Slow Down, Gym Shoe!: Travel

This past weekend we went up to the Dells with Diana's mom and younger sisters. We drove up Sunday morning, stayed one night, and drove back on Monday evening. It was a short vacation, but Diana's mom paid for it for us because we're all kinda broke these days! And it was definitely a welcome vacation! We stayed at Mount Olympus, which used to be Treasure Island. They have an indoor waterpark, plus a small indoor theme park. So we spent most of the first day in the water park. The second day, we went to the theme park in the morning, which was pretty cool, although there were really only three rides for people over the age of six or so. They have an awesome indoor rollercoaster that is sort of like a Tilt-A-Whirl on a track, plus Go-Karts and bumper cars. I didn't really like the Go-Karts because I am nervous enough driving a regular car! But the bumper cars were awesome. Diana, her mom, Megan, Sarah, Jimmy and I all went on at the same time, and took Pufferfish. (Little Ber and Monkeyboy didn't want to go on.) We had the whole bumper cars floor to ourselves, and even the baby loved it! We stayed on for three rounds in a row.
In the afternoon we went to Wizard Quest, which is an awesome place where you have to go through this enchanted land and look for clues to rescue the wizards. There are slides, and tunnels, and nets, and secret passages, and everything else! it was very cool. I wish there was something like it near here!
Alarmingly, I didn't even take any pictures... my phone died on the first day and I had forgotten my charger. I had my camera with me, but I just was busy and not thinking about it, I guess!
Anyway, we got home at about nine-thirty last night, just in time for the kids to go to bed. It was an awesome weekend! Someday when I have lots more money, I would totally want to go again and we could stay longer and do more things!
*****
Me: "Why does Illinois have toll roads and Wisconsin doesn't?"
Jimmy: "Because Illinois sucks, and Wisconsin doesn't."
Me: "Oh, yeah..."

I'm back from my Disney Cruise, and I had an awesome time! In fact, it was one of the best times I ever had in my life!
The ship was small for a cruise ship, but it had everything imaginable on it. There were three separate swimming pools... one for kids, which included a splash pad for little non-swimmers, one family pool that had a water slide and a huge TV over it, and one adults only pool where you had to be over 18 to swim in it. It had a movie theater where we saw Disney Movies, a stage theater where we saw some Broadway-style musicals, a couple of bars, lounges, and restaurants, a studio where fake game shows were held, some suvinere stores, and clubs for kids of different ages. (There was a teen dance club, a supervised kids club for preschoolers and school-aged kids where activities took place, a sort of lounge where kids could hang out and play with their parents' supervision, and a nursery for toddlers and infants.) And the crew members... Well, the service was extraordinary! Everyone was so friendly, and helpful, and treated us as if we were their oldest friends, instead of just their customers. I was actually sad to leave some of them on the last day!

A picture is worth a thousand words... so here are a thousand pictures! (Well, maybe not that many...)

I have a little monkey who goes with us everywhere, named Little Ap. (He's named after my mom's friend's monkey, Ap, who recently was kidnapped during a burglary!) YOu will see Little Ap having various adventures with us throughout the photos.

The people took this photo of us just as we were getting onto the ship!

Here I am standing in front of our huge ship!

When we first got on the ship, before it even started sailing, every single person had to participate in a safety drill, complete with life jackets!

Our stateroom was on level two, near the bottom of the ship. We had a porthole for a window. I really loved looking out it, especially in the middle of the night when I got up to use the bathroom! It was so much fun to look out and see nothing but ocean and sky!

Looking back as the ship first pulled away from the harbor in Florida!

Looking overboard at night. The ocean was black, but the waves glowed greenish-blue! It was very cool. I could have spent hours and hours just watching the ocean! II never got sea sick!

Little Ap doesn't like to follow rules.

Every evening when we got back to our stateroom, the room had been cleaned, and fresh towels were folded into animals! Little Ap didn't understand that they were just towels, though...

Little Ap is technically too young to drink, but this was a special occasion!

...And I had a few drinks too!

Two cruise ships waiting at the harbor outside Nassau in the Bahamas. The one with the airplane-looking propeller on the back is a Carnival cruise ship. The smaller one is mine!

The island near Nausseau,where we were taken for our Stingray Adventure!

Riding on the shuttle boat to get to the island!

The white building in the background supposedly used to be an underwater aquarium, where people could view sharks and other fish below. On top was a bar and restaurant. When the hurricane hit Nasseau, the aquarium was destroyed, and it was never repaired.

We had to put on snorkeling equipment in order to get into the water with the stingrays!

And here is the highlight of my whole trip... swimming with stingrays! I am an animal lover, so it thrilled me to be able to get close to these crazy looking creatures! They would swim right up to you, bump against you, let you pet them, and even sit on your lap if you were kneeling down in the water! (Don't worry... their stingers had been removed, so that no deaths would occur.)

On the last day, we went to Castaway Key, a special island owned by Disney. We went to the beach for adults only, to get away from all of the kids and families. We spent the entire day lying on rafts, floating around on the crystal clear Caribbean waters!

On Castaway Key, we also saw the Flying Dutchman, the pirate ship from the movie Pirates Of the Caribbean!

Me sitting in another porthole window on the ship, outside the restaurant. It was breakfast time and I was still half asleep! Plus very sunburnt, by then, apparently!

And no DIsney trip would be complete without lots of pictures with all sorts of Disney characters!

Me and my mom with Goofy!

With Mickey Mouse...

...and Minnie Mouse!

I don't know who this girl is. Some guy used our camera to take one of the character pictures, and he must have snapped a picture of this girl first!!! IN the background you can see Captain Hook!

Mom and me with Cinderella!

Me, looking a little alarmed, with Snow White!

One weird thing was that, every single day we spotted a rainbow! Here is a picture of the first rainbow we saw, just as our ship was leaving Florida.

I had the best time in the world! I wish I could go back! Today I kept having pangs of something that could only be compared to homesickness. The pople on the cruise were just so nice, and the ocean was so beautiful, it just made my three days a completely happy experience. I hope someday I can go back!

(P.S. I think Little Ap took this picture of himself when we weren't looking!)