summer catch up part 3...the cruise

While Maddox was chillin' in Texas, we were on a Royal Caribbean cruise to the eastern Caribbean. Ports of call - the Bahamas, St. Thomas and St. Maarten. We had a room with a balcony which was awesome. I loved sitting out on that deck and watching the waves. We had an awesome table for dinner. The first night we were stuck way in the back corner of a back room. But we loved the people we sat with. The next night we got a note saying our seating arrangement had changed and we had a new table number. Let me tell you that I talked to everyone I could to make sure we got to sit with the same people. We were sure we wouldn't get lucky twice. Funny thing is all of them were making sure they didn't get changed either. Turns out we had the same people, they just moved us to the table right next to the captain's table. I guess they thought they couldn't put such cool people so far in the back. :)

These are our dinner friends - from the left, Raul and Lisa, some weirdos in the middle, and Brad and Kris on the right. We had so much fun, ordered SO MUCH food, and even gave the waiters a run for their money a few nights.

We always went to the after dinner shows with our new friends. It was a lot of fun. One night we ended up in the karaoke show. Caisson sang some Boys II Men....it was a tear jerker....so hard to say goodbye....

And the girls did an amazing rendition of the Dixie Chicks "Goodbye Earl". We brought down the house. Well, we had a few people clapping at least.

Our first port of call - Coco Cay, Bahamas. And yes, I typed that right. It is Cay not bay. I have to say I was disappointed in this because all it was was some land that Royal Caribbean bought, shipped in some sand, chairs and water sports, and threw in an almost authentic market. We had a great day relaxing, reading our books, trying to find all the fish everyone was raving about (we did see a few, but we figured out we are snorkel/dive snobs after being at Saba) and eating quite a bit of food. I just really like to explore new islands, not fake ones. So on we go...

To St. Thomas. We had planned a BOSS excursion and it just so happened Raul and Lisa had planned the same one. BOSS stands for Breathing Observation Submersible Scooter. You can go to this website to see more about it if you want: http://www.bossusvi.com/default.aspx?name=ourtours
It was so much fun. The water was so clear and we were able to just scoot around under water for about 30 minutes.

From the left: Lisa, Raul, Caisson and Tiff

It was funny how small our heads looked inside the bubble.

Raul scootin' along...

This gives you an idea of how clear the water was. It was beautiful.

We had a beautiful ride back to the dock. I have missed this view.

Next up: St. Maarten. Despite our best efforts to go back to Saba, we were not able to find anyone who could get us back in time for the all aboard at 4:30. So we rented a 4 wheeler and went to all our old favorite spots on St. Maarten.

If you look closely in the background, just to the left of the side of the mountain, you will see the faint outline of Saba. This is as close as we got. We were so sad to be so close, be able to look at it, but not be there. We will try again someday.

This was one of our favorite beaches on St. Maarten - Orient Bay. It is beautiful, has lots of water sports, oh and our favorite sport, see how many nude people you can catch in your pictures. We kept it clean for you this time, although we did see a lot more than we wanted to of some people.

No trip to St. Maarten would be complete without a stop at the AMAZING pastry shops, or boulangerie as they say in French. It was the greatest thing when we figured out what that word on all the signs meant. Oh they are sooooooo good! My favorites - a chocolate croissant

and the fruit tarts.

This time we opted for the strawberry. YUMMY!

Oh and don't forget the Ting. This drink is so good I wish we had it in the U.S. It is a grapefruit drink, so coming from a girl who does not like to eat grapefruit, you know it is good!

The building with the red roof is one of the hotels we stayed in on one of our vacations to St. Maarten back in the day. Fun times.

We also went back to the infamous airport runway to experience the jets landing one more time. We saw it on Ripley's one time and thought we might need proof that we had done it before, so this time we took pictures and video. Surely one day they will block this off before someone gets sandblasted!

One of our favorite trees from Saba. (This is still on St. Maarten, but they were everywhere on Saba and so pretty when they were all in bloom.)

Up next...fun times in The Lone Star State...see you soon.

Summer catch up part 2

So since we last left off with Maddox at the beach.....

We move on to Spoof Night - this is where the graduating residents get a chance to make fun of all the attendings, then the attendings return the favor. It was hilarious, and I am sure even funnier for those who actually got all the inside jokes. This is Caisson in the wig pretending to be one of his attending physicians.
Then we had GRADUATION!!!!! I can't express how exciting this night was. Caisson has worked so long and so hard for this day. I am so proud of him and all that he has accomplished since the day he started college and I couldn't even get him out to get a cup of coffee with me because he was always studying. It has been a long hard road, but he has hurdled every obstacle and tackled every problem like a champion. Now we can start a more normal life! No more 36 hour call at the hospital, no more 5 year anniversary dinners in the hospital cafeteria...in fact NO MORE HOSPITAL! (Unless one of us is a patient of course)
The Hogue family was here to celebrate with us. It was so good to have them here to share in this VERY SPECIAL DAY!
The most valuable (in Hard Work and COST) papers we have ever held.
Hanging out on Shem Creek with the Hogues watching the dolphins play in front of the boats. I do love it here.
Then....we bought a house. It is a Charleston style home which I love, because then I feel better about the siding. This Texas girl just misses her brick homes. They are almost non-existant around here. We do love our new house and I am trying to pace myself with all the projects I want to do with it. When I get some decorating finished I will post pics of the inside. In July, Maddox got to have his first vacation without Mom and Dad. We went on a cruise (pics of that on the next post) and he stayed with my Mom and Dad - or as he will call them, Papa and Cece. First stop - the Smith Family Reunion. I have to say I am jealous that he got to go to this and I didn't. Maybe next year we can both go. We just couldn't figure out with everything else happening this summer how I could make that too. So he got to spend some quality time with all my extended family. There are rumors he never quit moving, spent a lot of time rolling around in the stroller, and eating all kinds of food I can never get him to touch. Here he is spending some quality time with Uncle Bud (Garrett). Sharing a chair and some tea with Presley. How cute are they? I wonder how much of this ended up in his mouth and how much was on them! By the time we got back to SC, drinking out of the "Big Boy" glass had become one of his favorite things. Well, we are about to go to the park with our new friend from down the street, so I better go get ready. There are oh so many more pics to come, so stay tuned. Cruise, wedding, 60th birthday, fun with cousins, good mexican food with the Hogues.........