Lots of Food and New Things

Definitely one of the best vacations I've had in a very long time. The improper grammar should be an indication of its greatness. So without further ado, here is a sneak peak!

Somehow, my mom, brother and I managed to persuade my dad to go on a cruise for Christmas (with all the other family friends of course). The one vacation that had evaded my family (a couple of us are particularly prone to motion-sickness) was finally within grasps. After suffering through the long drive to Miami, we got on the cruise with just enough time to spare.

Almost immediately after getting onto the cruise, I started to eat, which resulted in this:

Fast forward through a safety drill, and I watched one of my first sunsets in a very long time:

Dinner was quite impressive, and my Mahi Mahi tasted really good. Fortunately, I didn't know that I could order multiples of things (which lead to delicious overeating of desert the next few nights), so I only ordered one dish from each course. That night I desperately tried to catch up on reading Brisingr (probably the only time, I have for casual reading).

The second morning, my brother and I spent most of our day in Nassau, Bahamas. There we snorkeled (picture way above is the water there). Snorkeling was so much fun; I'm definitely buying some equipment before next time. After a quick nap while everyone else was running around trying to find things to do, we went to dinner, where my brother promptly decided to stuff himself (2 entree dishes). The comedy show after dinner, was the greatest case of a mix bag performance ever. Trying to occupy our time afterwards, our group decided to play Mafia. However, the effort to demonstrate to our parents how to play the game quickly turned south and quickly reminded me why I rarely play games with my parents.

The third day, we went to a private beach (I can't believe cruise lines own their own islands).

After deciding to sleep in on Christmas for the first time in who knows how many years, I finally got up at around 10, thanks to my persistent alarm (my mom). A quick breakfast, and my family and I were on the tender heading towards the island. The sand on the island was so clean and soft compared to the hard, gritty sand in Michigan. Besides burying my brother in the sun a couple of times, I also had a healthy dose of sun, snorkeling, turkey burgers and sleep. Dinner was fine as always, and our final night was filled with a surprisingly good Christmas show (the singers were really good). After the show, my friends and I sat out on the deck and played board games. It was so nice and peaceful; I miss it already. Overall, it was a wonderful trip, and you can bet that I'll be going on more.