Where I've been....

It's been awhile I know....I swear, I want to post more regularly, but well.....things just get in the way. In my defense, I was away for a week. Here was my home away from home:

Notice the color of the water? We were in the Caribbean after all, where the water really is a shade of aquamarine you can't see on the East Coast. The ship, Legend of the Seas, departed from Tampa, Florida and sailed to Grand Caymen, Cozumel, Belize and Costa Maya. I'll admit I was initially nervous, unexpectedly cold weather and a rocky start left many of the passengers (myself included!) shivering and trying to keep from running to the nearest bathroom. But things calmed down, and warmed up, the very next day and the rest of the trip was filled with sunshine, warmth and adventures.

We managed to do an excursion at every stop; except for our first one, but only because it was cancelled. My all time favorite was riding at ATV through a rainforst in Belize. C'mon, how many people can say they've done THAT in their lifetime?

There I am, ready to go. Just like the cruise, I initially had some difficulty. To hear my husband tell it, I crashed into a tree. My side of the story is that the tree jumped in the way. Actually, there was no crashing involved....just a little problems with the brakes and the steering. Driving an ATV is not at all like driving a car....it's the gentlest of touches to make the vehicle move where you want it to, and a backward push with your right heel to make yourself stop. Once I got those two things straight in my head, I was fantastic. It just took me a few tries. Hey, there's one in every group, right!?! Halfway through our ATV ride, we climbed a rather steep staircase to a cave, where, before we entered, we were handed headlamps. We then proceeded to tild our bodies almost horizontal and wiggle our way into a cave to see some Mayan ruins. I was too busy wiggling to get a picture of the entrance, but here's another shot....

OK, so that is not actually Mayan ruins, but it is a really cool stalagtite that we all, tourists that we are, took a picture next too. See the headlamps? Yup, I wasn't joking about those! Here's some Mayan pottery that we saw in that very same cave.

Pretty neat, huh? To think, that pottery has been sitting there, for thousands of years.....just waiting. We also found something else waiting--a tiny fruit bat. He was adorable, and didn't even blink an eye when the guide shined his laser light in his face and the crazy tourists took pictures of him. Nor did he move when the teenage girls that were with us freaked out and started screaming THAT THEY ABSOLUTELY WOULD NOT TAKE ANOTHER STEP OH MY GOD THERE IS A BAT YOU NEVER SAID THERE WOULD BE ANIMALS IN THE RAINFOREST I DON'T LIKE NATURE DO YOU SEE THE BAT IT IS RIGHT THERE AND I AM NOT MOVING GET ME OUT OF HERE. The guide even handled the hysterics, while the rest of us discreetly rolled our eyes and kept trekking.

Another day we got to see some more Mayan ruins. Here we are at Cozumel, checking out some temples built by the Mayans. (Can you tell I married a history teacher!?!?)

See how tiny I look compared to the temple?

How in the world did they get

all those stones up so high!?!

And of course, what cruise would be complete without some friends dropping by for a visit?

All in all, we had a fantastic time, and even better, came home to an extra day off- because of SNOW!