Bahamas and Disneyworld

So we've been back from our lovely vacation for a little over a week and I've been jam packed busy with stuff, but I figure I have to write this post before the end of this month and the crazy holiday season comes around.

We basically repeated the same trip from this post (and the following few after that one) only did things a bit different. For one we upgraded our room on the ship to one that gave us a lot more room; second, we stayed a little longer so we could squeeze in Disney world (I've never been, Larry has, and I've always wanted to go); and third we did a deal with the cruise company where we got a rental car the whole time and they booked our hotel rooms for us. This time it wasn't nearly as stressful as last time for the most part, but we did have to deal with three different time share-like presentations.

So the good parts about our trip: since they hooked us up with the hotels we didn't have to worry about paying for them, we just had to pay for the taxes AND they hooked us up with free meals the whole time that we only had to pay taxes and a gratuity. With their deal I don't think we paid more than $7 for a whole meal (not just each of us). On the ship we decided against doing snorkeling and did this glass bottom boat tour AND a day at the Grand Lucayan resort on the beach (lunch included) so we got to see what was in the water AND play in the water (that's as close to snorkeling as we could get), but the best part was on the boat we got to see sharks SUPER up close in their natural environment. They even used a frozen barracuda fish to "bait" the sharks and pull them up so we could see how long they were. It was probably one of the coolest things we've seen and experienced, it was so different than seeing sharks at the aquarium. We even found out that the Bahamas' government pays certain fishing boats to go out about three times a day and feed the sharks so that they leave tourists/beaches alone-isn't that so cool? The room we had on the ship made it much  more enjoyable and made me love being on the ship much more than last time, plus we picked way better places to eat than last time (no drunk people ruining our experience this time haha). Now Disney World was pretty amazing! I loved seeing every part of it, we went to all 4 parks (Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Hollywood Studios, and Animal Kingdom) and aside from it being really hot we still enjoyed every park. Larry had a lot of memories from being there as a kid so he would tell me his favorite parts from back then and how it compared to now. I guess Disney World and Disney Land are pretty similar, although I haven't been to DL since before California Adventures came about I saw some things that were the same from when I went as a kid (Star Tours is still probably one of my favorite rides in those parks). I think we only missed one real ride the whole time (the Toy Story ride had a 130 min. wait and no flash pass that we could find so it got skipped), but we saw a ton still and had lots of fun. We found out a 5 hour layover in a random airport isn't so bad as long as they have wi-fi and we can watch Netflix (made it go MUCH faster, made it feel less like we were in an airport, and we got to see two new movies we might not have seen before).

The bad parts didn't come along very much, but I'll say the hotels were less than hospitable in the rooms the cruise line hooked us up with, but they only let us stay till the 17th and we didn't leave till the 20th so we had to book our own for 3 days and that room (same hotel, different room) was much better than the others. The first Ramada we stayed at (in Ft. Lauderdale) had bugs everywhere and the food was barely mediocre (not to mention the service was pretty awful) and the second one we stayed at (in Orlando) was nicer, but the food was still iffy. We ended up spending a lot more money than I wanted (with food and extra days and everything) and so by the end I wanted to come home just so we wouldn't have to spend more money on anything. I also couldn't believe how much our feet could hurt by the end, we ended almost every day in the last half of our trip lying on the ground waiting for our shuttle, but it was more than worth it for all the fun we squeezed in. Of course the time share things were a drag, but we found ways to say no without having to sell our soul to them :)

Overall this trip was SO much more fun than last time. We didn't have any mix-ups trying to get to our new hotel and having a rental car the whole time made it much nicer and less stressful, we had longer lines at Disney World (versus Universal Studios), but that was expected. Plus it was the first vacation I've been on where I didn't get a little sunburnt (amazing feat for me!). In the end we could say we enjoyed this trip and it was perfect timing. It was just long enough for us to want to come home and not hate being back to work (plus we ended up missing the kitties so much by the end) and it was a good way to celebrate our anniversary (we've hit 9 years this month!)

I'll try and post pictures and maybe more details as the week goes by (I have to sort through over 300 pics to find the real important ones). Next up...Halloween!!

October Time

So I have to say I'm so excited for October this year, I'm not sure why-I've never really looked forward to it before (except when I was a kid and knew I was getting candy near the end of it haha), but I've just been really excited for it this year. I've been pinning so many crafts I want to make and I've "liked" this Crafts Corner Facebook Page-if you like crafts and haven't liked this page go like it. It's got so many fun, cheap, sometimes easy craft ideas for everything. I'm officially obsessed. Jena and I even, hopefully, have a craft night planned this month. I want to do a Fall and Halloween one so I can keep one up for a little while, even though I'm pretty sure here in Utah we've gotten rid of Fall and Spring all together (seems like we just shift from Summer to a long Winter each year).

I found this checklist (above) on Pinterest, and while I may not get it all done, I'd like to do a few of them. I want to make my own Apple Cider and make Carmel Apples (not sure why, but I've been pretty obsessed with carmel apples lately), of course I'm happy for the candy parts, I'm pretty sure I've got the biggest sweet tooth ever!

So excited for October! The rest of this year should be awesome! This month we have our cruise and Halloween, next month my sister, Ariel, is getting married and then I get to see my momma for Thanksgiving, and then December is Christmas and that's, easily, my favorite time of year! These next 3 months are going to R.O.C.K!! Happy Holidays :)