St. Maarten

After a few days at sea we were excited to get back on ground. We spent our first day at port in St. Mararten. A hurricane came through a week before, but we didn't see too much damage on the tourist part of the island. My brother Jeff rented a motorcycle for  the day and found many boats ruined and in the rocks. Kate had a fever the night before, so we headed out to find a pharmacy to get medication in case we needed it later. We walked and walked and walked, we finally found a pharmacy, ironically they had one right by where the cruise ships unload. We were able to see a lot of the city from walking around. It was hot! Boy do I miss that weather!  After we walked we jumped right in the ocean. This was Kate's first time in the ocean and she loved the warm water and sand. 

                     

Our daughter is a little fishy!

Cruising

I don't think I can find the words to express how much fun we had on our cruise to the Caribbean. Kate loved always having a buddy to play with, and getting to know her cousins better.I also enjoyed all the time we were able spend with family.  I think my favorite days were the days we had at sea. We were able to spend the most time in the pool those days which meant more cousin time, more trips to the buffet, and just more time relaxing.

I loved the ship that we cruised on! They had a lot of pools with only a few inches of water that were perfect for Kate to splash and run around with her cousins. They also had showers on deck by the pool that proved to provide the most entertainment. The kids loved running in the shower area, and having us blast them with water every now and then. 

 Another highlight of the trip was the buffet. This was an Italian cruise ship and so the food was also Italian. We always enjoyed the best pizza, and pasta, and gelato outside of Italy. Kate was the best eater on the trip.

The older kids were entertained with the kids club area. They would come to the nightly shows dressed up. This nights theme was smurfs. The shows were excellent and always appropriate for kids, Kate even became pre-show entertainment for everyone one of the nights.

My favorite spot to eat was on the back of the ship at the buffet, we were able to enjoy a beautiful view of the ocean. 

We loved our waiters at dinner every night.

Kate wanted to take some glamour shots, so we obliged. 

Kate loved sitting on her perch every night during the shows. 

My Mom and Dad at one of the dinners

No, Joe and I do not always wear matching outfits, just tonight apparently

Welcome to Miami!

We were lucky enough to go on a family trip October 18-25 with the Richards side of my family. This was no small task...My parents organized a trip for all 9 of their grandchildren, and 12 adults. We went on a luxurious cruise out of Miami to Saint Maartan, Puerto Rico and the

 Grand Turk island for 7 days! It was pure heaven. 

Kate is the only one out to the 9 grandchildren that doesn't live in Salt Lake. All those little ones are best friends, so I was so excited for her to get to know her cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents better. She loved it and I knew she was so sad when we got home, and really missed having all the others around.  We would say her cousins names and she would look for them in our house. Sad...

Our journey started late on a Friday night where we all jumped on a red eye flight, and arrived in Miami at 6 in the morning. Our cruise didn't leave until that evening so we were able to spend most of the day in Miami exploring. (Yes we did blast "Miami" by Will Smith a lot before leaving!)

I didn't sleep at all on the red-eye, maybe I was too excited about the cruise, maybe I had a little bundle of joy on my lap. I think I look pretty good in this picture for not having any sleep.

When we arrived at the airport we all decided to take the metro instead of jumping in a cab and going to the port. It was an adventure to pack all of us around. We had lots of strollers, roller-board suitcases, and lots of kids. The babies all looked so tired, but were such good troops.  

The Richards circus, buying tickets for the Metro

I like that Kate could "kick it" on the metro

 I'm sad we didn't get more pictures in Miami, I don't know what we were thinking. Kate enjoyed exploring, I enjoyed shopping, and I'm not sure what Joe enjoyed. The funny thing is I bought Kate the cutest winter coat at the Gap in Miami for cheap. I never would have thought that I would be doing my winter shopping in Miami, but I did.

The weather in Miami was amazing! I could have partied all night till the break of dawn there.

 We sailed away on the MSC Divina pictured below. It is an Italian cruise ship, so as you can imagine we ate well on the trip. (6 lbs for me, 9 lbs for Joe ) I would highly recommend this ship to anyone. I hope I can get back on it again some day.

More pictures to come!

Yellowstone

In August, while my brother Jeff was in town, we took the opportunity to go up and explore Yellowstone. We live only a few hours away from Yellowstone and I thought 

that after living here for 2 years we should finally go visit it. 

 

Jeff's dogs Diesel and Zoe were able to join our adventure.

Kate and I were waiting for Jeff to tube down this river.

Jeff was the only one brave enough in our group to go tubing.
This was at a place in the park where it is allowed, apparently a hot spring was above, so the water was warm.

Jeff can manage to make my heart still skip a beat, he did it by jumping with Kate over a guard rail to
capture this picture. It is a good thing she loves her Uncle Jeff.

This was at the Paint Pots.  It was one of my favorite spots in the park.

Kate was bored by "Old Faithful" just like the rest of us, and decided to strike this pose instead. 

View of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone National Park from Lower Falls

"Old Faithful"

We hope to go again with you next year Jeff!