You Can Call Me Missy: Cruisin' Pics

So, finally, I have figured out this blogger image thing and have uploaded some cruise pictures.

The boat has just taken off from New Orleans and this is a picture of Jeremy with his phone. I'm sure he's texting K because he's already worried about leaving. This is a brand new phone that doesn't look the same when we get home as it did when we left, but that's a whole nuther story.

Shortly after getting on the boat and exploring we realized that we needed a meeting place. Everyone was going to want to go do different things but if we had a set spot then we'd be able to touch base. (This was my idea although I don't know if they'll admit it. I was the cruise guru, I had a green journal with all kinds of cruise information, most we didn't us. They made fun of me. Shame on them.) Who would have known how much we would use this spot. It was in the gorgeous atrium, which is in the center of the boat, right by a coffee/drink bar. Mark, the boys and I had all purchased a soda pass for unlimited soda, before we got ton the boat. Who knew how handy that would come in. Well worth the $40 or so bucks per. Dad eventually got one, too. It was so easy to get drinks. The nice people at the coffee/drink bar got to know us by name. I must say we were a little possessive of our spot, but we used it the most.

This picture is out of place it should be after Costa Maya, but I couldn't figure out how to change it, so, anywho. . . When the boat started to dock in Santo Tomas, Mark went to one side of the boat and this is what he first saw.

I went to the other side of the boat and this is what I saw. It was breathtaking. Who got the better view, eh?

Now back to Costa Maya. It is a little spot made for the Cruise lines. Lots of little junk. Doesn't Dad look cute in his sombrero.

Just call us the Monkey Family. As we walked into Costa Maya, there was a native dressed as a pirate with a monkey. For $5 he took pictures of you with the monkey. Jeremy, who never wants to take pictures, wanted these taken. It was well worth it.

This is a picture of my boys in Costa Maya.

We took a trolley tour in Santo Tomas. Other than squished knees, the tour was excellent. This is a picture of our wonderful tour guide unlike the tour guide we had in Belize, I won't even go there. . . .

Here is a picture of the above the ground cemetery. I took a bunch of pictures.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words and let me assure you that this one is speaking volumes. The look on Cindy's face totally sums up our entire experience. It was a tour from Hades. But mom wanted to see some ruins and see them we did. Of course in our infinite wisdom we decided we should take the city tour, too. It was on a chartered bus. Of course the chartered bus had a non working air conditioner and a not working well. People were told not to go number 2 in the bathroom, but they didn't listen and we were in the back. It wasn't good. Then it took forever to go through the city and it was very hot. Then we had to go 44 curves in like 22 miles. When we finally got there after this ride from Hades, we were given a bottle of lukewarm water. The entire time we were there all I could think about was the fact that we had to do those same 44 curves again.

These were the tall steps that I would have liked to throw someone off of.

This is how Jeremy and Rusty toured the Ruins. When asked what they were doing Jeremy said, "They came, they built, they died. What more do I really need to know?" Point taken.

Mom "climbed" the ruins. It seemed necessary to get a picture of her on the ruins because it was her idea after all.

Mark climbed the ruins, too.

His were just a little bit taller, though.

On the trip back, Rachel got sick. There were no towels on the bus. Mom thought she could wash it away with a bottle of water. Really Mom, we're on an enclosed bus, where do you think it's going to go. I'll tell you, it's gonna slosh right back where it started. Luckily, for them, Rusty and Nate sat closer to the front. Unluckily, for the rest of us, we didn't. At the ruins there were allspice trees, many people picked up some of the leaves. They came in very handy. You saw a lot of allspice leaves being sniffed on the way back. We, unfortunately, didn't pick any up. People were tearing their's in half and sharing. Noone shared with us.... What's that about? Go figure.

Not only did we have a memorable (noone said all memories have to be good, and in our family on vacations, we always have to have atleast one story like this) trip back, we still had to tender back to the ship. We get on a very large boat, relieved it's over. Somehow we managed to get the ONLY seats on the boat that got wet. By this time all we could do is laugh. I laughed so hard I was crying, no need to worry about mascara running, I was getting wet anyway. Dad just decided if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. Make the best of a bad situation.

Here's a picture of our boat when we docked in Cozumel. I have to say this was my favorite stop. All I did was shop. I got separated from everyone, but I was on a mission. Just let me shop people, that's all I wanted. Jeremy and Nathan took a carriage tour. The boys hadn't made it to breakfast so they were hungry, we found a Burger King and I paid about $25 for them to eat. Color me unhappy. What did you expect it was a Burger King in Mexico. Jeremy got a henna tatoo with K's name on it and some other trinkets. Nate got some boots and I just got

Rusty thought he needed to get his hair braided. Cindy stayed with him while I ran to the boat, not even joking, with Rachel to get the underwater cameras and her bathing suit on. Dad, Rusty and Rachel were going snorkeling. Thankfully, Dad took some pictures while they were on the boat because Rusty decided, almost immediately, that he didn't like his $27 braids and took them out. Atleast I got pictures. By the time I got everyone where they needed to be, I was exhausted, but not too exhausted to shop.

Here's Mom and Dad on the boat. Aren't they sweet?

Sunset at sea. Isn't it gorgeous?

Time for some random boat pictures.

On the last day, I made the kids go all around the boat and let me take pictures. We basically hadn't seen the boys for the entire week because when we were on the ship, they were with their new friends. They had to promise to let me do this in exchange for not hanging with us. This is the steps in the gorgeous atrium.

This is Jeremy on the steps acting like Jeremy anywhere else.

This is Jeremy pretending to bite the dragon's ear (he got that from his dad, not dragon's ears but dog's ears) with Rusty looking on and laughing and Rachel right before she fell off of the dragon (apparently he didn't like his ears being bit.)