We're baaaaaaaaack!

Hey friends! I missed you all while I was having a blast in Grand Cayman and Mexico. Ok, so I actually didn't miss you much at all, but it's good to be back on dry land. I have tons of pictures and thoughts to share about our fabulous cruise, but I also have tons of crap to accomplish today before normal life resumes tomorrow. So I'll just share a few pictures for now.

First, we spent some time in Fort Lauderdale with Dillon's brother and his family. We were so grateful to have family to stay with before boarding our ship. They were awesome hosts (thanks again, Todd and Annika)! They even took us on a tour of downtown Fort Lauderdale so we could see all the fancy mansions and yachts on the Intercoastal. Crazy-rich people down there.

We took a short walk down the beauuuuuutiful beach where we found this giant fishy:

I was impressed. Not gonna lie.

By the way, the beaches on the east coast are 100x better than those on our side of the USA. Sorry, California. I still love you, but you don't exactly compare to Florida in that respect.

Then, we made our way to Port Everglades to hop on our ginormous ship, Independence of the Seas. I couldn't believe the size of it! It is one the second largest class of cruise ships in the world. One of the biggest, the Allure of the Seas, was docked behind us. See:

In case there is any confusion, I am NOT the biggest cruise ship in the world.

We continued to enjoy the deck while we waited for the ship to set sail. It was so much fun! Lots of people had already busted out their swimsuits by this point. We just wanted to take gazillions of pictures like the tacky tourists we are.



That's the kiddie pool area behind us in the bottom picture. It looked really fun and I wished for a bit that I was 10 so I could enjoy it.

Beforehand, I was nervous about the size of our room. I have claustrophobia and I knew it wouldn't have a window which probably wouldn't help me. It was definitely tiny, but it was full of nooks, crannies and hidden cabinets where we stored all our shtuff. Oh, P.S. -- if you're a person who likes to keep your suitcase packed while you stay somewhere, there is a 100% chance you will have to abandon that preference while on a cruise. Just unpack. Embrace it. It's easier and your clothes won't be creased beyond belief.

After we got settled in, we headed to the dining room for some grub. My, my, it was faaaaaancy. The food? Amazing. It didn't take my stomach long to get used to four courses of decadent food every night. In fact, by the end I would usually order two appetizers and finish dessert feeling satisfied but not stuffed. It was crazy.

Here is the view from our table in the dining room:



We were assigned to sit at a table with six other people, none of whom we knew ahead of time. Ours turned out to be the best dinner-mates EVER. Can't wait to tell you about our new friends from Chicago.

Every night, the ship put on some kind of production involving the Royal Caribbean Singers and Dancers. They weren't Broadway quality or anything, but it was super-fun anyway. The guy in the front actually had a fantastic voice. I really liked him.



At the end of each night, we'd come "home" to a new towel creature on our bed. I thought it was hilarious.



More pictures to come!