Graduation Celebration - in Honduras!

We had already been to Honduras since we were repeating our honeymoon cruise, but they have changed the port quite a bit. When we first went there, la Isla Roatan was a new port to Carnival. They had a large craft/flea market set up, but not the typical shops that you see when you visit places like Cozumel. I kinda liked that. Last time we took a 45 minute bus ride to go to the beach. Now the cruise lines have created basically their own private space on the island. You can take a chair lift (like what you would use for skiing) to the beach area or walk it. We went for the walk it option since it was free and faster. Then they have rows and rows of beach chairs set up, restaurants and a couple of shops. But most importantly, they have the beach. The whole group participated in this adventure. I enjoyed hanging out with them all and it was my favorite family excursion. The water was gorgeous and refreshing. The sand was nice and soft and there were hardly any waves.  Mackenzie (my 4 year old niece) and I were pirates and attacked Sean and other family members. Then we started getting attacked so we had to swim away. Sean and I also went for a walk on the pier and enjoyed the scenery of the water hitting the rocks not too far away. The ship was in the background and all in all, it was just a lovely day. Sadly, we spent the shortest amount of time in Honduras as we had to be back on the boat at 2:30. I could have spent a couple more hours just floating in the ocean and lounging on the chairs enjoying the beautiful view of ocean with mountains in the backdrop.

Thursday was also our second formal night. I took a nap upon getting back on the ship (relaxing can be so exhausting) and when I woke up, I only had 25 minutes to get ready. I had planned on curling my hair, but as that can take an hour, I went with a half-up/half-down and curled the parts that were down. I was successful in avoiding burning myself! We then went to dinner but this time, it was just us, my parents, and my in-laws. Sean's sister and husband were eating in the Golden Fleece, the restaurant on board the ship. Dinner was a lot quieter without the lovely Mackenzie chatting. We finished dinner and then took some pictures. We went to the family-friendly comedy show. We had never attended these on our previous cruises, but we didn't miss one this time. Most were pretty good; one definitely was not. Then we headed back to the room to change out of our gown and suit. Mainly Sean wanted to change; I never have a problem being dressed up. We walked around and enjoyed the stars. They are so much clearer when there is no light pollution. The darkness was a little intimidating though. I normally don't mind looking down at the ocean over the railing during the day, but at night, not so much.

Oh, and I forgot to mention that last night, Sean, Mackenzie and I danced the electric slide on stage during the past guest party. We had just sat down when they announced the band was playing it. Sean wanted to dance so I went with him. About 2 seconds later while we were walking up to the stage, I felt a little hand slip into mind. Mackenzie and I attempted the electric slide while Uncle Sean showed off. The blessings of dancing with a little girl - no one cares that you actually don't know the dance all that well. It was a lot of fun and while it's easy to say that she's my favorite niece, since she's the only one, I definitely enjoy our relationship. Hearing "Aunt Courtney" from across the dinner table or the pool always makes me smile.