the one about our cruise

Because I really have nothing very exciting to talk about today, I am going to cover our family vacation. We have only been home for a couple weeks, so it is still new news! I wish we were still on Vacation. It was so nice and warm and beautiful. Then we came home to the arctic. I swear when we left for vacation, it was summer. But we came home to fall. Not just the beginning of fall, but hard-core, freezing, leaf falling, stormy, cold fall. I actually love fall though. It is, no-doubt, my favorite season. I love the changing colors, the chill in the air, and the anticipation of the holidays. Ok, enough of the real world, lets talk vacation!

We left on Sunday, September 23rd. We drove to Denver, flew the red-eye to Atlanta, switched planes and continued to Miami. Once we got to Miami, it was monday morning. We took a Royal Caribbean transfer bus to Ft. Lauderdale and boarded the ship. The first thing we did on the ship was eat, and then sleep. We didn't sleep well on the plane the night before so we were EXAUSTED! Quayd actually slept well on the plane, but not mom and dad! Our stateroom had a nice king sized bed and a bunk bed that folded down from the celing. We all just piled in that big bed and crashed! After our nap we kinda wandered the ship and tried to see everything. IMPOSSIBLE! The ship was huge. If you are not familiar with a cruise let me explain the dinner stuff. Beacause now I am an expert. You either eat dinner at 6:00 or 8:30. We had the 8:30 meal. When you go in to eat the first night, you go to an assigned seat and that is where you sit for every dinner. The three of us were seated at a table with Brett's uncle Chad and his wife Marcie. They were so much fun! You have the same head waiter, waiter, and assistant waiter every night. We LOVED our wait staff. They were so much fun. In this picture, from left to right; Chad, waiter Sebastian from Honduras, Brett, Quayd, our head waiter Ajay, Marcie, Me, and our assistant waiter "Bread Boy" Bradley from Jamaica. Every night we had a different menu and you choose from about 5 different appetizers, entrees and desserts. Chad and I were very brave and tried lots of different stuff, but Brett and Marcie were not so much. The rest of our group was seated near us at 2 different tables. We had 17 in our group. The 5 of us, Grandma and Grandpa, Gleneita, Talia, Michele, Maria, Rhonda, CJ, the other Marcie, Braden, Brandon and Brynn. The rest of the meals were served at a restaraunt on the top flor called the Windjammer. It was buffet style. The food was really good. We ate very well! I think we all gained 5-10 lbs. No joke!

So on Tuesday we arrived in Key West, Florida. It was super cool and we had lots of fun there. We just kinda wandered the stores and hung out. Grandma, Gleneita and Rhonda took Quayd on a train ride tour that went through the town, so Brett and I were alone. We bought all kinds of tourist garb and just had a great time. I have no pictures from this day because I couldn't find the Camera battery and I was sure I left it at home charging. I eventually found it Thursday night. I'm an idiot.

Wednesday was our favorite day! Cozumel, Mexico. Grandma, Michele, Brett, Quayd and I went to a place called Paradise Beach and had a GREAT time! They had snorkeling, kayaking, water trampoline, food, drink, and all kinds of fun stuff. We had so much fun there. We saw tons of fish and found some cool sea shells while snorkeling and we brought a few home. A couple of the ones we found had living creatures in them and we couldnt get them out so we had to leave them. One small, very cool shell, had an occupant, and my discusting husband used the fork from his lunch, stabbed it and pulled it out. He flicked it into the ocean near some swimming children and we saw these 3 HUGE fish come right up to eat it. It was so sick! But crazy funny. People were screaming and grabbing their kids. I just looked at Brett and we shared a "oops" glance and then we giggled, packed up our stuff and decided it was time to leave. We also shopped in the city and just had a great time. We bought Mexican Vanilla Extract for our family and friends. Good prize, huh?

Thursday was Belize day. Hot, humid, stinky, nasty Belize day. I shouldn't say that, because it was kinda cool. I don't think all parts of Belize were as bad as the part we went to. Actually it has one of the biggest reefs in the world and we should have gone snorkeling, but we didn't. Chad served his mission in Honduras and Belize so we went with him to see some of the places he lived, the Church and a few cool things. It was seriously so stinking hot and humid though, it was almost miserable. It was still cool though. I mean, how many people do you know that have been to Belize? I know 16! After returning to the ship, I found my camera battery so we took lots of pictures.



Friday, we were at Sea all day, heading back to Ft. Lauderdale. It was a beautiful day. we hung out at the pool almost all day.

Quayd hung out with Braden most of the time, but he also made friends with this cute little boy named Matthew.

I forgot to mention that every single day, we took a nap in our big fat king size bed. Cool huh.

On Saturday morning, we left the ship and headed for the airport. We were kinda sad to leave. It was such a fun vacation. Lots of memories. Quayd was such a good boy and I am so glad we took him. He is a wonderful traveler. Seldom complains. What a kid. 5 years old and a world traveler. He was so funny on the airplane(s). He just though it was so neat that they brought around drinks and treats. So on our first flight from Denver to Atlanta, he fell asleep and missed the snack cart. He stayed asleep while we switched planes and during the flight from Altanta to Miami, he finally woke as we were landing and was so mad that he had missed the treats. I didn't have the heart to tell him that he had actually missed it on two flights. Coming home, he was determined to stay awake. He got really sleepy and I promised him I would wake him up when the cart came around. Well I tried and tried, but he wouldn't stir. I don't know why, but the airplane just put him right to sleep!
Again, when we were landing, he was MAD! So when we left Atlanta, heading back to Denver, he tired so hard to stay awake because he didn't want to miss it! And he didn't! He asked the lady for extra peanuts to bring home for Pop, because he knew that Pop loves peanuts. He also got to meet the pilot, and sit in the cockpit.

I have more pictures on a slideshow on my myspace page if you would like to look. www.myspace.com/crafty_mandy

This was such a cool vacation. We will definately crusie again!