Everything started on Saturday night, the 4th, at 5:30 when we met my parents half way between the farm and Boise to drop off the kids. One FULL week without the kiddos.
Honestly...
It was really hard.
But Stephen and I needed our time.
When we got back to Boise we went to see Iron Man 3. It. Was. Awesome. I love Tony Stark and the way that Robert Downey Jr. created his character. He's amazing.
I called my parents as soon as the movie got out. I had to check on them.
I know.
I'm anal.
Sunday we got up early to go to an 8:30 sacrament meeting.
At noon Shane and Krystal dropped us off at the airport and it began.
At the airport I discovered the first of many things that I forgot. My driver's license. I called Krystal in a panic. I could not even get on our cruise ship without my driver's license! Thankfully, Krystal brought it to the airport for me. Thanks Krystal!
Again called the kids.
We got on our airplane and were in the air at 1:30pm.
Oh my goodness. The plane ride from Boise to Denver was the bumpiest ride I'd ever been on. I think they were trying out a student pilot. There were so many times I thought I was going to lose my lunch.
Layover in Denver. Then straight to Orlando, Florida at 11pm local time. That flight was MUCH better.
We spent the night in a cheap motel and then Monday the cruise began.
Officially Day 1: Monday
After we got checked in at the airport we immediately called the kids at my parents. As soon as I heard Cooper jabber, I started to cry. I already missed my kiddos. And we were't going to see them 'til Saturday.
I think Stephen and I were a little gung-ho about our vacation plans away from the kids.
We arrived at Port Canavrel at 11am and were whisked onto the boat to enjoy the buffet. Yum. It was easier to have fun when we had a whole bunch of fun things to do. The fun was already beginning. Food I did not have to prepare or clean up.
We toured our boat that evening. It was SO cool!
We met two couples, originally from South Carolina, in the hot tubs at 10 pm. They had both been on 30+ cruises. Probably in their 50's. They were each giving us the do's and don'ts of cruising. It was hilarious. It is so fun to talk to new people. One gentlemen that night kept ribbing the other about his "super secret" job. We found out later that he's a retired navy seal. Super cool.
Day 2: Tuesday
We went to breakfast at the ship's sit down restaurant. We sat with a group of older couples that were celebrating a family event. Honestly, it was really fun to meet all of these people, eat good food, joke around, and have fun with people.
We made port in CocoCay. The island owned by Royal Caribbean. It was a teeny little island that we tried our hand at snorkeling for the second time. We were't able to see much, it we did see some cool fish and drank a bit of salt water.
Oh. My. Goodness.
I always forget how gross ocean water is. Sick.
After our snorkel adventure the ship served a buffet lunch on the island. We made up our plates and wandered over to the lounge chairs to eat. I put my food down on a chair and walked 3 feet away to grab Stephen's flip flops. SEAGULLS ATTACKED MY PLATE!!! Those birds were very feisty. Stinkin' birds. I got another plate and we resumed our lunch.
We wandered around the island looking for presents for the kids. Not finding anything we were excited about, we found a nice little hammock in the shade, cuddled up, and took a nap.
Royal Caribbean had little boats that took us back and forth from the boat to the island all day. We went back to the boat around 3pm. While getting back on the ship I did something that I'd only ever thought of in my nightmares.
I. Dropped. My. Camera.
In the water.
Remember when Maycee broke mine a couple of months ago? I bought a new one 3 days before we left on our trip. That camera is now floating in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. I now have no pictures of our vacation.
I was in shock when I dropped it. Then we went back to our room and I cried.
I missed my kids.
And I threw away a lot of money.
In the ocean.
It took me 30 minutes to finally get a handle on my emotions. Stephen did a lot to distract me and get back on vacation. We went to get treats and played Scrabble.
Thanks hon.
Day 3: Wednesday
We went for another sit down breakfast in the dining room. I really like those! We got to meet two other older couples. One from New Jersey, that was retired and now traveling the country. The other couple was from "The Villages" in Florida. I remember seeing a lot of commercials for that retirement home. The woman said that it was just like Disneyland. For seniors! I laughed when she said that.
Our location for the day was Nassau.
Wednesday was my favorite day.
We signed up to go to the Atlantis beach!
It.
Was.
Awesome.
First we got off the boat and went to our designated spot to meet for our excursion. We waited for almost an hour before we were able to get on a bus to drive us through Nassau to Atlantis. We lathered up in sunscreen while we were waiting. The backs of my legs were burnt from snorkeling the day before. I did not want that to happen again.
We finally got onto a bus. Holy Hannah! Those buses would definitely not have been legal in the US. The isle that you walked down to get to the back all folded down into more chairs. They also had a seat for a passenger next to the driver! Stephen just happened to be that lucky "co-driver". The bus driver was insane. I watched Stephen, in the seat right behind his, as he quietly put on the unused seatbelt after a couple of minutes in the front seat. He was scared for his life.
There were a few times the bus would ride down the center of the street on the dotted line that was to show there were two lanes. We cut people off. Drove really fast. Basically, if the bus driver had been in my Driver's Ed class, he would have never been issued a license.
We arrived at the Atlantis Resort in one piece and began to check things out. We had a huge map to help is figure things out. We still had to ask a lot of people how to get around. That place was huge!
Before heading to their private beach, I needed to get some water. At the behest of my Midwife, I was to only drink water out of water bottles that were sealed closed. I found a bottle in the resort for $5. FIVE DOLLARS!!! We forked out the dough at Stephen's insistence. I don't think he wanted me to pass out in a foreign country.
The beach was beautiful! We got our own beach chairs, our own towels, and a shaded cover over our chairs. We were set. We put sunscreen on again and headed down to the salty water. The water was SO blue. I don't even know how to describe it. It was definitely better than Hawaii.
Stephen and I rolled in the waves for a while and I finally got the courage to jump in. We swam out to the buoys and then let the waves drag us back to the beach. I love swimming in the ocean!
After dragging ourselves out of the water we walked along the beach to look for presents for the kids. We found a beautiful island dress for Maycee and a little bamboo flute for Cooper. We actually ended up buying three bamboo flutes because of the awesome haggling skills of Stephen and the seller who didn't want to give us any less than three. So now Maycee can have a flute and either Stephen and I can fight over the third one or we can give it to the only child who came on the trip. The one in the oven.
I was so excited after we bought our gifts for the kids. I'd been missing them a lot.
We then found The Dig of the Lost City of Atlantis. IT WAS SO AMAZING!!! We were able to see a ton of underwater lIfe including a huge manta ray, hammer head sharks, tiger shark, sword fish shark, jellyfish, sea urchins, lobsters, turtles, baby sting rays, and a lot more!
It would be way cooler if I had pictures.
Atlantis was awesome. That would be a great vacation all on it's own. They had one of the world's largest water parks there. They also had dolphins and sea lions that you could play with, swim with, and even ride on! Super awesome.
We got back on the boat and were excited for the plans we had for the evening. They had a comedy magician. He was so funny! I had tears streaming down my face because I was laughing so hard. All of his tricks were a slide of hand, but I have no idea how he did it. He really knew how to work the audience and he was very good at his job.
After the magician we went to the Baleros Lounge to watch a game show. We ended up participating in the game show. It was really fun. They played a game called Majority Rules. The room was split into 10 groups of 6 and we were all asked a question. The majority of the groups that had the same answer got a point. I was quite surprised when I came up with the answer that got us the point for the first question.
What is the most popular drink at happy hour?
Margaritas.
Never had a drink in my life.
I'm that good.
Day 4: Thursday
Honestly, Thursday was a little rocky. We were on the ship all day without a port and Stephen and I were missing the kids terribly. So we just wandered around finding things to pass the time. We got to play Scrabble again!
Evening finally came and we went to bed knowing that the next day we were going to be home.
Day 5: Friday
We showered, quickly ate breakfast, and carried our luggage off of the boat. We were on the bus to drive to the airport at 7:45 am. Bus left at 8:30. At the airport at 9:30.
Our flight was scheduled to leave at 12:30 pm, headed to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. We boarded the super tiny plane and sat for a few minutes. They pulled us off the flight because they had filled the fuel tank too full. Crazy.
We went back to our seats in the airport. For another 3 1/2 hours. Total of 6 1/2 hours in the Orlando, FL airport. Never again.
Eventually we made it back to Boise. Local time was 9:45 pm. Our bodies were still on Florida time of 11:45. We were definitely not late night party goers on the boat, so we were exhausted.
Thanks, Kenna, for picking us up from the airport!
We were batting around the idea of going to my parents that night to see the kids, but we figured we wouldn't make it in one piece.
We got up early Saturday morning to go and get the kids. We were SO excited to see the kids!! I don't know I'd I could do a full week again, but it was good for Stephen and me.
Thanks Mom and Dad for taking such good care of our kids!!!
