In January 2012 Clayton and I will be celebrating 10 years of an extremely blessed life/marriage together! To celebrate in a BIG way we decided to set out on an adventure, just as we did 9 years ago, after Clayton arrived home from his deployment. Our year delayed honeymoon cruise took us to the Bahamas. We said then, that we ought to do this every 5years. Well, 5 years came and went with the joy of our two bouncing babies, who are not so much babies anymore:( With lots of prayers and a little WILL planning, my husband could lead us on an adventure of a lifetime once again!!!! Thanks to many wonderful people around us... the kids were well looked after, and even a little spoiled(pics to follow:). We took off last week with just the plane and cruise tickets, and no other travel arrangements. I like to say we had our very own Amazing Race.
After 3 layovers, we made it into Canada late at night. Not knowing the rules for sleeping in airports we tried to make it look like we were waiting on a flight. We played rummy, a card game, until there wasn't anyone left in the airport. Finally, we found a row of chairs around a few other sleepers. You know, to make it look like we were with the flight they were waiting on:) At 3am we woke to hundreds of travelers awaiting to go on their very own adventures. To say the least, we didn't get much sleep, but it sure was a fun experience with my LOVE. Isn't he just so cute!!!
Ten years of marriage Clayton can always make me laugh. Below, he put on a mock Maury Show for me in the airport. The two US pennies discovered that one was not the father to the Canadian Penny. It was very entertaining! Yep, that's how tired and bored we were. 
At 6am we left the airport and hopped on the Vancouver Sky Train... With little navigation help on my end, a very nice homeless guy helped us find our way around. That was extremely humbling, in such a wonderful way!
We found our ship!
However, we couldn't board until 11am. 
So we snapped shots of gorgeous Vancouver...
..and of ourselves! Now remember we slept in an airport all night with no way to clean up.
We finally made it on the ship!
We could finally rest and enjoy the view!
Our cabin guy made this for us. I'm thinking turkey??? Or, peacock??? Not sure. But he was amazing. He and the ship took really good care of us after experiencing 24ft swells the first night. Neither of us were bothered 9years ago by high seas, but we found out quickly Clayton has the weaker stomach between the two of us:( Poor guy was sick that whole first day! You know it's bad when the all-you-can-eat deck looks like a ghost town, and the workers are even looking a little green:)
We did learn, for future cruises, to have our wrist bands on, green apples near by, sea sick pills on hand, and mint tea brewing. With all of that we made it through it the cruise and could take in the beautiful views, once again!
We enjoyed cruise shows, chess, card games, slots, and meeting new people. Our favorite thing to do was just sit and watch the ocean... we saw blue whales and tons of dolphins- breath takingly beautiful, it was!!!
Clayton and I are both old souls at heart, so of course I would just naturally choose a ship with the average age 65. I think we counted only 6 other couples around our age. But we related best with the older generation. We had some amazing conversations with one couple in paticular. We sat all the way through breakfast and on into lunch just chatting about everything. What chance that we couldn't find a seat to ourselves that first morning, and they couldn't the next morning. Now we can say we have some wonderful friends in Vancouver:)
After docking in San Diego, we had some time to spare before catching our plane. Not having any transportation plans arranged, we were stoked when a guy offered us a ride on his bike taxi. He biked us all around, giving us our own personal tour of San Diego! What a fun experience.
We had such an amazing time celebrating our love, our friendship, and just enjoying each other outside of the busyness of our day to day life!!! 10 years with my hubby makes me such a lucky girl...God has given me an amazing gift. I can't wait to see where he takes us the next 50 plus, years!!!
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They say it takes a village to raise kids. Well, it took a village to watch ours while we were away. We wouldn't had this wonderful experience in our marriage if it wasn't for those who helped out with the kids. We can't thank you enough...
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