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It's been a journal hiatus. And I think it will continue to be until this crazy school year is over. But I needed to take a neverendingessay grading break and update on our spring break trip. I'm doing it day-by-day so that we won't forget. So it may be a bit boring. :)
THursday--My spring break officially began with a half day. I spent the second half without kids finishing grades for the 3rd marking period as much as I could so that I could go on our trip with a clear mind. Afterward, I met my mom at a salon and we got very cute pedicures (thanks to an amazing gift certificate from my girlfriends at work). I went home, did some packing, and then went with Scott to his soccer game. We always go out with everyone for a drink aftwards, but this time we atyed out until 1 because I had the next day off. It makes me feel old, but staying out so late was very fun and exciting! :) (even if I feel asleep in the car on the way home).
Friday--Unfortunately, Scott had to work this day. I woke up and did a bit of work for my grad class and then went to meet Jena for lunch a cruise shopping trip. Even though we are bummed we aren't tkaing our trips together (they are on theirs now), we had fun planning and buying some very cute clothes. Scott got out of work early, so he was there when I got home. :) We ate some dinner and packed like crazy. I'm sure we also played some Mario somewhere in there. We very anxiously went to bed.
Saturday--Woke up early, got ready, packed some more, ate breakfast, and headed to the airport. Minor emergency when I realized I forgot my camera and we had to go back. Luckily, we ha left WAY early. Everything went very smoothly at the airport and by 6:00 we were in New Orleans. We stayed in a nice hotel downtown, and had a few drinks in the room while we watched the MSU basketball game. Afterward we walked to Boubon street and had dinner on a balcony while watching all the crazies below. We love people watching, so we had a great time walking around and goig to some fun bars. I'm not even sure what time it was when we got back to the hotel room.
Sunday--Cruise ship day! :) First, we walked around downtown a bit. Then we got on the boat. Right away we found ourselves some lounge chairs (where we met our bartender friend Mitchard, who remembered our names the whole trip), some drinks, and eventually some food. we explored the ship and found our room, then we went back to th epool deck for some ship sail dancing, coronas, and picture taking. Sailing in a cruise ship down the Mississippi is pretty mind blowing. That night we went to dinner and then the show for the evening.
Monday-- Our first day at sea. Woke up and laid by the pool for awhile. Swam in the pool. Then we went on a pub crawl around the ship. This was so fun. They put us on teams where we had to compete at each bar (we also got a new drink at each bar). Games included acting like monkeys, isngin 99 bottles of bear EVERYWHERE we went, relay races, flip cup. Our team was awesome, and we met some great people that we spent a lot of time with for the rest of the week. Unfortunately, our team didn't win, but I think we drank the most... whihch means we won. Afterwards, we all hung out in the last bar and then met up later. Off to dinner it was and then to Kareoke with our team. Some good singer, one very bad. :) After Kareoke, we went to da club and danced our pants off.
Tuesday--This morning we woke up in Costa Maya. It was hot! Once off the boat we lathered so much sunscreen on. We went on a kayaking trip where we kayaked in the ocean over coral reef... in clear kayaks! It was very cool. We didn't see a ton of fish, but it was still a unique experience. The water was beautiful and we got to see a wreaked sailboat. Afterward we got to spend some time at the beach and swim in the ocean, which was very nice, and not as cold as I thought it would be. Once back into the main town, we explored and shopped then happened upon this huge pool just there for tourists at the port. It had tons of lawn chairs and a swim up bar. I would highly recommend this port to anyone for this reason alone. We spent quite awhile there drinking and swimming. After getting back on the boat, we headed for dinner. We headed to s cirque de soliel gymnast show (awesome!) and then the white party this night I think. (which was half very cool and half teenage frenzie). I think this is the night that Scott got hit by 16 year olds at the *adult only* dance club. ;)
Wednesday--Today we woke up in Guatemala. If we thought the day before was hot, we were mistaken. This was hot! We had planned to go to some waterfalls this day, but we heard they were dry. So sad. We got off the boat for awhile and walked around, but we didn't explore too far because we had heard that it was a pretty unsafe area. Once back on the boat we parked it near the pool, drank from pineapples, and read books. We took lots of dips in the pool and spent some much needed time in the shade playing rummy too. :) After our skin had taken all it could get, we went back in relaxed for while. After a late dinner, we went to a comedy show by the Second City. We got to see them quite a few times on the boat, and they were great! One strength of NCL is their diverse and professional entertianment. After that we decided not to spend much time in the room becuase the boat was very rocky. We went to the hot tub for awhile and the to kareoke with some friends.
Thursday--Belize! Our boat was parked out in the middle of the ocean and there were 4 other boats there. We had to tender in, meaning little boats took us to shore. Belize's fist language is English, so it was very easy to communicate here. This is another port I would highly recommend. There is a lot of culture here and lots of possibilities for trips. We loaded a bus and took a 2 hour ride out of town. Our guide was awesome and taught us a lot about the history and culture of Belize. Once we arrived, we jumped off the bus and had a delicious cultural lunch. THen we headed to the caves. Another bus ride through the jungle took us to one of the coolest experiences of our lives. We got rigged up and headed deep into the caves. We had to climb, duck, crawl, and use our head lamps in the complete darkness. There we bats, slick spots, drop offs, and Mayan artiffcats left behind. It was amazing. We got rapala down a cave face and we also got to zip line from cave to cave a few times. Seroiusly, if you ever go to Belize City, you HAVE TO DO THIS! I got bit by some myseterious (which put a damper on the rest of the trip and the week after), but I would still do it again in a second! Once back on the boat, we had dinner late, went to the show, and then relaxed in the room (and ordered room service for the 2nd time--we seriously loved it!)
Friday--Woke up in Cozumel, Mexico. Our plans? SENOR FROGS! We had a destination, and we made it there. We're lucky we made it back. :) I have plently of photos to document this monumentous day. It was so fun and we were glad to run into some of our pub crawl friends from the boat. After we made it back to the ship, we ordered room service (yay!) and took a fantastic nap. We woke up just in time to make it to a sketch comdey show by the Second City and then grabbed a really late dinner. I think we went out again this night... I can't remember.
Saturday--Our last day at sea. We suited up and headed to the pool. Sadly, it was cloudy and a bit chilly, but there was no way we were going to let that ruin our last day of vacation. we found chairs, a few towels to wrap up in, and took amazing naps. It really was great. I finished Chelsea's new book (pretty fricken funny!), and we had some lunch poolside. Once we had enough, we went to a mid day comedy show, grabbed some dinner, another show, and then went out with our friends one last night.
Sunday--Waking up the lst day is so sad. We tried to make the most of it though. we had breakfast on the ship and then sat outside for awhile. We tried to soak up every minute by staying on the ship until the last minute. :) Once off, it was a trip through customs and then to the airport. We had food, played some more rummy (we are serious about our rummy), and then headed home. It was seriously an amazing trip.
Overall, one of the best trips I've ever been on. IT was the perfect mix of fun, craziness, adventure, and relaxation. As for going NCL. The night life and entertainment were better than other trips. The food and service was not quite as good. We'd go NCL again, but our biggest concern when it comes to cruises is ports. I really want to go on one that goes to Jamica and the Grand Cayman Islands. Or do one from California. (or really, Italy).
In other news, I finished my 2nd grad class (very sleepily 2 days after we returned). We have Alison's wedding next weekend, yay! School is well--the kids are great and I still love 'em. Scott's job is good but very busy. I think that's all. I love life. :)
P.S. I have to go judge the writing of others now and grade essays, so I have reviewed or revised this absolutely ZERO. Don't judge. :) lol.