Cruise

Back to reality with a SLAP. We were blessed to have spent the last 10 days on vacation away from school, homework, real work, and stress only to return in full force the week before finals! (I know, I'm crazy for planning my vacation when I did, but it was amazing!)

We left Friday the 13th (with good luck) to Long Beach where we spent the day shopping at the most AMAZING mall- South Coast Plaza. My mom, Lance and I had our share of fun inside the mall while the other Gummersall/Mortensens were outside walking in the puddles of Downtown Disney.   It was great being able to spend time with my mom and Lance together, it's extremely rare that all three of us get the opportunity. 

 

We stuffed our faces at lunch before we headed to the airport (where we sat for HOURS waiting to catch our red eye to JFK).. the joys of flying standby, but it was all worth it for this...

 The tropical beauty known as the Southern Caribbean.  Each day we were able to spend time in a different port, although we probably slept more in our cabin than tanned on the beach.  That's what vacations are for though- SLEEP, RELAXATION, and TANNING. 

Day 1- St. Thomas:  We took a taxi to Megan's Bay (in picture above) where the waves crashed closed to shore.  It was a little windy, but BEAUTIFUL with soft sand.  

Day 2- We spent at sea on the ship. We mainly slept and played a round of mini golf. 

Day 3- Barbados: Oh Barbados- we journeyed with the Greens to find a beach and thought we got a sweet gig by paying a taxi $40 for 7 of us to travel round trip.  However, the taxi lady stiffed us on the ride home and after waiting 20 minutes in the rain for her to come and pick us up we were coaxed into getting on a LOCAL bus (for $1 a person) and traveling back to our ship.  Every seat was filled and the 7 of us had to stand in the aisle holding on to the metal bar above our heads.  The bus driver swerved and jolted around corners flinging us from side to side.  There was even a person designated to open and close the bus door manually and was letting passengers on and off while the bus was still going 10mph.  We drove through the REAL Barbados where I thought any second now we are all going to get shot or mugged or kidnapped.  Luckily we arrived back at our ship in one piece and with all of our belongings intact.  Lesson learned: give $5 on the 1st trip and $35 on the returning.. :)

Day 4- St. Lucia: this was the day we zip-lined through the rain forest.  It was a 2 hour zip-line that had a few surprises throughout. At each platform they hooked us up so "in case the platform collapses, we will dangle like monkeys from the tree."  Half way through we zipped to this platform 50 ft. in a tree and the only way down was to "repel" down.  There was a worker at the bottom controlling our speed, but he dropped me faster than anyone and I SCREAMED at the top of my lungs thinking I was falling to my death.

St. Lucia

 On our first formal night we were pleasantly surprised by a singing performance by all of our waiters.  Lance even got so into the song he decided that he would dance with Kelsey and myself.

 Each and every night instead of attending the comedy shows and getting "crunk" we went to karaoke.  It wasn't until the second to last night that I finally got on stage and sang. Here's the proof.

 After "shopping" in St. Kitts we spent a "boat" day tanning on the ship.

 When in St. Kitts right when you got off the ship there were a ton of guys with monkeys on their shoulders.  Tanner went to take a picture with a monkey on his shoulder and hollered my name to bring my camera over, instead 4 different men came walking toward me all yelling "CHRISTINE CHRISTINE" with their monkeys hoping from shoulder to shoulder.  Needless to say I ran away totally freaked out and then later that night returned to my room to find this precious gem.

 One night there was a black jack tournament where the buy in was $20 and a person to buy in as many times as they wanted.  Lance was in the 2nd round and won 1st place.  They left the tournament open for 3 hours for others to join and by the end of the three hours Lance was tied for 7th (last) to make it into the championship match.  He had a play in match and won.  He was in the finals and finished in 1st place winning the GRAND PRICE of $500!!!!

 There was a Carnival Victory show where anyone could audition to play the lead roles.  Kelsey was Brittany Spears and Tanner was Garth Brookes.  Each of them performed on stage in front of a few hundred people. 

 All in all our cruise was super fun.  A ton of memories made and fun times experienced.  Definitely happy we went with Kelsey! She's AWESOME!