A whirlwind of a month

Wow! There has been so much going on this past month and today I finally have time to blog about it! My last post was to let you all know that Chris passed his boards exam and that he is finally a licensed physical therapist! On June 28th, the Ireland's, Archer's and Justin Byrd (Amanda's boyfriend) went on a cruise to celebrate Chris being finished with grad school. There were ten of us total and we had a blast! We sailed the Eastern Caribbean for 7 days aboard the Freedom of the Seas - the largest cruise ship to date. (Look for the Oasis of the Seas arriving in December!) The week was perfect- perfect weather, perfect company, perfect everything. We made three stops, the first being Coco Cay, Bahamas (Royal Caribbean's private island) where we basked in the sun, floated in the ocean and enjoyed a little beach volleyball. This was the only day that it rained and it only lasted for 10 minutes! That night was our first formal night on the ship. We enjoyed free champagne for the Captains speech and of course, the food is always incredible. Our second port of call was at St. Thomas, Virgin Island. Chris and I went on a snorkeling excursion that started out on a hard bottom raft with 450 horsepower that took us to two different snorkel locations. This was such a fun day for us both and because our camera is waterproof we were able to get some great pictures...

Our third and final stop was to St. Maarten, Virgin Islands where all ten of us took an ATV (4 wheeler) tour through the island to a beach. It was so much fun, but I will say that I am glad I had driven 4 wheelers before. Those that hadn't were a little skiddish throughout the drive (I won't name names...) and rightly so! We were driving on the road with all of the St. Maarten traffic! It was a fun ride and we were able to see a lot of the island that normally we wouldn't have been able to see. When we arrived at the beach we had just over an hour to hang out and we spent the entire time in the ocean. The water was just the right temperature and the waves were great for body surfing!

Our ports of call were a lot of fun, but we also had a blast on the ship during our days at sea. The Freedom of Seas has a rock climbing wall, flowrider, and a putt putt course. Chris, Justin I, Justin B, Ed and I all enjoyed the experience of the flowrider. We did this two or three days and it wasso much fun - hard and at times very painful, but fun! Chris, Justin Ireland and I also climbed the rock wall together. Unfortunately I did not make it to the top. I've never been one who is afraid of heights, but for some reason this scared me a little. Maybe it had something to do with being out in the middle of the ocean and also having short legs and I couldn't reach the next step. Oh well! Thumbs up to Justin and Chris! Below are just a few pictures from our week... It was such a great time of celebration and fun with family.


We got home from the cruise on Sunday July 5th and on Monday the 6th Chris and I visited Jess and Alex in Greenville, SC. Tuesday the 7th we went to Augusta to visit more dear friends and on Friday the 10th we moved to Florida!! Keep looking for a post about our new home!!