Pieces of Us...

Finally Some Time to Write..... - Sunday, March 20, 2005

I know, your probably wondering where the hell I have been. Well let me just say life has been so damn busy I don't know what to do with myself. Things at work are hectic, things at home are hectic. We left for our cruise over a month ago and today is the first time I have had to sit down and even write an entry. I haven't even written about our cruise! And the funny thing is, I'm not even at home!!! I'm actually on a business trip in New Bern. So here I sit at the Sheraton in New Bern finally having a few minutes of time on my hands to write an entry. I've really got to get back into "the groove" of things and get this journal back on track! Forgive me.

First let's start with how the cruise went. Can I just say one word... AWESOME! It was so much fun. We really want to take Skyler on a Disney Cruise if we can at the end of the year. Anyway, back to our cruise. We left on Friday and flew into New Orleans. We stayed at the Days Inn which was a total nasty place... But Jonathan has the employee coupons, so you can't beat $29.99 in downtown New Orleans! We had a blast in NOLA. The first night we had to sit down and have some seafood. I mean you can't visit NOLA without partaking in some of their wonderful cuisine. Here is a pic of Jonathan chowing down on some crawdaddies:

Now doesn't that look yummy. Not!! Ugh, biting the heads off of seafood and sucking their guts out. Yuck!! But Jonathan seemed to enjoy himself. I think this will probably be the one and only time I will ever have a picture of Jonathan in a bib! Trust me, he did not put the bib on willingly. Basically the waitress just kind of walked up and slapped around his neck. I'm sure he was glad he had it on later though, because he did make quite a mess!

The next day, you know me, "Miss Pre-Planner". I had bought the Frommer's New Orleans and had seen a place that rented Segways. If your not sure what a Segway is, click on the first link and find out. Now I'm thinking, how cool would that be to tour downtown NOLA on a Segway. I thought it was one of those easy things like getting on a bicycle or something. Oh hell no! Those puppies were hard as hell to learn how to ride. I knew we were in trouble when we arrived at the tour place and they had us sit down and watch a safety video. If you have ever seen the safety video of a Segway, you'll know what I'm talking about. Anyway, I was about ready to back out after seeing the video. But we toughed it out and had our first go of the thing in the tour office. Here is a pic of Jonathan on his first test-run:

Pretty cool, huh? It was actually quite frightening learning how to ride those things in a tiny gift shop. I thought for sure we were going to run off the steps and into the gift shop. It took us a good two hours to get used to riding them. The tour was 4 1/2 hours and by the end, we were "Segway Experts!" I highly recommend the Segway Tour in NOLA if you are ever there. The bad thing is, I can't remember the name of the tour company at the moment. I'll think of it later and post it at a later date. Here is another pic of us on the Segways:

Don't we look like absolute goobers on the Segways! But it was sooooo much fun!

We also took a Ghost Tour with some guy. Again, his name is not with me at the moment. Forgive me, it's been over a month! But that was pretty cool to. I will say, two days in NOLA was enough for us. I'm not a big party girl and my hubby isn't a party boy with me, anyway, so we didn't have a whole lot to do. He doesn't enjoy the cultural part of NOLA so 2 days was definitely enough for us.

Now on to the cruise. I'm hoping I can remember everything to tell you. The ship was great. We sailed on the Carnival Conquest. It was easy getting onto the ship, no lines and no problems. We were probably on board by 1:00 p.m. so we could enjoy most of the day on the ship. You have to make the most of your time on the ship.

Our first two days were at sea, so we did the usual laying around the pool, eating and more eating, seeing the shows, attending the goofy games, etc. Jonathan spent quite a bit of time in the casino. I did lots of reading and basically just enjoying myself without two wee ones running around.

Our first port was Montego Bay, Jamaica. Hmm, let's just say I don't have a whole lot of nice things to say about Jamaica. I would definitely not want to vacation there that's for sure. It's very poor and you can't take two steps without someone offering you drugs or prostitutes.

We did have a good time on the Martha Brae River. We took these little bamboo rafts with a guide down the river. It was pretty cool. Here is a photo for your enjoyment.

This is our guide, his name doesn't come to mind at the moment. He wasn't very friendly and, of course, at the end of the ride he tried to push some stupid carved coconut on us for $25.00. We tipped him $10.00 and sent him on his way. But it was a nice enjoyable ride down the Martha Brae.

Our second port was Grand Cayman. We had actually been to Grand Cayman once before. We took the Stingray City Tour with Captain Marvin's. I can't say enough nice stuff about Captain Marvin's Tours. We were even lucky enough to have Captain Marvin himself! He is like 82 years old, but he was really nice and he made the day lot's of fun. I have some underwater photos of us with the stingrays, but I haven't had time to scan them, so none of those for now.

I just have to show you this picture of the towel art that the Carnival stewards make. They are pretty funny. Our steward wasn't very imaginative this time. On our last cruise one of the stewards made a monkey and hung it up in our room. I didn't get a picture of it. Here is one of the towel animals.

I'm not exactly sure what kind of animal it is. A rabbit maybe? Who knows. But they are pretty cute.

Our last port was Cozumel, Mexico. We had also been to Cozumel before. This time we went swimming with the dolphins. I also have some pictures of that, but I haven't had time to scan them either. Forgive me! I promise someday I will sit my ass down and do better! But it was really cool, but something we probably wouldn't do again because it was so expensive.

I know its hard to believe, but we didn't go to one single beach the entire cruise. Jonathan is not a big beach person. He can't stand to just sit around on a beach all day. We did, however, get fried when we were in Grand Cayman on the boat to Stingray City. Stupid us didn't put sunscreen on. Here is the result of Jonathan not putting sunscreen on his face.

Notice the red, peeling nose and cheeks! I did at least put some sunscreen on my face, just nowhere else on my body!

I guess that is a quick run down of the cruise. I'm sorry I'm not more detailed, but I just haven't had any time to sit down and write any in the past month. I've really got to get my ass back in the groove of things and make time. Forgive me!

As I mentioned earlier, I am currently sitting in a hotel in New Bern. I have a program tomorrow at the New Bern Convention Center and then it's on to Fayetteville where I will be having a second program at the Holiday Inn Bordeaux. Or as I like to refer to it.... The Holiday Inn Hell Hole. Forgive me for having bad things to say about Fayetteville. I mean I lived 10 years in military towns, but I have absolutely nothing nice to say about Fayetteville. And considering I only have 25 people signed up for the program there..... I'd say we may not be going back any time soon.

Meanwhile, Jonathan is at home with the kiddies. He told me if I come back to two healthy kiddies, to consider myself lucky. He has been on a tirade here lately. He is sick and has an ear infection and the kids have been riding his nerves something terrible. My mom normally comes to stay with him while I'm out of town, but my stepdad is having eye surgery this week and she had to stay home to be with him. I know Jonathan will be fine, but he has the patience of a stick.

I really have so many things that I want to write about, but I really don't even know where to begin. So much has happened since I last wrote and I can't even begin to tell you what all has been going on. I did want to sit down long enough to at least get the cruise down. My mind is just a jumble of words at the moment and nothing is coming out making very much sense. Sometimes I look at the other journals I read and then I look at mine and I know I am just an amateur writer. I can't make things sound interesting or funny... I basically just write what I feel. And yes, I'm sure it's pretty boring most of the time. But it is fun to write.

I can't believe I'm sitting on the computer while Desperate Housewives is on in the background. I LOVE that show. I have tried many times to get Jonathan to watch it with me, but if I'm really interested in something he basically things it isn't worth squart and refuses to watch it. The good news is, I am DVRing it back home so I won't miss it. Uh yeah! Gotta love the good ole DVR baby!

Well I'm going to head to bed for now. No kiddies to wake me up tonight. I hope they are good for Jonathan. He will definitely be grouchy if he doesn't get a good night's rest. I'll try and write more tomorrow if the Wi-Fi works at the Holiday Inn Hell Hole in Fayetteville. Let's keep our fingers crossed! Until we meet again.

Finally Some Time to Write..... Monica; 8:22 PM 2 comments

We're Back!! - Tuesday, March 01, 2005

We are back from our "fun in the sun" and "time away from the kiddos!" Oh it was heaven! I don't have time to write much today, it will probably even be this weekend before I have a chance to update... But I've got lots of pics and lots of stories to tell. We were actually a day late coming back from New Orleans due to some weather problems and flight problems. But we are finally back!

Jonathan is totally bogged down at work from being gone so long and so am I. He will be working hellacious hours for the next few weeks. Tonight is Skyler's gymnastics, so no time to night. Hopefully I can catch up with the writing by this weekend and get some great pics up!!

Until then.....

We're Back!! Monica; 2:34 PM 2 comments

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name: Monica
Home: Somewhere in NC
About: The life and times of a working mom with two kids who needs a break!

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