BABYMOON :)

:My Journey of Pregnancy & Type 1 Diabetes:

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:17 weeks 5 days:

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We returned home from our vacation about 2 weeks ago. I must say, it was pretty amazing!! I'm so glad we decided to make this getaway happen! We were not sure if my doctor would let me go, but with a phone appointment and lots of monitoring, we were given the okay :) Before we found out we were pregnant, we wanted to go on a 29 day cruise in April from Sydney to San Fransisco. Unfortunately I would have been 1 week too far along to go on the cruise while pregnant. They will not let you on the ship if you will be 24 weeks along before you get off the ship. We were still able to visit a lot of the same islands of the longer cruise. We missed out on Fiji, New Zealand, and Australia :( I guess that gives us something to go for on our next BIG vacation.......which will be a loooong time away I'm sure! But we did get to stay in the overwater bungalows in French Polynesia. We would not have been able to do with the other cruise. They were so awesome! It was like something that you dream of, not something that you actually get to do!

The first part of our trip we flew to Hawaii and got to spend a lot of time with our niece Rayleigh! It was so nice to see my sister, J, and Ray since we only get to see them a few times a year. Three days later we got on the Ocean Princess for an 11 night cruise. We went to Kauai first. We went on a 2 week cruise around the Hawaiian Islands last year, so we figured out different things to do on the islands this year. We rented a car and visited Waimea Canyon (gorgeous), and Poipu Beach to snorkel (a very popular beach on the south side of the island). Then we cruised to Maui. We saw whales off the back of the boat while we were eating breakfast that morning :) We decided to go back to Black Rock, because we love it there. We did some snorkeling, shopping, and took some pictures by the banyan tree again (this tree really takes up a whole block)! Off to the Big Island that night. In Hilo we rented a car again. We went to the active volcano and the waterfalls last year, so we weren't really sure what we wanted to do this time. It was kind of a rainy day, so no go for the beach. We did a scenic drive around part of the island, and then went to a place that had hot springs. Well, it was supposed to have hot springs, but they were COLD :( Too much rain! So we didn't get in. Still had a good day though!

After leaving Hilo, we took off for the islands of French Polynesia :) 5 days at sea. Which isn't for everyone, but we love sea days too!! We did have some rough seas for 2 nights. We were on a smaller ship (about a third of the size of the big ships we are used to) so you could feel the rocking more and it was windy. Ryan and I both had a sick night puking, but baby had something to do with mine. About half way through (week 14) I started getting over my morning sickness for the most part!!! On first day at sea was our 4th anniversary and captain's night, so we got to really dress up. (Ry got to wear his new suit for the first time, and he looked pretty good!!) It was a special night. We had some great relaxing days by the pool and in the casino. Just being able to sleep in and be on no schedule is nice! We saw some pretty beautiful sunsets while at sea too!! They were remarkable :)

Our first stop in French Polynesia was Bora Bora :) Words can't really describe the beauty of that place! Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous!!! We had the perfect day while we were there too. The water alone will take your breathe away! You could see up to 4 or 5 different shades from deep blue, electric blue, sky blue, sea green, etc. in just one glance! There is a lot of shallow water around the island and around the motu's (the little private islands surrounding Bora Bora) that make the variations of color so abundant. While we were there, we decided to take a private boat tour around the island to snorkel in the coral gardens and swim with the stingrays and sharks!!!! First, the boat tour around the island was worth the $$$$. It is the best way to see this gorgeous place! The scenery doesn't get much better than it is here! Our stops along the way.....1st was the stingrays and sharks! Our guide stopped the boat in what looked like the middle of no where! Just a shallow part of the ocean. He got in with a bucket full of fish, and right away the stingrays showed up. It was like instant (you could tell they were used to being fed). Tons of them were swimming around all the sudden, and they were big! Then......came the sharks! The first one I saw came from under the boat, then there was another, and another. Ryan was itching to get in the water with the first sight of them. So, he was in with the under water camera pretty quick!! Me on the other hand, I was still a little in shock. I was taking pictures of all the stingray, sharks and Ry from the boat! After a while, Ry finally talked me into getting in. EEK!!! Not gonna lie, I was scared!! I mean, they were real stingrays and sharks out in the wild, not in some safe place where they were kept! Our only instructions were to not touch the sharks at all or the stingrays mouth! The stingrays were all over you if you would let them! I stayed close to the boat, trying to keep on arm on the ladder in case I needed a quick escape ;) I tried to not get too close to the sharks, but they were swimming around freely (there were probably a dozen or more of them around the boat at a time). Once we were there for awhile, the guide swam us out to the coral gardens for some beautiful snorkeling. There were not tons of fish here, but the coral was the most beautiful colors of coral we have ever seen........from pink, purple, bright blue and green, to almost any color you can think of! It was very pretty! On our way swimming back to the boat we came across a shark that totally freaked me out. It's one thing to be around them when the guide is by the boat feeding them, but a totally different story when you are surprised by one in the middle of snorkeling!!! Then we saw our guide grabbing something out of the coral with his snorkel mask. When we got back up by the boat, we saw that it was an octopus! Whoa.......we weren't expecting that one!! I got back in the boat (That was enough excitement for me!) The guide told me to get our camera, and then he put the octopus on Ryan's head! Wow! Ry said it was latched on pretty good. It was hard for the guide to take the octopus back! Lastly they took us to a deeper spot to snorkel with lots more fish! They gave us bread to feed the tons of different, beautiful fish. Overall, this was probably the best thing we did on our vacation! There were only 4 of us on the tour. The other couple didn't even get in the water much, so we got so much one on one time. The whole tour was amazing!! And Bora Bora was our favorite island :) Maybe, just maybe, someday when our kids are grown we will make it back ;)

After a little shopping, (Not much, because EVERYTHING in Bora Bora and the other islands of French Polynesia is ridiculously expensive. So expensive that it makes Hawaii look cheap! Just a normal tourist T-shirt that Ryan liked was over $50. Yeah, we didn't buy it.) we were back on the ship and off to Moorea that night. Since we were going to be coming back to Moorea for 4 days after the cruise, we weren't sure what we wanted to do here this day. We ended up going to a pearl shop on the other side of the island and then to a beach close by. We rented a kayak and rowed over to a secluded area where a lady told us there were sharks and stingrays. It was a private island where we saw many people from the ship on different tours. We got to see a few more stingrays and did some more snorkeling. We didn't see any sharks though (can't lie, I was not too upset). Then Ry had to row the whole way back pretty much by himself because my blood sugar was low and our bag, with snacks, was back on the beach. Sorry babe!

Our last stop on the cruise was Tahiti! This was always my dream place :) But, the more I read about French Polynesia, the more I learned that it was actually much less desirable than it's surrounding islands (Moorea, Bora Bora, Taha'a, ect). That is why we choose to take the ferry back to Moorea instead of staying on Tahiti after the cruise. The city of Papeete is much different than the small towns on the other islands. It was a big metro shopping area. We walked around for a while and did some shopping around the city. Then we took the ferry over to Moorea to check into our resort for the next few days!!

Moorea Pearl Resort & Spa was the resort we stayed at. It was beautiful! We were so excited to get into our overwater bungalow for the stay!! We had been seeing them for a few days now around the different islands. We moved to bungalow 4o2 after a brief stop in 420. I really wanted a bungalow with a view of the sunset. Since we were paying a ridiculous amount for the most expensive bungalows, I thought we might as well get one that made us happy! So Ryan got it switched for me......thanks honey, it was soooo worth it :) It was so nice to sit on our balcony over the water and watch the gorgeous sunsets every night (and we got some great pictures). Loved the glass floor to see the fish through the floor and the ladder right off our balcony into the coral for great snorkeling! For the next few days we hung out by the infinity pool, laid in the hammock, kayaked, snorkeled, rented a car to go around the island, sat on our balcony taking in the amazing views (we even got a show from a pod of dolphins right off our balcony one morning after breakfast), and spend a lot of quality time together. It was lovely! We are so in love, and a place like that makes it more special. We also talked about you a lot, baby. And, how different are lives are going to be when you join our little family. We love our life now, but we can't wait until you join it :)

Lastly, we flew back to Hawaii for 2 more nights before we headed back to California. It was a big surprise to us that our little nephew, Rylan, decided to arrive 7 weeks early!! So glad that he was doing good. We got to spend a little time with him in the hospital too. He is so precious!! We also got to spend a little more time with Carrie and Rayleigh during our stay. 3 weeks later.....and we were on a flight back to California :( I was sad it was over, but sooo happy that it happened! And, I couldn't be too sad because I was so excited to see you, baby, the next morning and make sure you were still doing okay (and you are doing great, thank you Jesus)!! Overall I was very pleased with how my blood sugars got along during our trip! I was still doing everything I was doing before, but time changes, new foods, carb guessing, and varied exercise can make things a little unpredictable (like diabetes isn't already unpredictable, right?!).

What an awesome way to spend our last BIG vacation together as just mommy and daddy!! We are so thankful that we got to experience this time together! It was such a special time that we will NEVER forget :) Sorry this post is so long.....it was just that amazing :)