24th Anniversary

Some days it feels like I have been married my whole life and other days it feels like I am a newly wed. Either way this year, 2018, marks 24 years of marital bliss;)

Corby is always so good to plan amazing get aways for us to celebrate. A few years back we went to San Fransisco and another year we went skiing in park city, the list goes on and on, 24x's ha ha. Best part of these trips are they are all handed to me in a surprise fashion. I am such a lucky girl!!!!

This year did not disappoint. It wasn't a surprise like in the past, but it was still the BOMB. We went to the Bahamas on a cruise. Let's discuss cruises......... they are not my favorite, sorry, debbie downer for a minute! I know so many who just rave about cruises and I just think, yea I am not feeling it but good for you my friend and loved one. So are you scratching your head going then why did you plan a cruise for your anniversary. Thanks for asking,  I will share....it was an all expense paid trip that Corby won from Futurity First so hello of course I am going.
Here are the reasons for my dislike:
food 24/7 is not a good fit for me
low quality of food, think Chuck-A-Rama, blah
motion sickness
small space
short times spent in several destinations

Here are a few positives about cruises, (there's always good in all situations).
I love that you get to wake up and you are at your destination.
I love that you have entertainment pretty much every evening.
I love that you get to spend time with those in your party and no one is left out because they are the "driver"

Ok, let's get to the meat of my trip. Teesh took us to the airport at oh dark 30, really 5:30am. You would think no one would be out but it was cray cray and so busy. We first flew to Houston. We sent our love to Kylar and then flew to Miami. We gained 2 hours so when we arrived at our hotel in Miami it was later than my body realized. Flying all day takes a lot out of me so we ate dinner in the restaurant and went back to our room and watched the olympics and just chilled big time. I chilled so much I fell asleep and slept over 13 hours. Guess I needed the rest. I only woke up because room service knocked on the door to come clean it ha ha.
We boarded the ship, found our stateroom and then explored the ship. We have been on 3 cruises and this was the shortest duration and smallest ship and was actually the most calm ship ever. I only felt nauseated one time and a little laying down solved my issue. Win Win Win

This is the first cruise where it was only Corby and I and I must say I liked it. It was nice to eat dinner just the two of us and not share a large table with 6 other people. I also enjoyed just having the alone time with my man. Loved the wake up when we want and didn't have to think or accommodate for any other schedule.
So our first stop was CocoCay. It is a privately owned island by Royal Cruise line so the only people on the island were all cruise members. They fed us lunch on the island and gave us the entire day to enjoy the sunshine. Corby lived his best day ever by snorkeling the great beautiful waters and he kayaked for an hour and a half. There was a misunderstanding as I said I would kayak but wasn't interested in snorkeling and long story short Corby didn't sign me up for either so.....
I found a comfy lounge chair and soaked up the sunshine for hours. It was amazing. I read my book, dozed off often and just enjoyed complete silence. After a few hours Corby joined me and we browsed the island. There was a nature hike we wanted to go on but found it was cancelled due to construction, sheesh, rude, I want my nature hike ha ha.
It was a good day. Probably got a little too much sun but give me that vitamin D
We were highly entertained by a singer, Johnny ?, he performed the last 5 years at the Bellagio in Vegas. He was good. Funny, entertaining, and excellent singer. We both really enjoyed ourselves.

Our next day we spent in Nassau. We toured Atlantis and it was awesome. We fed sea turtles, sting rays and missed our chance to feed the sharks, dangit! We had the worlds best tour guide, she was impressive. Her knowledge was just crazy and detailed. Bahamas are made up of 700 islands most are small and offer nothing. The only hospital in the Bahamas is on the island of Nassau so all babies are born in Nassau even if they never lived there, weird huh.
We are already planning on bringing our children here when Sierra returns from her mission next Feb or March. We will stay on that island only and enjoy the huge waterpark they offer and all the fun beaches around the resort.
The weather was gorgeous and the day could not be better except we had to get back to the ship by 3:30.....rant for a second....this is the problem with cruises, its awesome to see two islands but you don't get to spend enough time on the islands to see all you desire. We missed out on feeding sharks!!!
We grabbed some Bohemian chocolate and Corby spoiled me and bought me my first designer handbag. I've had my eye on a specific style and we saw it and bought it HAPPY ANNIVERSARY ha ha

That evening, after dinner, we watched a skit/play and then watched karaoke and battle of the sexes, Corby even braved it and participated. It was hilarious. We then stayed up way late and watched what was called "The Quest" I will admit it was a bit racy at times but it was funny. I probably enjoyed it more than Corby but he was a good sport. We then walked the ship and listened the to water crash against the ship and talked. I loved talking it's my favorite. I have felt so lonely for a good year and its because I don't get to talk often. This evening filled my love tank. Getaways are so important. Its expensive and its hard to connect all dots but it is so worth it when it comes to your relationship.

Monday morning we woke up back in Miami. We decided to take a bus tour of the city since we were there and had a few hours before getting to the airport. It was the highlight of our trip for so many reasons. OK picture a double decker bus and we of course are up top allowing the breeze to blow through our hair. All the sudden the blue skies turn grey and now its a down pour. We were drenched. All we could do was laugh and drip. We were given a poncho in the beginning on the tour but of course did not put on.... duh, blue skies.  The down pour lasted about 20 minutes and it was the weirdest rain. It didn't cool you down it just got you wet and when the sun came out you dried quickly.  So the bus tour was divide into two groups...beach loop and city loop. Our tour guide on the city loop was so funny. He had us rolling. Our beach loop dude felt like a superintendent and I was the "in trouble elementary student" we were laughing as this dude was interacting with the other occupants. For example, a gentlemen approached the tour guide to get a set of earbuds and he said, no joke, "What did you do with the first set?" I didn't get any.  "Yes, you did, what did you do with them?" no seriously I didn't get any. Another guy was going from the bottom level of the bus to the upper and the dude says "So are you just going to go back and forth this whole trip or will you find a location and sit" I could not stop laughing when dude let his receipt fly out of his fanny pack. Bus came to a screeching halt and dude ran down the street into the park chasing this piece of paper. What a sight. There was another couple on the tour and we all were rolling and kept just shaking our head at how rude this dude was. Maybe he should look into a new job one where he doesn't work with the public. I only gave you a few examples but the tour was 1.5 hours and he never stopped. Mind boggling but it was super funny.
Miami is also known as Northern Cuba so there are lots of cuban restaurants. We ate at one for lunch.  Then headed to the airport with about 35 cops. They were weaving in and out of traffic and upon arrival to airport we had to run almost a mile to get to our terminal as the cops began blocking off the streets. I have never seen so many cops and cars in one place ever. They had white dry erase board out creating a game plan as to who would go where in the airport. Dogs barking like crazy. We barely made it to our destination with literally 5 mins to board the plane. Crazy and we still have no idea what was up. I thought drugs, Corby thought bomb threat or terrorism. One of lives mysteries I guess we will just never know.

Flew back to Houston then Salt Lake. We left 90 degree weather and were welcomed with snow and freezing temps. So good to see my darlings and so grateful for the help rendered by friends, Teesh, and Malia to make this trip possible.

Next year we are going to Puerto Rico!! Who's coming?