Cruising

Ben and I just got back from vacation - we took a 3 night cruise out of Port Canaveral to the Bahamas and CocoCay (an island owned by Royal Carribean). It was our first trip with out Lucy, which also included our first night away from her and basically the longest time we've been apart from her. As hard of a decision as it was to leave her, we both wanted to set a precedent of putting our marriage first and we felt like a long weekend away was just what we needed. Hopefully we will have more mommy-daddy only trips in the future!

Lucy stayed with her Grandma and Grandpa Wehner while we were away, and they loved having her! In fact, they even said they'd keep her an extra night if we needed some time to recover from a long day of traveling home... we appreciated the offer but couldn't wait to get her back in our arms! What a relief... I was so nervous that they'd be itching to give her back to us when we got home, afraid she wouldn't sleep or would be a bother, but they said she was a perfect baby!

Our first day of vacation we flew into Orlando and stayed the night there. I have to admit, leaving Lucy was much, much harder than I had imagined! I figured I would miss her, but the first 24 hours felt horrible - and I kept telling Ben I wish we hadn't left her. Fortunately the feelings wore off, but I was so shocked at how empty those first couple hours without her felt. Once we were on the cruise ship, Ben and I got into the swing of just being us and completely relaxing (i.e. watching TV, laying out, and eating... repeat)

A couple highlights from our trip:

Getting off the ship in Nassau (I swear I have a shot that is almost identical to this of Ben on our honeymoon, he has the same jersey and bathing suit on that he wore 4 years ago!)


We tried to keep the trip pretty cheap, so didn't do any excursions. The first thing we did in Nassau was head to a beach within walking distance from the ship:


Then walked around the town and grabbed a beer and some hot wings (I know, I know, we have all you can eat food on the cruise... but hot wings sounded soooo good!)


Back on the ship... one of the many things we love about cruising... towel animals! Also, a shot of our cabin... it was much smaller than the other two times we cruised when we had a balcony, but neither of us seemed to mind.


Formal night... and the only shot we got with both of us in it!


The Atlantis at night


A little wind blown... and sun burned! We really only had one good day of sun, so we made the most of it!


Day 2 - relaxing at Cococay! Well, first we took an extremely long walk, trying to make it around the island but then turning a wrong way and ending up on a gravel road in our bare feet... ouch! So this is what we did when we got back... (Ben and I were both reading Harry Potter on the trip)


And one last shot, wanted to include this fashionable hat I got... ok, just kidding... wanted to include this one because we had a long day of travel on our way home. We got off the ship about 7:45am, but our shuttle wasn't supposed to come till 9:30am and then our flight wasn't supposed to leave till 2:30pm. So I decided to make the most of sitting outside in Orlando, and tried to get some more sun! But did not need anymore on my face...


Fortunately the shuttle came early and we were able to get a nonstop flight home, putting us in Indy an hour earlier than we thought. The whole day I was so excited to see our baby girl, it was so great to be back together as a family when we got home!