Day 2:

Friday, April 25 was the first full day of our trip and it started bright and early for me.  I woke up so early that I had the chance to take pictures of the sunrise like the one up above.  

Pretty soon everyone else woke up and we headed to breakfast without Todd, who wanted to stay at the condo.  After breakfast at the Peach Valley Cafe we went back to the condo and got dressed (we went to breakfast in our pajamas). Once we were all ready to go we got in the rental van and headed to St. Augustine to visit the outlets and get some lunch. I visited the Michael Kors store and the Kate Spade store but didn't find anything to buy. After shopping we headed back to Daytona for Marisa's birthday dinner at Bonefish Grill. Once we were done with dinner we went back to the condo and played Phase 10 until midnight. 

Day 3:

I woke up at 6:30 on the morning of Saturday, April 26 and got showered and dressed before finishing my packing for the cruise. We left the condo at around 8:45, which was ahead of schedule. Even with a restroom break we got to the port earlier than expected, around 12:30.

It took a long time to get on the ship due to some delays, so we were hot and sweaty by the time we got onboard.  After a little bit of exploring and then doing our muster drill, it was time for sail away.  It was so much fun to be out on the balcony, drinking champagne and waving to everyone on shore and on the webcam!! 

After we took off we stayed pretty busy. We got showered and went to dinner in the main dining room. I had requested a table for us by the window, so we had a good view of the ocean while eating. I thought the food was really good!  A lot of people online say the food is just mediocre, but I liked it. After dinner we went to see a comedy show that was pretty funny. 

Then Cynthia, Jeri, and I went and decorated Marisa's room with the birthday banner and balloons we brought. She was excited and happy when she saw the decorations and realized we had decorated for her!

Later that night we spent time in the cantilevered hot tubs, which are 120 feet over the water!  It was a good way to relax and get ready for bed. I thought about going to the casino after that, but I really wanted to un-pack and get organized so I went back to my room at around 9:30.  

Overall, the first day of the cruise was very tiring and overwhelming.  It was so exciting to finally be on the ship, but at that point I was ready for a day at sea spent relaxing and hanging by the pool!

Tomorrow I will write about day 4 and our time in Belize!

My trip is over and now it is back to reality!  I actually got home on Sunday evening, but it's taken me a while to unpack and get re-situated, so I am just now getting a chance to do a quick blog post.  

The trip itself was a lot of fun.  It was just as good as I hoped it would be and we got to see and do all kinds of fun stuff.  The group I traveled with was a great group of people and we had each other cracking up the whole time.  

I am going to do a full breakdown of the entire trip, including pictures.  I will probably go day by day so you can get an idea of everything we did and all the places we went.

First, let me introduce you to the people on the trip so you know who I'm talking about during my upcoming posts:

• Marisa - one of my best friends since college, also the birthday girl  
  
• Mark - Marisa's husband
• Todd - Mark's friend since 6th grade
• Cynthia - Marisa's friend from high school
• Rick - Mark's brother
• Jeri - Rick's wife, making her Mark's sister-in-law

My trip started on Thursday, April 24 was a travel day for me. My flight didn't leave Denver until 2:40, so I had all morning to get ready. It was actually worse than a morning flight because the day seemed to last forever!  When it was finally time to head to the airport I had very little traffic and got there in record time. I also got lucky and was selected to go through the TSA pre-check line, which meant I didn't stand in line for security at all!

I was at my gate really early and worried the time would drag, but it ended up going by pretty fast. Before I knew it I was on the plane!  Before boarding, I had noticed a large group of people traveling together and soon figured out they were a cheerleading team headed for a world tournament in Orlando. They were pretty spirited, so it turned out to be the loudest flight I've ever been on!

We finally landed and I met Marisa and Cynthia at the baggage claim. Soon we were on our way to Daytona after a quick meal at Carrabba's.  We got to the condo at around 11:30, so we all hung out until midnight so Marisa could open her cards for her 30th birthday. We headed to bed shortly after that, all tired after a long day of travel.