Ringin' in the New Year

We rang in the New Year, Carnival cruise style!

Not too shabby.

Quite a difference to what we were welcomed home to yesterday.  Although, both of these climates sure have their benefits.  The benefit to a winter wonderland/frozen tundra is that it's now bought us two days off of work.  Which is perfect, considering I had 344 pictures to edit, 3 loads of laundry to do, unpacking suitcases, and putting away all the Christmas crap.  And I should add, it's been extra special to have these next two days with the boys, who were over the moon to see us.

Apparently playing in laundry is so much fun!

We flew in to Tampa last Sunday, the 29th, and wasted no time getting the party started!

We were able to board the cruise fairly early in the day, which gave us a chance to explore all it had to offer like mini-golf, multiple swimming pools, an adults-only section with hammocks and what I called, "love nests", and even an "Enchanted Forest".

Even though it was a little on the cool side in Tampa and had showers on and off, it was still something to be standing outside in short sleeves, drinking an umbrella drink, and watching us set sail off into the ocean.

The first day was at sea and again, we were met with some unfortunate weather.  Cloudy with spotty showers.  That didn't stop us from laying out on lounge chairs on the deck and relaxing.  We were even lucky enough to spot some dolphins swimming next to our ship!

A nap in the afternoon and we were ready to celebrate the first formal night on the ship and our anniversary (5 wonderful years!).  The staff sang, "Happy Anniversary" to us and gave us a special dessert (even though we'd already had dessert).  Yum!  I can feel the extra pounds we gained from the food on the ship just looking at this picture!

The following day we docked in Cozumel.

We had absolutely zero plans, which was a blessing.  The weather was hot, hot, hot!  Finally!  We hailed a cab and told them to take us to a nice beach.  15 minutes later we arrived in Paradise.  No, really.  Paradise Beach.

We left with enough time to do some jello shots and get some balloon hats at Margaritaville on the way back to the ship.

That night was New Year's Eve and we truly had no idea what to expect.  The party was to be on the lido deck outside and by 11pm, it was kind of dead up there.  By 11:45pm, the place was nuts!!!  Maybe it was because people came to their senses and peeled themselves away from the casino or maybe because Stevie Wonder made a guest appearance and sang 3 songs.  Either way, this was the place to be!

The following day we arrived in Belize and woke up bright and early to get ready for our snorkeling excursion we booked.  Hands down, the best excursion I've ever been on!  And that's saying a lot!

We were whisked away on a boat for a 30 minute boat ride off to some magical place on the barrier reef called Geoff's Caye.  Holy moly!  This is what you picture in your head when you think of buying a private island and escaping there for the rest of your life.

We snorkeled for an hour or so around the caye and were able to see jellyfish, a baby barracuda, hundreds of other fish, and live coral.  Beautiful!!!  We came back to the caye to lay out and snack on grilled lobster tails and chicken kabobs.  Delicious!  Again...best.excursion.ever!

Another dolphin sighting on our way back to the ship and picturesque views of the cruise ships docked.

Thursday we stopped and docked in Roatan, Honduras.  Third day in a row of ports and third day in a row of gorgeous weather.

We booked another excursion to do some zip-lining.

It was so exhilarating!  By the time I was fully comfortable with it, we had gone down the entire mountain.  I would do it again in a heartbeat!  Plus, letting the monkey crawl on me and lick my neck at the end was an added bonus.

We were escorted to the beach to lay out for a few hours before we had to be back to the ship and it was another beautiful beach!  A little crowded and some pushy artisans, but who can complain with scenery like this?

That evening was the second and final formal night on board.  We got all dolled up for dinner and came right by to change into comfy clothes to play roulette in the casino.

The final port of call was Grand Cayman on Friday morning.  Unfortunately, the weather was horrible!  The boat was rocking all night and we weren't even sure we were going to be tendered into the port because of the waves.  But, we made it to land!  With the inclement weather, we decided it was a good day to do a bar crawl and experience all the local beverages.

With the weather finally clearing up and the sun starting to come out, it was no surprise that it was time to go back to the ship.  Oh well!  We made the most of it!

Our final day on Saturday was at sea and once again it was cool and cloudy.  We spent the day napping, eating, reading a book, watching TV, and gambling at the casino.  Oh, and I can now do the Thriller dance thanks to the Thriller dance class in the lobby!

As our trip came to an end we docked in Tampa Sunday morning to some beautiful weather.  Figures, right?  But, at the end of the day, it didn't really matter what the weather was like on our trip.  We had a great time relaxing and reinvesting in our marriage.  And after a week away from my boys, we were more than ready to head home!  I'm so blessed to have had this opportunity to sneak away for a week, but I'm happy to be home!

The night before our vacation...

...and all through the house.  Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.  The kids are at Grandma and Grandpa's house.  The dog is at Play and Stay.  Our bags are packed.  The alarm is set for 4:15am.  And I'm wired.  So, here I am...blogging.

We had a wonderful Christmas.  My Christmas wish came true; both kids were healthy and happy.  We went to my in-laws on Monday the 23rd for a big family reunion on my mother-in-law's side.  We did the gift exchange with the in-laws and had pizza and ice cream with the family.

Christmas Eve we opened presents at home and Santa came to pay us a visit.  Unlike Sean's birthday, we seemed to get the gifts right this time around.  He was stoked to see all his gifts.  Evan, on the other hand, could not care any less about opening gifts.  He loved playing with the toys, but gift opening was lame (in his opinion).

We packed up after nap and headed back over to our in-law's for our traditional Christmas Eve dinner and poker.  We decided to spend the night so that we could go to church and head over to my parents' house in the morning to do Christmas celebrations with them.

Christmas day was relaxing.  The kids did great at church and came back to my parents' house to take a long nap.  Scott and I were able to relax on the couch and peacefully open gifts with my parents while the kids were sleeping.  Considering Evan was up most of the night on Christmas Eve, I needed this break.  My grandma came over for a little bit in the afternoon, but wasn't feeling well enough to stay for dinner.  It's heart-breaking to see her so weak, but I'm grateful we were all able to spend some time with her.

We were ready to head home that night.  The kids were "all Christmas'd" out, we were exhausted, and were anxious to unpack and find new spots for all the Christmas gifts.  The next few days we spent playing with new toys, re-organizing the play room and basement to make room for new toys, and getting ready for this big trip we're going on tomorrow morning.

It's hard to believe the day has finally arrived.  It's such a mix of emotions as it's obviously difficult to leave my kids for an entire week.  But, it's much needed.  It's time for Scott and I to take some time for ourselves and our marriage.  Having children is definitely taxing on a relationship and the past four years have been devoted to getting pregnant and raising two boys.

I can't help but feel nostalgic tonight thinking back to the trip we took that was our last "hoorah" before having kids.

We had no idea what we were in for, but a month after we got back from the Dominican Republic, we were blessed with a positive pregnancy test.  Since then, our life has been in fast forward with sleepless nights, countless arguments about who's turn it is to change a diaper or get up in the middle of the night, and numerous colds and illnesses that kept us up worrying.  That's being a parent.

I am so ready for this trip, but I'm going to miss my babies like crazy!  I know we need this, but that doesn't make it any easier to leave my two love bugs behind.  I know they'll have a blast with their grandparents and I firmly believe that absence makes the heart grow fonder.  So, on that note, adios!  Prospero ano nuevo!