For your post-cruising enjoyment

(yep, I took that picture. isn't it the coolest?)

Since I know you've just been chomping at the bit, anxiously waiting to see more pictures from my cruise (you have been, haven't you?), without further ado (further adieu? no - that means goodbye), here ya go.

Key West....



Look! Just like Gilligan's Island! :)





I loved the architecture in Key West. Many, many of the houses and other buildings had this sort of design. I'm not a real architecture person....anyone know what this style of building is called? I love it. Would love to live in a house that looks like this. :)



This cute mama hen and her babies were just strolling on the street, hiding from the sun under this little step. Roosters and hens were everywhere, just walking around the streets of downtown Key West. So fun! (maybe not if you live there)






Cozumel.


Our neighbors in port....




Ooooo....niiiice hair. I loved this cool iguana! Her name was Maria. I'm sad that the pictures of ME holding her were on my mom's camera.


This is the hotel where The Mister and I stayed on our honeymoon. Isn't that fun? :)


On the ship...

Life boat drill. Whew! So glad we didn't have to use those!


My mom and I, ready for dinner the first night....


....and for the formal dinner.


Watermelons! How cool are these?


The parade of nations. There were over 50 countries represented by the crew. So cool!


And...I forgot in the star parade in my last post....Rebecca St. James was there too.



AND Mark Harris. For some weird reason I don't have any pictures of him at all. But he was amazing, and if you don't know who he is you can see one of his videos on this post of mine from last June.

And our host was none other than Karen Kingsbury! I'm a little embarrassed to admit I've never read a single one of her books, but I will be now. She gave everyone in the Premier Christian Cruises group a free copy of her new book Take Four...which of course is the 4th in a series. Good marketing, huh? ;)



Karen is fabulous. I loved her. She is warm and friendly and easy to talk to. She has such a gentle spirit - someone you would want to be friends with. Just being around her and hearing her speak made me want to read all her books.

During the cruise we watched the movie Like Dandelion Dust (click to watch the trailer), based on her book with the same title, and I have to tell you - I came this.close. to having to get up and leave. Oh.My.Goodness. It was soooo hard to watch. Really hard stuff. About a 6-year-old boy. I almost couldn't take it. In case you don't remember, I'm one of those weirdos who actually DOES want to know how a movie (or a book) ends before I start it, but I know most of you DON'T want to know so I won't spoil it. But go watch the trailer and then you can decide if you want to see the movie. Or read the book. [I just watched the trailer, and something is messed up with my computer so I didn't have any sound, and I still almost couldn't even watch the whole thing.]

And that's a wrap. Looking back over this post, it appears that I LOVED everything, and everything was SO COOL! haha :) Loved the ports. Loved the baby sea turtles. Loved Karen and Lysa and Renee. Loved Shanti, Melissa, Nicole, Rebecca and Mark. Loved the desserts. Loved the ocean.

Oh yeah, and did I tell you I tried escargot for the first time? Didn't love that.