Cruisin'

Last Thursday Tom and I headed off to the airport for our 1:00am flight to Miami. We had decided to plan a little vacation to use some discount plane tickets that expired soon. We decided to do a cruise since it was cheaper than hotels and restaurants would've been. We also had to go over spring break since that was my only week off school before the airline tickets expired. We opened up the invitation to anyone else who wanted to go, and my sister and her husband (Aimee & Matt) came with us. (Sorry a lot of the pictures are blurry for some reason.)
After a terrible night's sleep on the plane we were able to check into the hotel right away.
We ate lunch then took a long needed nap, it was soooo hard to wake up! That night Aimee and Matt showed up.
On Saturday we slept in then headed off to the cruise ship. We were on the Celebrity Century. It was a smaller ship and only a five day cruise, but we were planning on stopping in Jamaica and Grand Cayman, two places we'd never been.
For those that don't know, whenever we are close to a Hard Rock Cafe Tom has to visit, get a picture, a shot glass and usually a T-shirt. Well there was a Hard Rock right by the port where our ship was. So after checking in we went and ate in the buffet. (Aimee was going off of her no-sugar diet. Her first dessert was ice cream.)
Then Tom and I wandered back off to go to the Hard Rock. We only had an hour until the deadline to be on the ship, so we paid a shuttle bus $5 to take us over the bridge. Then we walked through the crowd going opposite to the Miami Heat game, through the mall and around the pier to the Hard Rock.
We got our stuff and started walking back in the rain. It was actually nice to have a light drizzle since it was so warm and we had to hurry back. I did stop to get a picture by this cool tree though.
It only took us about 20 minutes to walk back through the mall, crowd and over the big bridge so we made it back to the ship with time to spare (of course I didn't take ID with me so Tom and to run onto the ship to get it for me which probably took another 20 minutes). It was a fun adventure. You can see where we walked in the background. We went over the big bridge and the Hard Rock is really small in the left area.
That night we enjoyed our first big meal in the dining room.

Sunday was a day at sea. We stayed busy with the workout room, relaxing on lawn chairs, watching "Secretariat" in the little cinema, eating a lot, etc. That night was formal night, so we got all dressed up for dinner.

Tom ate fried frog legs (little did I know it was also in my soup the next day).
We also went to all the shows each night.
They had some of the best shows I've seen on the cruise, including an amazing acrobat couple, an a cappella group, singers, dancers, and comedians.
Monday we arrived at Jamaica. Our first stop was Dunn's River Falls. This is an amazing waterfall that you can hike up. We had to go with a big group and they ask everyone to hold hands while hiking to help each other (although at times having 20+ people holding hands made it harder). It was a neat once-in-a lifetime experience!

After we asked our bus driver to take us to a good beach. Unfortunately she took us to a very lame beach. It was small, rocky and not much swimming. We were a little disappointed, but still enjoyed the sun and our packed lunch.
After we went shopping. Some friends of ours had warned us that the Jamaicans were real pushy, and I've never felt so overwhelmed with the locals. I have to admit though, I think I got some good deals because everyone was selling the same things and everyone wanted you to buy from them. We also saw a sign that said "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints" hanging above some stores. The church must've been upstairs. I'm pointing to the sign, it's the little black one.
At dinner Tom had the escargot and they always had yummy desserts.

I think between to four of us we ate 7 desserts! That night after dinner and the show they had a deck party. The boys were "too cool" to come dance.
But Aimee and I got into it.
It reminded me a lot of Zumba only they actually teach you the steps slowly first.
The next day was Grand Cayman. Unfortunately I was feeling a nasty sore throat starting to appear and had the achy body and chills a lot that day. Little did I know I was coming down with Strep Throat, which made the eating not as enjoyable the rest of the trip. Anyway, Tom lucked out to find another Hard Rock Cafe right at the dock, so we made our stop.
We had prearranged a tour group to take us to Stingray City, snorkeling and the beach that day.
Most of that adventure is on our waterproof camera, so that story is yet to come. Here's Tom with one of the stingrays.
And the boys had fun in the ocean.
Aimee and I stayed on the beach, but this beach was much better than Jamaica's.
Unfortunately we had a weird cloud cover directly over us and it was windy. With my chills on top of the cloud and wind, I was miserably cold. I couldn't wait to just get back to the ship and sleep. After a nap I felt a little better and made it to dinner and the show.
And every night we always ended with a game or two.
Settlers of Catan, Mormon Bridge, Phase 10 and Blitz were our favorite. And of course, Tom always had a coke with him.
Wednesday was our final day at sea. Tom and I enjoyed the galley tour (behind the scenes in the ships kitchen) followed by a huge brunch!
That afternoon we thought it be fun to split up as couples and do a picture scavenger hunt. Here is the list of things we needed to find/do.
Here is a picture of us pulling a silly face on deck(#4).
We had fun playing other games and eating for the final time at the restaurant buffet.
Tom had four desserts with his final dinner.
It was so sad having to pack up our suitcases that night.
Thursday we got up early and ate a fancy breakfast in the dining room before leaving the ship. We headed to the airport for our long trip home. We played our final games together before departing to our separate gates.
I called the kids (first time since Saturday) and got excited to see them again after hearing their voices.
I was also craving chips and salsa and was excited when we found a Chili's in the Atlanta airport where I was able to get a huge bag!
We had a very long layover in Atlanta and I tried to sleep a bit in the airport. We finally arrived home that night and went and picked up the kids. The next day we gave them their souvenirs. Thanks to our 7 babysitters for taking such good care of our kids! It was nice to have a three day weekend to play catch-up and be together as a family, but it's hard to come home after such a fun week!