Come Sail Away, Come Sail Away With Me!

As many of you heard, over and over again, Walt and I were able to get a away for a week on a cruise to the Caribbean. We had talked with my sister Sarah and brother Nathan about how we could celebrate all of our 10 year wedding anniversaries since we were all married with a year of each other. Life happened and postponed the trip earlier this year. But the stars aligned and the chance came again this month and we all took it. We even picked a couple other travelers when my parents and oldest sister Lanith and her husband Steve asked if they could come. The more the merrier. So "hold on to your hats" for a few posts detailing this trip.

We flew out of Phoenix at noon on Saturday the 15th and arrived at about 9pm in Miami. Thankfully, with all of my Dad's travelling, we were able to use his points for the hotel room, which we shared with Nate and Carrie that night. We ordered pizza and wings and went to bed pretty late. Check in for the ship started at noon, so we caught the shuttle and headed down to the harbour. They have a few check points and had to stand in a few lines.


Standing in line for our boarding passes. We are excited.

This is my sister Lanith and Steve. They were ahead of us and walking onto the ship. They are the newlyweds of this trip. The love is still there.





Sarah found a better way to wait our turn. Good book.

Once we were on board the only thing to do was eat and explore the ship. Our rooms were not ready, headed for the Garden Cafe on Deck 12. We found some tables by the pool and out of the sun. After lunch, they announced that the rooms were ready. We all went to our rooms and had some time to get settled before we set sail.

I was really nervous about the room since we had an inside cabin and I don't like small, cramped spaces. I was impressed by the size and width of the room and we were very comfortable.

Here is the bathroom with the shower right to the left when you step up. It was roomy and the shower was bigger than I anticipated.



There was plenty of closet and storage space and they even had a safe in the closet for all our our important stuff.



The front door is right there on the right and they had pushed the beds together to make the one bed. I don't remember asking for that. I was kind of looking forward to having a bed to my self. Just kidding. The best part of the room is that when the lights went out it was dark and the sun didn't wake you up.



We then went on top to watch us sail out of port, then we had to meet to go over emergency procedures.



Looking out the port into the open sea. We sat out here until we hit open water and enjoyed the breeze and to watch the land fade away



Our safety group included Nate, Carrie and my parents. We had to demonstrate that we were capable of putting on our life jackets. We were pros.

Our first dinner was at Tsar's and we enjoyed spending all our our dinners together as a family.



We also enjoyed watching the sunsets every night. I have never seen a sunset like this. It was amazing to be able to actually see the sun disappear from the horizon without buildings getting in the way. Beautiful.



That night we went to the Stardust Theatre and saw a comedian named Bud Andersen. He was a little slow to start off but he was hysterical. It was a short show but he was scheduled to preform Monday night. He closed with an imitation of a large chested woman and how her many activities impact the movement of her chest. He did this by squatting on a chair and pulled a large shirt over his knees. I found it very funny because I experience many of the same things with my chest. Mine isn't that big but having kids has definitely had a negative impact on them. We ended the night with a dip in the hot tub and off then off to bed.

Stay tuned for more fun filled days.

Flu Flu go away!!

It may be a good thing that we are moving soon. After spending a week and a half stuck in my house, I am ready to leave. Last Monday night I felt really achy and decided I needed to go to bed early to try and keep whatever illness I was getting from coming. 3 days later, I was able to get out of bed and function at a limited level. Yes, I became a victim of the swine flu. Not the official diagnosis but based on others experiences with it, I conclude that is what I had.
Sadly, that was Walt's last week home before he started his new job but happily he was still home to take care of things. As a Mom, I usually get sick but I am still able to find enough energy to preform the basic functions to keep the family together. With this flu, I couldn't move and was in a lot of pain. Walt was able to get most of the items on his list done but not everything. He may have been to busy trying all he could so he didn't end up getting sick for his first day of work. That wouldn't make a very good first impression. For the most part, he succeeded with a slight fever and some coughing, but he didn't miss any work.
Max was next victim, with the school calling me Thursday morning to come and get him. He had a low grade fever and a headache. Luckily that was all that happened with him and he was back to his usual self that weekend. Van also had a low fever for a day but has recovered. I was beginning to think that Ian was the carrier of this nasty flu, but Monday night he started running a fever. I sure hope this is the end. He will be going to school tomorrow and other then the coughing and a few runny noses we are all on the mend. I did venture out briefly for a Walmart trip, and was exhausted after. That has been the hardest to get over. I have little energy and can't wait for it to come back.
I am glad that we have been hit with it now rather than latter. I am shocked that we didn't all get sick during the week of the cruise. That would have really sucked. I hope all of you are doing well or recovering quickly from what ever ails you.