Happy New Year!

Well if you can believe it, we are into a new year: 2013!

December was as usual a whirlwind.  I am a little sad to see the "Christmas month" end, but at the same time excited for what the coming year may hold.

I do love December!  Thanks to Kara our youngest (a teenager in less than 3 months), we had a beautifully decorated house.  She reminds us to decorate, to cook yummy food and take it to the neighbors and teachers, and to draw names amongst each other for Secret Santa.  I honestly don't know if all that would have happened without her enthusiasm!

This year our family Christmas present was a cruise.  We'll take any excuse for a vacation, I suppose, but this really is the last Christmas David will be living with us full-time.  So away we went!

Frank's pretty good with the underwater camera

WARM TEMPS for MOM.  My request for any trip is always "warm."  New England has much harsher winters than I anticipated, and each year I become more of a wimp.  I'll admit it.  I like to be comfortable, and this includes warm temperatures.  The cruise left from Puerto Rico and stopped at 5 Caribbean islands.  We were in the high 70's and 80's every day.

NEVER DULL.  Thanks to Frank, our vacations are as active as possible.  We/he always looks for fun and different things to do.  I'll just highlight some of the excursions.

ST. THOMAS.  Our first stop was St. Thomas, of the U.S. Virgin Islands, and we told the kids they could try scuba diving this time.  Everybody donned tanks and flippers, took the quick "intro" course and got into the waist-deep water.  Frank and I took it too, even though we're already certified.  We hung around in our tanks and gear and watched a few minutes, then wandered off some to explore a little.

Local fruits

The kids liked being in the water.  Learning to equalize came easily to Kara and David, and it was more challenging/uncomfortable for Teresa.  She didn't equalize very well this time, at all.

Eeeewwww...

CHRISTMAS DAY.  Christmas Day was a day at sea!  We brought scriptures and some illustrations of the birth of our Savior.  We read the Christmas story and sang hymns.

BARBADOS.  We got to visit some cool caves.  Then we had a tasting experience to try the local fruits and other foods.  Next was visiting a banana plantation to see how bananas actually grow.  They grow upside-down in bunches on the tree.  Finish the afternoon snorkeling with sea turtles

Smooth skin afterwards :)

Puerto Rico fort in San Juan

Monstrous trees to hike through

Cleaning off in the oh-so-warm hot springs!

Caves in Barbados

Hot bread with cheese in the middle...heavenly!

ST. LUCIA.  Drive to a volcano, and Frank and Kara and I spread lava-mud on ourselves to exfoliate!  Use the hot springs to wash off the mud.  Our skin was so soft when it was finished!  We ended the tour with hot fresh bread and cheese.  Mmmm.

Mudbaths, St. Lucia

ST. KITTS.  Monkeys, monkeys, and hike the volcano.  It was a lengthy hike, but the view from the top was pretty cool.

ST. MAARTIN.  Shopping of course, and shell collecting on the beach.  St. Maartin is not that big of an island, split between the Netherlands and France.

blue bags over bananas

Night kayaking to see bioluminescent organisms

Everybody, looking touristy :)

Putting on the scuba gear, St. Thomas

Teresa & Kara in their kayak

Hiking in the rainforest, Puerto Rico

snail on tree in rainforest

Teresa is a pretty good photographer

PUERTO RICO.  After the cruise we spent an additional day in San Juan, Puerto Rico.  We toured the fort there, and went on a night kayaking trip to see some cool luminescent organisms that lit up in the water when you moved your paddle or hand through it.

RAINFOREST. Teresa took a great spider photo, plus we saw beautiful fern trees, snails, waterfalls, and huge leaves.  Really pretty, and obviously it rains often there.  We just had a soft, warm rainfall for about 20 minutes of our hike.

Now we're back, and my head is still swimming, trying to get into the swing of reality.  It's taken me a week to even download the photos and get it on the blog!  Everybody is back on the hamster wheel, with school, church, seminary, and normal activities.  It was a refreshing change of scenery, though! And a chance for us to do some different things, all together.