Saturday, September 6, 2003
10-09-2003, 9:10 p.m.

Saturday, September 6, 2003�

Today we woke up to light rain and cloudy skies, and were disappointed for all of about 30 seconds. We pulled into the Princess Cays and while we had hoped for a wonderful day, we knew that we would be coming back here in just 2 days, and so it really wasn�t that bad of a thing.

They started tendering people over to the Island, but we had heard that it can get pretty crowded early on, and since it was a little rainy anyway we opted to stay on board until things calmed down a little bit. We have been having such a wonderful time in the mornings with our room service, and so we lingered over that this morning. We really enjoy sitting on our balcony just laughing about the goofiest things. One of the funniest things.. I have been knocking into things a lot and always seem to hit my funny bone. Heck, that hurts! Well one time, I hit it hard and had tears in my eyes and I exclaimed �Why do they call it a funny bone? I don�t see what is so funny about it�. Well at least 5 minutes later, my dad who had been sleeping pops his head up and says �it�s cause it is funny for us�, waits a minute and chuckles with this goofy laugh. Mom and I bust out laughing, and must have laughed for hours over this�several times all day. It�s hard to explain why it was so funny, but to see him pop up out of nowhere and say it and then hear the goofy laugh he made, it just tickled us.

Mom and I decided that since we were going to wait to go on the Island, that we would get our swimming done early today. This has been my main form of exercise this week, due to the movement on the ship and the fact that walking on the treadmill makes me feel sick to my stomach. It�s been nice though, and I feel great! After we swam we went to get ready to go to the Cays. The water was still a bit rocky but the rain had stopped. The tender ride was something else, but totally worth it once we got there. What a tropical paradise this island turned out to be.

We were hungry by the time we got there, so the first thing we did was follow the signs to where the BBQ was. We had such a yummy lunch, mmm, right on the beach. Talk about a BBQ, I wish all of ours could be this wonderful. After lunch we decided to swim in the ocean for a while and while the water was still so cloudy, we were able to get some really awesome pictures with the water camera. There were several people trying to snorkel, but we opted to wait and when we started talking to people, we were glad we made that decision. They all were telling us that they were not seeing anything anyway. We spent a couple of hours on the Island, and when we were tired we decided to head back to the ship. Going back to our room was a little depressing, because at this point people had started putting out their luggage. While we knew we didn�t have to do it, it was still sad somehow.

One of the couples from our CC group has been staying in the Grand Suite this week, and we had gotten an invitation to a party in their room for late this afternoon, so we all got cleaned up and dressed for dinner and headed to their room. It was pouring out at this point, so we were glad to be inside. We went to find their room and ran into some other people from the list. Together, we managed to get there. Oh My!!!! Talk about beautiful, it was so huge and it was just so gorgeous. The bathroom alone was separated into 3 rooms and was huge, all done in marble. They had a huge living room with a fire place and a grand piano, and the balcony was about the size of 5 of ours, all done in teak. A huge hottub was in the corner of the balcony, and led into their bedroom which was also huge, with floor to ceiling picture windows facing the ocean. I could totally see myself loving that for a week. There were about 30 of us at the party and it wasn�t at all crowded. It was really just a lot of fun. They decided to put all of our names into a hat to pick a winner for the prizes that we had won at the horse races, for our best dressed horse, and I was so excited (and a little embarrassed) when my name was picked. I won a ton of cool stuff, but I shared it too. It was just so much fun with everyone hooting and hollering. I didn�t want this day to end. A bunch of us decided to all go to dinner together since it was the last night for almost everyone (we and another couple, Rob and Margaret were doing back to backs, but everyone else was leaving the next day). They had called to make reservations, so we hung out until it was time to head down.

This was my favorite night at dinner so far. As much as I�ve been loving having private dinners with mom and dad, it was just a lot of fun to have dinner with all of our new friends too. We just had so much fun sitting around talking and lingering over our meal. Edgar (my favorite waiter) had somehow heard that we were there (we were in the dining room that he doesn�t work in) and he snuck down to see us, and to sing to our group. That was pretty cool, I couldn�t believe that he went so far out of his way to do that� everyone was gushing over what a cutie he was too.

Eventually it was time for goodbyes and I was a lot more sad than I thought it would be. Mom and Dad and I decided to go to the theatre to see the movie Chicago, so we headed over there. Mom ended up not liking the movie at all, and since I have seen it before she and I snuck out to go to the casino and left dad there to watch it. We had fun in the casino, as we have had most nights, and we both were doing pretty good. Dad came to find us after the movie to let us know that another was about to begin. I was pretty tired at this point because it had been a long day, so I let him and mom go, and I headed up to the room for bed.

It�s really been so sad watching everyone getting ready to leave tomorrow, but at the same time it is really exciting knowing that we don�t have to. We didn�t even have to pack (they are going to move us to our new room - another mini-suite which is even nicer actually � our room steward let us check it out earlier today and already put loungers on the balcony for us), which is just down the hall a couple of doors. We got our new keys today, along with our in-transit passes and instructions for tomorrow. We have to meet in the casino after all other passengers are disembarked and then they will take all the in-transients down to immigration and back. They say it will only take a few minutes, and then it�s back to our room to move. Sounds like fun. After our move, we were invited to Rob and Margarette�s room for coffee. They have a coffee pot with them, so some real coffee will be nice. Plus, it is nice already knowing someone who will be on next week too.

So tomorrow it�s back to Florida and the start of our second week. I really miss Stephen so very much and hope to talk to him tomorrow while we are in Florida. Aside from missing him though, it�s been such a great vacation so far. I really am SO excited about starting the Western Caribbean. This is the itinerary that I really wanted to do and we have some great excursions picked out. I really wanted to do all the ones we picked too so it�s going to be so very special, especially my dolphin swim in Cozumel.

Okay, time for me to go to sleep. The nice thing about the rocking of the boat and the ocean air is that you really sleep so well. I fall asleep so easily, and then I sleep so wonderfully all night long. I love this trip.