Cruising!

Hello everyone! After a one year break from the blog, here I am. Matthew has graciously written the last several blogs to get us back up to date (a task far too daunting for his lazy lazy wife), so here is my attempt to KEEP us up to date! During the week of June 8th, I was able to take a week of leave to spend some time with Matt during his post-deployment leave block. Now, being not so hot at planning vacations, the week was quickly approaching with no plans made. Two days before my vacation was to start, we STILL didn't have anything on the books. Now, I'm not one to complain about lack of vacation plans...I am generally just happy to lay around at home and not work; but, Matt and I did want to take a real vacation (our first ever!). Thus began the last minute vacation search! We decided on....drumroll please....a cruise! Matt had been on a cruise before, but I hadn't, and well, who doesn't like the concept of eating like a piglet for 5 days and seeing some pretty sights!? Well, we got a great deal out of Long Beach that sailed to Catalina.

So on Monday, June 8th, the puppies headed to their temporary home at the vet's kennel, and we drove north to Long Beach. We arrived at the ship a few hours early, so we got on and enjoyed our "lunch" (by lunch I mean enough calories for several WEEKS), and waited for the ship to set sail. We participated in the normal safety drills and the ship got underway around 5pm.

Without regaling you with all the details of the 4 day cruise, I will give some highlights!

Day 1: Catalina- We dropped anchor in Catalina on Tuesday morning. To get to the island, we had to load up on teeny transfer boats (more about those later) and be taken into the docks. We went over with the plan to participate in a scuba tour in the afternoon, so we had a few hours to kill. We rented bikes and rode around the beautiful island for two hours. The most exciting part of our bike ride was riding up to the top of Avalon to the Wrigley Memorial. and Botanical Gardens. It was a long ride and the Bike Rental place failed to tell us we would need cash to enter the gardens. After finding the admission fee minus .50, I asked the "nice man" at the admission counter to the park if he had a military discount or some other such discount that might allow us to enter the park for $7.50 instead of $8.00. He laughed at me and made a sarcastic comment, for which I wanted to leap across the desk and strangle him. Sooo, I scrounged some more in the backpack and my wallet and came across the FINAL .50, so that we could actually go in.

We had a nice time looking around and climbing the monument. The view from the top overlooking the harbor was AMAZING. Once we finished up and rode back to the harbor we decided it was far too cold to do the snorkel tour (the water was 57 degrees and all you wore was a shortie wet suit) so we rented a sea kayak instead. We paddled our kayak around the island to a little private beach and looked for shells. I was there we found the biggest sand dollar I have every seen. See for yourself!!

If you ever have the chance to see Catalina, I definitely suggest you do.

Day 2: Ensenada- For several months, cruises were not allowed to take port calls in Mexico because of the swine flu scare. Originally, our cruise was not supposed to make a port call, but surprise surprise, when returned from
Catalina on day one we had a letter on our bed announcing that our cruise would be the first to make a port call in Ensenada in over two months! Because the locals and the excursion staff on the cruise weren't prepared, there wasn't much for us to do in Mexico. We got off the ship expecting to be able to go winetasting (nope), or to the beach (nope), or to take a horse ride (no, again); however, there was an excursion planned to the market and La Bufadora. I'm afraid I don't have too much to say about Ensenada except that I had the best taco of my LIFE at the market. Other than the tacos, the random retiree who befriended us, and a very very cute chihuahua puppy, the excursion was a bit of a bust, just because we were hoping for something a bit more exciting than shopping and looking at water shooting out of rocks.

Days 3 and 4: For the rest of the cruise we spend alot of time eating (who? me? NEVER!), reading, and just spending time with one another. It was nice to be totally disconnected for a few days...no cell phones, no computers, etc., and really be able to focus on one another. I think I can say that we came back refreshed, relaxed, and about 10 pounds heavier (no, I'm not joking).

I realized it took me over two months to post this blog and I am a little embarrassed about it! However, I am recruiting to my friends out in blog-land to keep me honest about updating this blog at least once a month. If you see I haven't updated (or you know we did something exciting that I'm not sharing!), email me or call me, and I will try my hardest to get on it! I'm looking forward to writing a few more blogs in the coming days to update you guys on July and August!

I would also like to take the opportunity in this blog to say "thank you" to all of our friends and family, who helped Matt and I get through his deployment (now that I am a little less emotional, and can do it without getting all weepy!). I am especially thankful to my "California Family"- friends who acted as family during the holidays and on those weekends when I just didn't want to get out of the house. You guys kept me occupied, laughing, and happy...essentials when you are counting down a very large number of days! Another thank you goes out to all of you who sent emails, motomails, letters, and packages to Matt in Iraq. I know that he really appreciated everything and enjoyed those little pieces of home when he could get them! It was a very hard 7 months, because being apart for that long just stinks, but with all the support we received from you guys, it went by a quickly as possible!