I'm busy, and I like it that way!!

If i could travel every other week, I would do it.  When my children are no longer at home I can see myself traveling the world!  It's what i long to do with my love.  I don't really care to be "a tourist" rather I prefer to take the unbeaten path.  I hate crowds and prefer slow travel where we can take our time and learn by watching and looking, not following tours and fellow tourists.  For mother's day/father's day joe and i went on a cruise.  We have been talking about doing one for years, but never find the time... so we found one weekend that would work before school let out and other priorities took the lead and we went online to see what we could find.  We were willing to cruise out of anywhere in the south at this point in order to fulfill our need to get away.  Carnival Elation was the only thing leaving Saturday may 21st... so we took it.  Carnival the last cruise line we really wanted to take, but since we hadn't done it before we figured, what they hey... u can only go up from there.  The trip was relaxing, and much needed.  Here's some pics:

This is our room.  If i had to give a 1-10 rating on things in the boat I would give our room and housekeeping an 8.  They cleaned our room 3x a day and turned down our bed at night.  When we booked our trip 3 days prior to departure this was the only room left... we were worried it wouldn't be nice, but we loved it!

First day at sea and I was up with the sun!  I went to the track and ran 3 miles then did this the rest of the day. 

Here's Joe, u know how much he LOVES having his picture taken!! But it must be documented and for heaven's sake... BLOGGED about!!

Can u believe we have been married 10 yrs already!?!?!? wow!

Day 3 Progresso, Mexico.  We took a bus trip out to see the Dzibilchaltun Mayan Ruins and Cenote.  Here we are outside the boat waiting for our bus and guide.

This is the Temple Of The Seven Dolls.  It's named because of the seven small effigies, small figurines found at the site when the temple was discovered under the ruins of a later temple pyramid by archaeologists in the 1950s.  On the Spring equinox, the sun rises so that it shines directly through one window of the temple and out the other.

The other major feature of Dzibilchaltún is its cenote (or sinkhole), which is used as a swimming hole by local residents year round.  In it's deepest area it is 100 ft deep and travels 2 miles under the ground thru caves. 

Here Joe and i are showing off our diving skillz!

Here we are back on the ship waiting for dinner.

The next day was Cozumel, Mexico.  We would of been happy to of just stayed 2 days here.  The water was beautiful.  I really wanted to just jump off the boat and into the water from where we were standing.  This was taken as our boat was docking.

note... photos are now out of order... i can't move them and i don't want to start over so excuse the crazy mumbo jumbo folks!...

 another picture of the cenote or "sinkhole".... the Mayan villages would build their communities around them.

 

Day 4 in Cozumel, Mexico.  We went to a local resort and snorkeled and relaxed on the beach.  We had the best food of the trip there... GREAT STEAK TACOS... delish!

The resort was outside and the restaurant had great music playing and fun scenery to look at.  We sat in our swimsuits barefoot and ate to our hearts content!

I have been to many many beaches across the world.  The water in Cozumel was a wonderful blue I have not seen before.  The sand on the beach was a bit harsh and rocky, but i loved it all the same!

I tried to capture it in a photo, but didn't do a very good job.

Here's joe wishing he was fishing..(hey, that rhymes!)  we were going to do a deep sea fishing trip, but there weren't enuf people to fill another boat.  He was pretty bummed!

More h2o photos!

This is the atrium in the elation.  Even tho it's an older ship it was in great condition.  It was very very clean and fun to look at.

This is joe and I on the last night (day 5).  We were sooo relaxed by this time!  What a wonderful feeling after having a sick family for over a week and lots of stress.  This was the perfect was to let go and relax.

In Mexico we purchased the boys wrestling masks... we surprised them at lunch.  They were so excited that they put them on and started taking each other down right away!

If i could make a complaint on our trip, it would be the food.  It was not very good.  We heard so many people talk about the amazing food, but we felt a bit like the meals were microwave dinner quality... however, our dinner mates WERE WONDERFUL!  We were put at a table with two other couples we had never met, and we soon became great friends on the ship.  We did lots together and by the last day we were exchanging info and have already begun to stay in touch.  This is a picture of all of us!

Joe and I were so excited to get off the boat and squeeze our sweet boys!  The next day i repacked our bags and we (the little boys and I) went to Jacksonville with my parents for my cousin's graduation.  We stayed up till LATE LATE... this is the boys finally going to bed in our hotel at almost midnight! That's almost 5 hrs after their normal bedtime.  They crashed within seconds of hitting the pillow.

One more of us in Cozumel and that great water!

Joe and I at the ruins on day 3

Picture of relaxing... soaking up sun sun SUN!!!

If life wasn't crazy enuf, we repacked our bags once home and hit the beach with our boys for memorial day and spent it spending time with one another.  Oh how i love to GO!