Great Girls Weekend

Let me just say that we had a wonderful, fabulous time on our cruise to the Bahamas! I can't wait for the next time!

As you know, I had an early start on Friday. This unfortunately meant that Brent and the kids had an early start as well - we dragged the poor things out of bed a little before 6 am. I hoped they would stay asleep, but that hope was dashed as Fi raised her head off my shoulder, and with the cutest grin, said "Hi." Aah! Will chatted all the way to the airport as well. Good luck, Brent!




I arrived on time in Miami (I had good flights with no issues or crazy people) and found Ann waiting for me. We had a quick lunch at the airport (since the boat paperwork said we weren't to show up before 2) and then headed to the boat. Once aboard, we wandered around for awhile, FINALLY got a drink (it's like we were invisible at the bar for awhile - it was ridiculous!), and watched the boat sail away.

We headed to dinner, wondering who our table-mates might be (we had signed up for a 6-10 person table). We were a little amazed when we got there to see a 4 seater table. We (and the wait staff) realized later it should have been a 6 seater when another couple came up looking for our table number and there was no where for them to sit. The couple we sat with were an odd match; the guy was very chatty and the woman was not, at all. We didn't see them again for the rest of the trip. (Wonder what that says about us. . . .)





After dinner, we were exhausted. But, it was only 8:15 and we really didn't think we should head to bed just yet. So, we went to play Disco name that tune (we only got 6/20 - not so good) and watch a very crazy battle of the sexes, which the men ended up winning after an extremely funny game of balloon breaking. With all that, we managed to make it until 10 when we felt it was acceptable to crash.

And, crash we did! Poor Ann woke up in the middle of the night feeling claustrophobic (no wonder in our little cabin with no lights at all) but we still managed to sleep until 11:30. Awesome!

So, we had lunch (breakfast was done at 11:30) and headed over to Coco Cay for our couples massage. It felt so good - although the masseur told me afterwards that my muscles were still very tense and I should have a hot stone massage. Hmmm . . what did I just pay for if I was still tense? I was so relaxed that I really didn't care. We had a drink on the beach and enjoyed the beautiful day. We also laughed at our reading materials - In Touch for me (Sex and the City 2 issue) and Pottery Barn for Ann. Figures, right? :)

We had a little time before dinner so we played Bingo. I haven't played in years and was shocked at the price (seriously, I know we were trapped on that boat, but still!) and how smart the idea of folding down the numbers was. We played 4 games with 6 cards each time - I really hate the 4 corners game. The Bingo gods were not with us and we did not win. It was still fun though.

We got dolled up after that for "formal" night and waited to see who would be eating with us and what table we'd be at. We did get a 6 seater that night and about 45 minutes into our meal, another couple sat down, introduced themselves, and proceeded to ignore us. I guess we're just winners at dinner! :)

After dinner, I did karaoke to Sin Wagon by the Dixie Chicks (I love karaoke!); we saw the juggling show and the newlywed game (very funny); and we stayed up for the party under the stars at the pool where we danced for quite a while (I so love to dance). It was after 1 and we were off to bed! I woke up in the middle of the night, sea sick. I thought I would make it through this cruise without anything, but not so much. Ann, being the prepared traveler and good mom that she is, worried over me and gave me some drugs.

We got up Sunday at 10:30 with the help of a wake-up call. Man, sleep is such a good thing! We were still too late for breakfast, so we grabbed lunch and headed out to Nassau for our tour. There isn't really much on Nassau except a couple of forts and the Atlantis resort. But, now we can say we've seen it. There was a couple in our tour group that really just should have stayed in their room. Aside from their constant touching and kissing, they were interesting because he was wearing a dive shirt as a t-shirt with tightly belted jean shorts. Not a good look for anyone. And, we really had to laugh later when we caught them at dinner that night and he had a black dive shirt for formal wear (picture below). Too funny!

After our tour, we went shopping in the straw market and got straw purses for our girls - Fi got one with a pink flower and Sylvia got one with a pink butterfly. I also picked up a wooden flute for Will.

Back on the boat, we played another round of Bingo before dinner. Again, no luck although Ann was close a couple of times. We ate our last dinner alone and then headed off to see the Boogie Wonderland show. We really couldn't stay up much later than that as we had to be up bright and early for me to catch my flight.

We laughed as we packed up our luggage - we both overpacked (me way more than Ann did) and you could tell whose was whose based not only on the luggage (Ann's was smaller) but on the toiletries (I probably had 4 times the amount she did). We should have taken a picture of it. Ann, Brent would travel with you anytime as he's all about the carry-on luggage. :)

I had an uneventful flight back, except for multiple delays on the flight from Atlanta to Greenville. I was supposed to land in Greenville at 1:40 and didn't get in until 4. Unfortunately, Brent had to leave almost immediately for Tennessee for work. It was a very abrupt end to my vacation.

Despite that, I had a wonderful time reconnecting with Ann. We talked about anything and everything, laughed, read books, relaxed, and just had a thoroughly enjoyable time. It was hard to say good-bye, even though I'll see her in Nov and Dec. I hope we do it again and look forward to a next time.