Peyton's 11th Birthday

Peyton's birthday was on Holy Thursday this year, so we had a few of his friends over on Good Friday since they were off of school. He wanted to take a few friends to Puttshack. It was packed, but we still had a great time!

Happy Birthday sweet Peyton! We love you!

Spring Break 2024- Norwegian Cruise (Part 6)

 The last day of the cruise was an at sea day, so we soaked in the sunshine. The boys played basketball most of the day, while Caitie played with a friend at the pool. Patrick also gave the climbing wall a try. 

We got ready that night and went to the Beatles show. I thought it was a really great show. The kids had not heard much of the Beatles music. Michael and I were both surprised. Hopefully now they know a little bit more about the Beatles.

The next morning we got up early, went to breakfast and then got in the long line to depart the boat. We headed to Saratoga Springs for the day, which is a Disney Resort. Our room wasn't ready when we got there and it was a little cloudy, so we went to lunch in Disney Springs at Frontera Cocina. It was really delicious. We took the boat back to the resort and then swam at the pool for a few hours. Both Michael and I's phones died. but we did get one picture before they died. 

Our room wasn't ready until really late, so we pushed back our dinner reservation and then hustled back to Disney Springs for dinner at the Boathouse. 

Saratoga Springs is a sprawling resort with a couple of great pools. The kids especially liked that everyone was able to be in their own bed. Caitie had a pull down bed below the T.V. and Peyton's bed pulled down from the wall. 

We had such a great vacation! We were sad to come home!

Spring Break 2024- Norwegian Cruise: Dominican Republic (Part 5)

Our last port day was Amber Cove, Dominican Republic. We had a tough time deciding what to do in this port. The main attraction is the Damajagua waterfalls which are a set of 27 waterfalls that you slide down, jump into and float through. Unfortunately, the minimum age is 8 years old. There weren't any other excursions that we were excited about so we decided to do a beach day at one of the resorts close by. 

We arrived to a beautiful view! 

We took a car to the two most popular streets, umbrella street and pink street. On the way there the kids noticed that the houses were not like the houses where we are from. Conor quietly whispered to me in the cab "Mommy, all of their houses are broken." I think it was a good reminder for them to be thankful for the life that they are able to live. 

We arrived to the resort and there was a beautiful beach. It was a red flag so we couldn't swim, but the kids still had a great time playing in the sand.

They also had a great pool. We didn't go to the pool much, because it was just so hot.

Getting our passports stamped. This is their second country.

Beautiful sunset over the water

Michael and I had a little date night and the kids watched a movie in the room. 

It was a fun day!

Spring Break 2024- Norwegian Cruise: Virgin Island National Park (Part 4)

On our fifth day on the ship we went to St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands. This was our least amount of time in any of the ports. We docked at 6am and departed at 2pm, so it was really odd times. We knew we wanted to go to St. John to explore the National Park, so we booked Nate's Custom Charters to pick us up at the port and then take us on a private tour of the National Park. We arrived just before sunrise.  

Off the ship and ready to explore

Ivan picked us up and the roads were extremely curvy. Caitie felt really sick on the way there. Once she got in the boat she was all good! It was really cloudy and a little cool since it was still so early in the morning. 

Brendan was our captain and he was hysterical. We laughed the whole day at his jokes. He mentioned that normally he would take people to cinnamon bay or maho bay, but there have been storms recently and the snorkeling wouldn't be good in those spots. So instead we headed to Salt Pond. It was gorgeous!

The boys got out to snorkel and Caitie and I headed towards the beach. The boys all had turtles swim up right next to them. It was so neat! 

Caitie was a little grumpy because it was so cold, so she spent the first half of the time whimpering.  She perked up once we got back on the boat and got a snack!

We passed by all the volcanic rock. It was all so pretty!

We went to another spot to snorkel and the boys saw so many fish! It was still pretty cold outside, so I stayed in the boat for this one and enjoyed the freshly made painkillers that the captain made for us. 

There were also a good amount of turtles at this spot. I captured one of them coming up for air!

We went to Christmas cove for our last snorkeling spot. We saw tons of starfish and a sunken ship. The sun finally came out and it felt great outside. 

We had the best time on the boat. It was everyone's favorite day of the cruise. St. John is gorgeous and I would love to go back and spend some more time there. This was also our 16th National Park as a family. 

We headed back to the boat and all wished we had more time to explore there. 

We grabbed some lunch and then spent the rest of the afternoon at the pool. 

We caught a sunset before dinner. Michael and I had reservations for the steakhouse, but decided to cancel and eat in the buffet with the kids. It was an amazing day!

Next up is the Dominican Republic!