Vacation Replay

I left on saturday, August 20th early in the morning. It was looking like the hurricane was coming toward Puerto Rico, but we were trying not think about it. 

View from our fabulous hotel room

We stayed at the Marriott Stellaris Resort & Casino in New San Juan. We had a gorgeous balcony facing the ocean, and besides getting sunburt, we made sure to stock up on the necessities.

Stacys & Sunscreen!

The cruise was leaving Sunday, but before we headed to the ship I hit the treadmill for a long run. 8 miles in a killer 1:24, and 10:28 pace!!  We headed to the ship around 2:30. The weather was not looking great. It was starting to rain, and we knew that Hurricane Irene was coming through St Thomas & heading for us. Around 5:30pm, Kevin felt the boat moving. We weren't supposed to leave until 9pm, but the coast guard was forcing us out because of the storm. We left behind over 150 people in Puerto Rico, who didn't make the boat. That first night was the only time I felt slightly seasick, thanks to the massive waves, and our high speeds as the captain floored it to get us away from the storm. They swapped our itinerary to go to Aruba first to avoid Irene.

The first day at sea, we spent working out, sunning ourselves, and kicking butt at Bingo!

Me & the winning card!

I had to split my winnings with another winner, but walked away with almost $200! Enough to pay for our wine package, and a few cocktails, Sweet!! That night, we had our first formal night & got all dolled up...

Next up, was Aruba!

We spent the day relaxing at a Beach Club

Enjoying some yummy food & of course Mojitos!

We watched the Sunset from the Cruise Ship..

We made our way to the Crown & Anchor welcome aboard party. Best idea EVER!!! Pretty much, when you have already been on a Royal Caribbean Cruise, they invite you to a party with tasty bites & unlimited champagne. I definitely made the best out of the party, 5 glasses, score!

champagne? yes please!

We followed that by a night out to the club with our fabulous dinner friends for Karaoke & dancing!

Next up was Curacao, for a day at the beach, then a little shopping!

That night we played a crazy gameshow called Quest with our dinner friends. It was wild! We had to trade clothes, kiss strangers, and do other crazy stuff. What a blast! Then we went to to the late night buffet. I wasn't hungry, but had fun taking pictures of all the cool stuff!

Banana monkeys!

We had another relaxing day at sea, then...

The next day was our AMAZING Catamaran cruise in St. Kitts!!

One of our dinner couples ended up being on the same excursion as us, so we had a blast. We started off heading to an area to snorkel first. Alcohol was included in the trip, but we had to wait until after snorkeling. We saw some great fish, and other creatures...

me & the sea urchin!

After snorkeling, we started pounding drinks. Literally, they just kept shoving fresh ones in our hand. Well, it was hot & I was thirsty, what could I say?? I finished 2 rum punches and at least 2 beers before we got off the boat for lunch. Lunch was yummy chicken and salads. We enjoyed a few more cocktails including "Ting with a Sting", which was Ting (a fresca like drink) with either rum or vodka. Delish. Soon, we were back on the catamaran, passed out in the sun sailing around.

I woke up eventually!

Then we did some dancing all the way back to shore.

We enjoyed more cocktails on the way back to shore with our friends...

We eventually made it back to shore with a cocktail in hand. The fell into the tourist trap of adorable little monkeys wearing baby diapers!! So cute, we had to take pictures, and then they made us pay them, what??

After a much needed nap, some carbohydrates, and water, we headed to dinner. We were so thankful to have a late dinner time! Dinner was formal night #2, and the best towel animal ever arrived in our stateroom...

Our last ship day was shopping in St. Thomas. We bought me some pretty tanzinite earrings and a new watch and ate some local food.

That night we had one last dinner with our crew, then headed to Karaoke finals to watch one of our friends compete!

Our whole dinner crew!

The girls!

The next day we had breakfast with the Colorado couple, then headed off the ship. Since we were both staying an extra day in San Juan, we decided to go to the Bacardi factory and then have dinner after we checked in at out separate hotels.

Unfortunately, since we were staying in New San Juan, the taxi ride to Bacardi was wicked expensive. We were told it would be cheaper to take the bus. We waited, and waited, the bus wasn't coming, so we decided to walk. It ended up a 7 mile walk, in a little over 2 hours. Then a ferry ride and a short taxi ride & we made the last tour. Thank goodness!

YUM! Bacardi cocktails!

We had dinner at an authentic local puerto rican restaurant, then enjoyed some Churros for dessert! It was Kevin's first Churro experience. They filled them with cream cheese, chocolate or dulche de leche. I got a plain one, and Kevin a cream cheese one.

We spent the next day at the beach and lounging around, before heading to the airport. Our flight was delayed for almost 2 hours, but we finally got to bed around 2am, thank goodness I had the next couple days off to recover! We luckily missed Hurricane Irene hitting the east coast by flying home Monday instead of Sunday.

Vacation was amazing, but my expanded waistline due to extra alcohol, and lack of running is not welcome. I'm working hard at getting back to eating right and exercising, but it's tough to refocus! I have my first weight watcher meeting tomorrow, and I KNOW I will have a gain. I'm prepared, hopefully it won't be more than a few pounds. 

What are your tips to get beck on track for vacation?

I know the start of Marathon training in 2 weeks will help!