a weekend with brett & claire

We were so excited that Brett and Claire were coming for Easter weekend! The boys were especially happy to hang out with them all day Friday while I was at work. :) Here are some pics from our action-packed weekend!

 it was a group effort to make the bunny cake on Saturday

 Easter morning -- love those pastel Polo shirts!

 Mom and Aunt Laura

 our family of 4

 Nana and Gramps with the boys

 Brett and Claire

maybe my fave... Brett, Fletcher, and Grayson!

He is risen! He is risen, indeed!

friends u easter egg hunt

We attended the annual Friends University Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday. It rained most of Saturday morning, so the hunt was relocated to the football field. A first!! By the time it started, the sun was shining and it was pretty windy. The boys had a ball!

 Carter was actually quite excited to see the Bunny this year :)

 waiting for the hunt to start...

 Grayson found the "Golden Egg" and won a ginormous hippo!! He was elated!!

with the Friends Falcon... and Grayson's huge hippo!!

On the Oasis {onboard fun}

We had three days at sea on the beautiful Oasis. And that was totally fine with me, as we had a 17 story tall ship to explore and enjoy. :)

Jerry has a thing for all the statues on board... people, animals, etc ;)

the Aqua Theater -- which you can see from the back of the ship -- was truly amazing

they did diving shows, synchronized swimming, trampoline/acrobatics, and springboard dives here... into a pool... right in front of our eyes... oh, and while the ship was moving. it was so cool!

we played several rounds of miniature golf at "Oasis Dunes" on the 15th level of the ship

we HAD to check out the carousel... and we even rode it! why not? it was free :)

We loved our waiter, Jervis, and our assistant waitress, Patrice, who were both from Jamaica.

Jerry learned to surf on the FlowRider -- deck 16!

I rode the Zipline on the ship -- and yes, my palms were soooo sweaty!!

Jerry climbed the rock wall -- he's on the far right in blue -- almost to the top. The rock walls were on the back of the ship, with the Aqua Theatre chairs right below!

We also walked around the beautiful Central Park area of the ship, and that's where our stateroom balcony faced. Truly amazing!

On the Oasis {st. maarten}

Our last stop was St. Maarten. It had the most fun shopping and beach experience on our trip. We immediately got off the Oasis (there were 7!! ships in port that day) and hopped on a water taxi to take us downtown and to the beach.

Love, love, love that blue-green water!

Jerry in front of one of the ships in port... not ours!

Gotta love the "self-portraits"... it's hard to get pics of the two of you when there are only two of you!! :)

Looking down the beach towards downtown St. Maarten

Some random thoughts:

We saw way too many Speedos on lots of middle-aged men. Ugh.

All the islands seem the same in that tourism is their biggest industry.

They all are somewhat pushy... wanting to braid your hair, take you in their taxi, or show you around.

That gets old.

But, their beaches are gorgeous. Beautiful.

It was a great day in St. Maarten!!

On the Oasis {st. thomas}

Our second stop was in Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas. We shopped and walked around in the morning, hopped back on the ship for lunch, then back on land for a snorkeling excursion.

the Oasis parked away from the other ships at St. Thomas

 while we were on the catamaran, we spotted Oceana, the beachside restaurant where we had Mom and Dad's 40th wedding anniversary celebration in 2010

 headed out to snorkel!

 there's Cote Sud -- the house we stayed in for a week in 2010!

 Jerry snorkeling with the sea turtles

 climbing back on the boat

 St. Thomas is FILLED with loads of these creepy iguanas...

 boarding the Oasis -- getting ready to head to St. Maarten tomorrow

 trying to take the "perfect" picture :)

We couldn't leave St. Thomas without taking a pic of one of our favorite restaurants from our previous stay... the Green House in downtown Charlotte Amalie. Memories, memories!!

On the Oasis {nassau, bahamas}

Jerry and I just returned from a FABULOUS week-long cruise in the Caribbean aboard the Oasis of the Seas... the largest ship in the world. We loved every minute of it!

We left out of Ft. Lauderdale, FL and our first stop was in Nassau. We had been there once before... and we were excited to check it out again. We didn't plan any specific excursions... just wanted to take a water taxi over to Paradise Island (where the Atlantis resort is) and wander around.

 That's the Oasis of the Seas on the far right... there were 5 cruise ships in Nassau that day. This was taken from the water taxi.

 The water was such a beautiful blue-green, and the ship was so huge... we couldn't stop taking pics!

 on Paradise Island

 beautiful beach behind Atlantis

 We wandered around the Marina Village at Atlantis -- beautiful shops with monstrous yachts parked all around!!

 one of the yachts with Atlantis in the background

 loved all the flowers!!

 up close of Atlantis!

 on the water taxi back to the ship

the fun pastel-colored buildings on Paradise Island... pic taken as we were leaving!