January started with quite an event. Shawn's former roommate was turning 30 and wanted to do something special. He decided that a cruise was in order. He invited Shawn and some of their mutual friends to go along. We were invited also. Others heard about the cruise and wanted to be a part of it and in no time, a little over 20 folks had signed up! So we all converged from various locations to Jacksonville, FL.
The cruise ship was one of the smaller Carnival ships and it sailed to Freeport, Half Moon Cay, and Nassau. All in the Bahamas. Things started out COLD as a big cold front enveloped most of the country and stretched deep into Florida.
Amanda, Charly, and the girls set up in their cabin and by the looks of things packed only shoes. Anyway, in Freeport we braved the temperatures and went ocean Kayaking. Our original destination was unavailable due to winds and choppy seas but we did go to a nice area where the mangroves abounded as did the pelicans.
We did get in to snorkel a bit but the waters were so cold that we had seen enough after about an hour. We don't look very cold in the picture below but believe me, it was chilly!
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| From L to R- KC, Shawn, Tyler, and Brandon |
Barb surprised the "Birthday Boys" with some shirts she had made and made a couple for Shawn and KC to round out the crew.
Carnival's private island, Half Moon Cay, was the next destination. This was an important stop as Shawn had a surprise for his girlfriend Shelby. It all started with the entire group getting together for a group photo on the beach...
After the photo, the group sort of meandered about and Shawn and Shelby snuggled a bit...
Then Brad slipped him a small something and...
A totally surprised Shelby was caught completely unaware. We didn't hear all that was said but...
We're pretty sure the answer was "Yes!".
Not to be left out, Shelby received a special shirt for the occasion...
Amazingly to all involved, everyone had managed to keep this secret for the last few months while the plans were made and the ring carefully hidden away from discovery (sounds like the plot to Lord of the Rings). Anyway, welcome to the family Shelby!!!
Formal night on the ship let us all dress up and enjoy the evening's activities.
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| The guys... |
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| and the Girls. |
The last port of call was Nassau. We took Amanda and her family along with our frequent travel buddies Geoff and Brenda on a walking tour of the city.
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| The Queen's Staircase |
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| Our ship as viewed from the Fort |
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| Now where did I put that key???? |
We returned to Jacksonville to much warmer weather than when we left. Here the parties parted ways, all headed back to their homes. A couple days' drive returned us to Kansas and we began our preparations to return to Texas. We did delay a week in order to be around when the girls get their delayed Christmas gift... a new puppy!
