adventures in cruising - day four - st. thomas

We arrived in St. Thomas around 10:30 am and everyone on the ship had to go through immigration. Luckily it didn't take very long and Brian and I were gone by about 11 or 11:15. The first thing we did was head to the Skyride at Paradise Point. The ride up in the little cable car/gondola was fun, but just as we got to the top, it started POURING rain. I was very, very sad about this. The view from up there was supposed to be spectacular, and there was so much fog you couldn't see a thing. Here's me at the top of the mountain - you can see the "spectacular view" (of the FOG) behind me!

But in a little while, the clouds broke up and we got a nice view. See?

Around noon, we headed back to the boat to put our bathing suits on. We ordered some sandwiches from room service, grabbed our beach bag with towels, and slathered on sunscreen. Out we headed to our snorkeling excursion! It was spitting rain and it was very overcast, and the sea was a bit choppy. It was about an hour boat ride to the island we snorkeled around, which was just north of St. Croix. The ride was VERY rough. I don't suffer from motion sickness of any kind, but I was feeling pretty nauseous by the time we finally got to Buck Island. Brian looked pretty green. We were so glad when we finally got there! (Here we are on the ride out.)

The boat tied up about 50 feet or so offshore and the crew gave us a little snorkeling lesson. During the lesson, the sun actually came out! It was perfect timing! Anyway, Buck Island is a protected reef and we were not allowed to walk on the island or touch any of the coral surrounding it. I guess the oils from our skin can kill the coral. So the guide explained that the easiest way off the boat was to jump, or we could go down the ladder. I looked at Brian, we shrugged, and then we jumped! It was great! We were in about 30 feet of water. We were warned about fire coral and sea urchins, so I had my eye out for those. We saw LOTS of BOTH!

As soon as I was in the water, I decided to try out the mask. I put my face in the water and immediately began breathing really fast - so I came up and let out a long breath. I did this a few times, and then I realized I was able to breathe normally! Being able to see and breathe underwater was so cool! Brian couldn't get a good seal on his mask because his moustache was in the way, so he swam around holding his nose. That left me with the camera, and I got a few cool pictures. You can clearly see the fire coral in this picture - it's mustard-colored. And if you click on it and look to the right, you can see some sea urchins.
One of the guys on our excursion dove down and took a picture of us together!

And aren't I just gorgeous in my snorkel gear??!! Hilarious!

Anyway, snorkeling was SO much fun, it's our new favorite thing. Since we've been back, I've discovered that there are several freshwater places in Florida to snorkel, including Rock Springs, which is about 10 minutes from our house! We are SO going to buy our own snorkel gear and snorkel all around!

The trip back to St. Thomas was MUCH more enjoyable - we sat out on the front of the boat and just enjoyed the views and the clean air. It was a fantastic trip!

Once back on the ship, we changed back into dry clothes and headed out to shop. I bought a Larimar bracelet - Larimar is a stone found only in the Dominican Republic. It's a pretty bracelet and I got a good deal - it's a nice memento of a fabulous day!

We met J&A right before we had to be back on the ship. We left the dock at 8:30 PM and the skyline was just gorgeous! Here are some pictures sailing away from St. Thomas:

so unhappy

Everyone in America who can hear reasonably well knows that Melinda is the best singer American Idol has ever seen. I'm so shocked that she was voted off last night. I guess people are wanting a more "pop" sound - regardless of the talent. I was really hoping that the top two would be Melinda and Blake. I think Blake is a real talent and very fresh. Jordin is talented, but I'm not a big fan. I think her vibrato sounds very forced and I don't think she has good control of her voice.

Of course, we all know that all three of them will have recording contracts and probably successful careers. I'm just disappointed that it had to happen this way for Melinda. Just my 2 cents.

we interrupt this vacation recap...

...to talk about Whole Foods! I went there for the first time on Friday and it was amazing! It's definitely going to be a new Saturday afternoon shopping/lunch spot for B and me. And they even had Mizithra cheese, our favorite! I can never find it anywhere! Thanks Jase, for telling me about Whole Foods. :-)

Also, B & I rented "The Holiday" on Saturday evening - and it was a truly great movie! We also watched "Stranger Than Fiction" on Friday night and really enjoyed it too.

Saturday during the day we went to Disney, Magic Kingdom to be exact. We rode the new Pirates of the Caribbean ride, which was cute and kinda cool, but not exciting. We also rode Big Thunder Mountain Railroad twice - that used to be my favorite ride as a child. Saturday I remembered why - it's so fun! That's all we got to ride because we had to leave for practice at church. It was ok, though, cause it was really hot. We were there long enough to enjoy it without being worn out!

That's it for now. Happy Mother's Day to all you moms out there, especially to our moms! :-D I obviously didn't blog every day this week like I wanted, but that's ok - I'll hopefully finish my vacation recap this week. I also have to get caught up in my Kindermusik classes and prepare to teach a practice class! Warning: busy week ahead.

adventures in cruising - day three - at sea

Monday was spent at sea. I love these days because we are surrounded by water with no land in sight, and I love the feeling of being out in the middle of nowhere! I love that no one can reach me - the phone isn't ringing, no one is at the door, there's no mail or email - ahhh. That is vacation to me!




I almost can't remember what we did on this day! I wish I had written it down! I do know that we did a lot of sunbathing. I'm sure we also explored the ship and ate a lot. :-) The food was yummy for the most part, and I love having unlimited access to frozen yogurt! I also spent a little bit of time planning our time in St. Thomas. And we loved to just sit around and talk. J&A had to catch us up on all the gossip from VV! We also loved sitting around the lunch table, looking at the schedule of events and discussing what we wanted to do. One night we went and watched Karaoke - and Brian even sang!

I'm pretty sure we spent part of this evening dancing our hearts out at the disco. The disco was fun because they would play older music - like 50s & 60s, Motown, or even 80s. Sometimes the dance floor would break into the Electric Slide and I was so proud - that's the only dance I know! Anyway, here are some pictures from day three, including some fun pics of the boat and one of Brian doing the "sad man"!!!! All pictures are clickable, as usual.









In other news, Florida is on fire. There are 2 rather large fires that are kinda near us, so I've already made some mental notes as to what I will grab if they call an evacuation for our area. It's sprinkling a bit right now, and I hope the rain keeps up - we sure need it! But it looks as if we're going to be safe. I hate the smoke smell outside, though!

adventures in cruising - day two - nassau

Sunday morning we arrived in Nassau and Brian and I headed off in the direction of the Pirate Museum. We had never been to the Bahamas and I must say that we weren't impressed with the dock area. Downtown Nassau was dirty and unkempt, and the locals were relentless! Before B and I could even leave the dock area, some lady had bracelets around our wrists that she said were "free" - but then she wanted a tip! Ugh! We found out later that J&A went to the other end of the island and it was beautiful, so I guess just the downtown was yucky.

Anyway, we had a blast at the Pirate Museum. This pirate-dressed guy let us in and it was cold and dark and damp and we were alone - it was kinda scary! I said to Brian, "What have we gotten ourselves into?" There was no one else around! But as we wound our way through, we ran into other visitors and I felt better. We got on a pirate ship replica that was inside the building and it was way cool!Then we grabbed a taxi and headed to Paradise Island to sun ourselves on Cabbage Beach. It was a nice beach even though it was crowded. The water was FREEZING, which rather surprised us! But we had gorgeous weather and we enjoyed the beach. We met J&A for snacks and drinks right before we had to be back on the boat. We only had about 4.5 hours on the island, but it was a good time.

















That night was formal night so we got all dressed up for dinner. Afterward, we explored the ship some more and boogied at the disco. (I know B & I look sunburned in this picture, but it was just the lighting. We didn't get burnt at all and we were so happy about that!)
The following pictures were taken as we sailed away from Nassau:

adventures in cruising - day one

Well, we're back from our fabulous, amazing, wonderful vacation. I'm sad it's over. So sad that I didn't even start to unpack until today. I couldn't even find some of my hair products when I was getting ready for church Sunday. But I don't care! I'm too busy catching up on my TV shows and putting all my pictures on Snapfish and admiring them! And doing laundry! I'm going to try and blog every day this week, because there are too many funny stories from the cruise to fit in one post! So today, I'll start with our VERY STRESSFUL first day.

Our fab friends, Jason and Alicia, who lived near us in NY but now live in CA, accompanied us on our vacation. They had been in Savannah, GA where Jason was speaking at SCAD. Our ship was to sail on Saturday at 4:00, meaning we had to be on the boat before 3:00. J&A took the train from Savannah to Orlando on Saturday morning. We woke up at like 8:30 - we were all packed and I wanted to empty the dishwasher and finish one last load of laundry before we left. As we were having breakfast, the phone rang - it was Jason saying the train had left an hour late. It was now getting into the station at 1:30, and it's an hour drive to Port Canaveral, so we were going to get there around 2:30, which was cutting it close.

As the morning progressed, we got more and more calls from Jason saying the train was later and later - by this time we were calling Carnival AND Amtrack, seeing what was up with the train, seeing what was the ABSOLUTE latest time we could get to the dock. We waited at the train station for over an hour. I kept going in and talking to the little guy who was making the announcements; the train kept making unexpected stops! Finally they arrived, running off of the train and into the car. I was pulling out of the parking lot practically before they got their luggage in!

We were SO LUCKY that there was no traffic on the Beachline, and I sped down the highway toward the ship while we caught up with Jason and Alicia. I finally got ahold of the main desk at the Carnival Glory counter, and she told us we would be okay, they would still be there to let us on the ship. We arrived at the dock around 3:30-ish and found that they were still waiting on a bus of cruisers, so we were able to slow down a little.

The first thing we did was EAT! We were starved! We had PIZZA and it was YUMMY! Then we explored the ship a little bit and eventually headed down to find our rooms. While we were sitting around talking in the lobby, Brian kept taking pictures of Alicia and I and laughing. We couldn't figure it out! Then he showed us the pictures - there was this sad-looking man behind us! Brian thought he was so funny, he was really taking pictures of that man! And thus began the week of us making the "sad man" pose and laughing hysterically.


Then we went to dinner and found our table - we had a table for 4 and we were very happy about that! We also had a fab waitress named Martina. That night, we

went to the "welcome aboard" show - it wasn't so great - and then wandered around the ship and talked and talked and talked and stayed up late! We had adjoining cabins and it was awesome.

Stay tuned for day two...

it's sad, really

These are the clothes I'm taking to the consignment shop tomorrow. They're all too big. And there are more - these are only the spring/summer ones! I still have fall/winter ones to take later! I guess it's a good thing, but it makes me a little sick to think of how much all these cost! Maybe I'll at least make a little $$ from them!

we {love} home

I have lots to talk about today! Be prepared, because we took a trip to Charlotte, NC, and I have a big long rant! So if you don't have 10 or 15 minutes to read this post, come back later! LOL

So we went to Charlotte to see Brian's sister in her play, "She Stoops to Conquer." Amanda is graduating in May and she wanted us to come see her last play - and she had the lead role! We were excited to see Amanda and the rest of the family. But when we got to the airport, about 1.5 hours early, we had to stand in line forever at the AirTran counter. This really irked me, because we had already checked in online and had printed our boarding passes - all we had to do was check one suitcase.

Well, by the time we got up to the counter, we were apparently "too late" to check our suitcase! This horribly rude and extremely slow lady was doing her best not to help us. We were SO livid - I can't even describe. I didn't even know there was a time limit for getting your luggage in! I've never heard of that before, and just the night before I had read the entire AirTran website, making sure we met all the requirements.

Anyway, to make a long story short, we were originally supposed to arrive in Charlotte via direct flight at 12:15, but now she said we had to be on the same plane with our luggage. So she booked us on another flight that stopped in Atlanta and arrived in Charlotte at like 4:30!!!! Oh, and she put us on standby - so no guarantee we would even get on that flight! :-(

So when we got to our gate, I went directly to the counter, hoping that someone ELSE would be KIND to us and maybe help us. Then we heard our names being called over the loud speaker - our original flight was about to leave, and we were, after all, checked in. So Brian ran over to that gate and that lady was nice enough to let us on our original flight.

We got to Charlotte, (I won't even go into the story about the drunk, rambunctious mom and dad with their 2-year-old who made the whole plane miserable), rented our car, and tried to figure out where our luggage was. The NICE people (imagine that!) at the AirTran counter said it would be on one of three flights, and gave us the arrival times. We got in the car and went and had lunch, drove around a bit, and came back in 2 hours for the first flight's arrival. Miraculously, our suitcase was on that flight! So we were off for the 2-hour drive to Amanda's college.

The play was great, we had a wonderful time with the family, and we had booked a hotel to stay Friday night in Charlotte, with our flight leaving Saturday morning to come home. We stopped at a mall on our way back into Charlotte and did a little shopping and saw a movie. We got to our hotel at about 8:30 that night, and we were ready for bed - we were exhausted!

Well, they had put us in a smoking room, and I had specifically requested a non-smoking room. They were out of non-smoking rooms. So I thought, maybe it won't be that bad. Well. We walked in the door and my throat immediately closed up and both our eyes began burning. It smelled worse than you could ever imagine. It was like someone had stuffed two lit cigarettes up my nostrils. Brian's skin started tingling.

Luckily, we called hotwire and they were nice enough to refund our room. We used the crappy hotel's internet and booked a room at the lovely Sheraton hotel by the Charlotte airport. It was beautiful and wonderful, the people were friendly, we were so comfortable, and even though it cost a little bit more, we got a good night's sleep. Our flight the next morning went off without a hitch.

Needless to say, we were more than thrilled to finally be home. Sunday afternoon, we worked in the garden. Last week I weeded the whole thing, planted a gardenia, and pruned the Sago palm - now it looks like a pineapple! Anyway, yesterday we continued the rock bed around to the back of the garden, and I planted some salvia, phlox, and petunias. Then we mulched the whole thing. I'm pretty happy with the end result!


I can't remember if I've mentioned this on my blog or not, but I'm about halfway through my Kindermusik training. I started it 2 years ago, but then we moved right in the middle of my training and I never finished. So I've picked it back up and I'm really excited about it! The closest KM teacher is over 20 miles from my area, so I'm hoping to fulfill a need here - and make some money too! I've been kind of on fire about it - so I hope I can keep up this energy! I'm trying to get one lesson ahead so I can enjoy the cruise and not worry about falling behind in class.

We're finally down to single digits on the cruise countdown! :-D We leave on Saturday and I'm so excited! I've got to get my hair cut and colored, my legs waxed, and a pedicure - all this week! I'm busy, but it's an exciting time. I can't wait to relax on the ship.

snorkeling!

Our snorkeling trip in St. Thomas is booked and paid for! Yay! We're going snorkeling around Buck Island (just north of St. Croix) off of a 65-foot catamaran! I'm very excited, needless to say! Neither of us has ever been snorkeling before, and from what I've read, Buck Island has snorkeling trails (don't even know what that is!) and over 250 different kinds of tropical fish to look at! Very cool.


Also in St. Thomas, we're going on the Skyride to Paradise Point. It looks like the coolest place to get pictures and there are shops and a restaurant at the top. :-) We're going to be in St. Thomas for 10 hours, so we have plenty of time to do lots of cool stuff! Blackbeard's Castle is there and Brian will probably want to see that, although we do plan to go to the Pirate Museum in Nassau. Also in Nassau we're going to check out the Atlantis Hotel and Paradise Beach, and possibly Cabbage Beach if we have time.


I don't know what we're doing in St. Maarten yet, but I'm researching it! To prepare for the snorkeling, I bought an underwater camera today! It looks very cool. I figured I'd better start buying a few things at a time so I don't have to get it all at once. Can you tell I'm just slightly excited about this vacation?! Only 22 days!

more shopping!

Last night, Brian and I went to the mall. He needed some new shorts (which we didn't get) and I needed a bathing suit. We ended up getting B a nice shirt and tie to wear on Easter Sunday, and I actually found a bathing suit! It even makes me look thin, which is amazing! Here is the one I bought:

Except I got a little teeny skirt for the bottom, and I got it in brown. I've never had a tankini before. I suspect it will be MUCH easier to use the restroom in this! (It's torture in a wet one-piece!) Anyway, I'm quite excited.

I have a ton of laundry to do and mail to go through, but I'm going to go get a pedicure instead. :-)