Pastor's Daughter Takes Toddlers To Mardi Gras!
Hey guys. I'm back to share with you some details about our upcoming adventure that is only a week away! That's right, folks. I'm dusting off my "travel blog" cobwebs to bring you my first live cruise trip report since starting this new blog. Years ago I had a blog that was dedicated to all my travels, but it's been some years since I posted in it. I'm pretty sure it's still accessible in all its glory, but who wants to read that anyway? Most of the content on that blog was before Matt arrived in the picture so it's void of Matt mockery and what's a blog post without some Matt mockery?? I mean really. For most of you, this will be a whole new experience that I'm not even sure you're ready for, so I thought I'd post a bit of a pre-trip report to get this party started and give you a taste of what to expect. In years past, I posted every night of my trip. (like a lunatic) Talk about bringing your work with you. This upcoming trip, I highly doubt I'll keep up with posting every night, but I'm certain I'll at least get a few posts out while we're on this adventure and then, of course, I'll finish up once we're home. I still haven't figured out why my comments section deletes all the comments over time, but for now they seem to be sticking around, so feel free to comment. *bonus points for Matt mockery comments*
Now for the trip details. On Tuesday, February 11th, right after Matt gets out of work, we are headed on a Disney Cruise! I am SO excited and so are the kids. Matt has even started asking about our daytime schedule so he can plan out his room service orders accordingly, so that's how I know he's excited. You see, Disney Cruise Line offers room service for FREE and Matt is obsessed. I'm not even joking. The man pre-games dinner with rounds of buffalo wings and steak sandwiches while he's getting ready... for dinner. And he does it EVERY night either before dinner or after. This cruise he's acknowledging that he can't eat like he used to so he's planning his days around heading back to the room to feed his room service addiction. He's so hooked on Disney Cruises but when you ask him why, all he talks about is the room service... and the childcare... 'cause, priorities. Yes, Matt and I are all about dropping those little creatures of ours off to terrorize a bunch of strangers so we can have some fun and Disney Cruise Line's childcare offerings are incredible! You'll get to hear all about that soon enough, though.
We're sailing out of New Orleans so we decided to leave a few days early to explore New Orleans since both Matt and I have never been... and well, 'cause who doesn't want to bring their four year old and five year old to Mardi Gras??? Listen, I was so excited when I saw the discounted rates that they were offering for this cruise, I didn't even think about it. I just saw a great sale on a week long cruise out of a city both Matt & I have never been to and wanted to visit so we booked it... at a deeply discounted, yet non-refundable rate. Then we remembered Mardi Gras. Awesome! Cases like this is why we always purchase trip insurance. Well, that and because Matt seems to always find himself injured on vacation. *sigh* We were going to cancel when we realized we would be there in the thick of the Mardi Gras crazy, but I did some research and it looks like we should be okay. When I think of Mardi Gras I picture episodes of COPS. Have you seen those COPS episodes when they're at Mardi Gras? It's absolutely nuts and not something I want my kids exposed to let alone ourselves. I spoke with some locals though and they assured me that for natives, Mardi Gras is a family-friendly holiday and that only the tourists behave that way. They also assured me that that kind of behavior is really mainly at night and only really on Bourbon Street, so we decided to stick with this cruise and plan our time in NOLA accordingly. I also like to have a little fun at other people's expense and thought it'd be fun to get the gossip really going at my dad's church when it starts to slowly come out that we're in NOLA for Mardi Gras. Oh, the gossip and outrage to be had. *Something to Talk About by Bonnie Raitt playing in the background* We will be in NOLA for three nights with two full days for exploring and eating all that amazing cajun cuisine and beignets. Oh, my gosh. I feel like I've gained like 20 pounds just researching all the amazing restaurants and food we'll be eating... and that's before we even have access to the cruise buffets and the 24 hour free room service. God, help us. The airline is probably going to charge us for being overweight rather than our luggage by the time this trip is over. It's gonna be worth it.
The cruise itself is a week and during that time we will be visiting Cozumel, Mexico, Grand Cayman, and Falmouth, Jamaica in addition to a few sea days. This is an itinerary that Matt and I have actually already sailed but due to an absolute disaster of a trip (one day I'll post about it), we didn't get to experience Jamaica at all, so we're excited for a second go at it. I do have some extra fun up my sleeve. In all my cruises I had never heard of this cruising tradition until a few weeks ago and now I'm totally committed to participating. The tradition is called Cruising Ducks. Basically, you label some rubber ducks and hide them throughout the cruise ship for others to find. Once found, the new owners are given the direction to either keep the duck for themselves or re-hide it, but first post a selfie with the duck on social media so we can see all the different places it travels. I thought that'd be a fun little thing for the kids to do so we've got our little Mardi Gras rubber ducks all ready to go and even a sign for our stateroom door.
Also new for this cruise and in honor of this blog's namesake we have two friends who will also be joining us. Who knows where they'll find themselves!
