Still celebrating!

What a better way to celebrate an anniversary than with an anniversary cruise! And just like a honeymoon -- no children or cute puppies allowed on this date. Poor Pixxie, she really tried her best to sneak in the suitcase!

We just returned from a 5 day cruise that left out of Galveston on Monday -- left late! I was afraid we weren't going to get to go -- at 10 AM we were called by the cruise line to say that the Galveston Port was closed due to fog. We were to board at noon and sail at 4 PM, they asked us not to come until 4 PM!

Finally we were at the terminal What a long day, hurry up and wait... and wait we did, in LINE! Check in seemed like miles and miles, but finally we were on board and ready for our holiday.



Our waiter learned it was our anniversary and they joined in our celebration. The first night we enjoyed a beautiful sunset over the Houston Ship Channel.

We were on the Carnival "Fun Ship" Ecstasy and it certainly was fun! Our main activity the first day at sea was to just totally relax. No cell phone, no email, no appointments, no obligations...except our dining (grin) that was at 6 PM each evening, something we really looked forward to because we had such wonderful couples sharing our table and a wait staff that was both professional, personable, and entertaining!


On Wednesday our port of call was Progreso, Yucatan Mexico. While there wasn't a fabric shop in sight there certainly was plenty of 'eye candy' for this quilter! The beach vendors were as numerous as the sands. And colorful! Hats, floaties, jewelry, trinkets, mangos, singers with guitars, henna tattos, and ladies wanting to talk you into a $10 massage. It was almost overwhelming, one by one and two by two they kept coming. It was almost tiring having to smile so much and say "no thank you"...just part of the scenery that makes Mexico what it is! Colorful with beautiful people -- especially the children.



These ladies were so beautiful -- I loved their dresses, wishing once again that Mexico was known for fabric by the yard, I would have come home with a trunk load! The colors are just breathtaking! And the handwork on their linens are to be truly admired.

We did enjoy our morning in Progresso. It was soooo hot that we decided it would be in our best interest to "rent" some shade. We parked ourselves at a beach side restaurant and enjoyed the sights! Do we look relaxed? We were certainly doing our best to de-stress!!


Our only disappointment this week, if there was any, was missing the sunsets due to our scheduled dinning -- but we did enjoy our dining experience so much that we figured you could only have so many sunset photos anyway... On Thursday we managed to get up early enough to enjoy the sunrise as we were pulling into port in Cozumel Mexico.


One of the reasons we chose this particular cruise to celebrate our 29 years was due to this port of call...in 1980 we spent almost a week in Cozumel for our honeymoon. While both the island and ourselves have changed a lot, there was still the romance.


We spent the day at a local park that catered to our every need. Beach chairs, umbrellas, floaties, a nice buffet -- and yes, we did get in the water on this excursion. This was the view from my chair, and yes, I had my own palm tree!



Before we knew it, we were headed back to Galveston. We enjoyed watching the tug boat come along side our ship this morning once we entered Galveston Bay -- and the dolphins that liked to leap in front as if they were the ones leading the way!

If you'd like to see more photos of our cruise I haven't disappointed you -- check out my webshots . Keep in mind, this was more of a relaxing cruise for us instead of one filled with lots of excursions -- but I think you'll still enjoy the slideshow...

Getting off the ship proved to be a hurry up and wait experience almost like our entry. Guess even on vacation you can't avoid lines. Our skies were now overcast and we were thankful that the rain held off until we arrived home and were welcomed by Pixxie.

Only a few hours later afternoon turned to night as the sky became black with a downpour of rain. I believe the last I heard on the news our area got around 9 inches of rain in just a matter of hours. We've had our yard 'flood' before but never like this -- it just kept rising and rising - to the point you couldn't see where the road ended and the ditch began. If you look closely to the far right you can see the little wooden board that marks our driveway. Across the street our neighbor's cars almost have water in them. There was no high ground to be seen on that side of the street.

This photo shows just how deep our ditch is - that's a full size rake stuck down in the ditch! Not long after this photo was taken I noticed three pre-teens walking down the street in their rubber boots. They found our wooden railing and in turn each jumped into the ditch. In their fun I'm sure they didn't worry about what they might be jumping into -- I was thankful that hubby had just racked out the ditch and drain pipe earlier to aide in drainage -- it also keep these fun loving kids from landing in twigs, limbs, and a pile of leaves!

As our day comes to a close we've unpacked the bags, started a couple of loads of laundry, made a grocery store run (fortunately prior to the storm!) and are settling back into our 'normal' routine. Hum...yet things have changed after our adventure. For one, I do feel more relaxed and less stressed. I've had some quiet time to reorganize my thoughts and a few priorities. Kinda feeling like myself again -- guess vacations and a little romance are good for that...I highly recommend it!