We have a walker! Carter took his first consecutive steps before we went on our cruise and then with a week away from mama and dada he is running around! We (Brad and Mary) celebrated our 10th anniversary (1 1/2 years late- thank you baby Carter). We were lucky enough to get out of the snow and have a week in the Caribbean islands and Bahamas. We had a blast playing on the ship which happened to be the biggest cruise ship in the world! We participated in a lot of activities- Brad jokingly entered the sexy man contest boasting his "dadbod" as his greatest feature. And we also were chosen to be contestants in Love and Marriage- an embarrassment we will never forget in front of hundreds of people. We had an unforgettable adventure on St. Kitts with a personalized local tour from cousin Amy starting off with coconut milk on the street and a tour of an old sugarcane plantation. We discover a 400 year old tree and the lessons from the 400 year old tree reminded cousin Amy and me of Grandma Jefferson. We explored a fortress and had some zen views. We tried the local grapefruit soda- Ting and watched the waves hit black rocks and then Amy took us on a local hike across an abandoned railroad bridge (without sides) and down to a black sand beach where we found amazing huge sea shells and then a monsoon came and we crouched under some leaves trying to keep our phones dry watching the waves get bigger and bigger. It was a little scary and lasted for awhile and we may have had the thought- are we going to get back to our cruise ship on time? We were super wet and muddy by the end but thankfully Amy let us shower at her house and we made it back on time to the ship- though unfortunately security made me throw away my shells. On St. Thomas we took a jeep tour and saw some incredible views. We had the most amazing food and saw incredible shows on the ship and are excited for our next cruise to Alaska for our 20th anniversary. Thankfully we were healthy and well for the whole experience but as soon as we came home our whole family got sick and we spent the rest of January taking care of sick kiddos.
