Off to a Great Start

About a month ago, Chris and I booked a cruise to celebrate our tenth anniversary. When I told Wesley he was going to stay with Grandma and Grandpa again, his first reponse was, "Tomorrow?" When Chris mentioned it to him, he asked, "Right now?"

We drove to SC last Saturday and on Sunday we drove to Charlotte to stay in a hotel because we had an early flight out on Monday morning. On the way to SC, Wesley asked, "Can you leave tonight after you put me to bed?" The first thing he said to me Sunday morning was, "When are you leaving?" Lydia seemed almost as happy to see us leave as he did. I was the only one who was teary eyed.


Our cruise was on Royal Caribbean's Enchantment of the Seas. We had a wonderful time and it is a nice ship. I prefer Celebrity over Royal Caribbean but the five day itinerary was very attractive to us. (And of course, it will take me all of this week to share our cruise with you.)


The ship was escorted out of Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale by the Coast Guard. There were two boats racing back and forth beside the ship until we got out to the open ocean. I think the boat captains were having a good time going fast and turning sharp.

We saw some very nice houses.

Can you imagine living there?

After the ship was out in the ocean, I wanted to go have a snack and drink by the pool, but Chris was a good influence and talked me into going to the gym. I walked 10 minutes, ran 10 minutes, walked 10 more minutes. I hated all ten minutes of the running but I was glad I did it.

The next day, the ship was docked in Key West. We went kayaking but I can't get those pictures directly to my laptop because we had to use an ancient (6 years old) camera for our water shots (we put it in a waterproof case). I will post those photos later in the week.

After kayaking we went to Sloppy Joes which is always fun. Once back on the ship, we had lunch in the dining room. This was my salad.

That night was formal night. I love getting dressed up for dinner on cruises. I wish the cruise lines were stiffening their dress code policies instead of relaxing them.

One of our tablemates took this picture of us but I missed getting any shots of them that night.

Leaving Key West made me a little sad, because we would be out of touch with the kids until we got back to Fort Lauderdale four days later. We have left the kids with both sets of grandparents several times but we always were able to call home anytime we wanted to do so.

When we talked to Chris' mom that day, it was clear the kids weren't missing us yet. They were living it with the grandparents. I was actually more worried about the grandparents than the kids. Our kids can be exhausting sometimes.