We Be Cruisin'

(Thanks to Don and Ada for sharing this, and other photos with us!)

Ken and I serve as ordinance workers in the St. George temple.  His brother, Don and his wife, Ada, serve in the temple presidency.  Twice a year, the temple closes for deep cleaning.  As the March closure approached, we decided we wanted to go on a cruise.  So the four of us signed up for a cruise to the ABC islands in the Caribbean:  Aruba, Bonaire, and Curacao.  We had a wonderful time!

  We traveled all day on Thursday, March 15th to get to Ft. Lauderdale, then left from there the next day on an 8-day cruise.  We got home late the night of the 24th.

Friday, March 16th Ft. Lauderdale departure day
We took the early shuttle from the hotel to the ship.

So excited!

We waited and visited in the VIP lounge for a couple of hours until they let us on the ship.

It was Ken's birthday!  What a great way to celebrate!  Our cabin door was decorated when we arrived.

Our first lunch on the ship.  We had THE MOST DELICIOUS salmon.  It was foreshadowing of all the delicious food ahead!

That evening, they presented Ken with a delicious cake and, of course sang to him. " Happy biiiiirrrrtday, happy biiiiiirrrrrrtday!"

Ah!  Ken's all-time favorite dessert- crème brulee was on the anytime menu.  He ordered it most nights.

Some of our dinner foods.  That prime rib was still mooing!  

This steel drum player was amazing.  He played in the main lobby most evenings and gathered quite a crowd.

Ready for the opening show.

Saturday, March 17th At Sea

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Saturday was a day at sea.  Ken and I spent a lot of the day on deck 7.  We would read for awhile and then walk around the deck to enjoy the beautiful day and get exercise.  Perfect and relaxing!

I read the journal of my great-grandfather, Isaac Fox during this trip.  It was the journal he kept while serving a mission in Hawaii. (Ken has since read it as well.)

I didn't want to bring the big hard-bound journal, so I took pictures of the pages and read from my phone.,

Our view as we read.  The ocean is so beautiful!

Pretty good selfie skills!

That evening was our first formal night.

Saturday night's foods.  The bottom right-hand corner shows the picture of a delicious chocolate dessert.  Several times on the menu during the week was a special chocolate dessert.  This one was a lemon (much like what is in lemon meringue pie) cream with chocolate.  Sounds weird, but it was delicious!

We ended the day watching "The Greatest Showman" under the stars out on deck16.

The Greatest Showman

Sunday, March 18th  At Sea
We were at sea on Sunday, so held our own church service up on the highest deck in the disco lounge!  Disco lounges aren't too busy during the day, and we had it pretty much to ourselves.  We each shared something we had learned or studied lately.  It was a very sweet meeting.

Ken sharing

Don sharing

Ada

Kay (really bad hair day)

Our view from "church."

Ken honed the skill of selfie-taking on our mission.  I love this one.

It was always fun to go check out what was going to be on the menu for tonight!

Dinner that night

The show

Monday, March 19th Bonaire
Our first stop was Bonaire.

Right off the ship, Ken and Don found some birds- parakeets- to key down and photograph.

Our first stop was a place called 1,000 steps-  I guess because there were so many steps down to the sea.  They birded.  I waited.

I was trying to capture the beautiful turquoise water color, but it just isn't the same in pictures.

Don got a great picture of this sea turtle swimming in the sea.

This was our patient taxi driver.

A fence made of cactus.  I'm glad I didn't have to build it!  Ouch!

It was a surprisingly dry, arid climate.

Just seeing these pictures makes me itch.  There were thousands and thousands of little gnats that would swarm us and fill our car when we stopped.  We didn't think they were biting, but when we got back to the ship, I found my legs covered with little bites.  They itched for several days.  Bugs really, really love me.

We stopped at a brewery.  There were many beautiful birds in their garden.  I was interested in these trees.  They make maracas from the fruit after they dry.

Me waiting again.

They set out pans of white sugar to attract these beautiful birds- Saffron finches.

Yep!  Just plain, white sugar.

Our taxi driver brought cookies and donkeys know him and what he has.  They come right up to the car window for a treat.

We stopped at the Washington Slagbaai National Park.  Inside was this chart of birds you might see there.

It also had the skeleton of a whale that got impaled on a cruise ship one morning.

Ken in front of the whale skeleton

From the mouth view.  It made me want to sing, "Jonah! Jonah!"  My Keynote group sang a song about Jonah this season.

We stopped at this famous monument on the hill.

One of my favorite selfies from the week.

Beautiful view of the valley

It was Monday- preparation day for missionaries.  We were so happy when this group of four sisters came for a p-day picnic.  They had just replaced elders on the island with four sisters.  They were from Utah and Idaho.

After lunch and a nap, we went back out to do some shopping and exploring.  This cute group was dancing and entertaining.

Some of Monday night's foods.

Waiting for what I thought was the best show of the week.  He was a really funny . . . and clean, comedian.

Tuesday, March 20th Aruba

The beaches in Aruba are beautiful

The California Lighthouse

Coconuts

Ken made friends with the parrot

I like this selfie, too!

Our taxi driver was also a pastor of a local church.  We had good discussions with all of our taxi drivers.

We went to this amazing butterfly farm.  There were so many beautiful species of butterflies, flowers, and other wildlife.

The above two pictures probably best capture what it was like inside the butterfly farm.  There were beautiful butterflies of all colors and sizes flying all around.  It was very difficult, well really impossible to capture that with a camera.

What is the plural of chrysalis?  That's what these were.

See the butterfly on Don's head?

Somehow, they don't know how, this parakeet got inside the butterfly sanctuary.  They will either have to set him free or find him a mate.

My attempt at a selfie with Ada

We weren't interested in any of the shows that evening, so played this fun game instead.  It was called Codenames.  You should get it.  It was really fun.  Don and Ada brought it.  We played it several nights.

We played as couples on teams and each won about the same number of times through the week.

Wed, March 21st  Curacao

What they did (I'd had enough of birding):  Photos courtesy of Don

Flamingos

Emerald Hummingbird

Brown Pelicans and Cormorants

Bare-eyed pigeon

Blue-winged teal

Troupial

What I did:  Photos courtesy of me.

Hot stone massage

What we all did:

That stuffed trout (bottom left) was delicious.  Bottom right- another fancy chocolate trio.

Thursday, March 22nd  At Sea

Breakfast and Lunch at Sea.  That guy in the center was hilarious.  It was his job to sell fancy alcoholic drinks at breakfast.  Yes, breakfast!!!  He was outgoing and friendly and quite convincing, but we remained strong!  He was our waiter for this lunch.

Dinner :Bottom right is another one of those special chocolate desserts.  It was a pistachio chocolate bomb.  It was so delicious!  Yes, those are snails top center.  Yum!

2nd Formal Night (Thanks again Don and Ada for sharing)

Don and Ada had an appointment with a photographer that evening, so Ken and I went to the spa's hot tub.  We had the place to ourselves.  It was wonderful.

Friday, March 23rd  At Sea

I must not have taken pictures of this relaxing day at sea.

I don't know why I take pictures of the baked Alaska parade.  They never turn out.

Saturday, Sad Day

I took this picture when we were all packed up and ready to leave.  Sad day.  We flew out that afternoon.

It was a wonderful week!  Thanks Don and Ada!  We love you!