Upon turning 40 - day 3

Day 3. May 29, 2010 - Adventures in Me-he-co
We are all a little tired, but today is a big day because we dock in Cozumel. We have the whole day here. Mom has decided to use her winnings from the casino to pay for an excursion. We decide to try to go to Cancun to an Eco-park but that trip is full so we have to come up with another plan quickly. We decide to go on an off road vehicle jungle trek on the east coast of the island.

After getting off the ship and  driving for a while we pulled off by a row of jeep like ATVs. These little buggies carried 2 passengers. Dani drove with Dee and mom rode with me. We had a caravan of about 10 buggies. The guides took us on a winding, bumpy, dusty tour of the east coast that ended at a small Mayan lighthouse ruin on a rocky outcropping. The whole thing was exhilarating and beautiful. Afterwards we went to a beautiful resort on a white beach and had a nice lunch and a margarita. Not bad for a last minute idea.

We were really tired after our adventure, but we still managed to do some shopping. In Mexico it is appropriate to haggle. The venders were pretty aggressive. At first it was intimidating but then I got into it and had fun. I don't know that I got great deals but I think I got fair prices. After that I headed back to the ship by myself. I was so tired. I have been fighting a cold since the first night on the ship. I needed to get some rest. Mom came soon after. Dee followed and Dani just made it back before we sailed. She was playing at Senor Frog's with some of her new ship friends. That Dani! Hehe!

We laid around for a bit and then managed to get showered and dressed for dinner. We decided to dress up again since we had such a good time the night before. It was Italian night. The wait staff sang an Italian love song for us.  Remember they are Indian. No one on staff is Italian. They tried. It was a good effort.  The Italian passengers might have been offended though. :)

Afterwards we went to look at some of the pictures that the photographers took of us. We bought quite a few. At 10 and 20 bucks per picture they made lots of money off us! Again we split up for the evening activities. Mom and I went to the casino and Dani and Dee went to find their new clubbing and karaoke friends.

After losing more money at the casino than on the whole trip I decided to leave a bit early. I caught up with Dee and we went out on deck. The moon was out and shone off the water. It was quite beautiful. The wind was strong, but warm. We talked and/or walked for a over an hour mostly about Jalen and how she is trying to get him to think seriously about college. She is going to have him call me.

In bed by midnight. Dani got in about 5am. Not really sure what she was doing. Have learned not to ask. I think she is having fun though. She is pretty well known on the ship. Lots of people stop by to say hi and tell her how much fun she is. Being an entertainer she enjoys the spotlight. That's not my thing. I am content to just hang out relax and do my own thing. I think Dee is enjoying the glow of the spotlight. She is doing her best to keep up with Dani. She occasionally gets mistaken for Dani. I think she likes that. She is enjoying taking a few days off from being a wife and mother. Mom is just chillin' and we are all smiling a lot! Glad we are all having fun. To each her own

Upon turning 40-day 2

Day 2 - May 28, 2010 Heading Nowhere Fast
Reached Key West early at 7am. Got dressed and realized how small a room with 4 women and 2 plugs is. Had breakfast in the main dining room.

Headed out for our White Knuckle speedboat tour.  The tour operators were a family. They were from Minnesota. The had moved to Key West to find a new adventure. Their previous occupation was operating a nursing home for Alzheimer's patients. Sounds like they needed the change. The speedboat ride was fun. We definitely got wet. Good thing we wore swimsuits. The son drove the boat. The dad took our picture as we sped up to make our first spin. The picture shows the last time we were dry! The boat was specially made with a jet engine so that it had no propeller blades. This was to protect the wildlife from injury. It also allowed for tight turns and spins in very shallow water. It was as shallow as 2 feet in some places. Many times we could have gotten out and walked.

Everything was going great until...the boat sputtered and finally stopped dead in the water. We thought it was part of the tour to pretend we were stuck in the middle of the harbor and would have to get out and push. When our guide went to the back of the boat to check the engine and then fell into the water which he promptly stood up in we thought he was just trying to show is the depth of the water. However when he got back in and got on the radio to call his dad telling him we had engine trouble we got a little nervous. Knowing that the water is just chest deep is not that comforting if you think that you are going to have to be in it unexpectedly. Worse is that he informed us that sharks and rays are common in the shallows.  Luckily, a passing boat saw the distress and offered us a tow back to the dock. The trip was 15 mins short but it was fun while it lasted and we ended up with a good story to tell.

Next we dried off and headed back toward the pier and explored some of the shops and looked at the outdoor life like sculptures. I had my first Conch fritters, a local favorite. Very good! Dani and Dee split off from us and found some Key Lime pie.

Back on the ship we got cleaned up and then grabbed something to eat from the buffet. Did I mention the food was great yet? Once we were underway Dani, Dee, and I found deck chairs and took a nap!

Evening
Tonight is the formal dinner. Everyone had to wear cocktail attire or higher. It was fun dressing up for dinner. Our servers were Singh and Jordan. Both were Indian. The head waiter was Indian too. The night before these men had tried to sing me Happy Birthday. This is not a common song in India so despite practice (there were a lot of birthdays) they just couldn't sing it very well. It became funnier and funnier. That was just about the worst singing of Happy Birthday I ever heard. But at least they tried!

After dinner it was picture  night. They had a whole army of photographers with different backdrops taking pictures. We got a few nice shots which of course they charged extra to take home, but of course we had to buy a few!  Next we went to a Broadway style musical review in the theatre. It was well done with good singers and dancers.

Then we split up. Mom and I went to the casino and Dani and Dee went to the karaoke and piano bar again. I broke even. Mom won about 500 dollars! Not a bad was to end our second day at sea!

Upon turning 40- day 1

I am now 41, but last year I turned 40 and decided to celebrate the new decade by going on my first cruise (from Ft. Lauderdale to Key West to Cozumel, Mex.) with my mother and sisters Debra (Dee) 5 years older and Danielle (Dani) 1.5 years younger.  The next few entries are from my diary of that trip which was kept on my cell phone notes file.  Later, I will probably come back and edit these and maybe think about the entries on different levels, but for now I am posting them as is as a little snapshot of what I was doing the first 5 days of my 5th decade.

Diary May 27, 2010 (Welcome to 40 and a little nausea)
Day 1 of our cruise was great! We all arrived the evening before and stayed at my Uncle Bill's house near Orlando, got a good night's sleep and then got up at a leisurely pace and drove to the Everglades Port in Ft. Lauderdale to board our ship. Boarding was easy and uneventful. We got settled in our tiny but nice state room then went through the safety drill and were rewarded with a fun dance sail away party.

We had dinner early. Then Dani went to find her luggage which was "detained". Dee and mom saw a show and I took some much needed alone time in the room. I was really tired and the boat rocking did not help, bit I feel better now. Later we all met at the casino for a King favorite pastime, playing the slots! In the end I lost 10 bucks. No profit but at least I did not lose my shirt!

Next mom and I went for an evening walk around the ship an Dani and Dee went to watch Dani sing karaoke. Mom and I caught the tail end of her first song. Mom went to bed and Dee and I watched her last song. She was a hit of course. Then we stopped at the piano bar and we all sang for another hour after which I went to the room leaving Dee to tend to Dani. Good luck with that! Today being my birthday made everything even better! Big day in Key West tomorrow. More later.

I'm BAACK!

After a 2 year hiatus This Too Shall Pass is back in business! If you are new to my blog then you can read my old posts to get an idea about who I am. In the last two years lots of things have happened...but I am essentially the same girl next door with attitude. Catch you later with the latest new rant.