Just. Breathe.

We broke tradition this year and went on vacation at the beginning of the summer season instead of the end! Rebels, we are. Back in February or so, I had a friend who started a travel agency and a daughter who was stressing about her 2nd semester in college, and a vacation just sounded like something we needed. I immediately thought of a cruise, and the family took about 3.4 seconds to get on board with that wild hair.  And finally it happened! We left early (EARLY!) Saturday morning--5am to be exact--in order to get to the ship as early as we could and beat some of the lines. Fact: 7-day cruises start on the day of departure, even when departure isn't until 4pm. So get there, get a deck chair and some food and drink, and start vacation! The deck would never be that empty again! We stopped by the room to drop off our bags, but the steward, Libert, was still working. We didn't understand until later why he was a little upset that we were there -- he was decorating our r...

First, my deepest apologies to the two of you who have been waiting around for Part 3. It's been an insane week and not in a good way. Second, if you are my mother or my child, stop reading now. Seriously, there was nothing happening during this part of the trip you need to know about. Third, if you were on the trip with me, apologies in advance for the editing that's about to happen. It's because I know my daughter and my mom well enough to know they completely ignored my directions above. Cozumel ! Our last stop on the cruise was Cozumel, where I've been several times before, and that I love every time we go. All of us opted not to take excursions on this stop. The ship docks right at the pier, so you can set your own schedule and just walk down to the shops in town. It's very touristy and cheesy and I love it all. We left about 10 that morning after watching the Carnival ship park next to us. You're blocking my view, honey.   If you've neve...

[If you missed Part 1, click here . ] After all the snorkeling and kayaking in Roatan, we went back to the ship to change, then walked down the pier to the shops there.   And found Fat Tuesday's! Home of the spectacular frozen drink - margaritas, daiquiris, whatever they can mix up. And then, once you've had one of those... ...you realize something has happened to your shoes and you have to stay there! We wandered around sipping on something cold and looking at all the goods. There was an inlaid-wood ice bucket that I'm still kicking myself for not getting. Hey! If anybody's gonna be in that neighborhood, pick one up for me, k? On to Belize! Had a fun evening on the boat while we made our way to Belize for the 2nd excursion. Brenda and Doug were going on a different one from the rest of us -- cave tubing -- and they left early that Wednesday morning. Ours didn't leave until almost noon, and we boarded a boat directly from the ship, so we were nev...