The vacation of a lifetime!

I suppose the only way to start blogging about a 7 day cruise is from the beginning. I have far too many pictures and lots of stories to share so it'll take some time to get it all up here for you to see.



Friday-September 11



Both my mom and brother arrived around 4:00pm to come and be of service to my boys that I was about to leave for 9 days. I had spent the weekly furiously cleaning and packing and making sure this trip would go as smoothly as possible. Since I was going to be away for my birthday my mom wanted to celebrate before we left early on Saturday. The only true way to celebrate is by getting a cookie cake! Yummy!



Saturday-Septmber 12



Even though the ship didn't leave until Sunday, this is when the vacation started for me. We woke up early, did the last minute packing and got ready to leave for the airport. I was prepared for this to be a difficult part of the day b/c I'd be leaving the kids home while either my mom or brother took us to the airport. Alex got up when we did b/c he was sleeping in our room and he was ready to go back to sleep before we left so his goodbye was easier than planned. We woke cade up so we could say goodbye to him and he just wanted to watch a show. No tears were shed on anyone's part and we excitedly began our vacation!

The flight to Fort Lauderdale was pretty uneventful, the way it should be. I was thinking how nice it would have been to fly that uneventfully when I was alone with both of the kids in March, but I guess that's the way it goes. We were in FL by 1:00 and family came to bring us to the resort. Let me just say that if we ever have enough money, timeshares are the way to go. The suites had a full kitchen with all the essentials, a huge living room area, washer/dryer, one master bedroom complete with jet tub and king bed, and another room with two full/queen beds and a full bathroom. The resort itself had putt-putt golf, at least one pool and hot tub that I knew of. This is where we all gathered to get ready for cruise day on Sunday!

Sunday-September 13- Cruise Day!

We left the resort around 10am to make the 45min trek to the Port of Miami. The check-in process was smoother than I expected and it wasn't long before we were aboard the Carnival Valor. We had to check our luggage and we couldn't access our rooms until 1:30 so it was a perfect time to tour the ship and find everything we could. It was also lunch time so we ate our first meal on level 9, the Lido Deck. This was Rosie's Restaurant that was buffet style. You could find everything from burgers, pizza, deli, burrito bar, ice cream, and whatever the buffet of the day was themed around. This area was open almost all day so you could always find food. We toured, we ate, we visited and finally set sail around 4pm.

Every night we had dinner at 6:00pm in the dining room. Here you could choose as many starters, salads, soups, entrees and desserts as you wanted. The group of 23 of us shared 3 round tables and rotated throughout the nights. All I have to say is the warm chocolate melting cake was divine... or was it evil.... mmm...

That first night is when we did Karaoke. Dan was the first brave one to get up. He sang Tainted Love. I followed by singing Blondie's One Way or Another. No one who heard it will tell me how horrible it was, but I've seen enough American Idol seasons to know that it was awful! Hopefully the video won't surface. Dan did another tune later and then we called it a night.

Monday-September 14- Fun Day at Sea!

We had to travel a ways to get to our first port, so Monday was a just a day on the ship. We slept in, ate breakfast, played some putt-putt and got ready for a surprise celebration for Dan's parents 50th wedding anniversary. From 1:30-3:30 we watched a slideshow of old photos, ate some really yummy chips and salsa, shared old stories and ate the delicious chocolate cake the ship prepared for them. Afterwards Dan and I decided to head to our room to relax before dinner at 6:00. That night was our first formal night so we wanted to have time to get ready. It seemed like a great time for a nap so we set an alarm and went to sleep. I woke up and looked around for Dan's watch and saw that it was 5:50! We scurried out of bed and tried to rush and get ready. The phone kept ringing and when I picked it up no one was there. I threw on a dress and some jewelry and the phone rang again. This time it was dan's neice Denice calling. She says, "Umm.. did you guys know about the family picture at 5:30?" Nope! No one had told us, and had waited 20 minutes to call and let us know we were late. Then I hear Dan say in the background, "Laura, do you know where my pants are?" Yeah... I forgot to pack Dan's dress slacks. Needless to say things were going poorly at this moment. We got up to the family picture grumpy and with Dan as formally dressed as possible in some cargo pants and a button up shirt and tie. Sorry Dan! Thankfully this was only 1 of 2 snafu's in the whole trip.

That's enough for one post. More later!