It's been a year since I have blogged. However, if you want more updates, I've been on Twitter mostly this past year @amazechristianl

This summer was an eventful one. My sister, Francesca, was involved in a serious accident around Labor Day weekend and so that was the beginning of my eventful summer. She fell two stories during the middle of the night and was rushed to ICU. She spent about a week there and it seemed like science fiction to see her in that state. She was then in the rehab for about two weeks and is now back at home recovering little by little. She is currently attending Greenville Tech this fall.

During this past summer I worked at JCPenney's as a sales associate in Men's and Children's clothing. Both with big contrasts between them in types of customers, clothing sold, and much more. It was a very interesting position because I had never before had a position in retail and I had to jump into the water very quickly. I can say that it was a very rewarding and enlightening experience. Through it I became more confident about myself and more willing to be open with others.

Then after about two months working there I went on a cruise with my family on Liberty Of The Seas to Puerto Rico, Haiti, and St. Maarten. It's hard to imagine that I was on the second largest cruise ship in the world, but I was. I will never forget the trip and it was incredible to see Francesca having the opportunity to be on the trip with us after the past two months with her accident.

When we first got on the trip they had their first parade, the "Soca-Licious" parade. (Whatever that's supposed to mean.) I'm guessing it was the "Let's Get Hyped" parade.

And we were getting "hyped."

And excited.

Some guests were hanging from the ceiling.

On our first part of call we were in St. Maarten. We went on the 12 Metre Sailboat race where, you were either on the Stars And Stripes or Canada Two. We ended up on Canada Two by default. We still had a great time. Check out the cool sails.

We had a great view of our ship and a Princess ship in port from the sailboat.

And a cool view of what was ahead.

And this is the Canada Two crew. And I still don't know who everyone is.

While in St. Maarten, we wanted to stop at Ben and Marco's, but had no time.

But we did see boats at rest.

And the harbor.

We got a picture of us three teens in front of the two ships in port that day.

And saw a cool sunset to top it all off.

Perhaps this one is better.

It seemed the entire ship was out there.

And the clouds were interesting to look at.

And then we made it to Puerto Rico.

But more interesting than statues, was the fort wall.

Well, not that much more exciting.

And we got a good view from the fort.

And we saw some really old cannons.

Possibly a better view from the fort.

And there was a chapel too.

And the walk was just like a Death Valley experience.

And check out this crazy statue. WOAH!

Yes, there are stop signs and one way streets in Puerto Rico.

A view of the ship from a distance in the old city.

And we enjoy the view.

And yes the ship is HUGE!

Then we were on to Haiti. Royal Caribbean donated a portion of our cruise fare and what we bought in Haiti to the earthquake victims. The scenery was very relaxing.

And you could see the bluest sky and the greenest leaves.

At the end of our cruise we enjoyed a Pirate Parade. AARRRGGHHH!

And a sword fight!

And court jesters.

And the aftermath was Chaos.

And this was the best picture of me yet.

So that's a roundup of our cruise. So much has occurred since then and so much continues to happen. I will try to blog more, but then again it may not.

I hope everyone is well, and blog on!

Christian