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.

The Woman's Trip (as Haven called it)

For Christmas, my mom gave all of us girls a one night getaway. So on Friday, we left OH around 2 PM and headed north to Lynden. We stayed at a cozy condo on a beautiful golf course (I can't remember what it is called) and had a grand old time. We shopped, ate dinner at Red Robin, and then hung out in the hot tub for almost 2 hours. Then we retired to our "Sports Cabana" and started a movie, complete with all the necessary sweets. On Saturday we did a little more shopping, ate lunch at the Olive Garden, got a pedicure or manicure, saw 27 Dresses, did a little more shopping and then finished off the evening at Red Robin for Mile-High-Mudpie. It was fantastic!

Amanda sporting her swimsuit and winter parka as we headed out door for the hot tub.


Ciera, in her fabulous towel turban.

Ciera, Sarah and Amanda waiting in the cold for mom to checkout so we could take a picture.

The girls (a little blurry, but what can you expect when you hand your camera off to a stranger)

It's become a tradition to get our own piece of mud pie when we're on our girls trip. In years past, our waitress' have made some snide remarks, such as, "you all want your OWN piece...we're going to have to roll all of you out of here!" But this time, our waitress rocked and told us how awesome we were. She is a smart girl!

Thanks Mom, Sarah, Ciera and Amanda for a great weekend!