we're back….cruise in review

So after getting home last night at around midnight I am exhausted. Starting at 9:30am yesterday we took a boat, taxi, train, plane, the “L”, and then jumped in our car and drove 1/2 way to Cedar Rapids to pick up Annikah and then turned around and drove home (thanks to Jason’s parents who met us half way or we would have had to drive the whole 4 hours- thanks!!). All that to say we are tired and a bit motion sick today but it was a great week.

The best part of the week was not having Annikah around so we could just sit and relax, talk, eat when we were hungry (or every minute like we tended to do, I think I shall avoid the scale for a few days), do crazy excursions that would be impossible with a toddler in tow, not have to turn in for the night at 7pm, and in general be sloths and spend time just doing what we wanted. The hardest part of the week was not having Annikah around as I really started to miss her desperately by around day 3. It did not help that there was some adorable kids on the cruise and I tried to steal them at times to get an Anni fix but nothing is as good as the real thing 🙂 I was so excited to hug her and hold her chubby little hands last night and what a blessing to know she had such a great time (more pics on that later as I heard great stories of her bonding time with Grandma Rho & her cousins).

So much to tell from our week away but I decided to just give some highlights of our trip as seen by my feet 🙂

The plane ride to Florida was blissful. I forgot that when one takes a plane without a baby or toddler one can read, watch a DVD, chat with your seat mates and spouse at your leisure, and as an added bonus not get your complimentary diet coke spilled all over your lap. It was awesome!!

Many hours of our vacation were spent lounging poolside (or beach side as above in Mexico). We got a bit too much sun as evident by my red and peeling skin but I actually got to finish two books and rest. What a blessing!

As all who know me well know I LOVE to eat and a highlight for us this trip was the formal dining room every night. We had fun dressing up (it was a change to actually be able to shower, put on make-up , AND dry my hair in a row, a luxury I rarely enjoy at home with Anni). We had fun dressing up and stuffing ourselves silly with awesome cuisine and enjoying conversation with our table mates.

After a few days of heels (and hiking and bike riding) my poor feet had the blisters to prove it. No worries I was able to prop them up and relax.

A hammock on a beach in Mexico…is there anything better? ……Oh yeah…all you can eat fresh guacamole and habanero pepper sauce…… Ahhhhhhh.

We did do some physical activity in an attempt to balance our slothfulness. We hit the rock wall a few times, the gym on the ship, rented bikes and circled the entire island of Key West, killed our legs on the jump zone on the ship, went hiking, cave tubing and took a ride on zip lines high above the jungle in Belize.

I am so thankful we got the opportunity to take this vacation before the craziness of the move sets in. It was a welcome break from everything resembling reality. Now back to the dirty laundry and sweet little girl that await me.

We had a long wait in the airport as our flight was delayed so we made good use of our time putting this little video montage together….here is a sampling of our week.

http://i204.photobucket.com/player.swf?file=http://vid204.photobucket.com/albums/bb212/roxanne_engstrom/cruisevideomontage_0001.flv