2nd great day...

Well, it's our 2nd full-day on our cruise. There was a big party last night called the "White Out" party. Everyone was encouraged to wear white and to come party the night away. Well, I went to bed and Ray went to the casino, so neither of us went to the party. But when Ray woke up he felt like he had went to the party!! He had a horrible headache so he took some medicine and went back to bed. I proceeded to have breakfast and went for a walk. I then came back for a nap and then back up for a second breakfast, all of this while Ray slept!! :)

(breakfast #2)

We then proceeded to lay by the pool, all day long! Again, we were not up for getting off our stop in Nassau, Bahamas. The port is very touristy and we didn't really need any of the junk, I mean, stuff they were selling. We just wanted to relax by the pool. We had a short rain shower but other than that it was hot and perfect. Have I mentioned that the pool is a salt water pool? This is still weirding me out. I guess they are better and easier to care for than chlorine pools. The salt seems to be good for my skin but not so good for other things like my sun glasses and my toe nail polish! :) Once I figured out that the water was salt water I decided that it would be a good idea to leave my iPad in the room. I was afraid of the salt water doing some damage even just from my hands. Better safe than sorry on this topic!!

After we laid by the pool we went and took a much needed nap. We had dinner reservations at 5:30pm at the Le Bistro restaurant. Here is where the fun begins....

We had a coupon that read "Enjoy dinner for two at Le Bistro restaurant and get one free meal at the Italian restaurant." I read this as "Eat at Le Bistro restaurant, Italian restaurant and get one free meal." The entire day I was telling Ray that we are having Italian food for dinner and that we will buy one get one free for our meals. Image our faces when we open the menu and it was FRENCH food! We don't even know what FRENCH food really is!! I felt horrible! Ray was disappointed and I was embarrassed. I was so excited to have a coupon BUT I didn't read it correctly. We made the best of it!! I forgot to mention that there was a $20 cover charge (this restaurant is outside of the normal included food). Ray found onion soup, pork & creme brûlée. I had a salad, salmon & chocolate fondu. It ended up being a great dinner, not what we expected, but good!!

(before we figured out it was not Italian food)

(after we ate French food, Ray was happy!)

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Great first day... (full day)

Well, when I woke up a 6:30am on Saturday morning I was feeling a little rough. But after a big breakfast & a morning nap I was good to go for the day. For our first stop we arrived at Norwegian's private island, Great Stirrup Cay. We had talked about getting off the boat just to say we did but in the end we stayed on the boat. I was not looking forward to the sand on the beach (too messy :) ) and Ray was afraid we would miss our dinner reservation. We stayed away from the sand and stayed close to the restaurant. It was rough but we laid by the pool for most of the day.

The interesting thing about the pool is that it's salt water. I had no idea they had salt water pools! Just not what I am used to. The pool area is really nice. There are lots of options on the deck and we choose to sit in the shad in our lounge chairs. The sun is super intense and didn't want to burn. We would go for a dip in the water and then lay back in our chair and enjoy the ocean breeze. It was very relaxing to do nothing!

In the afternoon we went and cleaned up and got ready for our big fancy steak dinner. There are a few restaurants that you can pay a cover charge and eat anything and everything from the menu. We love steak so we made reservations for 5:30pm. We were early so we decided to walk around the boat. The gift shop was having a sale on jewelry so I talked Ray into "winning" me some earrings. We went to the casino and he won enough for me to get the earrings I wanted! Yeah!! He proceed to win some more, it's always fun when you win!!

Big Fancy Steak Dinner

After that we continued on for dinner. When we arrived at the steak house we were greeted by our first names. It really is amazing how good that can make a person feel. Every person at the restaurant from the hostess, to the waitress to the helpers called us by our first and fast names. It was so nice to be enjoying such a great dinner with my husband! It has been a long time since we have enjoyed a great dinner like that together.

After dinner we went to see a comedy show in the theatre and then I was done for the night. I went straight to bed and Ray went off to the casino to make some more money! :) It was a great first full-day on our cruise.



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Cruising....

Well, we are now cruising. I was good until the boat left the port. This is our first "real" cruise. Over 10 years ago we cruised from Florida to the Bahama's and they dropped us off. It was on a pretty small boat. I didn't do well then and I thought this would be different. It's not. I took Dramamine but it's not helping. It's 8:30pm and I am back in the room but hey I am relaxing!! Since I wasn't feeling well I treated myself to room service. It was AWESOME!

Our first partial day has gone well so far. It rained a little while we were waiting to leave Miami but nothing crazy. We spent some time at the pool and had a few trips to the buffet.

I tried my hand at a quarter game. I lost $20 bucks and I was done. Ray played some roulette and I am sure he will win now that I am not staring over his shoulder. It's cheaper to park me in the room with the iPad and play games that don't cost any money! Again, I am happy, I am relaxing!!

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Miami Beach

A-1-A Beach Front Ave! (keep singing the rest, if you know the song!) :)





Well, we made it to Fort Lauderdale, rented a car and drove to Miami. It was nice to take our time and enjoy the drive. Our hotel was right on the ocean so we could walk the boardwalk and head straight to the beach. We ended up at the Tiki Bar and had 1 drink and I was done! Yes, I am a light weight and it doesn't take much. We then headed back to the room for a much needed nap. I had forgotten how good a nap can feel!! After our nap we headed to dinner at Carraba's. We have one near home but we've only been once. It was a little pricey but it was SO good! Just what we needed. After dinner we rolled ourselves upstairs for lots of relaxing. Ray had a fantasy football draft and I decided to lay in bed. I can't just do one thing at a time so I also surfed the web and just enjoyed me time! :)

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Leaving on a jet plane

Well, we are off! Ray and I have left for our first adult only vacation. We are flying to Fort Lauderdale, Florida to then leave on a cruise for three days!! We start planning this trip when Parker was only a few months old. Ray had won the cruise portion through a casino. We couldn't pass it up!! The planning started... Grandma Terry & Poopa were on board to watch Parker. They couldn't turn down alone time with Parker (do I need to remind you how cute he is?).

We choose to travel over Labor Day weekend to maximize a paid holiday. We also have a pretty cool person who had some flight vouchers that they let us use to travel to Florida. Anyone with a new baby and kids in general know they are not cheap, so money is always a factor. All in all this trip was made possible by some pretty wonderful people!!

After having traveled with Parker in June (6 months old) we now have a new appreciation for, well, everything! :) Our perspective has changed and we are so grateful that we have an opportunity to recharge. I am on the plane now just enjoying the time. We will miss Parker (already do) very much. We know that he is in good hands and will have a blast. We are looking forward to a wonderful trip and we will all appreciate each other even more!


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