Thursday, October 9, 2008

No Men or Kids Allowed on this Trip

Last week, I embarked on a 10-day girls vacation.  Preparing to leave was a huge task, but once I climbed in the car with my mom and sister at 4:45 AM a couple Thursdays ago, I was set.  Many of you who know my mom, know that she has become quite the world traveler over the past 10 years.  In summer of 2007 she had the crazy idea to plan a girls cruise, but she was hoping to do it that fall.  I convinced her to give us all a year to save our pennies and so we got the word out and planned the trip for last month.  Originally there were going to be about 14 of us, but as they always do, things came up and a few people had to change their plans.  Anyway, the final group consisted of myself, my mom, my sister and her mother-in-law (Mary), Aunt Becky and Grandma Degraw (aka Soptich),  and Aunt Robin and her mom Tinker.  In planning the trip, our travel agent, Mom, thought it would be fun to spend a couple days in Disney World prior to hopping on the boat.  On the recommendations of our hotel concierge, we went to Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party.  Which meant we saved $30 on our admission, there were no lines at any of the rides and there was trick or treating all over the park until midnight. Just imagine 5 grown women trick or treating until there was no room in our candy bags.  Anyway, it was an awesome trip, and the best part was that I only had to worry about me.  I recommend this type of trip for anyone who wants an opportunity to renew their appreciation for an amazing spouse, awesome children and a supportive extended family! Thanks Mike for taking great care of the kids and house while I was gone.  Thanks Margo and Grandma Barrett for filling in all the gaps!

Mary, Becky, Sarah and Mom when we arrived at Magic Kingdom


Gotta love when the wait time is 0 minutes (which is what this sign said)


Mary was a good sport and went on all the roller coasters with us.  Here she is on Thunder Mountain, repeating, "I hate you Sarah!"


Many people took this Halloween party very seriously.  Here is Ursala showing us what is underneath the tentacles, she said everyone wants to know.  Also notice Tinker Bell in the background.  Too bad we all left our princess gowns at home.


Flat Stanley was the only male allowed to travel with us!


Me and Mom.  One of the highlights of this trip for my mom was when everyone asked if we were sisters.  Our cabin steward even asked if we were twins!  Notice I said one of the highlights for my mom.  I can only hope that when I'm 51 and Halle is 29 people will think that we are sisters.


The beautiful waters of Cozumel


This is what I spent a lot of time reading.  I loved it, but I must say I'm sad to see the saga end.


The last night of our cruise it was pretty windy!  All the decks were closed so we went out on our balcony to check things out.  Mary was a little nervous so I let her borrow my life jacket.


Sarah, Mom and I that same windy night.  The boat rocked pretty good until the wee hours of the morning.



For a more thorough account and more fun pictures, since I only took about 10, you can visit Sarah's blog.

8 comments:

cat said...

oh how fun!!! seriously i can't wait to hear more about it.
i could use one of those vacations right about now.
i was sad to see the twilight series end as well, i didn't think that i would get that hooked. i think this last one was the best and the most well-written i really liked it.
as for disneyworld, the cruise andd everything in between. i am so glad that it was a ton of fun and that you got to share it with some of your favorite people (next time it will be you and me though!)

cat said...

oh yeah, and cupcakes or apples, i don't care either way, just let me know.

Jenna Marin said...

Ok... those are some of the best pictures I have ever seen... pretty darn amusing. It looks like you all had an amazing time! It also looks like you all stayed very SAFE and didn't do anything I wouldn't have done. Oh, and didn't smoke... good work ;)

Kristi said...

Oh my goodness what a fun trip! That is great that you got to do that and had a great relaxing time! You just gotta get away sometimes! One of my friends and I want to do a trip to WA to see "forks". Hopefully in March....

Unknown said...

oh man, I could SO use a week away right now (as my laundy sits piled up on the floor and bianca is rolling around with a ribbon that could very well strangle her...hmmm)

I'm glad you had a great time, and I'm glad you got to finish that fabulous book...at least you have the movie to look forward to next month!!

Jen said...

Looks so fun. I'm glad that you had a great time. Mommy PTO (personal time off) is fabulous for making you want to go back to work.

genevieve said...

Wow, that looks like so much fun. I'm glad that you had a blast. Memories like those last forever!

Tara said...

How fun is that. I am so jeleous. I want to plan a girls trip! Did the kids survive without mom? Miss you all.