Hello! We're back from the Caribbean and I can't say that I'm happy about it. With the exception of our little beauty, being in Lethbridge is so not fun. It is a far cry from 30 degree weather and white sand beaches.

So where shall I begin? Our trip was AMAZING. We had such a great time. I have never seen more beautiful places in my life.

Leaving Cate was pretty tough. She wouldn't go down for her nap before we left, and I think it was because we were acting weird. She normally goes down very nicely. So we got her up and said goodbye again. I think the lead-up to the goodbye was worse than the actual thing. So we got in the car and drove to Calgary. We sat down in the boarding area to find that our flight had been delayed by an hour. Well an hour may not be much but we had a connecting flight in Denver and we had only 50 minutes there, so right aways our whole itinerary was screwed up! So we were pretty bummed. The agent called us up shortly after to tell us that our new flight schedule was not going to be pretty. Instead of arriving in Fort Lauderdale at midnight, we would be arriving at 6:30 am and would be going through Denver and Las Vegas before we got there. At this point I was already thankful that Cate was not with us, because it was going to be a lonnng night.

So we got to Florida in the morning after each and every flight we had was delayed. ahh, what fun. Okay friends..are you ready for this? Our luggage didn't arrive with us. because we were re-routed our luggage got lost along the way. I will not go into great detail here because i swear it would take an entire post to explain everything, but short story-WE DID NOT HAVE OUR LUGGAGE FOR THE ENTIRE TRIP. Yes, you heard me. In fact, it arrived in Lethbridge last night-12 days after we last saw it. It traveled all around the Caribbean and United States but failed to find us at any point during our trip. ohhh, I cannot tell you how frustrating this was! Our trip of a lifetime, and we had NOTHING. I mean no make-up, no toiletries, no clothes, no shoes- nothing but the clothes we were wearing, an ipod, a camera, a laptop and a wallet. We knew when we left Florida that it wasn't going to reach us but they told us the worst case scenario would be that it would arrive at our first port in Puerto Rico. So we had like an hour to grab enough stuff from the nearest store to make it for two days. I bought a bathing suit I didn't like, one pair of capris and a couple tank-tops etc. and that is all we had for the whole trip! All the things we had bought in preparation for the trip were not used. So we borrowed from family and wore the same things over and over again.

In spite of all that we had so much fun. The ship was insane. I couldn't stop making Titanic references! The food was the best I had ever had-unlimited options and five course dinners. and so beautifully prepared. I tried many new things-Mahi Mahi, lobster, duck, veal...I think i can honestly say I have acquired a taste for the food of the sea.
The ports were more than I expected. We stopped in San Juan Puerto Rico, St. Thomas and St.John, U.S. Virgin Islands, Antigua, Tortola, British Virgin Islands and Nassau, Bahamas. In St. John we went to one of National Geographics "Top 10 beaches in the world" And it lived up to its name. Most of our time was spent lying on the beach, snorkeling and touring the cities and towns. Antiga was my favorite place and one of the only independent countries that we visited. It is so refreshing and life changing to see other parts of the world.

Being with my family was such a pleasure. My family is very close, but because of distance we spend such a little amount of time together. And it always feels rushed. But this was such a perfect opportunity to get to spend time with each of my siblings and their spouses in a relaxing atmosphere. We had so much fun together. Brothers and sisters, if you are reading this, thanks for the good times! And mom and dad- you deserve a shout out for your genorosity and love! Thank you!!!

We arrived home on Sunday night and woke up our little Cate. I started to cry the minute that I saw her there, sleeping so sweetly. It was so strange to be apart from her. When you become a parent it becomes so much of your identity. So it just felt like something was missing. But I was amazed how quickly we left behind her routine. I thought that it might be hard to relax and forget about mothering, but I guess the tropical air does that to you! We actually tried hard NOT to think of her, because when we did it was so hard. So we tried to distract ourselves. and for the most part, it worked. She was so happy the next morning when she saw us and we couldn't get enough of her. And guess what? That morning we noticed that her very first tooth had finally made an appearance! She waited until we got home. what a sweet thing. I'll post more on Cate soon.

I'll post pictures seperatley.

~Carmen