Vacation is Good for the Soul

 Coach Husband & I returned home on Thursday from a wonderful vacation!  We decided about ten days earlier to book a cruise, something neither of us has ever done, and spend time relaxing, unwinding and resting.  It was a perfect antidote to the busy end of the school year and truly started our summer off. Not that we are actually taking summer off.  Monday CH begins teaching summer school through July, followed by Coach’s School {I am convinced this is just a way for all of the coaches in TX to get together for a guy’s week} & then two-a-days.  I will start the Master Reading Teacher program on Monday that runs through July.  But for now we are basking in the glory of nothingness to do and the afterglow of a vacation.

Carnival Triumph

We drove to Galveston on Saturday morning and embarked on our journey.  Almost as soon as we were onboard and settled I was by the pool.  Basically I lived there all week.  We ended our evening with dinner in the buffet dining room that night and went to bed early.  The end of year exhaustion from school hit hard!

Sunday was CH’s birthday & a day at sea!  We laid out by the pool, napped in our stateroom and had a delicious dinner in the dining room.  Our wait staff surprised  Coach with his personal birthday cake.  We also experienced the Comedy Club on board the ship!  It was so nice to full on belly laugh for 45 minutes; talk about stress relief. 

Monday docked us in Progresso where we did a little shopping and then returned to the boat for a rousing game of Putt-Putt and more pool/reading time.  Coach was a burnt crisp at this point so he spent his time at the EA Sports Bar catching up on Sportscenter and debating schemes with other sports fanatics.  That evening we watched a fabulous show that married the showgirl dancers and an illusionist!  We had dinner in the dining room once again and decided we could eat like that every night for the rest of our lives.

Tuesday we disembarked in Cozumel!  Some sweet friends had visited Cozumel on their cruise earlier this spring and found a quiet place to snorkel and lay out on the beach by just asking their taxi driver!  We followed their lead and went to Sky Reef for the day.  Coach snorkeled for hours while I stuck my face in the water once to say I did it, and then proceeded to lay out on the beach.  We returned to the ship for more pool time, a long reading session in the library on board, a Dive-In Movie after dark and more yummy food in the dining room.

Wednesday found us sailing for home and we indulged in different activities onboard.  That morning we attended the Towel Animal Seminar, where we learned to fold towels into towel animals and followed it up by watching the Towel Animal Theatre.  We found time for a little bit more pool action, ate a leisurely lunch, read on deck, watched the Big Easy Show that was a fantastic display of dancing, costumes and vocals and finished with our last night in the dining room.

Thursday we returned home and immediately back to reality!  Pulled in the driveway at 3:30 & I had a meeting at school at 5:30.   Overall we loved our first cruise!  Another one is definitely in our future plans and we are so excited to go {possibly} with friends on this next round! I am so glad that we went for it and took a vacation as soon as school let out.  It might become our new normal actually! The immediate relief and nothing to do was incredibly relaxing and I already feel rejuvenated to take on summer.