Family pictures

We were in need of an updated family picture! so glad we decided to do these kind of last minute! i think they turned out great and we are so excited little Payton is in them :)

jaron grew a leg in this picture ;)

if only we could get them both looking at the same time

im so excited to hang these on my wall!

those eyelashes? seriously why cant i have those?

this picture looks way less awkward then i felt taking it at the time haha

I love that even Ryker has his tongue out - such a Perks trait!

Yeah! we are slowly evening out the ratio between boys and girls

Our photographer ended up getting stung by a bee for this shot! turned out to be one of my favorite

this is my favorite background of the pictures we did unfortunately it was at the end and my kids were done.

We love some red vehicles i guess!... once again it s a perks thing

i am so blessed to have these two!!

SMORES popcorn!

It all started on a trip to micheals where i found these limited edition easy melt chocolate wafers in ....SMORES flavor! I was excited to try something out.

I decided on something easy I wanted the SMORES taste but during a fire ban that can be difficult haha. So I decided to make SMORES popcorn! Easypeasy 4 ingredients!

Here is the recipe :
½C kernels, popped
3½ cups Golden Grahams cereal
1 cup miniature marshmallows
 1½ cups SMORES or milk chocolate flavored melting chocolates, melted according to package instructions

Put your popcorn in a big bowl making sure to remove any unpopped kernels(your teeth will thank you later.)

Add graham crackers and mini marshmallows to the popcorn and mix. Then dump out on some wax paper into a thin layer.

Melt your wafers and spread on top of popcorn. wait for chocolate to harden , break apart , then enjoy ( and try not to eat the whole thing :P

day 5

Day 5 St Martens

Hard to get up today, woke up, boat swaying, felt like when you fall asleep in the car and wake up disorientated. Boat ported at 8am and the gang way opened at 8:15. The gangway level changes every port so just hit the gangway button in the elevator. We ate @ johnny rockets on the boardwalk. Diner style food. pancakes and cheese omelets were ok. Ham and cheese sandwhiches were good best to order 2 if you do go there. The hashbrown plate "the works" was probably the best. its complementary for breakfast only. We got off the ship and didnt have anything planned. its about a 15 min walk to downtown and easy to navigate or you can pay 7$ and take the water taxi.

weir to see christmas trees in tropical place

walking to the boardwalk

blakes mancrush of the week

We walked to the boardwalk and did some beach time. the water was cloudy as the beach was quite full.

 We lied in the sun and then walked around an collected my free charms We got free wifi from the candy store and called home on a wifi phonecall app.

 Ryker was asleep but Jaron said mama it made me miss him like crazy. We walked around some more being tourists looking @ souvenirs we then went to the greenhouse for lunch. it was really good and left us feeling full. i was so happy they had ice cold coke zero. (fitting my coke said "HAPPY" in spanish.

Jordan and Melissa had left to go on a jet ski but we felt we could do that @ home. they met us at lunch as we were leaving. We wanted to go to airport beach where the planes fly really close to the beach but didn't feel it was worth it to pay 19$ each way per person to take a taxi. There was a sight seeing tours and biking tours but we saw a segway tour and decided that would be fun. Our instructors name was Kevin he was so funny We had a blast it was 30 mins for 30$ or 60$ for 60 mins im glad we just did the half hour my legs were starting to get tired when we finished. He said we were the only ones that had followed his instructions all day and was going to buy us drinks. We said we didn't drink then asked what we did for fun, and we said.. rent segways haha. So he let us have 10 extra  minutes to rip around on the beach then went back up the boardwalk. it totally changed the trip instantly lightened the mood and we no longer felt like we wasted the day.

Go try the gelato on the board walk it was really good and the owner will let you try whatever flavor you want 6$ for 2 scoops 9$ for 3 scoops.

coconut and pineapple were really good

We then walked back to the port , I wanted to get braids in my hair but there was little time left before we were getting back on the boat so the lady did 3 tiny little braids in the side of my hair and charged me 3 dollars a braid, she didn't even braid down the whole strand.

the line to get back to the ship was crazy also just a comparison half our ship was as big as the other ship

pretty sure i could have done this for free haha

thought i should document my tan before it completely dissapeared

Got a little bit more shopping down then back on the boat. we are at my time dining. we had Rigor as a waiter again. He was fun to joke around with. The rib pasta was no good. The chicken cordon blue was good but dry and all there was was cranberry sauce. The parfait was plain but the pistachio icecream was good so the jafa cake We went to the casino to play penny slots. Blake lost his 5$ but i gained 4$ so we did pretty good for our first try. Boys went to see Godzilla 3D Becky and I went to the arcade and played games then i headed to bed.

day 4 - st thomas

we started the day our by ordering breakfast to our room. it was pretty decent and let us save time sleeping in and packing our stuff. The food was similar to what you get at the windjammer, you just put what you want on the cards and hang them on your door the night before at what time you want it delivered the next morning.

we docked @10 am , went into st thomas and did some shopping.


















 I went to a diamond presentation and received coupons and VIP cards. There were about 13 different diamond international stores there. I got a free charm bracelet and different charms at the different stores. I found a gorgeous regularily 800$ tanzanite ring circled by diamonds. I ended up paying about 1/4 of the price, plus a free 250$ tanzanite necklace and free tanzanite stud earrings. Blake spoiled me , i think the ring is gorgeous!

 i got them to send it back to the ship so i could pick it up there and not carry it around with me all day. We took a truck taxi downtown which was 8$ each person 1 way.

super sketchy- no seatbelts

 Everything is super expensive( as it is a tourist location) We ate really good lunch at Jens Dinner. Jerk chicken wrap and virgin drinks. They auto charge you 18% gratuity it was quite an expensivw lunch.

grilled plantains - not as good as i was hoping

ommpa-loompa-doopity-doo

not used to driving on the other side of the road. they all drive like crazos over there

we could't get Todd out of the water 

we wanted to go to some of the ship advertised beaches but it was 10$ one way and 9$ back each person and there was 6 cruise chips docked that day. We talked to a taxi driver who mentioned a close by beach ( Emerald beach) it had been raining and cloudy all day and didn't think we should waste money when we probably wouldn't get great snorkeling in anyways. we had bought some snorkeling gear at home and decided we would try it out despite the clouds.we saw some fish, starfish little baby shark and someone saw a stingray.

Emerald beach

it was freezing as the sun wasn't out 

 We snorkeled until it was getting dark then got back on the ship. Customs took away my moms sand she wanted and beckys seashells (but not mine) haha We showered, then rode the carisal.

 Then went to see if I won anything in the draws, but i didn't haha. we ate at silk again. didn't make a previous reservation but were sweet to the hostess and ended up sitting at the VIP table with really high backed chairs.

this is what teh chairs looked like

 it was nice to talk to other people as we usually just sit at our own table. I then went to see who won the other draw for the VIP cards from the seminar. out of the 300 cards 5 people showed up and there were 4 prizes, i thought i would have it for sure. I was the only name not pickeed thats how bad of luck i have haha. I went back to dinner and finished. I had something called chogitioni pasta, it was good but there were only 4 shells very small. we ordered lamb and todd had steak both were impressed. The merigue, praline and chocolate cake and cream for desserts. im not a fan of hard merigue but quite enjoyed the praline dessert.  then headed to the headliner show in the opal theatre. we had missed the aqua show we had reserved seats for (but had previously watched it from our balcony) We didn't know the details of the show, His name was Terry he sang and had a little comedy. He sang all different genres and the band was amazing. We tried doing some penny slots thinking we could use our shipcard like a creditcard like everywhere else but you had to pre load or have cash. we went to Sorentos on deck 5 for late night pizza. i highly recommend the California pizza. avacados and tomatoes were really good. we are hoping for better weather tomorrow to get some clear water snorkeling in. We didn't book any excurtions. Its really humid and my hair is in a constant frizz fest, but my dry skin is loving all the extra moisture. They are big on hand santizer in the ship and i am a germiphobe but the alcohol in the handsantizer is destroying my hands( i have excema on my hands and it burns) i recommend bringing your own hand santizer if you have sensitive skin. The boat is abnormally rocky tonight i couldn't imagine how bad it would be on a smaller boat. I also can't believe how big this boat is. Also if you can take the stairs. i almost always beat blake even walking up the stairs. Try Vanilla barqs and peach sprite if you get the soda package.