Posts Tagged ‘Family Vacation’

Wednesday- December 24 (recap)

Tuesday, December 30th, 2008


Christmas Eve at sea….

Another lazy day at sea just hanging around on deck and relaxing. Of course Caleb spent a lot of time playing video games. But that was fine, it was what he wanted to do.
I took in a game show called the “Marriage Game.” It was funny. After that I stayed for the Christmas show. It was good, and made me get a little more in the Christmas mood. It is hard to think about Christmas when it is 80 degrees outside.
While I was watching shows David was hanging on deck.
We hit the ship gift shop and got some good buys. I got a necklace and 2 bracelets, Caleb and David got a bracelet. I got Madilyn a Mermaid doll and we picked up a few other items.
Tonight at dinner the waiters sang a goodbye song. It was funny. We had 2 really good waiters named David and Gusti. They provided good service and many laughs during the week.

Tuesday- December 23 (recap)

Tuesday, December 30th, 2008


Today we docked in Cozumel Mexico. Thankfully my seasickness had passed and I felt back at 100%. I did wake in the night to some rough waters, but was glad to be feeling well enough to take our planned trip into Cozumel.

Once we came on deck we noticed that we could not see the shore (lol). The Disney Magic was docked next to us, that ship made ours look like a tug boat. The Disney Ship was massive and beautiful. Maybe in a few years we will take Maddie on a Disney cruise.

We had planned a 4.5 hour trip but it actually lasted about 6 hours. We went with a group of about 40 people and 10 dune buggies. David drove the dune buggy through the city and then out to ECO park. At the park we saw some Mayan Ruins, a croc preserve, a 200 year old light house and we went snorkeling.

The dune buggy ride was fun. We got to see a lot of the city and beach front. Eco Park only had 1 major ruin but it was interesting to hear how the structure would warn the Mayans of a coming hurricane.
Snorkeling was fun, but not nearly as pretty as when David and I went to the Bahamas. It was Caleb’s first time and he had a blast. We had to swim pretty far out to get to the reef. To say we were all beat once returning to the ship would be an understatement.
We had hoped to have some time to do some shopping in Cozumel, but our trip lasted too long and we barely made it back to the ship in time.
The waters were once again a little choppy but no one got sea sick.

Monday- December 22 (recap)

Tuesday, December 30th, 2008


Today we docked in Progresso Mexico. We had a planned trip to see the Mayan Ruins and relax at the beach.

We took a bus to Dzibilchaltun (the ruins we visited). The bus ride took about 45 minutes. Along the way we received a history lesson on Progresso and the Mayans. The ruins were more that we expected. We expected to only see two or three structure however, we saw 20 or more ruins. We took a ton of pictures. Caleb seemed to really enjoy himself. Our guide Manuel was very informative and made the trip interesting. We spent about 2 hours visiting the ruins.
Upon leaving the ruins we headed to the beach for our “beach break” which included free drinks. I must say we were disappointed with the beach. It was not as clean as the beaches in Pensacola and the sand was dirty. The kids enjoyed playing in the sand, but no one really ventured into the water, because it had a lot of jelly fish in it.
We got back to the ship around 4:00 and got cleaned up and showered before dinner. Our dinners were long usually ending around 8:30.
The weather was perfect, around 78 degrees and a nice breeze. The day was perfect….
But the night is another story….
We hit some rough waters about an hour prior to dinner. At first we were all feeling fine. On our way to the dinning room we thought it was funny to see vomit bags hanging up everywhere, we also thought it was strange that no one was out and about. The dinning room was not even half full when we arrived. We ordered our dinner and one by one our table for 8 became smaller, another couple left and then I barely made it out of the dinning room before I was throwing up. Thankfully I had picked up a vomit bag earlier (just in case). I made it back to the cabin and went to bed. David and Caleb were able to eat and did not suffer with seasickness. Caleb did feel a little ill so he spent the night in his room resting and watching a movie.

December 21 (recap)

Tuesday, December 30th, 2008


FUN DAY AT SEA

Missed the sunrise, it was great to actually sleep through the night. Missed Madilyn but enjoyed the sleep.
Caleb spent some time swimming, playing video games and hanging with the circle C kids. David and I were just plain lazy and spent a lot of time lounging on deck. I took a book to read, but was even too lazy to read. Our view for the entire day was blue water, it was so peaceful.
We went to the top deck and played a game of mini golf. David won, but I think the wind was on his side. The game was fun but difficult because of the high winds.
We went to the Captains reception prior to dinner. It was interesting to meet the crew. They had a band playing dance music, it was very entertaining to watch the older couples dance, they were really good.
Dinner was wonderful, we got spoiled on good food and good service.

Saturday- December 20 (recap)

Tuesday, December 30th, 2008


We left my moms house around 10 am and headed toward Mobile. Madilyn went with Aunt Mary to spend the night at her house.

Upon arriving in Mobile we learned that the previous cruise arrived late, so we would be a little delayed in our departure. We were to board around noon, but did not board until about 2:00. It was all good, we just hung around and talked with other passengers.
Upon boarding we were treated to a large lunch buffet. After eating lunch we hung out on deck waiting for the ship to depart. However, our departure was delayed due to the late arrival. We went to the dining room for our 6:00 pm dinner. About half way through dinner they announced that we were finally departing and that our delay would not affect our trip or our arrivals to other destinations. After dinner we explored the ship and spent sometime on deck looking at the sky.
We had no problems with our luggage, and found our rooms to be about what we expected. Small but not too small. The beds were comfortable and we all slept well the first night on board.

Christmas Vacation 2008

Tuesday, December 30th, 2008


We had an awesome trip! Caleb, David and I took a Carnival Cruise to Progresso and Cozumel Mexico. We had a great time and got to see a a lot of neat things. I will post updates on our trip in separate post so that the post do not become too long.

Madilyn stayed with my family in FL. They really enjoyed getting to know her. We missed her but really needed to spend some time reconnecting with Caleb.
I will post a link to our Flickr account once we have uploaded all of the pictures from our trip.

Thanksgiving Vacation

Saturday, November 29th, 2008


This year David and I decided to stay close to home and spend the holiday with just the four of us. We rented a cabin from Mountian View Cabins, which is located on Fort Mountian. It only took about an hour and ten minutes to get there. It has been a long time since we had not traveled for hours to go and spend time with immediate family.

The cabin had a pool table, hot tub and steam room and a great view of the mountians from the back deck. We enjoyed just spending time doing nothing. Prior to the trip I pre-cooked all of our meals and froze them so that I would not have to spend so much time in the kitchen. All of the pre-cooked meals were good. Thanksgiving was the only meal I actually cooked while we were gone. It turned out pretty good.

The day after Thanksgiving we went to the top of Fort Mountian and went to the overlook, the ancient wall and a rock tower. It was a beatiful day for a hike, we got some good pictures of the view.

It was nice to relax and be disconnected. By disconnected I mean no phone and no internet. We just spent time playing games, watching movies, reading and spending time with each other.

Now we are home and back to reality.

Ready for Thanksgiving

Friday, November 14th, 2008


I am so ready for Thanksgiving. I am tired of getting up and going to work everyday. I just want to spend some time with David, Caleb and Madilyn without the worries of work and graduate school.

I am looking forward to going to the mountians and getting away from it all. This will be the first holiday in a very long time that we are not traveling to see family. It will be quiet and I will miss seeing other family members, but we need time to connect and have fun with just the four of us.

I keep wondering when our life will slow down. It just seems that we always have something going on.

Thanksgiving Plans

Tuesday, October 14th, 2008


We are breaking from family tradition this year for Thanksgiving. We have decided that we need to spend time with just the four of us in a relaxing, low travel environment. So we are going to head for the North Georgia Mountains, Fort Mountain to be specific for 5 days and 4 nights to celebrate Thanksgiving this year. We have so much to be thankful for: Madilyn, my new job, David’s continued success with his business, the list could go on and on.

We plan on just enjoying nature and our family. The cabin is on 6 Acres of land, so it should be very quiet and relaxing. The views posted online from the deck look beautiful. We really can hardly wait for Thanksgiving so that we can unplug and relax. Click the link below to see the cabin we will be staying in.

Back Home

Thursday, September 18th, 2008

Madilyn and I went to FL so that she could meet her grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. We had a good trip, but it is good to be home. Everyone enjoyed Madilyn and she was in a very playful happy mood during the entire trip.