Life on the Hill: Cruise 2010

I've almost recovered...ALMOST! We've only been on 2 cruises, but for sure, THIS was our best! The Carnival Dream ship was so much nicer than the Carnival Triumph. It was newer and to me, it made all the difference. There also seemed to be a better selection of food. We did "anytime dining" on this cruise and it worked out better than I had thought. We only had to wait once for a table and it was only for a few minutes. We got to eat whenever we were ready and this is really good when you have 2 hungry kids!!

Anna had cheerleader tryouts on Friday afternoon (she made it, by the way), so we left after the results were announced and we finished our last minute packing..about 1am.We left from Memphis at 6:10 am on Saturday. I'm not sure if we'll tackle that again the next time!! When we finally got on the boat that afternoon we all crashed in our room and didn't even see our ship leave the port!!

Our first day on the ship was at sea, which was perfect for my crew!

Our first port was in Cozumel, Mexico. We didn't have an excursion planned for this day and I wish we had. There wasn't a whole lot to do, other than shop.

We had lunch at Pancho's Backyard...authentic Mexican...yummmm.

I just loved the inside of this restaurant.

This was our view from the patio while we ate

Our second port was Isla Roatan, Honduras. Our excursion this day could not have been better. We had a short boat trip to Maya Key, which was a private island and a refuge for abandoned and abused animals. We got to see sharks, monkeys, parrots, jaguar, etc. Jake was truly in heaven! Anna made quick friends with George, the monkey....

The kids got there first chance to snorkel. I couldn't believe how much they loved it! They had a guide that was very helpful and showed them where to find the coolest fish!!

The guide is a little dark, but you get the idea!!

Here they are snorkeling

And here are a few of the animals that were on the island..

The next port was in Belize. We had to get a wake up call at 6 am for this excursion!! Ugh, on vacation!!! Anyway, it was well worth it! The ship had to anchor away from the town, so we had to boat in to Belize. From there, we took a boat down/up the Sibun River for about 8 miles. This was really cool, because we got to see a few crocodiles. Here is one that I got to snap a picture of....

Amazingly, our guide said that they have never had a single report of a crocodile attack. We saw 5 or 6 within the first 3 miles on the river.

Once we made it to our destination, we loaded up in Land Rovers to head to the jungle!

This was an adventure!!!

We road for about 30 or 45 minutes until we got to this area....

We ate lunch in that thatch-roof building. We had what they call, "Sunday Lunch", which is barbecued chicken, rice and beans, slaw, and a banana. I don't know if we were all really hungry or what, but it was delicious.

We visited a cave there that was pretty awesome.

Here are Anna, Joe, and Jake showing off their fashionable headlamps!!

From there, we took a bus ride back to Belize City. It was a fun day.

The last port was Costa Maya, Mexico.

Jake had recently studied about the Mayan's, so he was really excited about this trip!! We had a wonderful guide for this tour, as well, so it was educational AND fun!