For our 10th Anniversary, David arranged for us to go on a 4 night cruise out of Miami to the Bahamas and Key West. Sue (David's Mom) accepted our invitation to watch the kids while we were gone! The kids did great....I'm sure I thought about them much more than they thought about me! Ben was so excited for us to leave....he couldn't wait to buy school lunch all week! We flew to Ft. Lauderdale and spent the first night in Miami.
Day 1. Our ship (Royal Caribbeans Majesty of the Seas) departed at 4:30 pm. We were able to get on board and enjoy our first lunch buffet. We eventually found our bags...in front of another room's door! We unpacked our suitcases and left to explore the boat and the people on board. Among many other people we noticed a gay couple that we couldn't help but smile at. They were the nerdy gay type. Jurassic park t-shirts tucked in to their hiked up shorts, black socks and sandals. Guess who turned out to be assigned to our dinner table? I could barely contain my smiles when they sat down with us that first night. Needless to say, it made for interesting dinner conversations. I eventually got over their Canadian gay accents. At one point, they asked us if we had Safeway in the US. David quickly replied that yes we did and in fact that was his first job....bagging groceries at Safeway. It quickly became even more awkward when the smarter of the two interrupted David's story and informed us that his partner worked at the local Canadian Safeway. Through it all, I learned that David has a natural gift of talking to anyone....something he no doubt inherited from his father. We were too scared to ask them if we could take a picture with them that first night, so David found one of the pictures that the cruise line had taken and took a picture of that picture with his phone. So this is the best we can do. It doesn't do justice.
Day 2. Day two brought us to port in Nassau, Bahamas. We had arranged for a sailing and snorkeling excursion. We brought a water camera with us, but unfortunately didn't get the greatest pictures. The water wasn't as clear as I had imagined. There were lots and lots of fish though. We had a good time, but it was a little chilly sailing back. We also spent some time walking through the little shops and were able to buy the kids souvenirs. We enjoyed our formal dinner night after we returned to the ship and caught the dancing and singing show that night.
Day 3. Day three was suppose to bring us to the Royal Caribbean private island of Cococay in the Bahamas. Unfortunately, after arriving the Captain deemed the weather unsafe for tendering to the island. Instead, we spent the day on board. We took advantage of the cruise line's activities for the day. First, we hit the dodge ball game. I had intended to play until I discovered the Miami Vice team had showed up. They really were from Miami too. David was placed on their team....he stuck out like a sore thumb, but ended up being one of their best players. It was fun to watch.
We spent a lot of time reading by the pool this day. I finished the Hunger Games book and was very annoyed that I ignored my friend Heather's advice to bring the second of the three books along as well. We watched the belly flop contest, before heading to the free throw contest. After seeing the lame competition, I decided to join the contest and ended up with a bronze medal. It technically should have been a silver (the 2nd place finisher crossed the line by at least 2 feet with every shot)......but, I'm not competitive or anything so I let it slide without vocal protest. After dinner we walked around the ship and took some photos before heading to the Love and Marriage game show. I was very grateful we were not contestants, but really enjoyed the show.
Day 4. Day four brought us to port in Key West, Florida. This was my favorite day. We roamed the shops of Key West and enjoyed an hour or two on the beach. I found the perfect shirt for my Mom and just had to take a picture....I knew she would never actually wear it.
We found the Hemingway house, but were too cheap and too uninterested to pay the $40 to go inside.
We found the Southernmost point of the Continental USA and stood in line to take our picture. We were joined by a friendly iguana.
The highlight of the day was the old man at the beach. Actually, watching people's reactions when they first saw him was better. I won't even begin to describe his swimming suit to you or even think about posting a picture of it here (yes, I couldn't help but take one....everyone was taking them). I'd like to keep my blog porn free so I'll spare you the details. Here are a few more pictures of Key West.
After getting back on board we headed to dinner and spent the night at the shows.
Day 5. We arrived back to Miami, deboarded and headed back to the airport where we waited for 5 hours before our scheduled flight left. Southwest wouldn't let us catch the 2 earlier flights despite open seats without paying the $460 premium. So we sat. And again, I was so upset I didn't have the second Hunger Games book! Instead, we caught up on every fine detail of the Penn State fiasco. We eventually had a smooth flight home and were excited to see the kids again. Jacob just stared at me for awhile, before deciding he was not going to let anyone else touch him but me. Sue said of all the kids she thinks Ben actually missed us the most. Those school lunches wore off fast! Overall, we had a great time and created great memories. It was so nice to spend time with David and get a break from our everyday routines.
