a cab to the pier.

The adult pool and spas.

The main pools and hottubs.

The captian and co-captian's perches on the ship.

When we arrived at the pier we went through the security line which was fairly quick and boarded the boat where we promptly settled in for a nice lunch in the Windjammer Cafe while we waited for our cabin to be ready. After eating we explored the boat (which was laid out exactly like the boat we took on our honeymoon- Voyager of the Seas), found our dining room table, played some mini golf, and then headed for our cabin on Deck 9.

The main dining hall as seen from the 3rd story. We sat on the first floor.

The mini golf course at the front of the ship.

Our cabin was a junior suite just like we had on our honeymoon with sitting area, a real tub with shower in the bathroom (for those that have never cruised before- normally you get a shower stall that leaks all over the bathroom), and a balcony. As a special treaty for my husband on our anniversary trip I got him a special romance package so we were greeted with chocolate covered strawberries and non-alcoholic champagne for our own sail away party. Later in the cruise we also enjoyed petit fours, breakfast in bed, and some canapes on the first formal night as part of the package. We were also very impressed that our luggage was in our room at 2pm when we first got there. It never even had to wait in the hallway, which is a rarity!

The Promenade deck on our boat

After dinner in the main dining hall we explored the boat some more and hit the sack early as we both were exhausted. On Monday we had a day at sea. After a delicious breakfast in the Windjammer we hit the adult pools to relax, read, and soak in the sun. Later on we had lunch again at the Windjammer and then went to the arcade and played some air hockey before getting ready for the first formal night. The show after dinner that night was a tribute to the Temptations and it was actually really good! I even got a short video clip of the song "My Girl".

We clean up pretty good!

Next stop: Barbados

Vacation Days 1-2: Puerto Rico

A.R's family is from Puerto Rico and quite a few of his aunts, uncles, and cousins still live there on both his mom's and dad's side of the family. He hadn't been to the island since highschool nor ever with a girl let alone his new wife, so his mom of course called her sister when she found out we would be staying there before our cruise to tell them we'd be visiting. We spent the evening on Saturday with them and I must say the mountains they live in Cidra are absolutely gorgeous.

The coastline of San Juan

The hills of Cidra as seen from Alexi's Aunt's front porch

The island is beautiful and our hotel (Caribe Hilton) was by far one of the best I've stayed in. The view from the open-air lobby was to die for: one of the hotel's several pools followed by the crystal clear blue ocean on the horizon. Our room also had a view of the ocean and of one of the forts in Old San Juan. The weekend we were there the hotel was hosting basketball teams from all over South America for a tournament. We rode in the elevator several times with some players from Venezuela and I have to say that my almost 6' husband looked like a teeny speck standing next to them.

Our hotel lobby

Life size connect 4 at our hotel! They also had a life size chess set.

We arrived early Friday afternoon and checked into the hotel before venturing out to find lunch on the cobblestone streets of Old San Juan. We found a nook in the wall bistro and had a delicious lunch but the dessert was to die for...traditional Spanish flan laid over chocolate cake. Heaven. Then we went back to the hotel and ventured to the private beach complete with beach lounges and cabanas. After a swim in the warm ocean we discovered our hotel had a grove of palm trees with at least a dozen hammocks for the guests to lay on. We took full advantage of them during our stay!

The streets of Old San Juan look just like Barcelona from our honeymoon

On Saturday we woke up and had a delicious breakfast at the hotel's restaurant before hitting the pool and hammocks again. For lunch we ordered burgers poolside as a passing thunderstorm rolled through. Then we got ready to drive to Cidra to visit with Alexi's aunt and some cousins from his mother's side of the family. We ended up having to start the drive in the pouring rain which was no small feet with the flooding highways and scary drivers on the road with us. During our short stay in Puerto Rico we saw at least a half dozen accidents on the highways- all of them were rear ended cars. Signals are not used at all in San Juan and you WILL be cut off while going 60 down the highway. I also still kick myself for not getting a picture of the Puerto Rican horse "trailer" as we drove down the highway...it was the smallest Mazda pickup truck you can picture with a horse basically in the bed of the truck tethered to the cab. One sharp turn and that horse was a goner!

Heavenly nap spot for a pregnant lady who loves the beach!

The visit with Alexi's family went well. Their homes were nestled on a mountain in beautiful Cidra and they were all very welcoming towards me despite the language barrier. On his Aunt's property there were HUGE avocados growing wild along with bread fruit, bananas, papaya, coconut, and star fruit (which we tried straight off the tree!). They also raise their own chickens for eggs and meat and had a pet cow as well. It figures that I traveled all the way to Puerto Rico hoping for some really good home cooking (much like Alexi's mom cooks here) only to have her make lasagna and potato salad because A.R.'s aunt called his mom to find out what I liked! It was a sweet gesture, though, and I did get to have my favorite tostones (smashed plantains just before ripe- fried) and spanish rice to go along with it. ;)

The anniversary couple in Cidra- doesn't the background look fake?! It's not!

Us with Alexi's cousins, aunt, and uncle

Sunday morning we ate breakfast at Starbucks in our hotel and then packed our things up to return the rental car and begin our journey aboard the cruise ship Adventure of the Seas! Our stay in Puerto Rico was the perfect start to our vacation and just as relaxing as we had hoped. I hope to visit again more in the years to come.

I LOVE vacation!

Let the Landscaping Begin!

It's going to be a slow process, but the landscaping of our yard has officially begun! When we moved into our home our builder had only cleared a small portion of our lot and seeded (basically enough to appease the inspectors and to show the "buildable" portion of our lot). They surrounded this area with lovely black tarps to prevent erosion while the new grass grew.

A view of our home & yard from the farthest corner of our property.

A.R. and I had been debating whether or not to get the rest of our lot mowed or not as we knew it would be quite a bit more work for him come next spring/summer especially with a newborn. Curiosity about the true size of our lot got the best of us and we started exploring our options. We spoke with the company that's been spraying our yard for ticks all summer and fertilizing the small patches of grass we do have and come to find out they had the equipment necessary to mow and finish the last piece of our lot. Also, we learned that the best time to seed and start a new lawn in New England is right NOW! We got some quotes and took the plunge and holy crap were we surprised...

A good portion of the newly mowed section. The row of bushes in the background were planted by our builder, but got completely buried in brush this summer.

It's hard for me to visualize distances and square footage unless it's just right there in front of me to eye. I knew where the stakes were on our lot as we walked them many times before moving in, but the ones marking the back corner have long since been buried beneath waist high grass, weeds, and wildlife. When I crested the hill and looked behind our house last Wednesday I was shocked to see our yard mowed. I walked it with Tomas and he promptly settled in and took a dump in the middle (I think he knows it's his play ground now!) with a lowered jaw from shock. Our yard is a lot bigger then I had envisioned it! I love it and so does A.R. until he realized how much he'll be mowing next year!!

Another view from the farthes stake of our side yard.

He's just about convinced me to cave in and let him get that inground pool he wants, so he has less lawn to mow. I know how much work pools are, too, so I still hesitate a bit and of course it won't happen until our kids are older and wiser (I'm terrified of a toddler falling in and drowning even with a fence). This first mowing was just the beginning. The landscapers will be mowing and raking the area two more times before laying a herbivore down to kill the weeds and garbage out there. Then they'll aerate our whole lawn (new and old portion) and reseed the whole thing. Then it's up to us to water religiously and pray to the grass gods we get some awesome regrowth in the springtime. Next on our list of yard work: replace the dying tree in the front yard (after the builder digs it up) with a dogwood my Grandmother is getting for us and start exploring decks for the back of the house.

A portion of our yard as seen from our walk-out basement.

I'm A Big Kid Now!

Lily is growing up so fast. She is now 5 1/2 months and just about as big as Tomas. She'll definitely end up a bit bigger then he is when she's fully grown. On Friday we took her for her first grooming and now she looks less "puppy" and so grown up! She's got a busy couple of weeks coming up. This Wednesday she goes in to get spayed :( and then on Thursday her kindergarten class starts. Fortunately, the doggies stay home the first week of class, so it'll be just Alexi and I attending while she heals from surgery. But, on October 1st she goes for her first kindergarten class and will attend for 6 weeks. She definitely needs it. We've taught her to sit already, but she is a little spacey and needs the socialization with other dogs besides Tomas.

My fuzzy monster before her new haircut

AFTER her new 'do. We cut her legs short for the surgery, but will grow them out going forward like a true Cocker cut.

I think she's reached her terrible twos in doggy age as she has been a terror as of late. She chewed a hole (2-inch diameter) in our carpet yesterday morning. A.R. was so mad at her he couldn't look at her for a good hour. Luckily, the builder left us some extra carpet scraps so we can patch the spot and it'll look like new again. She has started trying to take off while in the yard chasing whatever is of interest to her (birds, butterflies, grass moving in the wind, absolutely nothing but thin air, etc.) and has gone into the street- we live at the end of a cul-de-sac- a few times so we now have to leash her at all times.

Hopefully, soon we'll be getting an electric fence because Tomas has become so protective of our home and property that he chases any car that drives through including our own neighbors! We have to leash him now, too, and he hates not being able to run free. Since we live in a new neighborhood still under construction there are constantly cars driving through to take a peek at the progress, so we had to nip his car chasing habit right away before he got hurt. Hopefully both of them will respect the fence. I'm torn about it as far as it being humane, but I do want them to stay safe and we won't be fencing our property anytime soon.

Look Tomas! Frisbees are so fun...Lily's new love is her frisbee which is almost bigger then she is!

Lily is in for a big surprise when our baby is born...she won't be the baby of the family much longer. I don't really think she has a clue that I'm pregnant (she is a bit ditzy), but Tomas has gotten a lot more protective of me and follows me EVERYWHERE I am in the house. I just know one of these days I'm going to trip over him! It's funny to see how our dogs interact with us, as well. Lily really has taken more of a liking to Alexi and is a complete Daddy's girl (except for when she knows she's in trouble!) whereas Tomas is all Momma's Boy. I wonder if our human babies will do the same thing??

H

We're Back!

Ok, we've been back for almost two weeks now, but I have been too tired/lazy to post. Our trip was definitely an adventure, but not 100% what we had hoped for as our last big trip before becoming parents. The food on the cruise ship wasn't as good as usual (perhaps due to budget cuts??), Alexi caught a cold on the cruise and ended up passing it along to me, and we spent most of the last half of our cruise avoiding Tropical Storm Erica.

We realized we were traveling in prime Hurricane season, but after Tropical Storm Hanna showed up in Connecticut on our wedding day what were the chances we'd experience another tropical storm on our 1st anniversary trip?! Apparently pretty good! We still made the most of our time together away from it all and the cloudy skies during the last half of the trip probably spared me from some serious sun damage. :)

I'm now 12 weeks and 4 days pregnant and feeling good. The fatigue is slowly fading and I'm not as queasy anymore when I get hungry. I was really fortunate that I didn't have morning sickness that bad, but I am sure ready to get some energy back again! I start the 2nd trimester on Sunday which scares me a bit...the time is flying by so quickly and we have so much to do still! I've now told all my teammates at work about the pregnancy and the rumors are already flying fast across the whole floor.

We did finally pick a theme for the nursery (frogs and ducks) and found a crib bedding set. I'm going to order it a little at a time with coupons friends have been giving me. Once the first peice arrives we'll use it to pick out paint colors for the nursery. :)

Here is the set we are getting:
Stay tuned for pics and an overview of our vacation with lots and lots of pictures. I think the most beautiful islands we saw (besides Puerto Rico) were St. Maarten and St. Lucia. I was least impressed with Barbados, but snorkeling with sea turtles there was incredible.

H