Cruise Recap: Days 1/2 Miami and Key West

I guess it's finally for me to finally recap our honeymoon.  After we got married in February we did a spa day which was lovely and rejuvenating after the stress of our wedding weekend.   We planned to go on a "real" honeymoon in the summer when I am off from school.  After much debate, we finally settled on a cruise to Key West and Cozumel.  It was the first time cruising for both of us and cruising appealed to us because it was entertainment, food, and lodging all in one.  We got a great rate for booking so close to sailing and we found a fairly cheap flight to Miami.

So as soon as my job teaching at ESY summer program was over we hopped on a plane to Miami for our real honeymoon. 

We checked into our cruise right at a counter in the airport which awesome.  It saved us about an hour when we got to port. There were huge lines and we just got to go right onto the boat.  A shuttle took us to the ship, we checked our luggage and then hello Carnival Victory! 

The first thing we did was found our room.  It was an inside room on the lowest level of the ship.  Pretty much one of the least desirable rooms onboard and resembled a small closet with a king sized bed.  We honestly didn't mind it though.  It was dark when we wanted to nap and we didn't spend much time in our room except for sleeping anyways.

We went up to the big Bon voyage party on the deck and took a few pictures with the city of Miami as a backdrop.

Yes that is a giant movie screen above the pool.  Our party was short lived though, as it began to rain on us as soon as the party was really getting underway.  It was the only time we had bad weather on our trip though.

We ate our first meal in the dining room.  We were assigned to a table with another couple around our age.  She was a special Ed teacher also.  The food was amazing, but I will probably give the food alone it's own post.

After dinner we decided to check out some of the free activities.

They had a trivia night and Ryan was selected as a participant (of course, whenever we are somewhere that needs a volunteer, he is always chosen).  It is not a high quality shot, but you can see that Ryan was the winner by a landslide.

After that night, Ryan became sort of a minor celebrity around the ship, with people recognizing us and congratulating him.  He loved that.

We also saw one of the dance shows ( that one was just all right).

And then we took in a Comedy Show in the Punchliner Comedy club.  We really liked both comedians.

When we returned to our room, we found that our seward had left us a towel friend.

We were due into Key West very early and wanted to make the most of our day there, so we called it a night after that.  

This was our view from breakfast.  Key West was ADORABLE.  It is an island at the end of the chain of Florida Keys and is connected to the mainland using highway 1.   The temperature there has never dropped below 41 degrees and is the the southern most point in the USA-- only 90 miles from Cuba.  It reminded me a bit of a very fancy schmancy Ocean City because it is only 4 miles long and 2 miles wide.

The pier with the ship in the background.  Ryan perfecting the "panoramic view" on the iPhone.

We weren't sure what to do for an excursion there.  Everything the ship offered was not very pregnancy friendly or just not of interest (think jet skis or bar crawls).  Also for some unknown reason pregnant women are not allowed to snorkel or swim with stingrays which was disappointing.  We were hoping to do a mini restaurant tour called "Taste of Key West" but no one else signed up so it cancelled.  Our back-up was a glass bottomed boat tour above a coral reef.  We had some time to walk around for a bit before we had to be to the boat.  Key West has lots of interesting sculptures all around.  This was definitely the weirdest.  

These two were my favorites.  We passed them several times while we were there and I kept thinking they were real people when I saw them out of the corner of my eye.

We bought some postcards, found a post office to mail them, called home and just wandered around the streets.  Then we met up with the people from our ship to take our glassbottom boat tour.  They told us that the waters were very rough and that if we were prone to seasickness they would refund our money and we could choose something else.  I had been given a similar disclaimer on my nature boat cruise in Alaska which turned out to be nothing to worry about, so I was still game to go on our trip and so was Ryan.

It was about 40 minutes to get out to the reef.  The waters were a little rough but it was a beautiful day and the ocean water was so blue-- a far cry from the brown waters of the Jersey Shore.  We started out being one of tons of people on the top of the boat and soon we were one of the only people left up there.

We discovered it was because almost everyone else on the boat (like 30 other people) were inside getting totally sick.  People were laying all over the benches moaning, sweating and vomiting.  There was a guy inside there who literally could not hand out clean plastic bags and collect the puke filled ones fast enough. Ryan and I were kind of shocked.

The boat stopped above the reef and the tour guide started telling us all about coral and fish.  As he was talking I realized that the people directly on either side of me were throwing up into bags.  There was throw up all over the floor and all of a sudden I was feeling nauseous, not from motion sickness but from being surrounded by vomiting people.   It was definitely not an experience I will forget, but it makes a good story.

Our photos couldn't do it justice.  The coral reefs and fish were amazing!

I think this sponge picture is my favorite one we took in Key West.

We wandered around a bit longer and then headed back to the ship.  I was very hot and sweaty and we wanted to beat the crowd back to the boat.  But not before we split a piece of Key Lime pie.

Delicious!

Next stop: Cozumel!

New York, New York

Saturday Ryan and I both randomly ended up off of work and we decided to take a somewhat spur of the moment trip up to New York City. This was exciting because it actuually crosses TWO things off of my 101 in 1001 list.: take the kids to New York City and see a live taping of a TV show.

We headed out early in the morning and began our day in Rockefeller Plaza for a shooting of the Today Show.  The Today Show is one of Ryan's favorite show.





That's me in the purple.  Proof I was actually there since I didn't make it in any other pictures.
 



This is Ryan with Lester... somebody... Ryan's favorite anchor.  It's now replaced a picture of he and I on our honeymoon as his Facebook profile picture.

 

It was somewhat rainy but we still enjoyed ourselves.

 

 

The anchors were all friendly and nice and hung around after tapings the segments to take pictures and talk to the audience. 

 

 

 

After the taping was over, we checked out the NBC Studio store. 

 

Isaac's favorite part was pressing the button to light up the giant X from the X Factor.  We have really enjoyed watching that show as a family, so we had to check out where it was filmed.



 





 

The next stop was Times Square.  We checked out a lot of the big stores, but our favorite was the M&M store.  It was there where we took the least flattering picture of me ever.

 



After a quick lunch in Times Square it was back to NBC Studios for the tour.  I had taken it before, but Isaac and Ryan really liked it.  Ryan was chosen to be a practice newcaster.  We saw the studio where Jimmy Fallon hosts his show, the studio where they do Saturday Night Live, control rooms, the set of the Nightly News. 

When we left the tour the sun was finally shining.  We decided to make our next stop Central Park.  We took a liesurely walk through the park, people watching and stopping to watch a softball game.  We heard some music playing and it turned out to be this free gospel concert.  We stayed and listened for an hour or so.

It was really my first foray into live Gospel music.  There were people clapping and dancing and so caught up in the Spirit of the Lord that they were weeping and fainting.

After we left the concert, we got some dinner at the world's most expensive Times Square TGIFridays and then headed him.  It was such a nice day. 

 

 

A hundred times have I thought New York is a catastrophe, and fifty times: It is a beautiful catastrophe. --Le Corbusier

Life Update

I feel the usual sense of urgency that accompanies the end of summer.  I sense that I have to tackle all the projects, organizing, cleaning, etc. NOW because I won't be able to catch my breath until Thanksgiving break.  It feels extra urgent also because I will be hugely pregnant by the time my breaks roll around and preparing for the baby adds so many items to the to do list.  I cleaned out and organized the tiny front bedroom that used to be an office, not to long ago.  I need to do even more cleaning/organzing/throwing away to get it ready to be a nursery.  This house was just right for two people, a little cramped for three, but the walls are starting to close in as we prepare for number 4. 

I wish I knew the gender so I could start with a bit more shopping.  I am in the window now now to get the ultrasound for anatomy but I haven't able to get it scheduled due to insurance hassles.  I downgraded insurances to try to save money and that was a huge mistake.  It is a whole process now to make an appointment for something as simple as an ultrasound.  The added hassle is definitely not worth any money I am saving.  Lesson learned.

Isaac had some playdates earlier in the week.  It's amazing how just throwing an extra kid in the mix curbs the constant "I'm bored, I'm bored, I'm bored". 

Isaac with Justin

My parents are out of town visitng my sister and brother in law in Alaska, so that has made things seem more dull too.  Thank goodness the local sportsplex has a drop-in camp that is reasonably priced so he has spent the day there yesterday and today.  Next week is soccer camp at the local high school.  The more he is busy and out of the house, the better things go for all of us.

We also managed to get into the city to watch an Eagles practice.  Hurray for free fun!

It wasn't that interesting to me. I hate football.  I was doing it for my boys.

 And it was sooooooooooooo hot. 

After the practice has ended.  The started to POUR.  We tried to wait it out.  But there was no waiting it out.  We later heard on the news that this storm was the most rain that ever fell in a single day in Philadelphia, ever!

 

Eventually we just ended up dashing to the car... only to find that Isaac had left the window down!

 

Anyways, we are trying to squeeze in a few day trips before school starts.  Tomorrow we are taking Isaac for a day in New York City.  Isaac has been asking for almost a year now to see the Statue of Liberty, so we are going to go.  Apparently you need to buy tickets way in advance to go up in it but we can at least roam around the bottom.  Taking him to New York is one of my 101 in 1001, so it should be fun. 

Happy Friday =)

 

 

I am still alive

I am still alive, just seems like there has been too much going on to stay on top of the blog.  I will do a pregnancy update tomorrow.  In the meantime, here is what is going down in the Stephenson-Horne household. 

Isaac really enjoyed his week at Scout Camp.  Tom had told Isaac about shooting BB guns and I guess he asked about it the very first day at camp.  He also seemed to enjoy swimming and archery.  I have been assigned to be a new Den Leader and thus, was obligated to go up to Scout Camp for a day.  I was pretty much terrified and forced Ryan to come along.  Those scout moms in hiking boots and frame packs intimidate the heck out of me, and I wasn't facing them alone.  It didn't exactly get closer to my comfort zone when we arrive because it turned out we were in charge of knots and... we don't know how to tie any knots...

Our first session was kind of rough, but we had an hour off after the next group and we coerced a den chief into helping us practice them over and over and over.  The second session went much better, although I never really got the hang of bowline knot.  

We had a very low key fourth of July.  Isaac had been spending a few days with my mother, so I drove out to meet them.  I mostly played with him for the morning (and worked on IEPs) and we watched an old school movie I remembered from my childhood 3 Ninjas.  Isaac was a fan.  His dad asked to change up his visitation schedule and he took him Thursday night.

This left Ryan and I to head into a neighboring town to see some fireworks.  It wasn't as fancy as Philly fireworks, but it was nice none the less.

When we got Isaac back, we decided to head up to Six Flags for the rest of the day.  It was unbearably hot (like 100 degrees) and the car even started to overheat on the way there, but we still had a lot of fun nonetheless.  Ryan was great to pick me up free cups of ice water at every concession stand we passed which helped a lot.

Jason Derulo was having a free concert there so we found a shady spot to enjoy it.  Isaac is very into dancing and choreography, so I think he enjoyed the show for that aspect.  Afterwards, there was enough time for Isaac and Ryan to hit up a few rides.  Ryan even hit up the rides that he normally avoids (like the spinning one below) so that Isaac didn't have to ride them alone, since I am out for the count on the everything except the carousel.

I randomly won a 50 dollar Sephora gift card from a blog giveaway and I went to spend my money the other day.  It has been a while since I treated myself to something totally self indulgent like make-up, so it was too hard to decide.  Among other things, I finally got a Tarte Amazonian clay blush (on my wishlist forever).  I got it in the color Exposed.  It is really nice!

The only other big thing is that Ryan and I booked our honeymoon cruise and are heading out July 18.  We leave from Miami and make two stops: Key West and Cozumel.  Then, when we return, Ryan and I will be spending an extra day in Miami before we fly home.  We are SO EXCITED. We keep watching youtube movies that other people have shot on our cruise, researching our ports, possible excursions and restaurants.  I am really looking forward to a few days away to travel and relax.  The countdown is on!

Hey there,

So blogging every day in June didn't happen.  I think I need to replace that item on my 101 in 1001 with something else.  Oh well.  Onward!

I have been crazy busy and also just feeling quite tired and run down so I haven't made time to do anything beyond the bare essentials of keeping up day to day life, let alone blog.  Poor Ryan has been wearing sneakers with no socks, so I figured I had better make time to do some laundry and Isaac has been eating cereal for dinner more times than I care to admit.

It was an extra crazy end to the school year.  All of the elementary schools are being renovated, and my particular elementary school is being closed, so absolutely everything had to be packed up.  I am being moved to a new school (again) next year, and teaching a new grade (again), so the last few days were extra hectic and then it seems like summer school started before I knew it.  I do get my own classroom again next year, so although I had to pack and move everything, at least I don't have to worry about sharing with someone.  I also got these beautiful roses from a student.

We are in full on summer vacation mode here.  I am teaching summer school a few hours a day which has been keeping me quite busy.  They have given me about 3 times as many kids as other years and a handful with intense behavior needs.  I feel like this will probably be my last summer I agree to do it.   I am also working about 10-15 hours a week at my mall job.  So far I have resisted using my discount, but  we will see how long it lasts.  It is terribly kind of boring but  it is a nice little bit of extra cash for really not much work, so it works for now at least.

I have been asked to be a Den Leader for Isaac's cub scout troop.  Ryan has been called to be a Cub Master.  I am not at all fluent in Scout language or programming, so I really have no idea what is going on or what I am supposed to do, except apparently Ryan and I are teaching knots on Friday of Cub Scout Camp.  Ryan had expressed interest in participating in the Scouting program with Isaac but he was sort of unfamiliar with the Mormon cultural phenomena of "getting a calling".   He was a little surprised that it is a essentially one way conversation along the lines of , "Yeah, we're just going to need you to go ahead and be Cub Scout Master.  Thanks."

Also, I just discovered that all of the e-mails explaining what I am to be doing have been going to an old defunct e-mail account which explains why I feel so lost.  I finally managed to get into it and am overwhelmed with everything I need to catch up on.  Ryan and I just spent a half an hour simultaneously completing an online Youth Protection training.  Nothing says date night like watching a movie about how child molesters groom potential victims. 

Wednesday was teacher appreciation night at the Fightin' Phillies (minor league baseball team in Reading), so I got us five free tickets.  We took Ryan's girls along.  It is always a fun night to go there.  I am so not a baseball fan, and I usually enjoy myself.  The weather has been beautiful the past week or so, mid 70s and breezy.  It has been nice to have the air off and the windows open. 

 This weekend looks to be a busy one with friends and family.  Happy Friday!

Friday Favorites

I haven't done a link up in a while. It's late, but it's still Friday!

1. Date nights!  Ryan has been working a hectic schedule of very long overnight shifts which has not been any fun for any of us.  After working seven straight days he finally got a night off and we went to see Carolina Liar, Kelly Clarkson and The Fray.  Sadly, due to my inability to both driveaggressivly and follow a GPS, we ended up driving through the city.  As a result we stopped at no less than 1902298239823 stoplights and we ended up missing most of Carolina Liar, which is a shame because I really enjoy their music. 

I had been leaning towards getting lawn tickets, but Ryan found us a great deal on Stub Hub on seats in the center of the arena. He totally made the right call. We ended up being in the perfect placebecause both Kelly Clarkson and Isaac Slade of The Fray came out and performed a few songs from a small stage in the audience right in front of us.  The pictures are terrible quality, but the first one is Kelly Clarkson and the others are Isaac Slade. 

Kelly Clarkson put on a great show.  She really does have an incredible voice.  She covered  her bases singing most of her big hits (Since U Been Gone, Miss Independent, Breakaway, Because of You, etc, etc) which, let's be honest, is what people want to hear when they go to a concert.  She was very cute and bubbly, even if she does say "y'all" about every other word (personal pet peeve, plus isn't she from OHIO?). 

The Fray also put on a great show.  I like Kelly Clarkson and The Fray equally but I thought they were a bit of an odd pairing.  Kelly Clarkson is pretty much cheesey ballads and rockish pop.  The Fray is very serious and angsty.  I thought they had a reasonlyy upbeat and fun show, considering most of their music is fairly melancholy and piano based, but it seemed that most of the people were only there to see KC, because once she was done, quite a few people went home.

2. These fun printables that I am incorporating into my classroom!  I've already printed the flipped supply signs.  I will be printing the posters when I get a new color ink cartridge.

3.  Tackling something that has been hanging around on your to-do list FOREVER.  In the spring my brother Joe and Ryan put a ceiling fan up in my bedroom (which has been so so so lovely all summer).  Joe converted the single light switch into this double one.  Joe left me with the task of getting a new switch plate to put up.  And for the past four months or so this is how I left it.....

Well, with the new school year charging towards me like an out of control locomotive, I have renewed motivation to tackle those tasks.  It usually takes me until about November to get my head above water and until then I only do the true necessities in terms of housework.  Anyways,

Ta-DA!!!!

I know this is nothing to brag about really, but I am still going to allow myself to revel in the small burst of ecstasy when you finally get to cross off a nagging task, even if it is a small one.