Day 2

The second day of our cruise was possibly my favorite. It was kind of like Christmas Eve. It was our first full day at sea and the day prior to getting to Mexico, so there was just a lot of excitement in the air of the absolute fun to come. Brian and I started the day off by going to work out...it was nice, except being on a treadmill on a cruise ship, while you can see the water? Well, it made this lady feel a little weird (aka, motion sickness). After breakfast we spent the day lounging in the sun, exploring the boat, eating and napping.

Look at how blue this water is!!! It took my breath away, it was so beautiful!!!

This was the "hairy chest" contest. It was hilarious, the guys who entered were very entertaining!Mmm, Corona, takes me back to Mexico. Oh wait, we ARE GOING TO MEXICO, whoo hoo!!!!

It was also "formal" night, so after a relaxing day we got all gussied up and attended the Captain's appetizer and cocktail hour, followed by a verrrry good dinner. It was the one night lobster was on the menu, and almost all of us at our table ordered that. It was fantastic!

Here we are at cocktail hour:

This was another couple at our dinner table, Shelly & Chad, we ended up hanging out with them quite a bit and they added a lot of fun and memories to our trip. This particular day was their 10th wedding anniversary, so here is the staff singing them a special song (and delivering a cake).

Here we are at dinner:

Here we are at "sunset"!

Here's the "late night" buffet, this night also featured ice sculptures and lots of other foods shaped into cute critters and what not.

Cruise, Day 1

We cruised on Carnival's Holiday, which is actually their oldest ship. We knew that going into it, but since we were first time cruisers, we figured it would be perfect since we didn't have anything to compare to. Here's the ship from the outside.

Ha ha, kidding!! Our ship was small, and sure, compared to bigger/newer ships, was outdated, but we loved it! The food was out of this world, the service was wonderful and we met some great people, too. We couldn't have asked for a more romantic, fun (and MUCH NEEDED) vacation!!!

Here's our first meal on board! YUMMY!

It was so good, by the time I grabbed the camera, Brian was finished!Brian looking off into the distance...of Mobile, before we left. It was at this time that I actually got sunburned. Yep, before we left the port I was pink, but I could have cared less, I was soooo excited!!

Here's a real picture of the boat. I'm skipping ahead, this was in Mexico, but it's the only place we could get a full shot of the boat.

As we sail off. #8 was actually our life boat, if we were to sink. We especially loved the view from our, er, window??

Gramma & PawPaw

We were so lucky to have Gramma & PawPaw drive down for a 10 day visit. For Brian and I it wasn't nearly enough time to really see them, because 2 days after they arrived we snuck off and left them with Nolan so that we could take a cruise (more on that in posts to come)!! Apparently, it wasn't nearly enough time for Nolan either, because he was VERY distraught when G&G left. Regardless, we had a wonderful visit and couldn't be more grateful to them for visiting and for spoiling us and taking care of Nolan.

This is a going away lunch that Brian's office gave him. He's been in his position in JDAM for 2 years and is now moving to be a program manager in a different program, SDB1 (Small Diameter Bomb). His office had some humorous and nice things to say about Brian and although it wasn't planned this way, it was awesome that his parents were able to be there and see Brian get acknowledged for his hard work.

Here's the man of the hour, with Nolan, eating ice cream out of a bowl that was (literally) as big as his head:

G&G at lunch:

Since the weather was gorgeous and it's that time of year again, we took Nolan to pick strawberries. We met Cheyna and Abby there and the kids had so much fun. They were much more interested in eating the strawberries than putting them in the basket, but that's okay, they had fun and we still brought home plenty of yummy berries.

Gramma & PawPaw at the Strawberry patch:

Nolan and Abby, hand in hand:

Daddy and Nolan, whose chowing down on a strawberry!This is a video clip of Nolan RIGHT after Gramma & PawPaw left. It was the first time in almost a week that he didn't get to get in the car with them and as you'll see, he was very upset. By the time I grabbed the camera, most of the real tears were gone. This isn't the best lighting, but you can still get the idea, it was soooo sad.