I Didn't Forget Entirely

So I did write one post for yesterday but I did not publish it. Here is the second and I'll somehow have to get the two for today in later. Alex and I are going to do tennis after I get off of work so we'll see how I manage.

Portions are almost impossible on a cruise. There's so much food and it's already paid for. Now with the buffets it wasn't a problem since there was only a few selections for vegetarians/pescetarians. Likewise with dinner but dinner included appetizer, entrees and dessert. The main menu (which consisted of nearly ten items) changed every night and there was no way I wasn't going to try everything I could. Just wanted to shpeal about the food real quick before I climb into the next day on the cruise.

Wednesday, July 2nd the cruise was supposed to take port in Coco Cay but weather did not permit with the tropical storm brewin and stewin up the east coast. So the captain gave us a day at sea. It started out with cloudy weather but cleared up and turned out to be a sunny partly cloudy day. The family spent time by the pool, my brother won the belly flop competition, and my brother, Gina, and I went rock climbing. We all made it to the top! It's been a long time since I had rock climbed (like over ten years) and it saddens me that I have such a fear for heights that it caused a panic attack near to the top of the wall. I ran out of options and couldn't see how to climb any further. The person holding my line helped me out and I made it to the top and rang that victory bell. Very exciting. My fingers hurt afterwards.
I think I may have taken a nap before dinner.
After dinner was karaoke. My brother and I sang Barbie Girl by Aqua and my goodness I forgot how high pitched the song is. After karaoke was a Battle of the Sexes game. I made the mistake of volunteering for the round where we have to pop a balloon on a team mate in rather suggestive positions. Mine was from behind. I tried to pop a balloon by humping another girl. It wouldn't pop and we lost. It was very awkward infringement of my family.

After Battle of the Sexes ensued more awkwardness with a game called Quest. It was done in teams of six. On my team was my dad, me, my brother, Jenny, Gina, and Michael. The object of the game was to do whatever task was given. For example: a male team member comes to the floor wearing four bras on their head. Another quest was a team member doing the worm-- which is how I hurt my left knee. Never try the worm without seeing someone else do it first. Watch your knees. What made this game most awkward was me trading clothes with my brother in front of my family and the crowd. The quest was to trade clothes with a person of opposite sex on your team. I traded my dress for his shirt. Then he and Jenny shielded me from the crowd so I could redress. Not that the crowd hadn't already seen my bra and undies. 

So that was all awkward but tons of fun. 

I passed out afterwards but before I closed my eyes I mostly just thought of Alex and how I'd be seeing him again soon. I had fun but it really made me miss Alex because I know he would've made it even funner. (People use the word fun that way but I'm still skeptical about it being proper. Heck we live in America, propriety doesn't really matter anyway).

Boarding Her Majesty

The trouble with cameras and busy other people? Some is always left out of the picture (in this case my mom).

On Monday, June 30th I boarded Royal Caribbean's Majesty of the Seas with my parents, brother, and new family members. I believe I mentioned in my previous post that I managed to take very few photos of my own so almost photos of the cruise and the wedding are harvested from other people. (I need to work on harvesting more. I only have what I found on Facebook so far).
Shortly after boarding we had to do a Muster Drill which my parents were very flustered with since all they did was spend a minute showing us how to use the flotation devices. Afterwards we all met on the deck over-looking the pool and just talked and took pictures. Then we got ready for dinner (which my mother was not happy that I wore my black sweater for). It was the only actual casual whatever night so I just wore what I had on. The ship was really rocking because of the developing storm in the water so we were all feeling a bit nauseous. After some bread I was able to endure (Funny side story: a couple days into the cruise my father found out from someone else on the cruise that his motion sickness patch wasn't even on right-- he was able to psychologically make himself not get sick. Of course, being my father, he still wanted to wear the patch. I did just fine without a patch as long as I was busy, sleepy, or eating. I was surprisingly able to keep to these key three throughout my time on the actual ship.).
After discovering first-hand that Jenny's family is notorious for being late (like actually late not just five minutes), we were able to over our meals (and my goodness did I need to order a lot!). Being on a cruise definitely promotes being a fatty because each night there would be a new main menu as well as dessert menu. They had their staples every night but I was more interested in what wouldn't be available the next day. This first night I recall getting escargot (it wasn't prepared very well so I didn't enjoy it at all-- it was like they just put cheese on the snail and called it a night) and another appetizer (unfortunately this one slips my mind). For a main course I ordered the vegetarian chili tortilla dish (this kitchen actually made tortillas look attractive on a plate without adding ridiculous garnishes). For dessert I ordered a rather dry chocolate cake and a special strawberry mousse tart (there were a lot of strawberry dishes made available throughout the cruise).
After dinner we all went to the comedy show which wasn't very funny aside from the "NASA" joke (I had made a comment regarding the identical names of NASA and Nassau earlier that day). Then I decided to turn in. I couldn't relax because i just felt so much energy built up so I made a trip to the ship's gym. Apparently I missed out that night at karaoke because my brother sang an ol' blue eyes song (Frank Sinatra, for you non-big band fans). I was content with the gym then passing out on my wonderfully set up pull-out sofa bed (I tell no lie-- this bed was extremely comfortable for a pull out. I was amazed and slept better than I had for the past three nights).
Aside from what I just shared and the stress of trying to coordinate and work with my parents, I spent a lot of moments wishing Alex could have come. It wasn't because I didn't want to get to know my family better, it's because Alex is my other half and being on such a new adventure without him didn't feel quite right. I did my best to make the best of everything but in the end it wasn't what it could've been if I had Alex. He keeps me on my feet, on the ground (yes, it's possible to be on your feet not on the ground- it happens when you're a person who leans a little between weird and crazy).
To keep it simple: I really missed him. And the fur babies, of course.