Lord willing, on June 8th,
Bowdie and I will have been married 15 years.
FIFTEEN YEARS!
A good reality check on how long that is
would be to look at our niece, Jordan.
She was born 3 months before our wedding.
Hard to believe that she's now in high school,
getting ready to get a learner's permit,
is wearing makeup, and a total teen ...
gone is the newborn in our wedding pictures.
But in a lot of ways, it seems like Bowdie and I
been married a lot longer.
It's harder and harder to remember what
my life was like before him.
And I like that.
A lot.
Anyway, to celebrate, we planned our first
cruise with our dear friends, Chuck & Stacey.
They'll be celebrating 15 years in May.
And, just for fun, her sister and brother-in-law,
Jessica & William, joined us,
as they just celebrated their 10th
in January!
We booked with Carnival, cruised to Key West
and Cozumel, and got a super deal.
All in all, it was a wonderful trip.
How could 5 days away with just my hubby
and good friends not be wonderful?
The weather was beautiful, the food delicious,
the company sweet, and the laughter was endless.
And the spa?
We're all about the spa and found
kindred spirits in William and Jessica.
The spa was fabulous.
And the cruise staff?
Superb.
Nearly everyone we met was
warm and kind.
Oddly enough, not an American was working on board.
(that we saw, at least)
It was so fun to meet so many from other
parts of the world.
But, we did learn some important lessons
for future cruising.
Such as ...
* when the motto of the ship is 'fun', be sure
to find out what their definition of 'fun' is ...
more than likely, it won't match yours
* research the size of the ship ...
smaller ship = rougher ride
(we didn't get even remotely sick, though) ...
it also means less quiet 'corners' to escape to,
which we would have loved to have had more of
* the oldie but goody of 'you get what you pay for' ...
we did get a great deal on this cruise -
next time we are spending a bit more to be sure
we have the 'atmosphere' we're looking for ...
'cause we're all about atmosphere!
Bo waiting to load the shuttle that
will take us to the boat ...
Ahhhh ... 5 days away ...
(taking a moment of silence right now, remembering ...)
First glimpse of our ship,
from the shuttle bus ....
Embarkation was not bad at all ...
thumbs up on a great room ...
seriously, if you've lived in a dorm room
at college, then cruise ship rooms are
HUGE!
(it's all about perspective, people ...)
Views of the harbor in Miami as we
walked around to get a feel for the ship ...
gorgeous ...
For 2 people in the midst of training,
this was fun to see!
(but we didn't use it - it took 11 laps to equal
1 mile ... we chose to just use the treadmills!)
Tuesday morning was spent in Key West.
What a fun little place packed with history!
One of the streets in Key West ...
Jessica, sweet Jessica ...
the trip was fun just watching her expressions! :)
We took a trolley tour around the island.
Our tour guide was a retired man named Ben.
He sounded just like the voice on the
Monster Plantation ride at Six Flags.
Random, I know.
He was great and we all felt incredibly
intelligent about Key West after the hour
and a half ride around the island.
Don't ask me now for info - it's completely gone!
I loved this statue.
So fun! So huge!!
Here's where A1A begins ...
any beach bum knows about A1A!!
Chickens were running all over the island ...
and it was punishable by law to kill them!
Yep - we were as far south as we could go
and still be in the U.S.A. ...
Ernest Hemingway's home ...
One of the fun creations we found that night
when we returned to our room ...
Tuesday night was formal night, so we
dressed up and Bowdie surprised me with a gift!
You KNOW I loved that!
Trying to figure out what he's gotten me ...
this was a total surprise!
A beautiful new Bulova watch ...
my man did his research.
The traditional gift for 15 years is crystal
and the modern gift is a watch.
He got me both in 1!
Love it but love him more ... :)
This picture cracks me up!
The waiters were singing to us and the maitre'd
had us swing our napkins as they sang.
But what I love is how Stacey refused to put down
her dessert (chocolate molten cake)
to swing her napkin.
That girl is serious about her chocolate.
Me too.
Fun picture of us all dressed up ...
Pulling into Cozumel on Wednesday.
Love this shot of Bowdie.
Super-stah ... :)
Remember I said our ship was small?
That's ours on the right, a Princess ship on the left.
Quite a difference!
Cozumel Mexico ...
We caught a taxi from port and headed to
Chankanaab Park.
William and Jessica had friends that
told them about this place.
Having 2 fluent spanish speakers with us
was such a blessing.
And so fun to listen to!
Manuel, our tour guide at Chankanaab.
Not sure exactly how we hooked up with
him, but he took it upon himself to be our
personal guide through the park
and tell us all the history of the area.
He knew a lot!
This was a replica of a hut that the natives
would have lived in. And he's playing a type
of drum that they would have used as well.
We even had this sweet lady make
tortillas and some type of salsa for us.
I was so stuffed from lunch that I had to
refuse. Bummer.
Our crew walking the trails at Chankanaab.
Manuel was talking the whole time.
Very impressive!
Bo and I listening to Manuel
talk about the Mayans and calendars.
My brain was starting to hurt at this point ...
Beautiful lagoon ...
And a seal show!
It was great and one of our own even got
to participate in it!
Jessica was picked out of the crowd to
go up and have the seal kiss her.
She was such a good sport and never even
hesitated. Not for a second!
She even hugged him!
Then William, Jessica & Chuck went scuba diving.
It was a fantastic deal and they didn't require
that you be certified to dive, but Bowdie
and I were all about sticking our feet in the
sand and resting. So off they went!
Yep ... this is what we were made for ...
Good times all around ...
One last funny story ...
the Dynasty Lounge is where all the shows
took place on the ship.
Let's just say that they were less
than stellar performances.
So William renamed the place the
DIE-nasty Lounge.
Made us laugh every time.
So many pictures, so little blog space.
Here's a collage of a bunch of our
couples and group shots.
Loved it.
Would do it again.
Priceless time together.
Endless funny stories.
Sweet memories made.
So thankful.
