Finally, after 6 months of waiting, we left on our cruise. Without kids. My mom arrived a few days before we left so I could show her the ropes of raising the Lukasavige kids. Then our friends the Gaineys picked us up and off we went. The plane ride there was awesome. First plane ride without kids in 5 1/2 years. It's a lot of fun to fly without kids, especially when you have fun people to fly with.
We got to Florida, got our ride and were on the ship in a matter of minutes it seemed. I wasn't quite sure what to do with myself. I felt like there was something I should be doing. But there wasn't, at all. Weird. We didn't take any pictures the first day because we were at sea and how many pictures do you need of a person on a boat sitting by a pool reading a book?
Day two we arrived at Jamaica. It was nice and warm and lovely. We didn't have any shore excursions planned for this day. We were going to wing it, when we ended up running into a couple in the same group as us and decided to join them. It turned out to be an awesome day! Which leads us to our first picture, in the shuttle.
That's Mark and Beth behind us. They are REALLY fun people. We're on our way to Dunn River Falls.
At the falls we had to walk to the bottom so we could climb up.
Making our way down. We had to put the things we didn't want getting wet into a locker. Oh, do you like my sunglasses? Well they aren't mine. They belong to a lovely woman named Joanne Miller. Like an idiot I didn't bring mine and she brought three. I love her. I probably owe her my eyesight.
In the falls, and yes the water was cold! And when I say cold, it wasn't the 98 degrees I was hoping for.
Normally when we go on trips Justin and I never get pictures of us together. But this time we had an awesome tour guide leading us up the falls who took pictures. The guy had about 5 other cameras so he could take pictures and no one would get their cameras wet. Thats Mark and Beth behind us again. Beth is about 21 weeks pregnant with her fourth child. What a trooper climbing up the falls. And she loved that the water was on the cooler side.
Pretty falls. We got to climb up!
Couple shot #623
This man was a great salesman. He lured me in with a free necklace then told me a great story about the two figures he is holding in his hands. I heard the story and I HAD to have them. Or maybe I'm just a sucker.
This is one of the markets in Ocho Rios. We were warned that the people here are nuts when they are trying to sell you something. And you know what? They were right. Some people were down right mean. Every where I turned someone was asking the"nice lady" (me) to come take a look, and "the more you touch the lower the price". It was kind of fun at first but after about 20 minutes it was very exhausting. We left and went to the ship with a few souvenirs.
I forgot to mention that part of our shore excursion was to take a ride through fern gully in the rain forest. It was really pretty! It was a also really cool to see something besides the tourist city of Ocho Rios.
So here we are walking back to the boat, souvenirs in hand. Pretty boat too!
That night was one of the many shows. I LOVE shows!
Kevin and Nikki volunteered for the Newlywed game. They won!! Now that was quite a funny show to watch. I think the old folks were the funniest.
Also that night was the dessert buffet complete with ice sculpture. Me, being the tactile person I am, REALLY wanted to touch it. It's one of those things in life that I just needed to do. So I asked a waiter if I could touch it and he shrugged his shoulders and said "sure, just don't knock it over." I didn't and it was fantastic! Smooth and cold.
We were supposed to wake up anchored in Grand Cayman, but it wasn't meant to be. The port was closed due to inclement weather. It was rather windy and there were pretty decent size swells. This day turned into an "at sea" day, which turned out to be my favorite day! I sat by the pool ALL day reading, eating nachos and drinking strawberry daiquiris. I don't think I have been that relaxed in a long time.
I bet now you're wondering where we ended up going since we didn't get to Grand Cayman. We arrived the next morning at Key West!! I was pretty excited about that one. I had never been and never though I would ever go. One of the coolest, funniest things about Key West is the chickens. They were everywhere. And just walking around you'd hear a rooster crow. I LOVED it!
We got to see Ernest Hemingway's house too. It's no wonder he was able to churn out books living here. His house is gorgeous and Key West isn't so bad either.
Couple shot #854
I think Justin was trying to be artistic with this one, I'm not sure, but check out my sexy walk! Look at that hip! WOO WOO! And then I tripped over my toe and it was all over.
My goal going to Key West was to get to this point. The Southernmost point of the continental US. We walked across the entire island, which is nothing to brag about it's only maybe a half mile wide, to get to this southernmost point. Now my life is complete.
As we were waiting to get back onto the shuttle that was to take us to the boat it started to downpour. Thankfully we didn't have to wait in it long, unlike the people behind us. Those poor folks were soaked.
The true highlight of my cruise was this man. He was our waiter for dinner. His name is Rodrigo, from Chile. He was funny and sweet and we learned his life story, which was really quite interesting!! Justin was just taken with this man's story. One night I didn't like any of the dessert choices and I really just wanted a brownie. SO I asked for one knowing Rodrigo would give me a dirty look. He is a big believer in getting things you can't get at home easily. He actually gave a friend a hard time for ordering a pasta dish, it was really funny. Anyway, I got my brownie and it was delicious. Then on my way out he had another one waiting for me, I gave him a big hug. I was even more thrilled. Then every night after as I left he had a brownie wrapped and waiting for me. I love that man. I was sad to have to leave that last dinner.
After dinner was the final show, a juggling show. I am all about a juggling show. Half the people in our group didn't want to go and thought I was crazy for being so excited to go. Afterall, how could a juggling show be so good. Well, the juggling show turned out to be the best show of the trip! The guy was HILARIOUS! The audience was rolling on the floor the entire time. This guy was better then the comedian who was on board. All the people who missed that show were sorry, don't hate on jugglers, let that be a lesson to you.
And then we woke up and the trip was over. We're now at the Ft. Lauderdale airport. Remember Mark from Jamaica? Thats him next to me and he is reading a book about statistics...for fun...on vacation. Weirdo. Smart weirdo though.
Then we got home and I got to see my kids and hug them. I missed hugging them. I didn't miss parenting them though. I was very happy to have a few days to get used to real life again before my parents left.
Awesome trip, can't wait to do it again...longer.
Then set the pins up and knock them down without ever letting go of the ball or getting up off the ground. It's athletic grace at it's best.
You can even swipe the ball back and forth to ensure you get a strike every time.
If that doesn't work you can use your foot for the spare.
Better watch out for those mommies though. They'll make you at least try it the right way. Which is obviously working out pretty well here.
Or you can be Amanda and act like you are going to roll it right,
then let the ball go on as soon as it hits the first pin. Nice form Amanda!
I bowled a 300 that day.
