Colorado 2014

This year my school district had a short Fall Break at the first of October, so we decided to take a trip out west to Colorado. Even though we would miss him terribly, we left Will with Grandma and Grandpa. We new that he wasn't quite ready for this vacation and would be much happier being spoiled by grandparents.

We flew from Chattanooga to Denver, and Riley was so excited. I have no idea why I let her have some of my coffee.

I had packed meticulously for Riley, and naturally I forgot to pack the jacket I bought just for this trip. On the first day, our first stop was to buy a new jacket for me. We then drove to Garden of the Gods, where we had the best time. We spent the entire day hiking around all of the rock formations. Riley thought David was the absolute best rock climber ever. I had to show off my "flatlander" skills.

Our next stop was to Pike's Peak, where it was SO COLD! We were expecting it to be cold, but we were not expecting all of the snow. In true Riley form, she made a friend on the train ride with a little girl about her age. We weren't able to go all the way to the top, but we did get to get out of the train and play in the snow.

Our next stop was to Vail, which absolutely took our breath away. It was such a beautiful town. The trip there from Colorado Springs was long, and by the time we got to the hotel we were planning to stay in, we were tired and grumpy. Unfortunately, the hotel was full, and we had to look for somewhere else to stay. David stopped at the Ritz Carlton and got us an amazing hotel room. It was certainly worth the wait.

We spent our last days exploring the town of Vail. On our way home we were snowed in for a little while, because the pass was closed. I can think of much worse places to be snowed in than Vail, though.

Key Biscayne 2014

For David's 40th birthday, we decided to take a quick trip to Key Biscayne. We stayed at the Ritz Carlton (perk of David's traveling insurance job) for the weekend. We took an incredibly long taxi ride from the air port to Key Biscayne. 

Most of our time was spent visiting with another couple at the pool, but we did use the resort bicycles to ride to the light house. It was a nice ride, and I managed to avoid steering into traffic. However, the smell at the light house was absolutely putrid. The lighthouse was locked, so we didn't climb it, which was fine with me.

We saw enormous lizards or iguanas. I'm not quite sure what they were, but they were huge!

We also drove a golf cart around the island, where we saw the house that the move Scarface was filmed in. I've never seen the movie, but apparently it's a big deal. There is definitely a lot of wealth on the island. While it was nice, I was excited to get back home to the babies. 

Royal Caribbean 2014

Despite the fact that we loved our Norwegian cruise, we decided to try Royal Caribbean for our next cruise adventure. We sailed on the Allure, which at the time was the largest cruise ship. We sailed out of Ft. Lauderdale, which is always a bit outside my comfort zone. It's a bit more fast paced and upscale than what I'm used to. 

We were extremely impressed with our stateroom, which was a Crown Loft Suite. The living area is downstairs, and the bedroom and bathroom are upstairs. The absolute best part of the room was the huge, two story window with a view of the water. It was a bit of an upgrade from the porthole in our last cruise.

This was our first big vacation without the kids, so we were anxious for some rest and relaxation. We did not utilize the concierge lounge at all...probably because we didn't know much about it.

Our first stop was in Nassau, Bahamas. We walked to the British Royal Hilton, which was where we honeymooned 11 years earlier. Everything looked the same, and it was funny to see how the memories started flooding back.

David made friends with Mrs. Low at the straw market. We bought Will a straw hat and Riley a straw purse. David loved walking around the straw market, while I couldn't wait to get out of there. 

Keno was our taxi driver, but he was really more of a tour guide than taxi driver. He was proud of his home, and we enjoyed getting to know him and having him show us around Nassau.

We went down Queen Victoria's 65 steps, which was something we had also done on our honeymoon. I feel like I learned much more about them with Keno.

We followed Nassau with two not so relaxing days at sea. David and I signed up for the FloRider, which is a surfing simulation. Our group class was somewhat early in the morning, so the water was freezing! After a little demonstration, it was our turn. We were both able to stand upright for a few seconds, but we both ended up falling. I only took one turn, because it was just too cold for me. I also felt a little stressed with having everyone watching. 

We're not sure if it was a result of the FloRider or not, but as David was trying to catch an elevator later that day, he threw his back out. Over the years, I've seen this happen more than once, but this was probably the worst I've seen his back get. He was complete crooked. As you may or may not know, David is the one who takes pictures, or reminds me to take a picture. Since he was out of commission, our number of photographs from the rest of the cruise were greatly reduced.

Our next stop was St. Thomas. To be honest, we weren't that impressed. However, after later experiences it's now our favorite place in the Caribbean. I can still see the pain in David's face in this picture. He was holding himself up on the rail. We had booked a snorkeling excursion through Royal Caribbean. We rode a bus for what seemed like the longest time. We were on the same bus and tour as a high school group. Apparently the students discovered they could easily access alcohol on the island, and they were loud to say the least. One of the boys accidentally dropped his key card out the window of the bus as we traveled. I snorkeled for a little while, and the water was beautiful. David tried, but he was in too much pain to enjoy anything.

After St. Thomas, our next port was St. Maarten, which we loved. It was such a beautiful port. We booked another excursion through Royal Caribbean called the Decadent Day at Sea. Our small group went to a villa that provided minimal beach access and a pool. They also served a delicious lunch and were very hospitable. David hurt worse than ever, but he tried so hard to make it fun for me. He was able to make his back feel a little better by floating on a raft in the pool and "pain killers". By the end of the excursion, he wasn't feeling much of anything.  He did greatly enjoy the calypso music as we headed back to the ship, and I wasn't exactly feeling it that afternoon. He still teases me about not dancing with him at the port.

               

I'm not exactly an adventurous eater (understatement) and David hurt too bad to completely enjoy his meals on the cruise. We were a little surprised at how casual the dining room was, and while the food was good-we weren't blown away. We ended up dining in the speciality restaurants most nights, which cost a little extra. On the last day at sea, we booked The Chef's Table. The guests we dined with were hilarious, which completely overshadowed the actual food experience. We had the best time listening to Kim and crew. That was probably the highlight of our trip.

The ship itself was nice, and we spent a lot of time in Central Park. We did miss a lot of the ship, so there was plenty we didn't see. We tried the show Chicago, but we only made it a few minutes into the show. I was so thankful when David asked if I wanted to sneak out, because I was dreading sitting there for two hours. We sneaked out of the comedy show too. Every time we walked past the splash pool, we missed the kids so bad. We couldn't wait to see them and tell them all about the cruise.

Our only real complaint was that we constantly felt like we were being nickled and dimed. Every time we turned around, someone was trying to sell us something. That's a small price to pay though, for a wonderful week at sea.