The Stephens Family: Caribbean Cruise, Day 1-3

Just a couple of hours ago we got back from a wonderful vacation. I just want to say that the next several posts are going to be lengthy and boring for those not interested in our trip, but I'm pretty sure my 5 readers will enjoy the details and I love looking back and reading the details so get ready!

On Friday the 12th we left our home very early to drive to California. Mary and Bill aka Nonny and Poppy were going to watch Mae and Will for us while we were gone. Everyone, including the kids were very excited to get going. We hardly stopped and got there in record time!

Finally we made it! Nonny greeted both kids are they were so happy to see her. We actually had time to hang around for a bit before we left for our flight. Mae was off with Savannah and said goodbye and didn't look back....

Will, on the other hand wanted to stand in the driveway and watch us go. Talk about break my heart! He was very serious before I took this picture. I asked him later what we was thinking about and he said, "I was thinking I wanted to be with you..." Aw... I love my boy. He is so sweet and thoughtful. I felt bad leaving him. I knew he'd miss us! But luckily he was going to be with the super-grandparents all week!

Our flight left LAX at 10:30 and we arrived in Washington D.C. around 6:00am. The sunrise was beautiful and this picture does not do justice.

We finally arrived in San Juan, Puerto Rico around noon on Saturday the 13th. We met up with our group at the airport, went to the hotel and literally RAN to the beach which was just outside our door.

We had never been in warm Caribbean water before and it was amazing! We could have just stayed here all day long.

That night we did an excursion to Fajardo, which is about an hour away.

We went kayaking in the dark through mangrove trees and followed a trail to the bio-luminescent bay. It was such a fun experience I was too scared to take my camera out on the kayak and didn't get any pictures but was very fun!

As we were leaving the hotel that night to make it on our bus, we all hopped in an elevator to go down 8 floors. There were about 12 of us. 11 of us were friends and then some random guy was in the corner. We heard a loud beep and then the elevator went to the top floor! The door wouldn't open. We decided we were probably too heavy and it couldn't handle us Americans Matt called the front desk and pleaded for help... this kept us all laughing and kept our mind off the fact that we were trapped back to back in an elevator for 20 minutes! It was awful and SO HOT. All of the men, especially the random guy were sweating a TON! Finally, the elevator slowly went down floor by floor until it got to the 2nd floor and then dropped us to the bottom! We all screamed but were ok. It was quite the adventure! They pried open the door and stuck a ladder in so we could climb up to the first floor. I asked the security guard to take a picture and he said, no way! It made us laugh. Finally, after being shoved in there for way too long, we were out and on our way. When we got back that night we had wine and cheese in our room as a peace offering from the hotel. No... we didn't drink it!

On Sunday we slept in and checked out the hotel and went to check in for the cruise. After eating some lunch at the buffet we headed out to check out Old San Juan for the day.

Its a beautiful town. We loved exploring it.

This is a statue of Christopher Columbus-- apparently he had something to do with this island being discovered. We happened to be there while some celebration was taking place which was really fun. There were people everywhere.

This was some kind of play taking place. The man in front of the blue sheet has a grey beard. His picture was everywhere. I'm guessing he is an important person in their history.

We walked to the forts and stone walls that surround the city.