Cruise day FOUR

Grand Cayman!!!  We ported and took a ferry to shore on Wednesday.  We overpaid for a big van to shuttle us all around in.  Toured the island-drove to Hell (a small town on the island) and back- stopped by a dolphin exhibit to discover it was entirely too expensive to swim with and/or feed them--then parked at the most beautiful beach I have ever seen.  SO pretty.  After a bit Clint and I took the van to go find the Crossfit on the island so I could get a picture and say I'd been there.  We also grabbed lunch at this little gyro stand and had the most delicious food.  It was so yum.  

Important things to remember about day FOUR:

if you are lucky (BJ) you will find a wad of cash--$160 to be exact--on the ocean floor 

spending an hour snorkeling around looking for more cash

having to convince someone to snorkel with me because Clint took off without me and was gone for two hours

laying in the shade because we were all scorched

dolphins doing the dirty

perfect beach

our ship:

 SEVEN MILE BEACH

I've always seen great pictures of people's name written in the sand.  I'm wondering how they do this?  I really tried to get some good ones, but the water would come rushing up so fast I'd have to speed write as fast as I could and then hurry and take the pic before it was all washed away.  I must be missing something.

please note the sad progression of these pictures.  that little black dot you see already in the water is my dear husband not waiting for anyone.  and from the look of my stance you can tell I'm pissed.

Cruise Day THREE

Day three was at sea.  

It was very relaxing.  

We ran on the ships track and did a little workout in the sun.  

We vegged and ate and vegged and ate.  

We had "formal night".

We danced.

We (I) went to bed early.

I almost can't stand this picture.  I am obsessed with it because of BJ's face.  Zoom in and check out that grin.

I'm sorry, but look at my belly.  That is a legitimate pregnant looking belly right there.  I think it's partially because my butt is so big.

Cruise Day TWO

We ported in Key West on Monday morning and after a hearty breakfast (and I do mean hearty) we took off to see what kind of deals we could find on scooters to tour the island.  Once we found our rides, we took off.

Important things to remember about day TWO:

Cute little tourist shops and bakerys (yum.)

Audrie can sit in the ocean water for hours with her hands held out of the water to prevent pruning

You can fit three people on a two-seater scooter

CVS carries "Key West" t-shirts

Visiting pre-Civil War artillery forts

Pretty beach but not the softest sand

Good ole Mormon boys should not be allowed to see certain Cruise Shows (think Vegas ladies dancing in panties.)

Good ole Mormon girls should not be allowed to see certain gay dancers shaking their junk to the YMCA right in front of our faces.  It's not pretty

Cruise day ONE

 Sunday morning we caught a shuttle from our hotel in Ft. Lauderdale to Miami where we set sail.  We got our bags checked in and waited about an hour or so before being able to board.  We spent lots of time taking cheesy photos and exploring the ship while we waited for our rooms to be ready.   Everyone had been on a cruise before except for Clint and I so I think we were both a little shell-shocked.  Those things are HUGE!  I really couldn't get over how big it was.  Once we left port and unpacked our bags we had some food, toured the ship more, ate more food, and then did a little karaoke.  YES.  We did. 

Important things to remember about day ONE:

Asking BJ to take a group picture of the girls and learning he had turned my phone camera to take pics of himself instead (see pic below)

Purchasing a soda pass for the week for Clint was $45.  $45!!!  On soda!!!!!!!!  Reason #9987 why I don't drink that crap.

Craig see's below photo of he and Clint riding bikes and realizes he is bald.

Ladies sang Gretchen Wilson's "Redneck Woman"--we all got the "Hell Yeah" part down quite nicely.

Fellas sang Black Eyed Peas "Tonight's Gonna Be a Good Night" and we all learned that Clint is quite the dancer. (Is that the name of the song?  I can't remember, but I know that is the chorus because every time BJ sang it he'd point to Katherine and shake his hips)

Learning I should have packed a cute ship bag instead of lugging around my huge diaper bag the whole time.

Ft Lauderdale

 We were in Ft. Lauderdale on Saturday- just for a day before our ship left port.  We had a quick workout in the hotel's teeny gym, plucked eye-brows and talked about my big big toe and my perma-stink sports bra, and then headed to the beach for the afternoon.  After the beach we ate our body weight in cheesecake at Cheesecake factory before calling it a night.  

Important things to remember about this day:

I can do more push ups than Craig  ;)

Katherine's flip flops stank like wet dog breath only worse

Little lizards like Clint's butt

The dude in the speedo and his hot pregnant wife rockin the bikini

AND their awesome boom-box that we jammed to

Clint standing behind the grandpa in the cadillac for ten full minutes to reserve our parking spot

PRE trip

Apparently the details and pictures of this trip are going to have to be done on a day-by-day basis.  Because when I look at everything I want to include, I just walk away from my computer.  WAY too many pictures.  So....tonight I have the energy to remember what our pre-trip day and first day included.  

THURSDAY:

LOTS of panic attacks and anxiety over leaving my kids.  I've never left them for more than a day or two, so nine days away from them was so scary for me.

Major cleaning.  Why I felt like everything had to be in picture perfect condition for me to leave is beyond me.

Typing up schedules for the girls.

Packing.

Arranging rides.

Making gifts for the girls to open for each day we would be gone.

Making paper chains with the girls so they could take one off each day to count down the days till we would be home.

Holding Emery for like ten hours straight because I was terrified to leave her.

 FRIDAY:

Picking Clint up from work at 8AM to try to catch a 10:30 flight--which was full.  We flew standby (BIG MISTAKE!!!!!!!) and ended up having to fly to San Diego, then to Tampa, then to Ft. Lauderdale.  Pretty much 12 hours of flying.  NIGHTMARE.  See below.

We finally made it to Ft Laud around 10PM, where we waited a half hour for the shuttle to take us to our hotel to meet up with everyone.  It was a LONG day.  We flew using buddy passes that we bought from a friend of a friend, and we will never do that again.  They were much cheaper than buying regular tickets, but since we were not guaranteed a flight, we all went out two days early to make sure we were able to catch the ship in time.  After paying for the hotel and food while we were in Florida, we could have just bought regular priced tickets.  Oh well.  Live and learn.

UNmotivated

That's me in a nutshell lately.  Completely unmotivated.  I have not had any work in about a month.  This is BAD.  For lots of reasons, but most importantly because when I'm not super busy with things that have a deadline and HAVE to be done, well--everything kinda becomes unimportant and doesn't get done.  Like the laundry.  And the blog.  And meal planning.  And showering.  And great workouts.  Ya.  Especially after returning from the best vacation EVER.  Like, ever.  All I want to do is curl up on my couch and watch episode after episode of Damon and Stefan sucking the blood out of their innocent victims whilst munching on oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.  With nuts.  I gained six pounds on the cruise and at the rate I'm going I should just give up and get pregnant so I have a decent excuse for the extra weight I'm luggin around.  So. While I have lots of photos to blog about and kids that could stand a bath, I'm going to go catch an episode of Vampire Diaries since Netflix finally aired season three. 

Our week

morning chores

love her nap positions

Saturday night ice-cream

Only a few weeks late.  Good ole Water-n-ice for Ice cream

Charlotte-Joy School

My spicy chick had her first day of Joy School today.  She has been counting down the seconds for about a month now.  Scratch that.  She's been counting down for about a year.  Ever since Sage started Joy School last year!  She has been so so excited.  And while I almost cried and gave her about a thousand hugs and lingered a little too long, she gave me a quick peck, waved and told me to have fun at the gym.  haha!  She wasn't scared at all and LOVED every second of it.  It's only once a week for two hours, but I'm glad we are doing it.  She deserves a little play date fun after watching big sister go for the past year.  I sure love this skinny little thing.

note the crooked skirt and bruised shins.  this chick really rocks my world.