Trek is the most deserving Father I've ever known. He's the best of the best & loves his family more than anything.
In June, Trek had his "change of command" where he officially turned over his duties as ROTC commander at the U to the new commander. It was kind of the final thing he had to do before retiring from the military.
Now he has a great job at BYU Pathway serving as the IT manager of the global education centers in the Philippines & in Africa. He's loving it.
He takes such good care of our family & we love him so very much.
Most of June was spent getting ready for & doing our 10 day family vacation/cruise so by the time we got back, we had a few days at girls camp, FSY for the boys, & a few other happenings here & there.
We have a sweet friend who visited Germany while we were on our cruise & she brought back SO MANY caramel milka bars for Taya because she knew that they were her favorite.
I got to meet up with some Germany friends who I love SO MUCH.
Justin & Cari watched Bella the whole time we were on our cruise, so we ended up watching Rex (their dog) while they went on a cruise. Bella & Rex have a love/hate relationship that cracks me up. Sometimes they are best friends, & other times they are worst enemies.
Rex was hilarious. He always just wanted to play. He would bring balls/toys & drop them on you so you'd throw them for him so he could chase them. He didn't understand the whole "I'm taking a nap" thing so he would literally bring a ball to Trek, drop it on his sleeping body, & just wait a full attention for a full 30 minutes hoping he'd throw it. It was hilarious.
We had a really fun youth activity this month. It was a life skills relay race & the kids loved it. They had to balance a checkbook, figure out how much to tip, tie a tie, feed a baby, check oil in a car, sew on a button, & more. It was SO GOOD.
Taya's missionary plaque went up at the church this week. She is getting SO excited to serve in the Philippines.
Our final day of the cruise we ported in Coco Cay Bahamas which is Royal Caribbeans private island. We woke up & had breakfast at the buffet together, then got off the boat at 8am.
Look at this fabulous view of Coco Cay from the boat.
We got off & scoped out the most central location we could find to plant a "home base" for our day in Coco Cay.
We ended up picking some beach umbrellas/chairs on the front row of the central lagoon of the island. It was a perfect middle spot for everyone so we could go in any direction to explore, but have a place to keep our things & come back. It had a beautiful clear water lagoon to play in, & amazing sand to build sand castles. It was near all the food places, & not that far from the snorkeling areas.
Everybody wanted to do snorkeling first thing, so they all left while I stayed & watched all our stuff at the chairs at the lagoon. I was perfectly content there.
Videos: Snorkeling at Coco Cay
The kids kept snorkeling, but Trek came back to hang out with me for a bit while the kids used the snorkeling equipment. We decided to explore the island by foot so we took off & walked around the entire thing. We found a lot of cute hammocks, lizards, crabs, chickens, & beautiful nature trail right in the middle of the island. I think that was my favorite part of the day. I love to explore.
When we got back, the kids were in the lagoon swimming. Lorien & Elijah built a sandcastle, & Trek & I took naps. It was glorious.
For lunch, we ate tacos, sandwiches, pizza, & more at the Chill Grill by the lagoon. We made sure to get plenty of ice cream while we were there too. Tuhk showed us the huge conch shell he found snorkeling. There was still a giant mussel inside so we convinced him to put it back in the ocean so the mussel wouldn't die. It was beautiful though.
We spent the rest of the afternoon playing in the sand, swimming, & more. We got some virgin mai tai drinks that were heavenly & just enjoyed the family time.
Eventually, we all got tired & sticky from the sea water & headed back to the boat for showers.
We loved our perfect day at Coco Cay. It was beautiful.
I love this picture of Bladen. His electric shaver slipped through the crack in the bathroom door & this is him trying to grab it. Silly boy.
The kids found an archery area on the ship (on day 7) & had a blast shooting bows & arrows, & then they wandered the ship & had fun exploring things they still hadn't seen yet.
Video: Elijah Archery
At dinner, we all sat together.
One of Talon's kids mentioned loving the mozzarella sticks on the island & Lorien about died. MOZZARELLA STICKS? WHERE? I guess there was a little snack shack we had missed that served mozzarella sticks. Lorien's favorite thing in the world is mozzarella sticks.
When the waiter came to our table, she asked him if they had mozzarella sticks anywhere on the ship in any of the restaurants. Our waiter told us no, that it was not anything they had on the ship. They only served them on the island. Lorien was kind of bummed about that, but dinner was still fabulous.
Halfway through dinner, Bruno (the manager) comes over with a huge plate with a fancy cover on it. He placed it in front of Lorien, & said "Voila!" He lifted the cover & there was a huge bowl of mozzarella sticks & marinara sauce just for her. We asked him how he had done it & he said the waiter told him about the mozzarella stick conversation, so he sent someone onto the island (we hadn't left port yet) to grab some from the freezers there, bring it aboard, had them fry them, & then brought them just for her. How amazing is that? I love Royal Caribbean.
After dinner we went to the Elemental Ice show at the ice skating rink (yes the ship has an ice skating rink). It was a great show too. This was was geared more for little kids, but we still enjoyed it. They do such a wonderful job with their shows.
After the show, we packed up our luggage & put it outside our doors, then headed out for final crepes, ice cream cones, games, & family time.
This was the end of our wonderful vacation. Our final day was a travel day flying from Miami, to Chicago, to Salt Lake. By the time we got home we were exhausted, but it was such a wonderful vacation. I'm so glad we went.
