For our 10th anniversary - Joey surprised me with a 4-day cruise to Cozumel on Royal Caribbean!!!!!! I knew he was planning something but we had said years ago that we'd go to NYC for our 10th. But I am so glad he whisked me away somewhere warm instead since New York was a freezing cold blizzard during that time. And being able to leave all our worries, responsibilities and children at home (THANKS KATE!!!) - it was seriously more lovely and heavenly than I could have ever imagined.
So - since it was just the two of us - get ready for lots of selfies. :)
the cantilevered hot tub over the ocean
post-dinner shuffleboard. yeah, we're hip like that. (i won)
the 2 reasons joey wanted this boat (Liberty of the Seas) is the ice rink and flowrider
dorky ice skaters :)
Right before we left, Joey totally crashed so hard right on his head. He was skating backwards super fast (in crappy skates) and caught an edge and just went flying backwards up in the air and down square on his noggin - inspiring a concerned and quite loud "oooohhhh!" from all on-lookers. Luckily we were wearing those stylin helmets and so he's still alive. I really don't like to think about what that crash would have looked like without a helmet. But the helmet did shift forward and gave him a nice cut on his nose. He said it really rang his bell and we kept checking his pupils all night. I sure like him alive.
Flowrider!
Joey got sort of addicted to this. He spent probably 8 hours doing it - most of that was waiting in line. But he loved it cause he got to talk to the dudes in line and they were all sort of Flowrider bros by the end. And I loved it because I just sat in the breezy sunshine and listened to my book and watched the surfers. It was a win win. And after watching these guys try it again and again - this has got to be one of the hardest things to do.
COZUMEL
We are dorks and miscalculated the time difference between the boat and Cozumel and showed up bright and early at the dock ready for our snorkeling excursion. When we realized it was 7:00am instead of 9:00am and that we had two hours to kill - we rented a little scooter and rode around some rural streets and next to beautiful beaches and the ocean. It was actually really fun.
Our snorkeling tour guides: Miguel and Loes ("Luce")
These two were the coolest! They definitely had some infectious passion for ocean life.
Joey splurged and surprised me with a professional photographer (Miguel) during our snorkeling. He actually was scuba diving underneath us with this huge fancy camera. So - this makes up for all our cell phone selfies on the cruise. These are like National Geographic pictures --- with us in them! Miguel made this video for us. (click on link)
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/wdcp3yb9zkhjguy/NG8VaaoAwe/14-01-11%20H2O%20Katie%20%26%20Joseph.wmv
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| mom and baby spotted eagle rays |
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| sergeant majors |
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| Luke's one request: a picture of a shark (nurse shark) |
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| baby hawksbill sea turtle |
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| spiny lobster |
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| Horse-eyed Jacks on the drop-off |
Cozumel was so so fun - but we agree that our favorite time on the cruise was after Cozumel we were so tired that we got back to the boat around 4:00 pm and didn't leave our room for the rest of the night. We seriously just laid in our bed, laughed and talked and watched lame t.v. and called room service for whatever our little hearts desired. And when they would bring us our tasty meals and late night treats - we would lay there and elbow each other "hey, it's your turn to get up and get the door". And that was the only time we moved. Now doesn't that just sound darn right magical? :)
Another thing we loved is the soft serve ice cream on the pool deck. Anytime we walked by, we'd just get a little cone. Oh, so many ice cream cones. I told my kids about this and their eyes got huge and this is the thing they were most jealous about.
This is a Dreamworks boat so there were Madagascar, Kung-Fu Panda and Shrek characters walking around.
Johnny Rockets chocolate malts
Joey placed 7th in the adult rock climbing competition and climbed to the top and rung the bell in 43 seconds.
Not pictured: Hot stone couples massage, Trivia Challenge (we took 2nd place), Saturday Night Fever broadway musical, Salsa dancing lessons and Ice skating show (awesome!).
So, that was our cruise! Never in our lives has it been so hard to come back from a trip. We always travel with kids - so coming home always feels like a bit of a relief and it's nice to get back to normal life. We came home and of course were so excited to see our kids... for about 2 hours. Then we had to feed them and put them to bed and do all the stuff ya know that we always do and then we just wanted to be back in our room on the boat debating over who had to get the door for room service. It seriously took a few days to get back into the groove of things.
What a wonderful and bonding time it was for us. At first I found myself wishing that there were other couples on the cruise with us and thought maybe that was going to be part of the surprise. But after the first afternoon of it just being us - I was so so glad. It was special to have 5 whole days alone with my own Joey Hale reminiscing about the last 10 crazy fun years of being married.
And seriously, I need to say for the millionth time to Kate - that I seriously still can't believe she was willing to take our 3 crazy and loud children for 5 days. Kate, my dear, dear sister-in-law, you are a saint and a superstar. We owe this whole amazing trip to you!!
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