Pardon my absence the last week month or so, but I've been busy partying it up with my parents and Andrew cruising the Caribbean. It just occurred to me that I haven't been home since December 21st; I took last week off work (to effectively turn my 2 week Winter break into a 3 week extravaganza) and I have to go back to school tomorrow and teach all the while pretending like I don't have "vacation brain." Truth be told, I'd way rather blog about my week off then lesson plan for my week on, so here we go...
Friday was my 30th birthday and it was the BEST ever! I woke up to banners, balloons, presents, surprise cakes & champagne delivered to my stateroom throughout the day, the best meal of my life (it involved lobster bisque, lobster tail, filet mignon, salmon chowder, and chocolate heaven).
I all but abandoned my 30 before 30 list, may it rest in peace. Instead, I replaced it with way more impressive tasks like eating until I was so full I couldn't breathe, downing ALL of the complimentary drinks (even attending art auctions on the boat solely for the free champs), eating 4 lobster tails in one sitting, getting proper drunk before 9 am (which was really 6 am in California!), trying escargot, jumping on a trampoline in the ocean, and completing astronaut training at NASA.
Before you get too jealous of our amazing week, know that we had ZERO days of sun in the so called "sunshine" state, a solid 2 days of 20+ foot swells causing sea sickness (yet somehow not slowing down my eating everything all day long) Still, I'd rather be queasy floating around the Caribbean than just about anywhere else :)
We didn't get to go to Belize or Honduras (2 of our 4 ports we were most looking forward to), and my hair never fully adjusted to the humidity. Also our bus got hit by a car in Cape Canaveral and we almost missed our cruise entirely. We ended up throwing caution (and everything else) to the wind and riding in the back of a stranger's truck to make it to our port on time. Oh the memories!
Luckily the Carnival Dream was huge-mongous and beautiful and we all had fun because we always do no matter what! When the deck was flooded from the torrential rain, I threw on a bath robe and regaled my fellow passengers with (in my opinion) an outstanding rendition of that old Carnival Cruise classic "In the morning, in the evening, ain't we got fun?! Not much money, oh but honey..." I got blank glares. When we couldn't pull into port after sloshing around next to it for 2 hours, we pulled out our life jackets and did an impromptu photo shoot. When they cancelled our next port, we played Spades and drank girly drinks to our heart's content. When we couldn't go kayaking on our tour in Costa Maya because the current was too rough, Andrew pushed me in a wheel barrel along the shore. Bottom line: we were there to vacation and have fun, so we did!
We snorkeled with sting rays in Cozumel, downed Miami Vices in Costa Maya, went on the water slides, ate 10,000 calories a day of pure deliciousness, played mini golf on our first day at sea when the sun almost came out, and jumped around like we were House of Pain in the early 90's.
We explored Orlando and Cape Canaveral, Florida. We toured NASA, hung out at the heated pool at the hotel, and saw 17 alligators on the side of the road on the way to the airport.
I didn't buy any souvenirs, but I kept my door placard with high hopes my home "cabin" would be tidied up when I got here.
Friday was my 30th birthday and it was the BEST ever! I woke up to banners, balloons, presents, surprise cakes & champagne delivered to my stateroom throughout the day, the best meal of my life (it involved lobster bisque, lobster tail, filet mignon, salmon chowder, and chocolate heaven).
I all but abandoned my 30 before 30 list, may it rest in peace. Instead, I replaced it with way more impressive tasks like eating until I was so full I couldn't breathe, downing ALL of the complimentary drinks (even attending art auctions on the boat solely for the free champs), eating 4 lobster tails in one sitting, getting proper drunk before 9 am (which was really 6 am in California!), trying escargot, jumping on a trampoline in the ocean, and completing astronaut training at NASA.
Before you get too jealous of our amazing week, know that we had ZERO days of sun in the so called "sunshine" state, a solid 2 days of 20+ foot swells causing sea sickness (yet somehow not slowing down my eating everything all day long) Still, I'd rather be queasy floating around the Caribbean than just about anywhere else :)
We didn't get to go to Belize or Honduras (2 of our 4 ports we were most looking forward to), and my hair never fully adjusted to the humidity. Also our bus got hit by a car in Cape Canaveral and we almost missed our cruise entirely. We ended up throwing caution (and everything else) to the wind and riding in the back of a stranger's truck to make it to our port on time. Oh the memories!
Luckily the Carnival Dream was huge-mongous and beautiful and we all had fun because we always do no matter what! When the deck was flooded from the torrential rain, I threw on a bath robe and regaled my fellow passengers with (in my opinion) an outstanding rendition of that old Carnival Cruise classic "In the morning, in the evening, ain't we got fun?! Not much money, oh but honey..." I got blank glares. When we couldn't pull into port after sloshing around next to it for 2 hours, we pulled out our life jackets and did an impromptu photo shoot. When they cancelled our next port, we played Spades and drank girly drinks to our heart's content. When we couldn't go kayaking on our tour in Costa Maya because the current was too rough, Andrew pushed me in a wheel barrel along the shore. Bottom line: we were there to vacation and have fun, so we did!
We explored Orlando and Cape Canaveral, Florida. We toured NASA, hung out at the heated pool at the hotel, and saw 17 alligators on the side of the road on the way to the airport.
No such luck.
Ahhhh-- best birthday EVER!!! I am so jealous!! I love how yall made the best of some less-than-ideal vacationing circumstances...and you're KILLING IT in that red and white dress!!! You make me want to cruise again!!! (must focus on the constant seasickness...must focus on the constant seasickness...)
ReplyDeleteGood Times!!!!!
ReplyDeleteYa'll look like you had a blast! I love champagne in the morning (in the evening...). Happy belated 30th!
ReplyDelete