Monday, August 25, 2008

Vacation Part 4 - Mexico!

At last, it was time for our Carnival cruise to Mexico!!!!!!! We boarded the Holiday in Mobile, Alabama, spent two days at sea, one day in Progreso, and one day in Cozymel. The Holiday is the smallest of the Carnival fleet, but it felt enormous to us! We were very worried that Tropical Storm Fay would ruin our fun, but it ended up staying far away from us, and our weather was absolutely beautiful the whole trip!






Everyday we had a different towel animal on our bed. I thought they were super cute.


We visited some Mayan ruins in Progreso.




That's me...not sure what I'm doing with my arms...


This was called a "cenote" - it's a natural spring that comes from underground. One end is shallow and the other end is practically bottomless. Shane went swimming. I declined. I prefer lilly pad-less swimming.


One thing that Shane was really looking forward to about this trip was the fact that we wouldn't know a soul on the whole boat (there were 1800 people onboard). And that's exactly how it was the first two days. But on day three everything changed. They have a big show every night, and on the third night they had a guest talent show...which I thought sounded like a lot of fun! So I got up there and sang a song for them, and then the cruise director did a little interview with me afterwards, and I just happened to mention that Shane was a minister. Well, from that moment on we were celebrities. Between the live show and the reruns that aired on Carnival TV for the remainder of the trip, I think everyone onboard saw it. We couldn't go five minutes without someone coming up and talking to us, saying things like, "Hey, how's that song go again?" or "Hey, where's your church?" or telling us all about the problems at their church. Shane gave me a hard time about it all week, accusing me of ruining his peaceful trip...although I think he secretly enjoyed the attention, ha!




Day four was in Cozymel, and we found this private little all-inclusive beach resort that was PARADISE! I have never seen water so blue and so clear. We could wade shoulder-deep in the ocean and still see the shells on the bottom. It was so beautiful!

We took this little boat out to a coral reef to go snorkeling...


This was just a shot I took over the side of the boat. There were sooooo many tropical fish! We also saw dolphins, a few baracudas, and even a shark!


The little boat made me seasick though, so for most of it Shane snorkeled while I was lying down in the boat feeling like I was going to die. It wasn't fun. But the water & fish were amazing, so I was glad I got to enjoy it for a few minutes at least.


After the boat incident, I spent the rest of the day doing something like this...


This was at dinner on the ship. We ended up with a table to ourselves. We were supposed to have another couple with us, and they came one night, but then never came back. We must be bad company.


We took this cruise to celebrate our 10th anniversary. What a blessing it is to be married to Shane. He is one in a million. Things have been so crazy for us lately, and it was so nice to get away for a while alone. We decided that we're definitely not going to wait TEN YEARS to do it again! Mom and Dad, thank you so much for watching the kids for us!

8 comments:

Diane Taylor said...

It was our pleasure -- we think you should make this a yearly event! Your pictures are beautiful!

Elaine Johnson said...

Awesome to "catch up" with you Allison. Now I know what you've been up to! Looks like the vacation was amazing. I just kept saying to myself, "wow. Wow." Over and over again. BTW, what song did you sing on the boat??

Joshua, Amy, Caleb, Abby, Anna & Luke said...

So glad you guys got to go! I loved your pics! You look beautiful... looks like you got your hair cut with the trendy layers and bangs after all :) It looks great! We have to catch up soon

Melissa said...

Loved all the vacation entries and good for you for getting up there and singing!!

Jeni said...

OKay, first off, the pic of you lying in the chair on the beach looks like a postcard! Well done, Shane. Great shot! Secondly, the lasy pic of you two looking out over the water is very cool. And lastly, what DID you sing???? =)

Allison said...

Bubbly by Colby Caillat. Fun song. :)

Mary Taylor said...

I can't believe you sang on your cruise! What did you sing? We are so proud of Seth. How was his first day of school??

Diane Taylor said...

I have posted the promised Disney pictures!