From a Northern Christmas to a Southern New Years

Seth and I took off a few days before Christmas and headed to his home in Geneva, NY. Chrissy, Jens, and Erik were there, too, and Tory and Melissa visited often, so it was nice having a great big Christmas (well, big compared to my usual Yule-tide routine). In fact, it was my first time celebrating with Seth's family in NY.

All the girls in the kitchen

Christmas dessert

Asking Santa for a new dirt bike

Pure mayhem

Diving into the tree for a few more gifts

For New Years my parents treated Andrew, Jennifer, Carter, Seth, and me to a four night cruise to the Bahamas. Seth and I flew down to Orlando and met everyone for the trip. It was the first time we had all been together in at least two and a half years, so the best part of the trip was simply getting to see everyone.

Day 1: Running in balmy Cocoa Beach, Florida

Cocoa Beach, FL

Day 2: The island of Cocoa Cay, Bahamas

Lunch on Cocoa Cay

Funky iguana

Cute towel animal

Day 3 (New Years Eve): The trip highlight--an early morning run in Nassau, Bahamas

Kiwanis!

Fruit stand

Need to ask for directions...

Still a little unsure...

Time for a pit-stop, right, coconut?

Heading back to the ship

Back to shore with the family. Dad is looking to increase his conch shell collection (seriously).

Road-side artist

Our hero, Columbus

Preparing for the big midnight New Years parade, Junkanoo (I think it is a little like Mardi Gras)

A fort

My one random "dinner picture"

Nassau, later that evening, was still preparing for Junkanoo

Almost time! Too bad we would not be able to stick around to watch

Midnight on the ship


Day 4: Introducing some of the ship's head crew members

Our cabin. We have company.

Day 5: The Landstrom Family II enjoying breakfast before departing the ship