Nassau, Bahamas

Our second stop on the cruise was Nassau. We had no excursions planned for this stop either as we were just planning on exploring around by foot.

Part of Nassau from the ship.

We did decide to take a group taxi over to see the Atlantis resort on Paradise Island. It was about $10 per person round trip to get over there, plus a fee for getting over the bridge one way. We were able to walk around the shopping area, through the casino, and around the outside of the casino portion of the hotel. Otherwise, you had to have a wristband or room key to get into other parts of the resort. There is also an aquarium which was charging about $50 per person to get in to, so we opted to just walk around.

The first thing I saw was this adorable sparkly mermaid swimsuit in one of the stores, which cost $98!! We walked through the casino, which was not super busy as it was before 10 am, and saw the Chihuly glass sculptures and light fixtures. We got a bit past the casino and then were turned away since we didn't have resort access {this costs about $100 per person}. We walked around the outside, which had beautiful views, and got a taste of the things that we were missing with the $100 day pass. We took some pictures and then headed back towards the city of Nassau itself.

I wanted to find the straw market, so we walked to that and looked around. It was an open building filled with lots and lots of people selling lots and lots of things. A lot of it looked the same as the next vendor, but I'm sure if you spent enough time there you could find some unique things. Our group was splitting up and Justin was getting bored, so we made our final purchase {straw fans for the girls} and headed towards the beach area to find some lunch.

We found the beach! If you look closely, you can see the tip of a cruise boat in the far right. 

Just to note distance from the port from where we were.

We walked a lot farther than I was anticipating. It wasn't too far for us to handle, but I would have worn different shoes had I known. We also went farther than the beach since we were looking for some local food and ended up quite some distance away from the cruise ship. After we ate lunch we took a cab ride back to the cruise dock and just sat by the pool with family the rest of the afternoon.

Sunset from the boat!

Participating in some kind of nightly activity...

Helping out the comedian on stage!

Next stop: Freeport!

Great Stirrup Cay, Bahamas

Our first port of call on our Bahamas cruise was Norwegian Cruise Line's private island, Great Stirrup Cay.

It was actually intended to be our last stop of three but due to some weather related issues, the captain reversed the itinerary of our ship. I had read that it was sometimes an issue on this island, since there is not a port on the island itself. Instead, the passengers tender back and forth between the cruise boat and the island. It was nice that they thought to do that so we could see it, but it did mess with our self-planned excursion that was scheduled for our planned port of call. Luckily, we were able to move our rental car to the last day without too much trouble.

Justin and I had no official excursions planned for any of the stops. We did plan on doing a few things at each port of call with the exception of this one. They had lots of things you could sign up to do; water sports and activities. But we very much enjoyed the relaxed feel of the day.

We got up and ate breakfast on the ship {for the record here, I never slept in past 7:00 am}. Actually, I think on this first day we actually got up, worked out, and then ate breakfast on the ship. Then we started to think about getting off the ship and heading to the beach.

To get off the ship, you had to go claim some passes with a boarding group number and then wait for your group to be called. That took awhile... but probably around 11:00 we were able to get on a boat and tender over to Great Stirrup Cay.

It was basically a long stretch of beach with lots of chairs. We all ended up with chairs close to each other so that we could visit as we liked. The bars were open and served free drinks since our cruise was an all-inclusive ship to begin with. Basically, the beach was an extension of the boat. I remembered at this point, as I typically do on these types of vacations, that I really enjoy a mudslide.

I went down to the water and discovered that the water was a bit cool. I prefer pretty warm temperatures. There were plenty of people swimming in the water comfortably, I just wasn't one of them! But the water was gorgeous. It was so clear and a beautiful shade of turquoise.

So happy to spend time with BOTH of my sisters!

Around lunch time, a buffet of food was set up on the island for everyone to eat from. The food was different from the ship's buffet, at least I think it was {only really ate breakfast there} but they had a good selection & I very much enjoyed the ribs that had a jerk-like rub on them.

Our cruise ship from the island.

So, we drank, we ate, we lounged, and then in the early afternoon, we decided to head back to the boats before most of the other people did. Once back, we hung out by the pool on the ship.

We had a lot of fun on this little island. I probably could have just stayed put the entire week and done this. It was kind of like an all-inclusive resort where you had the beach and the pool except your room was floating... It was a really good first day at our first stop, though! We are looking forward to our next stop: Nassau!

DISCLAIMER: I did not take very many pictures of anything after we got back on the boat each evening... and if I did, there aren't many worth sharing!!!

Happy Valentines Day

Happy Valentines Day!

We hope everyone had a great day filled with lots of love!

With love,
The Peiperts

Can you guess which child threw a fit right before this photo session??

And if you're wondering what most look like when you try to take pictures of your toddlers...

A Surprise Engagement

Last year, my sister's boyfriend presented us with his plan to propose. He was going to book a cruise to the Bahamas over their anniversary {coincidentally Valentine's Day} and wanted to surprise Amy with our whole family coming along too. Also, a surprise. And, of course, we jumped on board {figuratively and literally}!

We had almost an entire year to work out the details. Mom secretively text back and forth with Kyle trying to iron out more and more details as the time got closer. Not without a mishap or two, though. One day there was a text that Kyle accidentally sent to Amy {meant for mom} that talked about a possible plan for the engagement itself. It didn't include details about the cruise or any names so somehow Kyle convinced Amy it was meant for someone else's engagement!

We thought we had worked out the details and coordinated different times to arrive at the port and get on the ship. We also had worked out when and where the engagement would happen and then made every attempt to avoid seeing the other on the day of embarkment.

Lunch outside on our first day in Miami! We came a bit early to see Justin's family.

Not a bad view of the water!

Surprisingly, it all went very smoothly. We were worried at one point while we were in holding that we may not get on before they arrived. The plan had been that we would check in at 10:30 am and they would check in at 12:30 pm. The first snafu was when dad realized that he left his jacket and sunglasses in the hotel room. The rest of us went ahead and checked in while he took another round trip Uber ride to the hotel and back again. He ended up getting all settled with us about an hour behind schedule. We thought we were in the clear still at this point. But then, we found out they don't let anyone on the boat until noon anyways, so even though we had checked in, we still had to sit there and just wait, hoping Amy and Kyle didn't walk right up the stairs and see us. When 12:30 pm rolled around and we still weren't on the boat, we started to get a little worried...

As it all turns out, they were running a little behind schedule and then the groups for boarding began to get called, and we got on the boat relatively quick. Most all of us checked our bags with the porters where the taxis dropped off so we didn't have to worry about much. We found a spot to eat lunch at the buffet outside and took advantage of the cell phone reception that we still had to let Kyle know where we were, so they could avoid us.

On board!

Ready for some fun times with family!

When our staterooms were ready {around 1:30 now} we headed to them. We thought it might be the safest place to make sure we didn't run into anyone and spoil the surprise.

At 2:00, it was go time. 

Kyle had reserved a room for an hour prior to us leaving the port of Miami. When we walked in, they were already there with Amy's back to us. Kyle told her that he had a surprise for her and then she turned around to see us all there! When she turned back to Kyle, he was on one knee to propose. She said "yes" and the rest is history!

The rest of the evening we spent talking over drinks and dinner and celebrating the newly engaged couple. It was surely a bit overwhelming for Amy to be surprised with so much in a short period of time, but it was really special to be a part of this big moment. We really loved having the opportunity to spend the week with family in the Bahamas and are looking forward to some wedding planning & fun to come!

Trying to be good listeners at the mandatory safety stuff...

Bye, Miami!

January Fun

Since I am behind on my blog posting in addition to the fact that there wasn't a whole lot going on in the month of January, here is a condensed version of what we were up to this month:

Wedding planning is in full swing right now! We are officially in the year of her wedding, which means ten months til she walks down the aisle. A lot of the big decisions have been made, but a few remained so mom, Krista, & I went to the Fort Worth Bridal Show to check out a few things. In the next coming months we need to finalize the bridesmaid dresses & I need to start looking into Bachelorette party & bridal shower planning. So much fun!

Sharing some "brunch" after the bridal show! 

Massive bloody mary with chicken fingers, fries, shrimp, bacon, a slider, plus MORE!

Auntie K & Michael invited everyone over to their house to make pizzas on the egg. The girls had been asking to go to their house for awhile so it was good to get out there. The girls {and adults} had fun making their own pizzas and they were tasty, too! I am surprised they haven't asked about going back yet...

There are a LOT of olives on that pizza!

I spent some time at the hospital with Krista after she had a spontaneous lung collapse & surgery late this month. Luckily, she is on the mend and there are no concerns about her health moving forward!

The girls made some pictures for her hospital room.

Otherwise, it's just the daily grind. School & work, dance class, Justin traveling, attempting to get the girls fed, bathed, & put to bed in a timely fashion each evening, parenting & disciplining constantly and maintaining the house.

Playing with Alexa

Attempting to enforce consequences for poor behavior unsuccessfully...

Janie brought me a dress in exchange for doing something she wasn't supposed to do after I

thought I told her I would take away something that she loves - twirly dresses!

Looking forward to a few fun times in February!

Janie's 3rd Birthday Party

Janie had been planning on having her birthday party at the trampoline park for a while before her birthday came along. Very opinionated. So, we went ahead and scheduled our very first birthday party {between both girls' birthdays} at a "party place" and of course used Altitude Trampoline Parks!

The good thing about scheduling birthday parties like this is that you don't have to worry about a whole lot. They provided the food, water, and even paper plates if you want. And we had two helpers coming around to serve and see if we needed anything. We brought in cupcakes, which I had special ordered at Target and thought were a great price {less than $1 per cupcake} for personalized treats. The only other cost was party favors. I did order balloons to make sure there was something pink but that wasn't even necessary.

We invited the friends in her class in addition to other close friends & family. Janie had a lot of fun jumping and playing with her friends! I found that I spent a lot of time talking with and greeting the adults and Justin spent a lot of time playing with the kids and neither of us took many pictures. I tried once or twice and the kids were just a blur playing, which is how it should be I suppose.

It was nice to not have to worry about planning or prepping a whole lot. Usually, I am working really hard the week or two before a birthday party to get things all ready and this time I think it was the night before, maybe two, when I realized I hadn't put together party favors! The trade off is the price and the amount of time spent preparing and cleaning... We have some time to contemplate it all before the next one!

We had fun celebrating your third birthday, Janie Belle!