Cruise'n

Well, we are back. It was a really great vacation. We left early last Saturday morning and drove down to Palm Harbor, FL. where we stayed with a couple that I met on my mission. It was really fun to see them again. They took us all around Palm Harbor and we got to go to Clearwater beach which they said is one of the top beaches in the world! (not sure if that is true but that is what they said). It was really beautiful. We stayed with them until Monday morning and then drove to Miami and boarded our ship (The Fascination).



The minute we got on, everyone around was getting drunk which was interesting. We didn't realize until after we boarded that it was cinco de meyo (I have no idea how to spell that as I speak english, not spanish), so everyone had beads on and there was a lot of dancing which was fun (not that we really participated).
On Tuesday we got into Key West which was beautiful. We walked around on Duval Street which is apparently the street where everything happens. We were only there in the morning so there weren't any of the street performers or activities that go on at nighttime but it was still fun to walk down. There were a lot of stores selling different tourist stuff. The weather was perfect.

The next day we got into Cozumel, Mexico which was my favorite day. We decided we really wanted to try out snorkeling while we were there. You can buy excursion packages through the cruise line where someone will take a whole group to a beach and give you gear and show you how to do it but it was really expensive and so we decided not to do that. Lucky for us we were able to get a taxi and go to beach a few miles down the road from the main beach and rent snorkel gear for 10 bucks a person which was great.


Snorkeling was soooo much fun. It was really hot outside and the water was the perfect temperature so that you didn't even notice how hot it was. Once we got in the water Elliot told me to put my goggles on and look under the water and there was about a hundred fish all around me!! It was crazy. We had an underwater camera and we took a lot of pictures so I will post those once we get them developed.

(I realize this is not the world's best picture of me, but it summed up or vacation so well I had to put it in. Keep in mind the camera adds 10 pounds)

The guy that we rented our snorkel gear from gave us some fish food to give the fish and they ate right out of our hands. Once we gave them food they crowded around us and wouldn't leave and I had my hand out with nothing in it, trying to touch one and it bit me!!! Like with real teeth and everything. I thought fish could only nibble. So that freaked me out and after that I tried to shoo them away but they refused to leave me alone. I had to keep my hands to myself the rest of the time we were in the water.
The beach where we went snorkeling had an outside bar right by the water so we got a pinacolada and laid out in the sun to drink it (I mostly wanted to do this to fulfill the Garth Brooks song) The next day of the cruise we were just at sea all day so we laid around in the sun reading and sleeping. The whole vacation was very relaxing. It was so nice to not have anything to do for 5 days. No work, school , homework or housework.
The food was incredible. I have never eaten so much food in my life. I am terrified to go to my next dr's appt. and weigh in!!! There was just so much to eat all the time. We really liked the deli which had all kinds of different sandwiches and I loved the salad bar and the 24 hr. soft serve ice cream machine!!! oh gosh.

We went to a couple of the shows that they had at night which were pretty cool. They did an 80's tribute show and a latin show. Both were really great. The 80's night was hilarious.
We docked back in Miami on Friday and drove to my aunts house in Tampa and stayed the night with her and then drove back yesterday. It was a wonderful vacation and soooooo nice to just lay around for a whole week. It is going to be hard to get up tomorrow to go back to work but I suppose it will be nice to get back into our regular routine.

I will post more of my dr's appt. after I figure out how to scan the ultrasound pictures into the computer.