Ft.Myers Beach Fun

Our time at the beach was really enjoyable. Tricia, Hector and family stayed with us both weekends in the condo. It was fun spending time with them and the kids. Most days we swam at the pool or beach, the kids and men played ping pong or pool while the girls relaxed by the pool or watched movies. We grilled out, went to a few restaurants but all in all just enjoyed laughing a lot!

Since we weren’t able to have the condo for Tricia’s birthday, we celebrated early. We took the adults on a sunset cruise on the water where Michelle and Rafael joined us. That night was so much fun, lots of drinks and even more laughter!!

The guys were hilarious, but then again, this is always how they act together.

On Tuesday night I was happy to be able to meet up with my ex-step brother, Matt, and his wife. We spent several hours catching up, sharing old stories about childhood and laughing. It was nice to see him and I enjoyed the time spent with them. Really hoping the relationship will grow as I miss him and his sister from my life. ❤️

The next day we had to pack up and head back to Ocala for a few nights before we hit the road for a mini trip to Orlando with the pups and Annie Too. We plan to see Rob and Kris and ride some rides at Universal. Can’t wait!!

Keith's 45th Birthday Celebration

Keith has been wanting to go swim with the whale sharks since we first visited the Riviera Maya. June - August are the most popular months as they are here feeding. So, yesterday, for his birthday, I wanted to make sure he got exactly what he wanted. (We stopped buying gifts a few years ago and just do experiences.)

On the Monday we met with 12 friends for dinner and drinks at one of our favorite locations, the Jungle Fish Beach Club. We love the guys who run it and were thrilled to be able to support them for Keith's birthday dinner. As always, they were amazing to us and we had a great meal. Keith was offered the largest lobster I have ever seen. He ate the hell out of that thing!

As for the whale sharks, I was excited to be able to find 6 friends willing to go with us - trust me, when you say "swimming" and "sharks" in the same sentence people tend to back away.

Rob, Kris, Annette, Vince, Chris (it was also his b'day), Jodi, myself and Keith got up super early to grab our 5:20am shuttle to Cancun.

After a quick briefing, some snacks and water we headed out on the boat for about an hour. The area where the whale sharks are feeding was really busy with other boats and people. You are only allowed 2 people per boat at a time but it was still a bit chaotic. The whale sharks are spectacular and very large - they are just eating plankton and minding their own business. You basically jump in, swim around them, don't touch them or swim under them and then you are back in the boat. Everyone had 2 jumps - I opted for one but Keith did both of his and each time was just in awe of these animals. 

After we were done snorkeling, we headed over to Isla Mujeres for some lunch and swimming. 

It's definitely a birthday he will remember!



Rob put together a video of all of our footage - enjoy!! :)

Turning 40 in the Caribbean

This year I turned the big 4-0. We decided awhile ago that we would take a trip for both of our birthdays as they are close to 6 months apart.  So, for my 40th we took a Royal Caribbean cruise to the Caribbean for 7 nights. We took a red eye and flew to San Juan, Puerto Rico and boarded the ship - it was NOT a short flight.

Our cruise plan for the week:

- San Juan, Puert Rico
- St. Croix, U.S.V.I.
- Philipsburgh, St. Maarten
- Roseau, Dominica
- Bridgetown, Barbados
- St. George's, Grenada
- Cruising
- San Juan, Puert Rico

I won't bore you with all the details as you really had to be there to experience it firsthand. We did enjoy an excursion in each port, except St. Croix. We opted to hire a cab driver and to just explore the island. He charged us $25 a person and drove us to see a beer drinking pig, the rain forest, the beach where Christopher Columbus first landed, where Captain Morgan rum is made (we opted to just hit up the gift shop as it's an hour long tour), had lunch at a local stop and then returned back to the port where we arrived. St.Croix was nice but not the best of the island - it's an island the US should put more money into as it could be a lovely destination but it felt more like a run down New Orleans ward.

St. Maarten was our favorite. We opted for a day out on the Golden Eagle catamaran where we snorkeled and drank rum punch for many hours - the crew was amazing.  It was Keith's first time snorkeling and it seems to have open up a love for him as he couldn't wait to go again. We checked out the French and the Dutch side of the island.  After arriving back to land we grabbed some burgers and beer and Keith found a local cigar shop and enjoyed a few hours of relaxing before having to board the ship.

Dominica was next on the agenda - we booked a river tubing adventure, which was a TON of fun. More rum punch was involved, along with hours of fun floating down a river with other tourists and our guides. We did stop at the Emerald Falls on the way up, which were beautiful! We would do it again!


In Barbados we did a 4x4 island safari and Harrison's cave expedition - seeing the island by 4x4 was fun but the cave wasn't as exciting as we had hoped. We had to ride in a tram so you aren't really getting to explore the cave as we had hoped. The highlight for me was holding a monkey... Barbados was beautiful - we would go back here to explore!

Grenada was the island we visited on the day I actually turn 40 - we opted to take another catamaran ride where we snorkeled an underwater sculpture park and then traveled to a small island where we ate local lobster and drank champagne while relaxing and chatting with other tourists. 

On our last day at sea we had a tour of the ships kitchens and had a delicious brunch from the 4 on-board restaurants. We went to an art auction, played bingo where we won another 7-9 day Caribbean cruise and then had a lovely dinner in the dining room with the staff we came to love.

That's the quick run down of our cruise - we can't wait till our next one in July to the Mediterranean and then again in Dec to the Caribbean. We do love cruising!!