I'm On Vaca...

Do you think there is such a thing as too much of a good thing? I'm beginning to wonder if perhaps I've hit my vacation quota! Don't misunderstand, I've thoroughly enjoyed all my trips and adventures this summer, but I'm glad to be home. And I think I'll stay put for awhile!

This trip to the beach was great on so many levels. First, I loved getting to head out to the beach again! I've really enjoyed all the sand and surf time this summer. I guess there is just something refreshing and humbling about being next to something so vast. I even enjoyed the sand between my toes (though not so much all the other places sand tends to get...ick) and just laying out and being a beach babe. Second, it was great to connect with people you work with on a level that isn't just a professional one. In case I didn't mention this before, I went on this trip with six other teachers from school. I'll admit to being a little nervous about how we'd all interact, but it was great. We're teachers so we did talk a little bit about school stuff, but mostly we got to know each other on personal levels. That was amazing! Thirdly, I knew that this was my last hurrah before school started so I wanted to make the most of the days. And I did! I felt like I was able to relax and soak up the last bit of summer.

Before long it'll be time to get back into the groove of all things school, so right now it feels great to justify everything because "I'm on vaca!" (I think this is a line from Legally Blonde where the lead character's ditzy friends want to go on vaca (vay-kay) to Harvard to visit her.) Anyway, all week long we explained away everything with "I'm on vaca!".

For example:

"You slept until 10:00am!"
"So, I'm on vaca!"

"I don't usually go without make-up or doing my hair."
"Oh who cares...you're on vaca!"

"I shouldn't be eating this yummy chocolate cake at 2am in the morning."
"But what the hell! I'm on vaca!"

Every time we turned around someone was saying "I'm on vaca!" in that house! We were and we enjoyed every minute of it too. Like I said, it was great, but I am ready for some normalcy too. Starting next week, it's back to being in my classroom all day (organizing and decorating) and then comes the welcome back in-service things. And I'm okay with that because believe it or not I crave a routine.

But, I know that the memories and relaxed feel of summer are going to stick around for a while! And I'm happy about that!

Progreso and Cozumel

I took over 100 pictures, but I was only allowed to put ten in the slide show. I think this is a pretty good collection from the trip! The slide show goes pretty fast so read quickly!

As I've said, the cruise vacation was wonderful! I went with my cousin and we both had a really great time. Trust me, I could go on and on reliving every detail of the trip, but I'd get finger cramps and you'd get bored! So, I'm just going to hit the highlights.

Nightly Shows: Each night we were on board, there was some type of show. I really enjoyed the ones with the singers and dancers. The Blue Sapphire was always cold and after watching one show I knew why...to keep the dancers cooled off! The energy level never dropped from the time the show started to the time it stopped. And we went to the late show several times so it was the second go around for them. Also, there were four comedians. The first guy, Greg Ray, was the funniest. They had a family style show and then at midnight they did an R rated adult show. Most of the guys were vulgar for the sake of being vulgar (something I'm NOT a fan of) but Mr. Ray was extremely funny throughout.

Breakfast: As you've probably heard half the fun of a cruise is the food. And there was food...all the time and everywhere! My favorite though was breakfast. We at up on the Lido deck every morning. I had the same thing the whole time (eggs, hash brown potatoes, bacon, crossant, chocolate milk, and orange juice) and it was so yummy! We were what you'd call the late risers so I was very glad that breakfast was served until noon!

Dinner: You didn't think one little paragraph was enough about the food did you?! Dinner was my other favorite meal of the day. This time it wasn't so much for the food (though that was wonderful!) but because of the people we sat with at dinner. The whole dinner attire was a little misleading. When I called Carnival to ask about how dressy dinner was, they said that it was dressy every night. We took two "dressy" outfits. So the first night we skipped dinner in the dining room and just made do with hot dogs by the pool. The next night was the formal night and we ate in the dining room. That is where we discovered that dinner in the dining room is resort casual...meaning jean capris and a t-shirt was perfectly fine for dinner the rest of the time. Also, we sat with a very nice group of ladies. Out of our table of ten six of us were teachers so we had plenty in common! Everyone was so nice and friendly so dinner was a pleasure each night. And the food was wonderful too! I thought I'd get brave and try some fish but I never did. One of the ladies at our table said, "How can you be on the sea and not eat fish?" Easy...enjoy all the beef! I think every meal was beef of some kind. I did step out of the box a few times though. I had chilled avacado soup and a spicy pumpkin soup. Several times I wondered if they made a plain jane menu so I could know what I was eating, but all in all it was wonderful!

Progreso, Mexico: This was our first port of call. The pier was so long that we had to take a bus onto the mainland! When we booked, I didn't realize that Progreso is the home of one of the seven wonders of the world or we'd done an excursian there. What we did do was wander around a little market square and then headed to the beach. The beach was crowded but it was nice. My cousin was ingrossed in Harry Potter so I was the only one to get in the ocean. It was an ocean...big and salty! I splashed around for awhile and then got a tattoo! It was a henna tattoo, but I like the shock value of saying I got a tattoo. I wasn't supposed to get it wet for 40 minutes so I laid out on the beach. This was the start of one awful burn. Progreso was a fun stop!

Cozumel, Mexico: The water in Cozumel is beautiful! It was so clear that you could stand in it and see your own feet. Plus it had a nice sandy bottom. We went on a dune buggy exploration of the island. It was a stick shift so there wasn't any way I was going to drive! We were in groups of two so for the first part of the tour the other guy drove and then on the way back, Amanda drove. She did pretty good considering there wasn't power steering! We also stopped at a private beach for lunch (which was real Mexican food in Mexico and was out of this world!) and swimming. The ocean was pretty rough that day, but it was beautiful to watch those foamy waves crash into the rocks! I felt pretty small next to those huge waves and that was perfectly alright.

Snorkling: I had never been snorkling before and I wasn't sure how much I'd enjoy it. I like to breathe...a lot! After sitting through the instruction course we trotted over to the ocean. The guide told us there was fire coral on either side of where you enter the water. Great...I wasn't steady anyway stepping on the rocks so I looked pretty funny gingerly getting in the water. One lady didn't pay attention and got a pretty nasty welt on her butt when she brushed up against the coral. Snorkling is a workout! I finally got my legs and arms all moving in the right direction. I had some trouble keeping my goggles from fogging up but after several rounds of spitting in them they cleared up. Snorkling was fun but I was a little disappointed that we didn't see more fish. There were two schools of fish but that was about it. Still...I'd snorkle again. I have some pictures but they are being developed from the underwater camera so it might take me a while to get them posted. That is if they are any good...it was kind of like aim at what you think is fish, point, and click!

There's so much more to tell, but I might be here all day! This is just a sampling of all the fun things we did on this cruise. I would highly recommend cruising! I'll definitely go again. Maybe next time to Alaska...

These Toes Are Ready...

for the beach! As a matter of fact, all of me is ready for the beach, the sun, the surf, a few days of freedom to relax and just enjoy myself. Yesterday afternoon I went and had my feet pampered with a deluxe pedicure. These toes of mine are ready.

Now if only my suitcase was ready! I've really put off getting ready for the trip. Don't get me wrong I'm excited about going on the cruise, but where I'm normally packed up and checking my list twice I haven't even made a list this time. My mom says it's because I've become an experienced traveler. I'm not so sure. I think I'm just ready for the fun part. Unfortunately my suitcases won't pack themselves! So, I know what I'm going to be doing today.

Y'all take care and enjoy yourselves this week. I know I'm going to!