A million ways to spend your time...When I get back I'll drop you a line

Oh my gosh....for the first time in over two weeks I am spending the WHOLE day at home. I knew if I didn't get a start on this blogging I would be SO behind I would never catch up. I hope I can go through my pictures and put some chronology to all the activities....

I thought since Salt just came down with the information on next year's cruise I should get my butt in gear. Next year we will be on a BRAND NEW ship that as of yet has not even been launched. It is the Carnival Dream. We will be 7 nights on the Western Caribbean, leaving from Port Canaveral and stopping at Rootan, Belize, Casta Maya, and Cozumel Mexico.

As soon as we boarded the ship http://www.carnival.com/ We headed to the buffet lunch and had to pass the pool (one of the pools) and water slide. My first thought was how much fun the grand kids would have if they were with us. Maybe another time....

Of course right after lunch we headed for the casino to check it out....no gambling until we were several miles out into the ocean.

Here were the boys (Terry and Salt) checking out the upper deck before we set sail. Why do people say that when the ships are all motorized??????

The first night of dinner we were visited by pirates, and show girls....and of course all kinds of photographers!

We tried to get in as many functions as we could without getting total burnout before the end of the cruise. The first night we caught the early stage show and comedian.

I have TONS of pictures, but I am only posting a few from each event. After this post I have to catch up on the week since we arrived home.

Of course I would have a picture of taken of all the money I won....you won't see one of me with my pockets turned outside....LOL

The waiters, who are all so interesting and attentive, entertained every night....a silly song or sillier dance!

of course the guests joined right in...

Arriving in Freeport...we took a taxi downtown for some browsing and a little shopping and the BEST Conk Fritters I have ever had!!

All of the dancers were great, we particularly got a kick out of the Break Dancers.....

We looked forward to our "surprise" every night. Carnival is big on towel creations. I almost bought a book because I thought it would be fun for Emma and Rachael this summer....however, then I thought again....what if they don't want to take them apart after they make them. I had visions of more dirty towels than we already deal with in the summer. With the beach, showers, and hot tub, they add up fast!!!! As a matter of fact, Emma's made Salt and me these "gift cards" for Christmas. Mine was that she was going to make breakfast for me and Salt's was she was going to be careful about leaving wet towels around. She SO thinks out of the box!!!

Arriving in the port of Nassau

Salt and I joined a Moroccan band....for 5 minutes....ha ha.

Outside the port of Nassau there are about a hundred "tour guides" trying to catch your attention and business. We ignored them until we came upon Dr. Feelgood...(my name for him) because he was so funny. He took us all around the island (in a rickety old van) spewing out history, and the Bahamian take on punishment for criminals. The best part was our stop at Atlantis www.atlantis.com .

Anna Nicole Smith's house......

The entrance to Atlantis......

Ruthie in front of the condos in the Atlantis resort...... More of Atlantis.....

The magnificent aquarium that wraps around the interior of the Grand Hotel

some of the fish in the amazing aquarium.....

We all jumped into the "chair" for a photo but Ruthie had to be the cutest. She is so tiny the only thing I could think of was "My name is Alice Ann" (Lily Tomlin).

The Atlantis casino had these fabulous hand blown glass sculptures. This was called the sun.

These statues were so amazing....It was hard to believe they were all hand blown glass. This one was called "coral".

This was a very interesting stop....our guide explained that Nassau was once totally under water and explained in detail how they carved out these walls and drained the water. I am enclosing the web site for the Queens Stairs www.bahamasgo.com/treasures/queensstaircase.htm which is some more interesting history.

and, even though we have done the "Straw Market" too many times....we did a quick sweep!

I was SO tempted to get all the grand kids one of the shells that had been made into whistles (more like bullhorns).

The Bahamians have so much fun with COLOR....I love it! This horse is for you Emma!!

Gene and Ruth at the Captain's Dinner.

The last night was Mambo night...the backdrops and costumes were phenomenal....Gene informed me the thongs even had sparkles on them......hmmmm.