Sorry for taking a bit to write this one since we have returned….

So I told you all that we were taking a family vacation together for the first time since we lost Big Bubby. The crew included, my husband and I, Million Dollar Brother and Dapper Des, Baby Sis and Red Headed Step Child (need a new name for him, explanation later in post), my close friend from high school who lost her only child a year and three months before Big Bubby (Oklahoma Girl), and my mom (Nana).

It is amazing to me how time seems to move so fast on vacation and so slow on regular days. We were all counting down to our cruise and chomping at the bit because we were ready to go, then, in the blink of an eye, its over and we are all back to work and school. Our daily routines back in full force. I just want back on the boat….maybe not this week in the Gulf but back on the boat somewhere….

Our trip was amazing. We sailed to Cozumel and Progresso on a five day cruise. This was most of the eight’s first cruise. The seas were calm and the weather was great! One week later and it would have been a totally different story. Hurricane Harvey has stranded four cruise ships in the Gulf. They are coming into the New Orleans port to refuel and get fresh water along with supplies. They are allowing the passengers to get off the ships if they like or stay on and get off in Galveston. Crazy what a week can mean during hurricane season….

The four kids did excursions at both ports, one dune buggy ride and one to the Mayan ruins. We all decided we didn’t need to return to Progresso as it is a more localized rather than tourist town and is on the Gulf side so the water wasn’t near as clear and pretty as Cozumel. The older “kids” did an excursion on Progresso. Just a beach excursion to get some water and sun and sand between the toes. It is amazing the people you meet when you are on a cruise. You end up spending time with complete strangers and enjoy seeing them on the ship everyday.

The best part of the entire trip, our daughter, Baby Sis said yes to her boyfriend to getting married (Red Headed Step Child) so the reason for the change in name since I can no longer refer to him as our Red Headed Step Child (I now have both my children engaged to their perfect matches). I will come up with something clever though. We planned it down to the night that it happened which was our second night at sea. The kids went up to take “sunset pictures on the deck” but when they got up there and Million Dollar Brother and Dapper Des snapped a couple of pictures, the GoPro video started. At first, Baby Sis wasn’t sure what was happening and if our Red Headed Step Child was serious, but once she realized he had a ring in his finger, it was all over. Luckily I had planned for everyone to be in coordinating colors because this was the “formal” night in the dining room so photographers were everywhere taking pictures in front of every backdrop you could imagine. So we got some really great engagement pictures too. Carnival also had roses and a cake on the table as we had spoke to the Cruise Director when we boarded the ship about the engagement.

We enjoyed way too much food and drinks so now we all say, “it’s diet time”. We have two weddings within month of each other…:)