Okay, so where are the pictures?

I've finally been able to catch my breath! It seems as if last week was CRAZY, so I found it very difficult to find time to blog. But, I did promise pictures of our trip (which was WONDERFUL, by the way). I spent a good part of yesterday uploading my pics to shutt.erfly. I think I'm going to make a photo book for myself there. It seems a bit cheaper (and easier) than getting prints of all 575 pictures we took.

After much contemplating, I have decided to categorize my pictures. (Oh, who am I kidding? I "categorize" everything!) So, today's compilation will consist of some of my favorite snapshots from the ship. We sailed on the Carn.ival Fant.asy, leaving from Charleston, SC. While their embarkation process was a bit different than what we had experienced before (our other 2 cruises have left from Mob.ile, AL), we were able to go to our staterooms immediately after boarding, and were reunited with our checked luggage within a couple of hours. So far, so good!

Before I begin with shots from the ship, I have a very interesting picture that I took while we were in line to get in line. (Seriously.) We were waiting in our van to get our passports checked, etc., before heading into the parking garage. As we neared the first checkpoint, this is what we saw:

At first, I thought maybe it was a fasade, used as some sort of scenery.  But the closer we got to it, the more I could tell that this really was an aged structure.  My mom and I are quite the creative ones, and we made up this whole story about how this freestanding wall came to be.  Anybody know the real story?

As soon as J and I finished lunch on the day we boarded, we set out to explore the ship, cameras in hand.  Here, we went to the forward deck to check out the water. 

Here's J taking what I think might be the only video we have of the entire trip.  (We're sort of a novice at thinking about the camera!)

Later that afternoon, I (with a little help from mom, N--my brother, and J) won my very own piece of "ship on a stick" by winning "Ultimate Mind Challenge" trivia.  Such a proud moment!  Later in the cruise, J won his own for 80's trivia.

The inside of the ship looked like some kind of elegant mall or something. 

Here, mom, dad, N, and J played in a bean toss tournament.  They actually played a couple of days.  They did a good job, but the didn't win a trophy this time.  (Dad won on his last cruise.)

They had a walking/jogging track around the miniature golf course on the top deck.  We got up early several mornings for a walk before breakfast.  I walked.  J jogged some.  Mom and N played miniature golf.

N, who is a math teacher, went to the library every day for a Sudoku game.  Since it was the first time he willingly went to a library, we snapped his picture!

Here we are, cheesin' for the camera!  (I can't help it--if I see a camera, I smile.  I had to re-take my passport photo 3 times before I down-played my smile enough.)

Here are a couple of random shots taken from upper decks of the pool area.  There is also one of my favorites--a replia of the ship built entirely from Legos.  How cool is that?!

Stay tuned for food, scenery, and a few surprises along the way. 

TTC and construction update to come later.

Hugs and baby dust,