Ahoy Matey!

I can now officially cross something off of my bucket list. Thanks to my best friend and her father, I was able to swim with dolphins at long last and go on a sea cruise to boot. I've been home for a bit now and feel caught up with my family, so I thought I'd blog about the trip for those of you who care. :)

Tuesday

I dropped the kids off with their Grandma Jeanne on Tuesday night. It was easier than scrambling around with them the next day and was one less thing to do. They were ecstatic to stay with her and I knew they'd be so busy with her that they'd have plenty to keep them happy. Hubby picked me up and we spent the evening together. It was nice having it just be us.

Wednesday

Early Wednesday morning, Hubby drove me to the airport as it is fairly close to his work. It was nice not having to take the train for once. We said our goodbyes and I was off to Texas. The plane ride was pretty smooth all the way to Houston.

Once I touched down in Houston, Shelley and her dad picked me up at the airport. We then proceeded to drive the scenic route (as my dad likes to call it) to Outback for dinner. For some reason, we had a lot of trouble finding it and Shelley's husband had the patience of a saint as he waited for us at the restaurant for us. It was worth the wait though as dinner was GOOD. Shelley and I stayed up visiting for awhile, but then decided to get some rest as we had a long day ahead of us.

Thursday

Shelley's dad picked us up and took us to breakfast at Denny's on our way down to Galveston. We made a pitstop at Target for some last minute supplies and then finally we off to the port. We bid farewell to Shelley's dad and thanked him for his many kindnesses. Then we spent the next few hours "getting processed" and boarded the cruise ship Carnival Ecstasy. They were busy cleaning staterooms, so we had to wait on the Lido Deck (so very Love Boat) as we took in our home for the next four days. Shelley and I got sick of that area so we found a nook on the side of the ship and just sat there for a long time as we waited to leave port. We marveled at the the polluted water and oil rigs across the bay from us. It was really cool when we finally pulled out of Galveston and were at sea at last. As we made our way into the Gulf of Mexico, the water became a vibrant blue and we knew our vacation had a officially started.

We explored the ship and unpacked our stuff in our stateroom. We also discovered that our seating time for dinner wasn't until 8:15, so we went to the early revue show. This consisted of dancers, singers, and a band in the Blue Sapphire lounge. I grew to love the sparkly curtain in this place for some off reason. When we finally sat down for dinner, we were famished. We met two of our tablemates and learned that they were on there celebrating an anniversary and were from the same area as Shelley. After a disastrous time learning how to order properly and from whom to do this, I dug into a really delicious meal. I had Cornfed Chicken, veggies, and chocolate melting cake (sinful treat). After dinner, we went up to the deck and looked out the blackness of the night at sea. It was soooooo windy! We decided to make it a nightly ritual so that we took time to appreciate everything around us. The day had been long and so we retired to our stateroom.

Friday

Since we were at sea all day, we found a host activities to keep us busy. The day began with Shelley and I splurging for mini-massages and facials at the spa. The only appointments available were at 8am, so we rolled out of bed and enjoyed a lovely morning treat. It was my first ever facial, so that was extra nice. We grabbed some breakfast and returned to our room to sleep a bit more as were both fatigued. I was still recovering from a lingering cold and Shelley was starting to drag (turned out she was starting to get the early stages of a cold). After some rest, we checked out a number on board games and activities. We enjoyed Name That Tune and even won the Digital Scavenger Hunt. The latter was when you had to take pictures of a bunch of items on a list and the things were scattered around the ship. We won golden plastic ship trophies and were very proud of this. Hey, not much to do aboard a ship. =)

After running amok the ship for the scavenger hunt, we realized we how tired we'd gotten. Since there was plenty of time before dinner, we thought we'd rest a little bit. It was elegant night, so we had to dress up for dinner. Again, we caught the early revue before heading to dinner. This meal went much more smoothly and our waiters seemed to be loosening up a bit. Sadly, I can't remember all that we did after that, but enjoyed an R-rated comedy show at midnight with Roman. I think we decided to come back to our room early. We knew that the next day was going to be a big one, so we hit the hay.

Saturday

I woke up pretty early as I just was too wound up to sleep. We docked in Cozumel at 9:30ish. There was a big crunch of people as we left the ship and waited for our shore excursion group to depart. Once we arrived in separate taxis at the Dolphinaris. It was almost a two hour process from the time we left our spot to the time we actually got in the water, which only made the anticipation all the more great. During our wait time, we got to know an awesome young girl named Kinzey and her stepmom. Kinsey dreamed of being a dolphin trainer someday, so it was cool to see the experience through her eyes as well. Her stepmom wasn't going in the water, so Kinsey stuck close to Shelley and I throughout.

Once we got in the water, we were on cloud nine. We got to learn different hand signals to encourage the dolphins to do little tricks such as wave and stuff. They allowed us to hold out our hands so that the two dolphins in our group could swim by and we could feel their bodies. Then we took turns getting to shake hands and receive dolphin kisses for photo opps. Then we each got a little ride on the dolphin's bellies. The finale was getting to watch our dolphins do several leaps into the air and do a little dance. It was amazing time that went way too fast. I would so do it again in a heartbeat. This experience was the highlight of the whole trip.

Shelley and I spent the rest of our time in Cozumel exploring the streets and shopping for souvenirs. We ate at a great little open-air cafe. We were even serenaded. While everyone else in town was living it up at Senor Frog's, we opted to keep it low key, though we did take a few obligatory photos with Senor Frog himself. It was terribly difficult to tear ourselves away from the myriad of shops as I kept finding last minute bargains along the way. With about 10 minutes to spare, we made it back to the ship, though we had to wait on the gangway for another half hour just to get through security. We were fried in every sense of the word. We skipped the formal dinner and just grabbed a quick bite on the Lido deck. We decided to sing a little karaoke as well. Shelley and I did a wonderful rendition of 9 to 5 (at least it was music to our ears anyway).

Sunday

This was another day spent at sea. We did a variety of activities on this final full day aboard the ship. We each bought a Carribbean-themed scrapbook and Shelley cleaned up at clearance sale in the gift shop. We enjoyed one final revue and dinner with our tablemates. I dragged an exhausted Shelley to another evening of karaoke (just listened this time) and comedy. This comedy show brought me to tears, I laughed that hard. Shelley was really starting to feel the effects of her cold and was a real trooper for going to all these things with me. We made sure to say good night to the sea one last time before turning in for the night. Had to get our luggage packed and set outside our rooms before midnight, so that reduced the clutter in our room.

Monday

Monday morning was spent primarily waiting to get off the ship and waiting in lines to get through customs. Shelley and I enjoyed a leisurely breakfast and reminisced about the memories we'd just made. When we finally left port, Shelley's husband picked us up. We made a pitstop at Sonic for some chow. I'm sorry, but Sonic has the best onion rings and milkshake, except for maybe Burgerville. :)

When we finally made it back to Shelley's place, we decided to take a break and nap before heading back out. At about 5 o'clock, Shelley and I went to our little beignet cafe, known as Crescent City Diner. We each had some red beans and rice with beignets for dessert. We then went to see Sex in the City. That movie was so worth the wait and I am definitely getting it on video! Shelley and I were both pretty exhausted and a little on the snippy side, so we suffered through and survived our first-ever fight. Neither of us slept too well that night.

Tuesday

We both got up at the butt crack of dawn to make my plane. We said our goodbyes and that was that. I ate a quick breakfast at one of the airport cafes and waited to board the plane. The great thing about traveling back through the time difference, is that I got back pretty early. In fact, my husband decided at the last minute to pick me up at the airport and take me to lunch (something we rarely get to do together on a workday) at a TexMex restaurant of all places (oh the irony). It felt so good to see him again. I was pretty emotional, so he was really my rock as I pulled myself together. He dropped me off at the train station and I rode it back to Beaverton where my MIL met me with the kids. I then drove the kids the rest of the way home. We got home just in time to turn around and head over to his art class that started at 3pm. It was a busy day to say the least.

As it turns out, seeing Shelley is always a carthartic experience in everyway. With the exception of that one blip, we had a fantastic voyage! Shelley made my dream of swimming with dolphins come true and I will forever be grateful to her for just being the most amazing friend a person could have. She knows how much I love her and I am proud to say that I am the lucky one to have her in my life. I will try to post additional pictures soon, including those from the dolphin swim!