Our News . . .

We are so excited to announce that we are pregnant and expecting our first baby! Our due date is February 10th! We got our first ultrasound pictures last week and already you can see little hands and feet! We will definately be finding out whether it is a girl or a boy. Right now, we know that it is a healthy baby, which is good enough for us!

Disney World!!!!

Left: Brandon in the Animal Kingdom Right: Expedition Everest Ride in the Animal Kingdom

Above Left: Trying on hats at Downtown Disney hat shop Above Left: Us with Mickey's Sorceror's hat at Disney's Hollywood Studios
Left: Us (Danielle, Brandon, and Brandon's Mom, Jan) at Epcot Right: Brandon and I in the World Showcase portion of Epcot

Okay, so we may be crazy . . . we did 4 Disney Parks in Disney World in 2 days. We spent a little more than half a day driving to Orlando from Miami and visited Downtown Disney the evening we arrived and had fun browsing through the different shops along the boardwalk.

The following day we woke-up early and were at Disney's Hollywood Studios when the gates opened. We rushed to the Hollywood Tower of Terror and then the Rockin' Roller Coaster before venturing through the rest of the park. We did all the main rides and shows and were done around 2:00pm. We then decided to go to Epcot to help utilize our Park Hopper passes that we had purchased. We rode all the rides at Epcot and took our time walking around and browsing the World Showcase. We grabbed a bite to eat in Germany and continued our walk and got done at Epcot around 8:30pm. We then decided to go to the Magic Kingdom since that park was open until 11:30pm that night. We parked in the parking lot and Brandon loaded his parents in a wheel chair and began running with them in the chair through the parking lot. I was running behind laughing hysterically because everyone that passed us was also laughing. We had a great time riding rides . . . and even getting wet on Splash Mountain. I felt like a little kid that day. We ate ice cream as the park was closing and on our way down Main Street U.S.A., I bought a caramel apple from one of the sweet shops and I gobbled the hole apple before we got off the monorail back to the parking lot. It was a very full but fantastic day! We spent about 15 hours at the theme parks that day with no breaks. We were so exhausted!

The next day, we decided to spend the day at Animal Kingdom, which is half an amusement park and half a zoo. Brandon and I both agreed that the best ride was Expedition Everest! We got drenched on the water rapids ride and enjoyed the safari ride as well. We had a great day and ended the day with a drive back to Miami where we got in shortly after midnight and stayed in the Miami International Airport Hotel. That was the best decision we have ever made! The airport has a hotel within one of the concourses. It saved us much time and frustration. It was a great trip! It was so nice to be places enjoying warm weather instead of the typical damp and dreary Pacific Northwest February weather.

Cruise Continued . . .

Left: Dinner on one of the last evenings of the cruise

Right: Last night on the boat!



Left: private beach on St. Lucia Right: Piton Mountains, St. Lucia






Left: Sulphur Springs Volcano


Right: Beach on Barbados




Right: Antigua

Right: Brandon snorkeling in Tortola

Below: Kayaking in the Domincan Republic

Well, my original plan was to do our cruise day-by-day, but it is taking me a little more time to post everything. So, I'm going to just group the rest of the cruise as one post. Our first port was in Samana, Dominican Republic. We went kayaking in some mangroves in the Los Haitises National Park, which is known as having one of the lushest rainforests and mangrove reserves in all of the Caribbean islands. We saw amazing mangroves and there were little greyish-blue crabs that were climbing the mangrove roots. It was so incredible! We also walked through a cave that had hieroglyphics on the walls. We also enjoyed the best bottled Coca-Cola ever! It is made with pure sugar cane instead of other sugars. I can't tell you how many Cokes we had.

Our next stop was the island of Tortola, which is one of the British Virgin Islands. We had a fantastic time walking around and shopping in the little Caribbean shops and found the best tea shop. They had so many wonderful tropical teas which were naturally sweet and didn't need to have sugar added. Then, we went on an excursion where we rented underwater scooters and went to a reef off St. Peter Island and scootered around for a while and Brandon enjoyed snorkeling.

Our third stop was on the island of Antigua, which had the best shopping the entire trip! We found some great buys and enjoyed walking all over town.

Our fourth stop was on the island of Barbados. This was the island with some of the best beaches! We spent almost all day in the warm turquoise water and on the white sandy beach! Brandon and I walked down the beach clear past the Malibu Rum Factory and we were swimming out in the water near the factory and the air smelled of rum. Unfortunately, I sunburned so badly on that day. We also took a bus into downtown and spent quite a bit of time walking around and browsing.



Our last stop was on the island of St. Lucia. We had such a relaxing time taking a catamaran partway around the island andstopping at a private beach where we waded off the catamaran. Brandon and his dad spent time swimming in the water and I enjoyed my time laying on the beach. We boarded the catamaran again and sailed to Soufriere, where we had plenty of time to enjoy the beautiful Piton mountains from the sea. We got off the catamaran and boarded a bus where we went to an old sugar mill (dated back to 1765) for an authentic buffet lunch. We then boarded another bus for a botanical garden where the mineral pools and waterfalls are known to cure many ailments. After the beautiful gardens and falls, we boarded the bus again and went to Sulphur Springs which is the world's only drive-thru volcano. It was amazing to see the mud bubbling up. Then we continued our bus tour around the island where we enjoyed stopping at a few little fishing villages on our way back. The island of St. Lucia seems to be more poverty stricken than other Caribbean islands. The houses were so tiny and the people seemed to live very simply. It has been amazing to travel to different islands and to compare and contrast them. Each island is very unique and the people very special.


The last two days at sea were spent relaxing by the pool, doing a little laundry and dressing up for dinners . . . including a chocolate buffet night!

Leaving Miami

We left Miami, Florida the evening of Friday, February 29th. We had such a great time on our cruise! We took a 10-day southeast Caribbean cruise on Norwegian Cruise Lines ship, the Jewel. It was fabulous. Shortly after boarding the boat, we had a lifeboat drill which basically informs the passengers what should be done in case of an evacuation on the boat.

We stayed on the top deck and enjoyed the sun setting over the city of Miami as we were leaving the dock. We were so excited to finally be on the way to the Caribbean.

We spent the evening getting to know the boat and where things were. The boat was much larger than the previous one we had been on. This one featured two dining rooms and about 8 specialty restaurants.

Our stateroom was gorgeous! We had an inside stateroom because we are rarely in our room. I think the boat was built in 2005, so everything is pretty new inside.

Miami, Florida

We left Key West on Thursday, February 28th and drove back to Miami. That evening we went out for dinner in the famous South Beach area of Miami where there were many trendy restaurants with different types of cuisine.

The next morning, we walked along Miami beach. The sand was beautiful white in color and very fine. We were a little intimidated to spend much time in the water because there were quite a few small Portuguese Men-of-War that were washed up on the beach (see picture).

We had a great time walking along the surf as well as the boardwalk that followed the gorgeous beach.

Key West, Florida

We took a red-eye flight to Miami and then rented a car and started driving the 3 1/2 hours down to Key West, Florida. Brandon's parents, Jack and Jan, went with us on our trip and we were all so tired from our flight that we had to pull-over and take a little nap in an amusement park along the way. When we pulled in, there was no one in the parking lot and Brandon put his jacket over his head and fell asleep and I put on my little eye mask and fell asleep. By the time the four of us woke-up an hour later, there were quite a few cars parked around us. I can only wonder what the other guests were thinking when they saw four adults passed out in a car in the parking lot.

We finally arrived in Key West and took a trolley tour around the town. The next day we did some more exploring and enjoyed the long walk.

Key West is full of Caribbean flavor. Some of the old homes are restored to thier original grandeur and Caribbean colors and the water is so blue.

Here is a picture of us at the Southernmost point in the United States and also a picture of us with Brandon's parents getting our morning coffee and pastries at a little French cafe.