Time for Goodbye

 This was the lobby of the ship.  The entire ship was just beautiful.  

 The night we left Cozumel there was a party on the Lido deck.  There was dancing and a mexican buffet.  The ice and fruit sculptures were amazing.

 I think Jon had about 80 ice cream cones this week.  It was self serve and everyone pretty much just grabbed a cone everytime they walked by the machine.  I mean, why not right?  

 Jon danced the night away with his friends. 

 Jon is right in the middle of the dance party

 Friday there was an ice carving demonstration on the Lido deck.  

 Our last day at sea was spent laying around and grabbing some rays.

 Ken telling Jon what he needs to get packed up

 The piano bar was the place we ended up every night.  Bruce, who is from Scotland, played name this song every night.  He was amazed at Ken's song knowledge.  I think Ken misses Bruce.

This trip wiped Jon out!

Goodbye Mexico, hope to see you real soon!!!!!!!!

Cozumel, Mexico

Thursday we were in Cozumel, Mexico.  Here we signed up to go scuba diving.  It cost about $100 per person and was worth every dime!  It only took five minutes to get to the beach and when we got there I was a little worried.  I could see our cruise ship!  How in the world is there going to be any fish here?  Thankfully my worries were for naught.

 I won't lie, it took me a while to get used to scuba diving.  The idea of breathing through my mouth the whole time and never my nose unnerved me.  Especially since I could feel the water around my nose.  I became totally paranoid that I was going to breathe in and start choking.  So most of the time I was concentrating on not dying.  But not Jon,  I think he led the instructor most of the time.  He was in his element down there.  He looked so happy.

 This is where we scuba dived.  Because I was a first time diver I was not allowed to bring my camera with me.  Which is good because it's not waterproof.  So I wasn't able to get any pictures of the fish that we saw. But I will let you know we saw a yellow stingray, a puffer fish, angel fish, parrot fish, an octopus eating a conch, and lots of coral.  The colors down there were amazing and to see these animals face to face and not through a tv screen was amazing.  

 We scuba'd for about an hour then they let us snorkel around the same area for about another hour.  We backtracked to where we went before and got to hang around and really check out everything.  This was by far my favorite part of the trip.  I think Jon and Ken would agree!

 Ken loves shopping for junk.  He likes haggling with the men about prices and buying everything that we don't need.  I just shake my head and walk away.

 One lesson I learned on this trip, don't ever pose for pictures with people who are dressed up.  They will make you pay after the picture is taken. 

 We ate lunch at the Three Amigos cantina.  While we were waiting forever for our food, a song came on and Jon and Josh jumped up on the chairs to dance.  Never ever say Jon doesn't know how to have a good time.

Hellooooo blue water

Progresso, Mexico

Wednesday found us in Progresso, Mexico.  Never heard of it?  Allow me to welcome you to the club.  It is on the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico.  We signed up for an on shore excursion to a Mayan Ruin and a beach.  Guess who wanted to go where.....

 What does this sign say and mean?  I have no idea.  So don't ask again!

 Tequila!!!  Agave tequila to be exact.  OLE!

 This is a replica of a Mayan hut that is still being used by the forest dwelling Mayans.  Yes, they are still around.  I thought the Mayans went down with Atlantis, but nope, they are alive and well and working as tour guides.  Ahhhhhh, progress.

 The temple in the back is located exactly where the sun lines up during the solstices.  Don't ask me which one because I couldn't understand a word the guide was saying.

 Ken had a lot of questions so he corned the tour guide.  According to Bob, not his real name but I have no idea what it was, the Mayans never predicted that the world would end in 2012.  The end of the 5000 year Mayan calendar ends December 21, 2012 and a new calendar begins December 22, 2012.  Bob was extremely adamant about this.  

A temple of some kind.  All of the Mayan "books" were destroyed by the Spanish when they came to Mexico so most of the history of this culture has been lost.  There are three remaining books but they are all in Europe now.

 This is an ancient Mayan spring.  We were able to cool off in the waters for a little bit.  Jon of course was the first one in.  

 Who wouldn't want to swim in the middle of hundreds of lily pads?

Me!

 Jon couldn't resist doing a dive.  This part of the spring was very deep.  Where Jon is diving is an opening to a cave.  Many Mayan relics have been found in there.

 Ken cooling off after he went exploring.

 Our last stop was at an all inclusive beach.  This is Josh enjoying a margarita.  Because he was 17 he was allowed to get one.  Gotta love Mexico!

 Jon chillin' in a hammock

No idea what this tree is but I LOVE it!

Day 2 Fun at Sea

Tuesday was a Fun Day at Sea.  This is one of my favorite things about the cruise.  A whole day to just sit around the decks and relax.  And relax we did.  Ken and I spent about 4 hours on deck reading and soaking up the sun, then went to our room for about a 2 hour nap.  To say we were relaxed is an understatement.

 Also on this day was the formal dinner.  This means that in order for us to eat in the dining room, as opposed to the buffet, we had to get more dressed up than usual.  Some people were in tuxes, some suits, or just button down shirts and slacks.  Which is what my boys did.  Jon and Josh looked so handsome.

 This was actually one of the first times I saw Jon Tuesday.  I made him be in his room by 1:00am the first night on the ship.  After that I told him as long as he behaved he was on his own.  Which meant the boys usually walked into their rooms around 3:00am.  Long after Ken and I were asleep.  They met 3 other guys and 3 girls and hung out with them the entire week.  Just getting them to come to dinner with us was a big deal.

 This night we had prime rib and lobster tails.  DELISH!!!  In fact Ken had one of each and I ended up eating 2 lobster tails.  Dinner always starts with an appetizer.  Jon was great about trying new things.  He had frog legs (gross), alligator fritters (gross) crab cakes (yum) and the ol' stand by spinach artichoke dip.  There was usually about 10 choices for the main course.  Steak, salmon, chicken, you name it, it was on there.  We were stuffed to the gills by the time dinner was over.

 This is Fernando, our waiter.  He was EXCELLENT!!  He made it his mission to make sure we could not get another morsel of food into our stomachs.  We didn't even bother telling him that we didn't want dessert because he brought it out anyway.  He made sure Jon Blaylock had his chocolate melting cake every night.  I actually tried different desserts this week.  I tried Baked Alaska, Cherries Jubilee, then had orange sherbet when I wasn't feeling adventurous.

 After dinner there was a comedy show in the Cole Poter lounge.  Every night they had something to do.

Another super cute towel animal.

Port New Orleans

 On Monday, we boarded the Carnival Elation.  This is our room, M2.  Every night we would receive a funship itinerary which is what Ken is reading in this picture.  It gave the times and locations of all the activities for that day.  Every night when we went to bed there was one waiting for us on our bed.  I looked forward to going to my room so I could see what all was going on the next day.  And there is tons of things to do on these ships.  

 We were also greeted by adorable towel animals.

 This is the view from the back of the boat.  GORGEOUS!!

 First thing Jon and Josh did was hit the buffet line.  The ship has some type of food out 24 hours a day.  I think the boys downfall was the ice cream machine.  Jon said he ate about 80 ice cream cones in 5 days.

 Looking out over the water was so peaceful.

The view from one of the upper decks looking toward the back of the boat.