Bermuda 2012

Last week my family and I went on an amazing trip. We took a cruise from NJ to Bermuda. This was the 3rd time for Bob and I to go to Bermuda and it was the 2nd time for our girls to go. It’s most definitely one of our FAVORITE Islands to go to and absolutely heaven on earth!

I took about 550 pictures but picked a few of my faves to share with you.

We left from Cape Bayonne, NJ which is just across the Hudson from NYC … it was neat to see the Statue of Liberty and the new Freedom Tower.

I am a Mom who wears jeans and t-shirts pretty much every day. The only days I get dressed up are basically Sundays for church and MAYBE an occasional time when I go out to dinner with my family or friends. Being on the cruise was so much fun because we dressed up for dinner EVERY night! Even on the nights that are deemed ‘casual’ you are expected to dress nice for the dining room {like no shorts, tanks, swimwear, etc}. I had fun in the month leading up to the cruise trying to find dresses and outfits to bring with me. This dress I got from a friend who was getting rid of it – thankfully it was stretchy material cause I BARELY squeezed into it! hahaha

Our ship was HUGE and even had an ice skating rink onboard! The girls went skating one night and thought it was so cool!

The 2nd day we were onboard was our daughter Hope’s 11th birthday! We ordered room service breakfast so she could start the day with breakfast in bed! We also brought her bday gifts with us and let her open them right after breakfast. She had a super fun day onboard the ship and I think it’s a birthday she won’t soon forget! =) {side note … I can hardly believe she’s ELEVEN!}

The ship also had a rock wall onboard … Bob and Joy climbed it one day and Hope and I had planned to do it but then we never got around to doing it …

Another night before dinner … this was one of the ‘formal’ nights …. this is a dress I bought on a resale group on FB for FIVE dollars! I love it and it fits me so nicely, I can’t believe what a good deal it was!

That night at dinner they came over and sang Happy Birthday to Hope … it was so sweet!

There were 3 days when we were ‘at sea’ and there are about a hundred different things you can do to keep busy on the ship … but our fave is just to lounge by the pools, swim, soak up the sunshine and people watch! There are SO many interesting people on the ship! They always have neat things going on too like this day there was a Belly Flop contest {which is why everyone is watching the pool area} or they usually also have a Caribbean band playing live music. Sometimes people are dancing, sometimes they do fun games, one day they did an ice carving demonstration by the pool, it just seems like there is always something going on in that area.

Once we reached Bermuda we had 3 full days there … we went to a beach called Horseshoe Bay which is absolutely, stunningly gorgeous!

We brought snorkels and masks with us on the ship and we did a bunch of snorkeling. We got to see all kinds of neat tropical fish, coral, sea urchins, tropical reefs, and even some small squid. My hubby and girls also saw an eel and a sand shark {I wasn’t around to see those!}.

Bermuda is known for it’s pink sand beaches. The sand looks pink from shells that have been ground up by the sea …. if you hold some in your hand you can most definitely see the pink granules and it’s SO cool. The sand is also so fine it feels like baby powder, it’s SO soft to walk on both in and out of water and the weird thing is that it actually feels cool and not hot to walk on.

We explored little coves, snorkeled, played in the waves/water for hours and lounged in the sun while the girls played in the sand. We ended up going to this beach 2 of our 3 days because we loved it so much!

Our ship was docked in the Royal Naval Dockyard in Kings Wharf, Bermuda … we did a little shopping {looking around} in the dockyard mall one day. Everything is SUPER expensive in Bermuda! The cab drivers all told us that an average house {not big, just average!} sells for about $800,000 and that gas is almost $10 per gallon!! OK, I will stop complaining about the high cost of living in CT! =)

We loved these old payphones {which still work!} … the girls and I kept singing ‘I’m at a payphone tryin’ to call home, all of my change I spent on you …’ 

One of the days we took a ferry to the opposite side of the island to a place called St. Georges …. we took a quick taxi ride over to a beach called Tobacco Bay. We had been to Tobacco Bay on our last trip to Bermuda and we had loved it … but this time it was kinda murky in some of the water and the beach was WAY overcrowded … so we only stayed a couple hours and then took the ferry back to the dockyard …

Back at the dockyard there is a little place called Snorkel Park … we went snorkeling there, swam a little and just relaxed … it was getting to be around dinner time so we eventually made our way back to our ship to go grab some dinner.

This was dinner on another night … this dress is one of my FAVES! I got it at Kohl’s this summer with a coupon and discount making it pretty cheap … it’s SUPER comfortable and I love the colors. {at this point my nose was sunburned just about every day even when I would put 50 sunblock on several times per day!}

All 4 of us stayed in a little tiny room … it sure made me appreciate my ‘small’ house when I came home! The bunks would be folded up during the day, but this is what it would look like at night … and that’s a mirror, not a window, so it was sort of like sleeping in cave with no daylight!

Ever since we booked this trip back in the spring I have been trying get in shape for it … I know I’m not ‘fat’ but definitely have some areas that need some work {that you can’t see because clothes hide a lot}. Anyway, I tried hard and did pretty well with losing a few pounds and exercising more and had sort of made it my goal to be able to wear a bikini when we went on our trip. Well the week before the trip I was trying all my clothes on and just didn’t feel comfortable with how I looked in the 2 bikini tops I had … I told Bob I was just going to bring the 3 suits that were tankinis and would just feel best in those. And I just have to say I’m glad I did.

The funny thing is there were women of ALL shapes and sizes wearing ALL sorts of swimsuits {some who should NOT have been wearing skimpy bikinis} and I know I could have gotten away with mine and nobody would have even cared … but there really is something to be said for feeling very confident and comfortable in your own skin. For not worrying about your love handles and cellulite showing … but just feeling totally comfortable. And that’s how I felt. I’m also a Mom who loves to get in the water, jump around, dive into waves, etc … I don’t sit on the beach sunbathing very often and it’s nice to wear a swimsuit that allows you to move around comfortably without always having to worry about the suit shifting too much. And when I looked back at these pictures, fully expecting to feel frumpy and not satisfied, I was actually happy and confident and pleased with how they turned out. =) Fitting in and looking good in a bikini are NOT what make a person beautiful … something I learned on this trip.

The girls snorkeled almost constantly! They were addicted to seeing all the cool fish!

As I held this up and looked all around me I literally thought to myself ‘Just Another Day in Paradise!’

OK, so it’s really not all about the drinks … but this was one of my faves … it’s called a Mango Tango and was SO yummy ….

This was the 2nd formal dinner night … this is a dress I have had for YEARS and worn on several cruises.

The girls on the ship deck, waiting for dinner one night …

And a gorgeous sunset on our last night onboard …. this was truly a trip to remember with so many special moments and memories made with our daughters. I know the day will come when they’d rather hang with friends than hang with us, so for this time we really soaked in every moment.