Vacation started today the plan is to fly to Amanda's dads house in Tampa Florida stay there until Monday we are taking there car to port Canaveral and board our cruise ship for a four day cruise to the Bahamas, once we are back at there house on Friday they are leaving for a business trip to Scotland for one week. Amanda and I are going to stay at there house and watch the boys while they are gone.
Sat morning we got up early and headed to San Diego airport Karla went with us to drop Amanda and I off and drive my car home so we did not have to pay for parking for two weeks. The drive down went well no traffic and even the airport was not busy we pulled up and parked right in front of the terminal, during check in the sparks started to fly I personally rarely fly so I'm not to aware of standing procedures but Amanda was a little upset when she saw the charges united airlines were charging for checked baggage, I guess this is a sorta a new thing that most airlines are now doing, to say the least the baggage attendant got a ear full from Amanda, it was interesting to see her get all fired up, its the red hair thing I guess. After she cooled down things went pretty smooth, we got on the plane and I cried like a baby so I could have the window seat it worked . We took off on time, cool views during take off of the ocean and the coast line. Within two hours we were getting ready to land in Dallas TX, That was quick, we had a two hour lay over there so we found a TGI Fridays to hangout and get some lunch and oh yea get a drink too. We loaded back on the plane and headed to Tampa lots of cool views from the plane lots of clouds and I witnessed my first sunset from 33000 feet, landing in Tampa went well we found Amanda's dad and her stepmother Shirley right away, we picked up our baggage without too much problem it is amazing how all luggage looks the same when its going past you while in the baggage claim area. After finding our baggage we headed to Amanda's dads house for some dinner. We got there and the boys Amanda's brothers Cody and Ryan were happy to see her. Dinner went well we did some catching up on things, the weather was warn and I could definitely feel the humidity,after we settled in we headed to bed.
Sunday morning we slept in, ate a big breakfast and lounged around at the pool.Before diner we set up there volleyball net and played a few games of three on three pool volleyball.This of course was with a couple of drinks on board.Amanda's dad grilled up some very juices stakes for diner along with salad and a baked potato,very nice way to start a vacation after diner Amanda's dad and her sat down and he laid out all the plans that the boys need to follow while they are going to be gone, lots of thing going on school,band practice ,music lessons, State band tryouts and two football games.
Monday morning we got up after sleeping in until about eleven and got all of are thing ready for the cruise. We down loaded the directions from mapquest and headed out in the BMW nice ride thanks to Shirely. The drive was nice cruising to the east coast of Florida all while flying with the top down, it was was about a two hour drive to port Canaveral. Once there we unloaded our luggage and parked the car and started the boarding process everything went well and real smooth, we were now on the the Monarch Of The Seas.First thing we did was buy a drink with cups that had flashing lights, little umbrellas and fruit slices,after that we found are room and then we planned our Island excursions the the next two days. It was time for departure so we checked out the scenery from the top deck on the way out to the open seas. That night the theme was 70s music, the ships entertainment crew was awesome, great music and really good dancing After the 70s music performance we headed to the night club for some more drinking and dancing.By this time I had enough to drink to get myself out on the dance floor,Amanda and I had a good time burning off some calories, we finished up just in time for a little snack from the midnight buffet after that it was back to the room for some sleep.
Tuesday morning we were up early so we could get on the first tender boat that shuttles you to the Island of Coco Cay. And yes it was my birthday.We were scheduled to go para sailing at 0900 hrs. The weather was nice it was warm but not to humid.Para sailing was a blast nice and peaceful with beautiful views of the ship,Island,clear waters and white puffy clouds.The rest of the day we were set to hang out and lounge around on the beautiful beaches and enjoy the clear warm waters.Unfortunately the waters were saturated with a influx of jellyfish, they were everywhere , we were able to get into the water a little bit at times. We met a lady from Brazil she was not fazed at all by the jellyfish she taught us a few thing about them that was helpful and reassuring Amanda got a picture of me picking one up pretty cool feeling.The crew provided a barbecue lunch on the Island really good eating.After lunch it was time for a nap in a hammock and a little time to do some shopping before we went back on board the ship.Once back on the ship we shower and dressed up for our formal dinner, the other couple that was seated with us were really nice they were from Clearwater Florida, he was a state trooper and had also competed in some triathlons a few years ago and he still rides road bikes a few days a week.After dinner we hung out for a while listened to some music and headed to bed.
Wednesday again we were up early for our day at Nassau Island, today's agenda was to go out on a sailboat a head to a reef and do some snorkeling and the crew was to make drinks for all of us as we sailed back to the port.The crew announced that if it was your birthday, anniversary or you were newlyweds that they were going to makes us special drinks, since yesterday was my 43rd I was in fore a extra treat.Snorkeling was a blast the water was really clear and warm, as we set sail on the way back to port it was getting real cloudy and dark, soon enough we were in a tropical down poor it was a blast the crew was making our drinks we were drinking music was playing and everybody was dancing.
The rest of our day we spent doing some shopping and we stopped had a few drinks and listened to some karaoke at Senior Frogs Bar, we headed back to the ship for dinner and some much needed r/r. After dinner we hung out for short period of time up on deck watching the crew teach people how to dance. Then we were feeling a little guilty so we decided to hit the gym for about 1 hour Amanda ran on the treadmill and I spun along side on the stationary bike. That night it was the pool side party and midnight barbecue, great food, good music and beautifulweather.We were so stuffed after that we headed to bed.
Thursday we slept in until almost noon, after getting up and going we headed to the buffet for some lunch, no island stops were planned today we were to be at sea all day and night until Friday morning.We hit the gym again in the afternoon, cleaned up for dinner and after that we watched the sunset from from the pool deck great views.
After the sunset we attended the fair well show followed by the comedian and back to our room to get ready for departure at eight a m on Friday morning. Up early again,I thought we were suppose to sleep in on vacation. departure went fairly uneventful and we headed back to Amanda's dad house, once back to her dads house her dad and step mom were getting ready to leave, we only saw each other for about three hours before there ride to the airport arrived.I got in a one hr spin on the stationary bike at there gym before the boys got home from school.
Over the weekend I did a couple of rides on a old cross type bike that was in there garage, other then that we mostly hung out lounged around the pool and watched some movies. The weather was hot and humid every day it would cloud up in the afternoon and rain hard for about a hour or so then clear back up by morning.we did have some fun riding in the rain though.
One week of vacation down and one more to go.
