Somewhere…out on the sea

  
 

We went on our first cruise about 19 years ago.  And every since then I have been hooked.  It is my favorite vacation.  We get a room with a great view, get to see some beautiful beaches & water, and all the food we CAN and really SHOULD NOT eat!!!!!  Best vacation ever!!!  We went on one in January and since I am a blogger now…I can blog about it.   :)  (I have albums full of pictures from our previous trips…I am all about having lots of pictures so I can relive the memories over and over again)

We   ARE   “those” cruise people who…

1. pack snacks in the suitcase, there are some things you cannot get on the ship…like snack size candy bars, small individual bags of cheez-its, and Lance peanut butter cheese crackers.  Sometimes they don’t feed you on the excursions.  anyone who knows me…knows I go nowhere without food.  It comes in handy.

2. pack light…we wear the same clothes more than once…not dress clothes but shorts and tank tops

3. eat early…no 8:00 pm dinners for us… we would starve to death…we always eat early around 5:45 pm

4. take our own snorkels and masks…we do see that they clean them and sometimes give the cheap snorkels as souvenirs but we are not taking any chances.

5. clean the room before we leave it, I always throw the covers up over the bed, pick up all clothes (dirty and clean) and straighten the room…our room stewards love us

We   ARE   NOT   “those” cruise people who…

1. carry 12 packs of water or drinks or coolers with their luggage (if I can hide it…I will take it but I draw the line at beverages)

2. take 2 suitcases per person and a carry on (we can get all our stuff in 2 suitcases and he carries his camera case)

3. are rude to the staff.  they are people and deserve respect and kindness. it irritates me to no end when people think they are better than others. I love to see their faces when they ask me if they can get me anything and I say “no, but can I get anything for you”?  the look on their face is priceless and they are grateful!! I even made our absolute awesome head waiter stop for a second, told him to breath, and he laughed and sat down for a few seconds and caught his breath.  Our dining room crew was the hardest working crew.  They were even helping out other tables that were not theirs.

4. try to get ahead of people in line…HELLO!! we have been waiting just as long as you have…try a little patience!!!! We are all on VACATION!



         

We went on the Carnival Dream and were very happy with the ship.  The ship was very clean, the service was great, and there was a great variety of food and it was delicious. Our room was very nice and spacious.  I personally do not have to have a balcony but my sweet honey thinks it is a must.  And what my sweet honey wants…he gets, within reason.  It is really nice to be able to walk out on the balcony and either see the island we are stopped at or just look out over the miles and miles of blue water.



                                    

Again, I personally do not have to have a bath tub but…I LOVE having a bath tub and usually having a balcony means getting a tub.  Makes me very happy!!!  It even had jets which was like having my own personal hot tub.


            

Our first stop was Cozumel.  The weather was really great.  Hot and sunny.  We rode a boat to a place called Passion Island.  We sat on a beautiful beach and actually relaxed.  It was wonderful.



              

My sweet honey likes to take pictures so we do a lot of that.  It is kindly hard not to when the backgrounds are so great. Here is my bathing suit disclaimer…   I am almost 50 and have learned that… it is what it is… and I might as well just deal with it. I did diet before this trip and it worked for about 2 days…that is how long it took to gain it back… oh the great and endless variety of yummy food!! 

               

The beach was really beautiful.  White sand, green trees, and blue water as far as we could see.  The people who took care of the beach were very nice.  The facilities were good and the food they prepared for us was delicious. We passengers were the only other people on the beach so that made it even nicer.  We had our own chairs and umbrellas if we wanted them.    I had to use the facilities and was “greeted” by a really nice man.  He said “welcome, senorita…my house is your house”.  And he proceeded to escort me to the bathroom and open the door.  I was so relieved when he did not feel the need to escort me in.  It was just a little creepy but I am sure he meant well.  They were all friendly.  One guy told me I had beautiful ankles…that needed a beautiful anklet. (which he just happened to be selling) :)


                

                                       

               

After taking so many cruises my honey and I have become “cruise nerds”.  Which means we take all the tourist pictures.  If there is a prop…we will take a picture.  I think they are fun and I love to look back on them and remember just how much fun we had!!

                         

Go Gators!!!!  okay it is probably a crocodile…but in my heart it’s a Gator!!



                   

This bar was playing one of my sweet honey’s favorite songs…”Red Solo Cup”.  Of course we sang along…loudly. And these are the biggest dang crocs I have ever seen!!!




              

Like I said…cruise nerds…and proud of it!!!!!



               

This is in Rotan.  It was sort of cloudy and misted rain but it was still beautiful and we made the best of it.

               

 


                                   

I found a “slightly used” boat for us to re-do and then we can cruise any time we want to!!!



                                    

This is the day we went to Belize. It was kindly cold and I had to wrap up while we boated to the island.



                                

               

There was a nice little beach and we walked around and took some pictures.



                      

We had fun on the catamaran to Rotan and they served us lunch.  The only place I would actually consume food  while wearing a bathing suit and not covering up is on a catamaran with people I will never see again!!!!

                

My sweet honey swimming in the Caribbean.  The weather was sunny enough for us to get to swim and snorkel.



                                 

I am not a big “shopper”.  I actually love all the cheap necklaces and hand made stuff.  And I am not good at trying to get the price down…I’m on vacation and that is too much work.  I don’t go for the name brand knock-offs either.  I just like to bring back some “prizes” for my favorite people.


                                       

                                           

I had to take this picture of my sweet honey carrying his “loot”.  He had 3 people ask him if he carried all his money in this case.  It is actually his camera case.  Since his hobby is photography and he only uses the best cameras that statement was almost true. :)   It was definitely the most important piece of luggage we had with us.




                    

We even got some action shots of us snorkeling.  I have proof that I actually went swimming.  I don’t like the cold water unless the sun is really HOT HOT HOT, and we had a sunny day and the water was really nice.  I tried to take a picture of my honey under water but I am not great with a camera above the water…much less under the water.  He loves to snorkel and is really good at it.  We usually don’t use the snorkels in deep water because we like to dive down deep.  It was really deep here and we even saw a huge drop off where the water went to about 400 feet deep.  I swam out over the drop off and could not help but think of giant, ugly, large-sharp-teethed, sea creatures coming up out of the depths with mouths wide open ready to eat me.  I have seen too many movies.



                     

More silly shots.  The Queen takes the queen.  I really do know how to move the chess pieces but have no idea about strategy.  My big brother tried to teach me but I just could not wrap my head around it.  I am more of a checkers kind of girl.  :)


                        

We usually don’t get many opportunities to dress up except for church.  So we went all out and  “dressed-up” every night for dinner.  But our most popular choice of clothing were our bathing suits.  That made it easy to pack light.


                            

My sweet honey usually sees me in boots, jeans and dirty shirts.  So I made a point to try and look nice for him because…well because he deserves it and is worth the effort.  By effort I mean I “dooed” my hair, even used hair spray… not a usual for me.  I put on extra makeup and even lip stick…okay let’s not get crazy, it was lip gloss but still not a usual for me. I must say that we made quite a good looking pair.



                          

I love these kinds of things… I am all about a “funny”.



                          

I would know that butt anywhere.   There he goes to snorkel the 2nd largest reef in the world.  I watched from the catamaran…water was okay but it was really cloudy and misting rain.



                                           

This is the reef.  It was really cool to see this so far out.  The black parts were actually part of the reef sticking up out of the water. This was in Costa Maya.



                 

A few shots around the ship.  There is a story behind this tattoo.  A few years ago he got one of those henna tattoos at a beach in Cozumel.  It was the Gator logo and the guy free-handed it looking at a hat.  The next day the tattoo started swelling up and getting red.  My sweet honey actually had to go to the Dr. on the ship who gave him some medicine for the inflammation and an ointment.  The whole thing bubbled up and got really ugly.  We had to keep it covered and he still has a scar.  So this time we got the kid Gator tattoo you put on with water. :)  It only lasted 2 days but at least he did not have a reaction to this one. Just another memory we can laugh about now…but not then.


                                     

On the days were could eat breakfast or lunch on the ship we had the absolute greatest view.  We would always scope out a seat by the window.




                 

One of our family mottos is “Work hard…Play hard”.  And that is what we do.  We do an excursion at every port we sail into. This means we have to get up early some mornings on our “vacation”.  Sometimes we get up so early we don’t have time to eat that scrumptious buffet breakfast.  My sweet honey has many times gone and brought back food for me.  I am spoiled rotten, no I prefer the term well-loved… and I admit it.  I am getting so much better at it because I know how much it means to my sweet honey.  There is always that reward when we get back to the ship…he gets his nap-time and I get my me-time  There are times that my sweet honey would do 2 excursions in a day if I would let him.  I have to put my foot down sometimes…but I do it very gently and ladylike. 



                                                

We do enjoy a cruise. We have never been on a “bad” cruise.  We have revisited many places and still enjoy it like it was the first time. It is something we look forward to doing each and every time whether it is a family cruise or just a me and my sweet honey cruise.  We always go the end of January.   In all those years, this is the first time we have had bad weather…not too bad of a track record.



                                       

There is just something about being near the water.  Really any water gives me this feeling but it is really hard to beat the salty blue waters against those white sandy beaches.  I am a complete beach bum.  I love everything about it.  It is relaxing and fills me with peace.  It is the best way to recharge our batteries and nothing does it like the beach. I would highly recommend it to everyone…but not during hurricane season :)

Ramble…. all I need is a reason

Another installment of my ramblings.  To better explain where this stuff comes from, I will share some of my day with you first.  I would love to say this is just a typical day in my life.  Not the case…I have not had a typical day in the past 20 years since I married my sweet honey. There is never a dull moment.

I started my day feeding my twin baby calves.  They are doing great and are so much fun to start the day with.  I am not a morning person but they bring out the best in me regardless!!

I started my healthy eating  AGAIN today.  More veggies, salads, yogurt, less sweets and way more water!!!! I WILL be eating carbs.  I have done and been successful with the Adkins diet.  But having done it so many times I have come to this conclusion… for me personally it works very well to lose weight fast for a special occasion.  Instead of doing it two weeks before the event I will be doing it 10 days before.  That is because by the 11th day I will literally kill for a piece of bread and even though I am still eating low carb I start gaining instead of losing.  Main reason is because I am so hungry I eat too much even if it is low carb. Now I have explained why I am choosing “healthy” over no carb.

I did my first Turbo Jam tape in a long time this morning.  It was awesome.  I love the workout and it has great music.  If you need good motivation just wear some of those yoga, like a second skin, dang tight booty shorts.  While I will exercise in them… no other human will ever see me in them.  As for motivation…I have a mirror in my spare bedroom/exercise room.  Lucky for me it is behind me and not in front.  Not such a pretty sight to see those dang shorts rolling down under my gut in front and riding up not gangnam-style but “wedgie-style” in the back.  Not a pretty picture.  But definite motivation to keep on turbo jamming!!!!! Funny how those girls on the tape were not having the same problems as me.  :)

I fed my babies again and they were even cuter than they were earlier.  Still can’t figure out how they do that.

I went to work to  mow some briars and pasture. I drove the tractor quite a ways to my designated area.  This means I only had the tractor…no truck.   When I got there I noticed that my designated area looked like it had already been mowed.  I decided to call my sweet honey and ask if I was at the right place. I reach in my pocket and there is no phone!!!!  I had just checked the time not 5 minutes before.  C-R-A-P!!!!  I knew I would never be able to see it if I drove the tractor back to look for it so I began my trek back the way I came from.  It was a dirt road so the travel was easy.  A little extra exercise on my first day back at it will be okay.

I start walking and looking and thinking.  I knew my sweet honey would not be mad at me because I have an old school phone…my choice.  He keeps wanting to buy me the new I-whatever phone.  I already have an i-pod and i-pad.  They make me cuss enough.  I love them both but it is the whole touch screen thingy that makes me crazy…not ready to deal with that in a phone yet.  I do complain about the phone I have now but it is not the phones fault.  It is me…I get mad when I push the wrong buttons and get a very undesired result like trying to unlock it to answer it and it automatically sends a text to the caller saying “I’m in a meeting”.  Evidently I am way more important than I knew because I have A LOT of meetings :0. After miles and miles of walking…okay maybe not that far but it seemed that far, I found it.  Not sure how it ended up in the middle of the road instead of the side but that is not the point…the point is…I FOUND IT.  and it still worked. Hallelujah!!!!!  Another reason I DO NOT need an i-whatever phone…they are not nearly as tough as my old school phone.
 
As I was heading back to my tractor… miles and miles away… I was multi-tasking.  I am kind of anal…no don’t like that word… how about OCD … much better…about my phone and deleting messages, calls, and voicemails.  I like it to be clear of them all the time.  So while I was walking I was deleting my “good morning, have a great week, I love you” text from my sweet boy Sam in D. C.  All of a sudden I trip on something and just about fall flat on my face.  I look down and my feet are tangled in a big wad of hay string.  Only I could do something like this, walking down the side of a dirt road, through a pasture.  I got myself free and threw the wad down in the ditch where it would not get tangled in the blades of any mower.

I finally made it back to my tractor and was able to mow happily for a few hours. Mowing means lots of time to think.  Time to jam to my tunes.  Time to enjoy the beauty of God’s earth and creatures.  Time to reflect on my day, my blessings, my joy.   This is what I think about…

1.  There is nothing like, not one but two, sweet, adorable, and hungry faces to start a cold morning off just the right way.

2.  If I could pick my very own theme music… it would be “Boom Boom Pow” by Fergie and the Black Eyed Peas.  Not the words because I know they are “not nice” but that beat is “OFF THE HOOK” !!!!! Yeah, I said it and I said it out loud.

3.  I should not only --- not text and drive… I should never text and walk either!!!!

4.  I am completely okay with my “physical self”.  When my sweet honey grabs ahold of me for a hug…I want him to know he has got a hold of a woman and not a 12 year old boy!!!

5.  I will always laugh at myself exercising in the mirror,  instead of crying because hysterically laughing burns way more calories than hysterically crying.

6.  While doing the CHA CHA Slide on a dance floor is way more fun…it is possible …AND has been done on a tractor. 

7.  I know it is a good day when a ladybug hangs out with me for over 2 hours on my gear shift while I was mowing.  I really think it liked my singing…and it also thought that Boom Boom Pow beat was '’OFF THE HOOK'” !!  :)

8.  Slim-fast bars and shakes are way bigger and taste way better than the Adkins “stuff”.

9.  I saved the best for last…I will wait on You, You are my refuge….My hope is in YOU Lord, all the day long.  I won’t be shaken by drought or storm.  The peace that passes understanding is my song and I sing, My hope is in YOU Lord!!

I wish you peace, joy, and much laughter!!!!