what's cooking?

It never ceases to amaze me that vacation can be over in a mere blink.

Steve and I planned our latest cruise for the usual 2 years and before we knew what was happening-we've been back almost a whole week!

This cruise was a bit different.  First-we couldn't get our "free" point-driven airline tickets for only one day prior to our sailing date.  It was 3.  We did go to Miami-but trust me, it wasn't the "beautiful" part.

Nope.  That's another thing about making reservations from a website-you never really know what you're getting into until it's too late!  Where as last year we had a beautiful hotel in an industrial tract and we were gated in like animals in a zoo and close to absolutely nothing-this year, well, the hotel was mediocre (staff was very nice), we still couldn't really go anywhere, but we did have a few chain restaurants within walking distance.  Plus, we had the added bonus of this hotel being on the "route" of the "Orange Shopping Shuttle" which takes you to the Dolphin Outlet Mall and Entertainment Center.

We choose these hotels (by the way for your understanding) because they have shuttles to the cruise ships port and the pricing.

So, while we had 2 full days to fill we did have something to do:  shopping, seeing the world's worst movie (we each wanted to watch different films so this was the compromise which we both groaned at-ugh) and had dinner at the Cheesecake Factory in that mall.  By the hotel, we thankfully took our BOGOs for Denny's and had a breakfast and a dinner there.

Once on the ship, we met up with one of the couples we made friends with on last year's cruise. 
We also met another great couple from Canada who joined our trivia group.  We, again, swept the week!  Okay, we lost 2-but only by a point!  Came home this year with 3 t-shirts, a baseball cap and a few decks of cards for using our brains on vacation!

We enjoyed the walking, the talking and the new island!  We'd never been to St. Kitts before, we still just walked around the area off the port, but the four of us had a great time.

Our only hitches this year we unfortunate.  The day before our flight, Steve was rear-ended on the freeway.  Thank goodness the car wasn't badly damaged and while he is now in physical therapy for whiplash, both are in one piece.  Hence the reason for us NOT going on any tours!

Poor Steve also got hit by a stomach virus on our anniversary.  We were going to one of the specialty restaurants to celebrate, but hearing he was sick, they easily changed the reservation to a couple of days later.  Then, poor guy, he mixed too many foods together on that last night and was really hugging the porcelain bowl until we left the ship for the airport. 

Thankfully, again, he was doing much better by the time we got on the plane.  It was a very long day in the getting back home.  Adam picked us up around 7:30-ish Saturday night.  By the time we unpacked we collapsed at 11:30 p.m.  Steve had to be at work early, I had to go get our pups out of "puppy prison"  (so happy to hear that they did well) and spent most of the day doing laundry, a bit of shopping and trying to catch up with other little pesky chores. 

Rest of the week?  Lots of time watching the grand kids, errands, doctors appointments and tests.

Before I could know what had happened, here I am 19 days later writing up this blog for you all!

Now, it begins again:  counting down for our 37th anniversary cruise next year, same time, same anticipation!