It's the little things

One of the most amazing and unexpected parts of our trip was how excited the crew on the yacht was to see, help, entertain and play around with Odin. It was spectacular. He made friends with the entire dining room staff and had most of them making chicken wings when they saw him. One of the guys at the bar made some of the most outrageous drinks for him every day. One day he used three cherries and three straws!
Our cabin steward on the second night made a pig out of towels. Then each night we had a new animal waiting for us. Somehow we missed taking a picture of the manta ray.

Pig

elephant

dragonfly

gorilla

The small touches made a great experience even more memorable.

Shore time

Our daily activities on the cruise were varied and we all chose our own directions. My dad and I went scuba diving in St. Luica, and had a great time. I decided to go again in Dominica even thought it meant I was going without him (he had other plans).
John and Odin went on a snorkeling adventure in Dominica.

 

 
The three of us went on a zipline tour in Antigua with Louise! It was a blast. Smiles all around.

There was also lots of exploring on our own going to the beach, hiking around, there was no lack of things to do.  One day when we went to the beach and did a bit of snorkeling I saw some reef squid! So exciting!

On the way into port. We took anchored at port and took a tender to the dock.

 

This is where John and I saw the reef squid!

Aptly named Shell Beach, it was also great for beach glass.

Details

The lovely thing about going on a cruise with a group of people is that people can easily pursue their own interests while everyone still spends time together. Early on we fell into a very nice routine. Our day looked like this: we'd meet for breakfast then we would all go off and do, such as ship sponsored shore excursions or just swimming off the platform at the stern. At breakfast we would discuss lunch times, or there was a sandwich counter for a less formal lunch. This is the option I chose most days. Afternoon was free time again. Around four or five in the evening we would shower and change and go up to the aft deck for a before dinner drink, to watch the sunset, and also watch departure to the next port.  Then on to dinner immediately followed by bedtime for Odin and sometimes others!

Odin was a champ through all of this. A couple of nights he stayed in the room watching a movie and just resting. But mostly he was with us, enjoying outrageous beverages (one night he had three cherries and three straws!).

Our hangout spot was just above the pool deck.

 

Swimming / watersports platform.

Vacation!

Night spent on two planes
We scarcely slept at all
When will we be there?

My dad retired in style last week, we all celebrated with him on a cruise!

 

Hours spent in the sea

Swimming, Diving, looking at fish

When do we get to come back?

Mmmmmmm, cake!

A week or two ago I saw this great idea for a St. Pat's themed cake. My sister is nice enough to scour the internet for neat projects and posts them on her blog just for me. Well maybe not just for me. . .
I found it a good project for Odin and I. It was!

making his best Leprechaun face

idea from notmartha

Guess who made breakfast . . .

He woke up and really really wanted pancakes. So we had him make them. Johno helped a little bit but mostly it was all Odin (and he has the burned finger to prove it!).

They were so delicious.

New things

I recently started a new project. I am working with a horse to get her started under saddle. I have been working with her for the past week. So far it is going great and just what I needed. Odin didn't have school today and came out to the barn with me. He was nice enough to take this picture for me. With his new camera!