Cruisin' on R&R

So, I'm reading this book, and the main character owns a small town newspaper. As I was reading about her deadline, and her staying past midnight to get the paper to print, I realized that I had all but neglected my blog. I do enjoy writing here. It's nice to have an outlet for my thoughts and feelings. I enjoy sharing my experiences, my joys, and, even my woes. It seems, though, that the longer I go between posts, the harder it is to get back into it. Take, for instance, my trip to MS in September. I was so eager to get back and write all about it! I mean, I had fun with my niece and nephew, my parents, and, most importantly, Jeremy had two whole weeks of R&R! We got to take a cruise down to Mexico! I had such an amazing time, and just knew that I'd get back to Japan and tell you all about it. Today is November 20. What?! What happened? I have no idea! But, I'm going to make up for it now. So, how about I start with my Jeremy time first? If that takes me a while, I'll just have to do a whole other post about my fun with family and friends!

You know, Jeremy has been gone for months and months. Our time apart has had its ups and downs. There are days I miss him so much I don't even want to get out of bed. There are days that I have so much to do that I literally do not have the time to miss him. Until bedtime, of course. Going to sleep in an empty bed night after night can get to be pretty depressing. So, you can imagine just how excited I was when his R&R got approved! However, the thought of sharing him with family that whole time was not exactly appealing. That's why I came up with the idea of a short cruise. I mean, New Orleans is only about an hour and half from where we'd be in Mississippi, and they do offer those little four and five day cruises. Lucky for me, Jeremy agreed that we needed some alone time, and he was on board with the cruise plan! 

New Orleans just before boarding

Neither of us had ever been on a cruise before, so I told Jeremy before we left that it was possible that we could be the rare people that didn't enjoy cruises. I wanted us to keep an open mind, and have fun. I also wanted us to be honest with each other, and if we (or just one of us) didn't like the cruise, then, that was okay, too. Honestly, though, I had nothing to worry about, because, we both had a great time! We did make some "first time cruiser" mistakes, but live and learn. The most important thing was that we were together again (and also that we were alone)!

Photos from the Mighty Mississippi

The ship pulled out of New Orleans on a gorgeous Monday afternoon. We sat outside and enjoyed the scenery on the Mississippi River as we headed toward the Gulf of Mexico. I never realized how beautiful it is in that part of Louisiana! All that time I spent living in, and visiting, New Orleans, and I missed out on so much beauty just to the south! Of course, I was a bit of a city girl back then, so I probably wouldn't have cared to venture too far into the swamp! Unfortunately, we were already asleep when the ship entered the Gulf, but the next morning we awoke to another beautiful day! We had room service breakfast, followed by amazing massages in the spa. I did get a little seasick that first day, which was weird, because I've been on tons of boats, (I mean, I grew up on the coast of MS!) and I've never gotten sick before. But, Jeremy was awesome, and he got me these bracelets that magically keep you from getting seasick (I'm sure it's not really magic, but science was never my thing). He's an awesome husband! We spent the rest of that day in and around the pool. It was a ton of fun! We did get a little too much sun, despite my valiant attempts at keeping us covered in sunblock. That night was the Captain's Dinner, and we got to dress up! We hadn't eaten dinner in the dining room the night before, so this was our first time meeting the other people at our table. I think we got very lucky with our table mates. They were both older couples, and pretty much polar opposites of each other. It made for interesting dinner conversation! And, all that sun we got that day? Well, it made us look amazing in our dress clothes!

Captain's Dinner

Us and our waiter

The second full day on the ship, we really felt all that sun from the day before. We were docked in Progresso, but neither of us felt like leaving our room, much less the ship! That may sound boring, but it wasn't. It was a rainy day, anyway. The point of us taking this cruise was for alone time, and relaxation. If you can tell me anything more relaxing than a day in bed, I'd be amazed. I woke up, and Jeremy was reading. He was hurting a little from the sunburn, and we were both just tired. The sun will really zap your energy! I asked him if he wanted to explore Progresso, and he said he wouldn't mind staying in bed and reading. And, honestly, I wanted to stay in bed and sleep! I did wake up a bit later, and we both enjoyed reading our books for a while. We did venture out onto the ship that afternoon, and then we had dinner again in the dining room. It was a great day! 

Of course, we knew the next day we'd be in Cozumel, and that was our big day! Cozumel was the dolphin day! We were going on an excursion where we'd get to swim with dolphins. We were both so excited! They said it would be about three hours, and we spent almost every minute of it in the water with the dolphins. It was amazing! They had lots of dolphins at the place we went to, and our group had one to ourselves. Let me see if I can remember everything we got to do with him: pet him, kiss him, he kissed us, we held our hand up high and he "stood up" out of the water and touched our hand with his nose, we watched him underwater, he "stood up" in the water and we rubbed his fins, we put our arms underneath him and he arched his back putting his nose up and his tail up, I splashed him and he drenched us, and, most awesome of all was this: we got to hold onto his fins while he swam!!! What?! It was simply amazing! I never thought I'd do something like that! Jeremy loved it, too! It was definitely one of those experiences that we'll never forget!

The following day was another day spent at sea. It rained a couple of times for a few minutes each time, but other than that, it was another gorgeous day. I was very aware that my time was growing short with Jeremy, but I tried to hide that. We had a blast that day! Jeremy had discovered that he likes pina colodas, and he actually had a couple drinks with me. We stayed in the pool most of the day, although, we did take advantage of the water slide, too. It's possible I gave them a show my first time down the slide...it was a complete accident, and Jeremy thought it was hilarious! Luckily, most of the other people in the pool were drinking pretty heavily, so I don't think they noticed. We did the slide several times, and after that first time, I learned to hold the top of my swimsuit in place, so there were no more wardrobe malfunctions! I was also more diligent about keeping sunscreen on us, so we didn't burn again that day. We enjoyed another nice dinner in the dining room, and then it was time to pack up.

That five day cruise flew by! We're thinking that the next cruise needs to be more like seven (or more) days, and we'd like to be on a bigger boat, too! Don't get me wrong, we loved that cruise! But, the bigger ships have better restaurants, and more on-board activities. We saw an advertisement for another cruise ship, and we were like, "Yes! That's the ship we want next!" 

Jeremy and I also had lots of fun with our family and friends, but I think I'll tell y'all about that next tine! I'll leave you with a few adorable towel buddy photos from the cruise...enjoy!