Travelin' Tuesday: Curacao & Aruba

Our final two stops on our Southern Caribbean cruise were Curacao & Aruba - where we had pre-booked tours with local guides (as in not booked through the cruise line).  Get ready for a picture heavy post!

The famous painted buildings

The tour in Curacao was with Irie tours and for $20 per person we enjoyed a 3.5 hour tour around the the island on an open air bus with unlimited drinks (water, soda, beer), photo ops, a stop at a beach and some wonderful commentary from our bus driver.

The pontoon bridge

Our ship in the distance

One of ours stops was at the Curacao Rum Factory where my family enjoyed free samples of the various flavors.

The later part of the tour was spent relaxing at the beach before heading back to the port area.  We took some night time pictures in front of the painted buildings and the welcome sign before making a beeline back to the ship for dinner (and a bathroom stop for this preggo).

Our tour in Aruba got off to a wet start (thanks Caribbean rain showers) but we lucked out with a mainly sunny tour with our tour guide Sonny.

The ships in port from afar

Our first stop was the rock formation which we all climbed.  The climb wasn't so bad to begin with, but then the steps got steeper and I'm not ashamed to admit I was winded by the time that we made it to the top.

We drove along the coastline making our way to the famous natural bridge, or what was left of the natural bridge. 

As you can see in the shot below, the natural bridge collapsed back in 2005.  Luckily it fell in the early morning time frame when there were no tourists or others on the bridge. 

There is a "baby" bridge not too far from the remains of natural bridge that we were able to snap pictures in front of (it was pretty windy that day so I didn't want to tempt to walk over it) before checking out other landmarks such as the chapel and the lighthouse.

While our tour guide was very friendly and informative in Aruba, we all agreed that our best tour of the trip was Curacao hands down.  We had an active bus full of fellow passengers, there was a party type atmosphere and our guide was just so passionate about his country.

All around this was a wonderful trip and I'm so glad we were able to make it out of the country one last time before baby boy gets here.

Travelin' Tuesday: Grand Turk & Dominican Republic

Hi there!!  It's been a while, hasn't it.  After the busy holiday season we were off on our last family vacation/babymoon before the baby gets here!

My family started planning this trip back in 2012, so the anticipation to finally get to Miami and on the cruise ship was mounting all through 2013.  We traveled on the Carnival Breeze (one of the newest ships) on an 8 day southern Caribbean cruise.  What really excited me about this cruise was that it had 4 ports that we have never sailed to before. At 25 weeks pregnant by the time we got back, this would be the last plane ride baby boy would take inside the womb (which surprisingly I have been on a plane 8 times since finding out I was pregnant).

We went back up to the balcony category for our room selection and it was completely worth it for the ability to walk outside every morning when we were in port and see the island from our room.  The only downside to the balcony was the annoying man in between our room and my brother & his girlfriend's room who must have had this chronic cough that was so loud and annoying when he sat on his balcony.  

Our first port was Grand Turk in Turks & Caicos and with the free beach right at the port area, we had no plans other than to soak up some sun and sand.

View from our balcony

We disembarked pretty early from the ship to wonder through the shops on our way to claim some good beach chairs close to the water but under some shade. 

The water was a little chilly, but from what I heard it warmed up through the day.

We spent some quality time relaxing under the trees, I was reading the 5th installment of Harry Potter (I know I'm a little behind the times as this is my first time reading it) when I started to see some droplets falling.  Those little droplets turned into a down pour so we packed it up and made a beeline for some cover.  We debated waiting it out as the rain did pass, but with the second downpour just moments later 4 out of 6 family members decided to head back to the ship.  My brother's girlfriend and my dad opted to wait it out and enjoyed some great beach time while Chris, mom and I did a round of mini golf on the ship and got some more reading in on the deck.

Our second stop was La Romana, Dominican Republic.  

View of the port from our balcony

There isn't too much to do in this port other than to head to a beach, so my brother Dennis did some research prior to the trip and found Altos de Chavon.  A $7 round trip ticket from the port made this one of the cheapest activities on our cruise!

We walked around, took pictures and checked out the little shops (Chris and I needed to pick up a magnet/ornament from each stop for our travel tree).

It did rain on and off, as they say in the Caribbean the rain only lasts for so long and then the sun was back out shining down on us.  We were able to make it to the amphitheater before working our way back through the shops and eateries to catch the bus back to the port. 

Coming up next will be pictures from our stops in Curacao and Aruba!

O Christmas Tree

In addition to the mini tree in our dining room, we also have a 9 foot tree in our living room!

Picture used in our Christmas card

Back when we first moved in, we noticed that the sellers left a 12 foot tree in the storage closet.  12 FEET??  I can only imagine what that would have looked like in that space, granted it is a vaulted ceiling so it would probably fit but we would be having to decorate with a really tall ladder or from the stairs (which probably isn't the safest).  Chris and I decided to just pick up a new tree at Michael's and opted for the 9 foot slim which turns out to fit perfectly in that little corner (once we moved the side table to the other side of fireplace).  We also picked up some lighted garland for the stairs from Bed Bath and Beyond.

I wanted to make a tree skirt, but with time flying by this holiday season I opted to just pick one up from Home Goods instead.

I love looking at the tree at night, and can't wait to build upon our current ornament collection, which is mostly filler ornaments bought during after Christmas sales at pier 1 and target.

My current favorite ornament - A handmade replica of our wedding cake

One of the traditions that I look forward to the most every holiday season is the annual Weddingbee ornament exchange!  I have been a participant for 4 seasons and hope to continue adding little elephants to our tree for years to come.

Top L: 2010 from Mrs. Thimble

Top R: 2011 from Mrs. Tulip

Bottom L: 2012 from Mrs. Seal

Bottom R: 2013 from Mrs. Candy Apple

In other holiday news I was able to find a sport for the holiday card display that I made last year.  It hangs on the closet door next to our gallery wall.  This way I can see it every time I walk from my office to the living room or kitchen.

And one last holiday bit of goodness around our home, preparing to host our first holiday family meal!

I'm trying not to stress as time is just slipping away but with cooking help from my mom, dad and Chris, I know we'll be able to make it through Christmas Eve dinner as well as Christmas brunch and dinner at our house.  I love the fact that we finally get to use the placemats, napkins, napkin rings and nice silverware from our 2011 wedding registry.   

My search for silver chargers at Bed Bath and Beyond returned a goose egg, so with little time left I picked up the gold and called it a day.  Once I started to set the table, I knew the gold just wasn't going to fly with everything else so thank you Amazon Prime for these silver beauties that arrived on Friday.

I doubt I'll be back online between now and Christmas, so I wish you all a very happy holiday!

The front of our 2013 holiday card

And one more bit of fun news...

It's a boy!!!  We can't wait to meet our son next year!!

My First Wreath

One of the things that I looked forward to after closing on our house was being able to make wreaths to decorate the front door.  I have Morgan over at The Handcrafted Life to thank for that, she has done some amazing seasonal wreaths for her house and I was excited to test my DIY skills again.

I started with a green wreath based and ribbon from Micheals, going around making loops and securing it with parts of the bendable branches.

I didn't really have a pattern in mind, just changing up the direction of the loops every now and then.

Once the loops were complete, I busted out the glue gun and got to work covering the L with some red, green and silver balls.

I wish the L stood out a little more (maybe I should have gone with another set of colors), but other than that I am pretty satisfied with our holiday wreath.

And one shot on the front door (we'll be painting that door at some point).  It's a little tilted because I decided to use some floral wire to attach the wreath to hanger to deter anyone from simply pulling it off and taking it with them (not that our neighborhood is unsafe in anyway but better to be safe than sorry).

Have you made any holiday decor items for your house?