Graduation Celebration Cruise...part 1

When Tyson and I were married and he started Law School, I kept trying to think of something we would both LOVE to do to celebrate when he graduated in 3 years. Obviously we thought of a cruise because we both love them. We booked through Princess Cruise Lines which was quite a bit different than Carnival (we used on our honeymoon)... to the Caribbean!

First Stop: SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO

• We flew into the day before we needed to embark so we could enjoy the city.
  
• Checked in to the hotel that was literally right on the beach!
• Took a bus to a really cool fort that has been on the island for forever.
• Almost paid the $10 to tour the inside of the fort and then decided against it and walked around it instead.
  
• Watched people having fun flying kites.
• Made Tyson do a cart-wheel which I caught on the video camera.
• Ate amazing food.
• Took a ton of pictures of the cool skinny rainbow colored streets.
• Stumbled upon a preforming group that did a bunch of different cultured dances.
• Walked and talked along the beach that night.

Second Stop...well kind-of stop: DAY AT SEA

• Slept in really late and had every intention of seeing the sunrise from our balcony (which we got upgraded to for free).
  
• Took pictures to document our free upgrade balcony because that probably won't happen again...ever.
• Bought the $29.99 per person soda refill-thing because we figured Tyson would for sure drink that amount of soda for the both of us. So worth it!
  
• Tanned and watched movies on their HUGE projector that they played movies on constantly. It was awesome because you could swim in the pool right underneath it if you got hot, now that's my kind of tanning!
  
• Realized that they didn't do the towel animals on your bed so took a picture in front of the fruit art sculpture instead :)
• Ate free soft serve ice-cream and didn't feel any guilt about it!
• Walked around the ship to see what fun things they had and set up most of our excursions.
• Ate a really nice formal dinner and met our awesome waitress from Africa.
  

Third Stop: ARUBA

• Took a tour bus to take us all around the island which was WAY cheaper than booking it through the cruise! This is highly recommended my friends.
  
• Saw my first all natural forming bridge.
• Took pictures of the rock piles all over the place not realizing what the heck they were for.
• Found out that the rock piles were *seven wishes* where they believe that when you stack 7 rocks on-top of each other you get 7 wishes...or one wish...one of those.
  
• Made my own pile of rocks and made a wish.
• Drove to an abandoned mine and made Tyson climb up and pose in one of the windows for me.
• Realized that Aruba isn't everything that The Beach Boys made it cracked out to be. A little let-down.
• Felt like I was in my desert-y home town because of all the cacti.
• Ate fish & chips at a cute outdoor restaurant.
• Searched for some cool shells in the ocean while swimming...then to find out that my sunglasses ended up on the bottom of the Arubian ocean never to be found again.
• Got rained on as we took the bus back to the cruise ship.
• Watched and laughed Tyson eat octopus that night.
  

Fourth Stop: BONAIRE

• Slept in.
• Almost got in with a group going out to sea and snorkel.
• Ended up going to a local shop to get gear, and snorkeled at a good section of the island.
• Kicked Fire Coral and ended up with some stinging bumps on my ankle that stayed for about a month...only really hurt for an hour...battle wounds!
• Saw a sleeping sea turtle which I really wanted to touch but Tyson wouldn't allow it
  
• Watched Tyson almost get attacked by some huge iguanas and have the hilarious ordeal all on video.
• Bought a cool carved coconut-husk thing.
  
• Gambled that night a lost $20. Tyson lost a whopping $30 thanks to his lack of self control on the nickle and penny machines ;)
• Ate more ice-cream.
• Watched more movies on the big screen.