Just another weekend…

Obviously, it wasn’t just another weekend!  Last Friday, Laura picked me up at 2:40 am and we headed into O’Hare to fly to Miami and set sail on a weekend cruise on the Norwegian Sky.

Laura’s a master traveler (she’s been everywhere – including the pyramids in Egypt, Australia, China, all over Europe, 49 states – her list is extensive!) but she’d never been on a cruise and never been to the Bahamas.  I’ve been to the Bahamas and cruised several times, so when Laura tracked down a good deal, we jumped on it back in November and planned a quick weekend getaway. February seemed like a perfect time to escape the dull and dreary Midwest for a few days.

We arrived in Miami around 11 on Friday and took a taxi to the ship.  We were on in no time and spent the rest of the day exploring the ship, eating, chatting, and people watching. The show the first night was Russ Riva performing comedy and even though we were tired by that point, he was still pretty funny.

On Saturday, we headed to Norwegian’s private island where we hiked a bit and found a beautiful secluded tide pool to enjoy.  It was beautiful.  The warm sand, beautiful water, and palm trees were perfection.  We spent most of the day chatting and relaxing while taking in the view.  We headed back to the ship for dinner and Laura taught me how to play Yahtzee and 1s and 5s.  The show for the evening was Oh What a Night!

Sunday, the ship docked at Nassau and we headed to Atlantis to Dolphin Cay to swim with the dolphins.  It was a neat experience and the dolphin for our group was named Jonah.  We were also able to enjoy the water park at Atlantis.  I’d definitely do both activities with the kids if we port there in the future.  We headed back to the ship for dinner and the final shows — more of Oh What a Night! and late-night comedy with Russ Riva (apparently they didn’t want to pay for more talent?).

On Monday, we had a leisurely breakfast before heading back to the airport.  We were able to move our flight up a bit, but we still spent several hours in the airport.  I was able to work and we had lunch before heading back to the Midwest.  We were home in time to see the kiddos before bed.  I bought the kids stuffed animals and a few other trinkets which they love.

Mike and the trio were well while I was gone.  The kids had school Friday and Monday and Mike worked — so those were normal days.  Mike took the kids to his parents over the weekend to celebrate his Dad’s birthday and they enjoyed that as well — while I think the trio did miss me, they were totally fine while I was gone.

I know that not everyone can just go to the Bahamas for the weekend — no matter how good of a deal they find — I’m lucky and blessed.  Not only to be able to go and to have Mike and his parents to take care of the kids, but to have a great friend like Laura to go with me!  There aren’t many people I could travel four days with but Laura is definitely one of them.  I didn’t think I’d be lucky enough to find another best friend — after all, I’ve already been blessed with Mandy — but I have been.  I find myself pondering if one of the many reasons we ended up in Oglesby was so I could find Laura.  We get along famously, have so much in common, and didn’t manage to drive each other crazy in four days — and we didn’t run out of things to talk about either.  Personally, I find that pretty spectacular! While I know we won’t be able to pull something like this off often (ya know, those six kids we have between us…) I definitely envision more trips with her and with her family in my future!

Back to reality today — laundry to fold, Valentines to stuff, gymnastics this afternoon, and work to catch up on. Oh well, it will all get done.  And it was worth it!