You know what is crazy when I decided to blog about our trip, we barely took any pictures:). I remember before the boys how Jared and I would still take tons of pictures of just the "two of us". Jared's brother would tease us, want me to take another picture of "you two". It was ongoing as we had tons of pictures in our house of just us two...crazy how things change, now we barely take any of us or anything with us just boys and things they are doing. I wouldn't change anything! Well, onto our trip....
First off, this trip was for my job our team goes on a bigger trip every two years and every four is usually Hawaii, I would be up for Hawaii every two:). Especially since I missed the last Hawaii trip with boys being born early and in the NICU!
Lets first start out how hard this was leading up to this trip thinking about leaving my boys for such a long time and being so far away in distance and for some of the trip to not have a phone. Jared and I had to write notes for Janet to be able to medically treat them and give them medicine. We also left a note as to what to do with the boys if something were to happen to Jared and I. Man was that hard I was bawling and said seriously it is not worth it I don't need to go! Man I was scared, speaking of how we didn't take many pictures another thing, when Jared and I would travel before kids we would be so carefree. I never realized how easy it was to travel before kids until now! Things that I never thought of before, and all the what ifs. It did not help that the night we came into Omaha before we left Landon was not acting himself so was worried he was coming down with something and i was leaving him, talk about mommy quilt!
Anyways, we got into Fort Lauderdale, FL Dec. 16 got settled and went to the beach and such. Dec. 17 in the afternoon so in the morning we went to the beach. Jared was actually working the tournament (No days off for that man) so I wanted to make sure he got to do things in Florida that he liked too. Leslie (the other assistant), her mom Robyn and I just hung out. Dec. 18 we had a JV game in the morning and won, and varsity game at noon that we lost... we did not come ready to play they we ranked but should have beat them easily if we were ready to play. After my JV game I got a call from Janet that Landon was not doing well so she asked if she should take him to doctor and I said yes. Long story short Landon had a ton of white spots but that doctor said it was not strep that kids this young don't get strep! He sent him home with some naturally cough syrup and said in a few days he should be better. If you remember he had strep at the end of Nov. so second time in less than a month. I was worried but later on Jared and I Facetimed them and made me happy but Landon was crying and I cried and couldn't even look at him for some of the call. That afternoon/evening we hung around the hotel and went out to dinner. That night I told Jared that I think I will try and find a flight home after the game tomorrow, he said NO you won't! He will be fine and is in good hands. I was not worried at all about he was in good hands, probably better then mine just the fact of feeling bad and that I wasn't there for him. Dec. 19 we played again and won, which Jared was glad we did it in that order or the cruise to the Bahamas would have been rough with some crabby coaches:). Then men went on the trip with us so our ladies went to their games and cheered (loud and so fun I must say) for them. I was trying to finish up our Christmas cards and thank you's from the boys birthday and get them out, too. We were staying at the Embassy Suites which was really nice and had a very nice breakfast and happy hour! Dec. 20 we checked out and headed to the cruise ship.
Just an FYI I only took a couple pictures on my phone in Florida...what is wrong with me:)
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| Jared the day we got there was overcast |
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| The freshmen buried Sydney(another freshmen) |
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| Beach in Fort Lauderdale |
We drove from Fort Lauderdale north two hours to Port Canaveral to board the Carnival Cruise(Sensation). Jared and I had never been on are cruise ship so were looking forward to doing something new. The cruise was traveling to Bahamas (another place we have never been) for a day which was fun. On Dec. 20 we boarded and tried to just figure were everything was and what there was to all do on the ship.
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| On our way to the cruise ship |
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| Boarding the ship excited but nervous |
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| our towel creations |
Dec. 21 we went to the Bahamas which was interesting, all I wanted to do was go to Atlantis. For you that have never heard of that it is a big resort right on the beach with aquarium, casino, water park to list a few things it has in it. So when we got off the ship Jared and I were walking and a guy asked if we wanted to go to Paradise Island and I was all for it, scared but all for it!! You could get there by walking but we figured if they would give us tour of the place and such I am all for it. Well, long story short I misunderstood and we went to Paradise Island but not to Atlantis. Don't worry though Jared and I still went to Atlantis. There is day passes and places you can go even if you are not staying there. So we went in and snooped around:). We walked around where we could get into first and then went to the beach. The sky started to look like it was going to storm so after only being at the beach for maybe 15 min. it started to rain...HARD! The locals stayed it never rains there, of course the ONE day we go it does. so we grabbed some "Atlantis" towels and got in anywhere we wanted to, so that was fun. You have to have a bracelet or these special towels to be in the hotel part of Atlantis. There were people all over and found out that they can ask you for your room key at anytime. Anyways we snooped around looked at the aquarium and such which was really neat. I thought it was really neat and when boys got older wouldn't mind going back at some point! It is really big so i know we didn't see everything. Then we headed back tot he ship to shower and get ready for the night, I was FREEZING because we had shorts on and were wet. We took a cab back with another couple and then walked around and shopped for a little bit before heading back to the ship. You have to go through an area with ID's and such to go through to the ships. It was highly security to even get into the areas with the ships and then again to get on the ship had to have your sail card and ID and go through detectors. Which doesn't bother me at all I would much rather be safe then sorry and have a freak on our ship. After showering we went back out (off the ship) to some stores and then to Senior Frogs. Many of the girls and they families had adventures planned for the day but because of the rain didn't get to do them so they were at Senior Frogs all day:), if you know what I mean with legal drinking age being 18. you can imagine when we meet at 6:00pm what that was like. I am glad they all had a good time!
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| This is where we pulled ship into the Bahamas, this is where some movie stars own houses |
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| Team photo right off ship in Bahamas |
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| Atlantis |
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| Jared was right with all the kids playing in the water |
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| These are the storm clouds that were moving in |
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| Senior Frogs (Leslie and I) |
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| Leslie made me try Conch... muscle part out of a Conch shell, I did not really like it |
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| Leslie had a rough night... I think it is only 9 or 10 something |
The next morning we left Bahamas to head back to Florida so that was our day at Sea. We laid out on the back deck for 21 year olds and older for most of the day. Most of the mens' and women's team was back there so we took up most of the deck. It was sunny but cold if you were on the upper deck so we had a perfect area. That late afternoon the men's assistant's wife set up for $20 all you can drink for two hours, of course our teams loved that!! They had this drink that Jared and I really enjoyed, Kiss on the Lips. It was a fruity icy drink and oh sooo good! That night there was a show I wanted to go to, I love shows where there is dancing and singing(Vegas type). We went to two different ones while on the ship and two of the nights went to the comedian which there were pretty good too. This night however I could not go to the Comedian, the ship was very very rocky and I was feeling very sick. I was all dressed up and wanted to go to the show still but couldn't muster up much more to go to the comedian. There were people walking in the hallway and would literally be hitting one side of the walls then the other side, it was awful! I talked to many people that said that is the worse it has ever been and they have been on multiple cruises in the past. I fell asleep and woke up we were ported back in Florida!
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| Sunrise on our last morning |
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| This was our slide on our cruise but it was too cold up there to do go down it |
Our last day and I was so ready to be home with the boys by now, Dec. 23 we went to Downtown Disney for the afternoon because our flight wasn't until 5:35pm! It was neat there is a lot at Downtown Disney a couple of our girls LOVED it others were just tired and ready to be home. WE got home about 10:30 and I asked Jared if I could please wake up the boys and he said no:(, fun hater huh! I just said well the morning will be here before I know it I need to go to bed!
The next morning Landon woke up first, Jared jumped up soo fast to get him. I said man you never get up so fast any other morning for them ( I think he missed them just a bit too). Then later Tristan woke up and he was just all smiles! It was so so good to be home with our babies!
