Day 4 of Blalock Family Cruise - JAMAICA

Jamaica me crazy!  We docked in Ochos Rios today and spent the day exploring the touristy spots.  Mama Jean was content staying on the ship reading her Kindle and insisted that we go without her.  

Have I mentioned how wonderful it is to have so much uninterrupted time with my fiance?  I love the love of my life!!

Holland America's MS Ryndam.  We're considering ditching our original East Coast Road trip for a cruise.  We figure crusing will be a lot more relaxing, more economical and a lot of fun.  Looks like we're headed in that direction.  Where to?

We took a bit of a risk and hired a local named Mr. Cool to be our chaueffer for the day.  Mr. Cool drove us around town and waited for us while we did our excursions.  We drove through the lucsious greens where they filmed the movie Fern Gully and then headed to Dunn River Falls.  My friend Olivia and I climbed them when we vacationed together a few years ago.

Perhaps we could just tie the knot right here?

A scene from Tom Cruise's movie Cockail was filmed here.

Dunn's River Falls is one of the very few waterfalls in the world that empties right into the ocean.  Very cool to see.

The Blalocks climbed the falls.  Timothy and I elected to be stuff holders.  Since I've climbed the falls and Timothy preferred to watch and take photos it worked out great.

Tourists forms a human chain and are guided by the blue shirted guides to the top of the falls.

They made it almost to the top.  But the warm towels and dry clothes were calling there names, so they opted out of going to the tip top.

LOVE this pic of me and my man.  Goofy and dorky, just like us!

Mr. Cool and his crew

We checked out the Jamaican Bobsleds... but were too cheap to experience them for ourselves.  The paranoid side of me pictured some freak accident occuring and us being stuck in Ocho Rios (not somewhere I would want to be stuck) and having to have sub par medical interventions.  I was a bit relieved when we heard the astronomically priced attraction.

Mr. Cool took us to a restaurant for some Jamaican Jerk and then we strolled around town for a bit before returning to the ship.

Jamaica wasn't our favorite port.  Perhaps it's because Ocho Rios was packed with tourists and this made the locals extra ambitious to bombard us with their requests to buy their crap.  Or because there was an unsettling feeling of whether or not it was safe.  I'm not sure.  We won't write off Jamaica completely, but we're not planning on making a trip back to Ocho Rios anytime soon.

Up tomorrow?  GRAND CAYMAN!!!

Day 3 of Blalock Family Cruise - AT SEA

We had a day at sea today.  Tomorrow morning we will be docked in Ochos Rios, Jamaica!

 

We spent most of the day lounging around.  I'm reading House Rules by Jodi Picoult (one of my favorite authors) and Timothy is reading This Momentary Marriage: The Parable of Permanency by John Piper (one of his favorite authors).  Our Kindles are being put to good use on this trip.  Thanks, for the awesome Christmas present, my Sweet T.! :)

One of the benefits of Holland America is that most of its cruisers are older.  And I mean over 70.  This means that the pools are never crowded, most are retired to their cabins by 9PM, and it's never hard to get a seat for any late night activities.  Tonight we discovered a piano bar with an awesome entertainer.  Barry from Barry From Boston is amazing.  Tonight he played Elton John hits and we had a fun date night sitting at the piano and singing right along.  We were the youngest, by at least two decades!

TJ and Uncle Bo

Relaxing in the bubbly

Jamaica bound!

Day 2 of Blalock Family Cruise - KEY WEST, FLORIDA

Good morning...almost Good afternoon!  Timothy slept until 10:30AM.  This is unheard of.  He may have even slept longer if he didn't receive my wake up call.  I was wondering why I hadn't heard from him yet (he's one of those "I only need 4 or 5 hours of sleep" types) and thought for sure he had already been to breakfast.  Nope!!!  His inside cabin created the perfect sleeping cave.  And with no light whatsoever and a little jet lag, Timothy stayed in dreamland wayyyyyy past his norm! 

Bright eyed and bushy tailed.  And what is that I spy?  Is that the start of a goatee on Timothy??  I'm liking it.

TJ's was chilling on his top bunk when we came to get him to disembark.  

Uncle Bo LOVES his niece and nephew.

We were all wishing there was some way we could tour Key West while riding instead of walking...

...and then we saw the trolley's.  We hopped on and off all afternoon.

The butterfly conservatory made me think of my sister in law Julie.  She loves all things butterflies.

First Blalock Family Photo

The happy couple.  Spending time three days in a row??? This is a record.  :)

Tim and his mama

Our Junior Bridesmaid

In front of the southern most part of the USA.  Care to swim on over to Cuba?  A mere 90 miles.  We could see it off in the distance.

Fresh coconut juice.

St. Paul's Cathedral was beautiful.  I loved all of the architecture in Key West.  In fact we liked a lot about Key West.  That's the beauty of a cruise.  You can check out different spots for a day and then decide if they are worthy of a return trip.  We'd love to vacation a week in Key West.  A very fun city.  With a beach!!

We took a dip in the pool after we were aboard.  Dinner was in The Lido.  It's a casual dining serve yourself buffet.  We like it because you are in and out of their quick, there is a large selection, and no set time.  The flexibility is nice and leaves lots of time to enjoy the rest of the ship.  We went to a show tonight.  The entertainment is impressive.

Tomorrow is a day at sea.  What to do?  What to do?  Loving this vacation!

Day 1 of Blalock Family Cruise

The streak has been broken.  It's been circa three years since Timothy Mitchell Blalock has taken a vacation.  Tonight, we boarded a jet plane on a red eye flight to Tampa.  Tomorrow morning will be the rest of the Blalock Bunch for a Caribbean Cruise!!

Oh yeah.  Paul Frank eye mask, a backwards hat and neck pillows.  We were so ready to catch some zzzzzz's.  But we didn't.  Not much.

Mrs. Blalock raised this boy right. 

But handling all of the bags?  That's a bit over the top.  (But don't think that I dared try to take anything off of his hands :) )

Two "lip" photos in one post?  We were a bit delirious by this point.  (But obviously didn't pass up a self portrait opportunity).

Meet the rest of Timothy's family.  His brother Tom, sister-in-law Kathy, Katie, TJ and Mama Blalock.  They road tripped from Georgia and were waiting for us at the airport.  Very nice.

TJ and Katie.  Ready to board the ship.

Our ship was awesome.  The Holland America Ryndam.

After getting settled into our room, the mandatory lifeboat drill (but new policy says you don't have to actually wear your life jacket, SCORE) the first of many meals on board, we chilled pool side.  I walked the ship for a bit (wedding dress, wedding dress, wedding dress) while the others played chess, read kindles and other family fun.

Uncle Bo and TJ play slap while Grandmama looks on.  I know she is thrilled to have her family close by for an entire week.  I am so grateful to get to tag along.  It's going to be a great week!!!