Return of the Mack

I just got Peanut to sleep and since this is the first time in four days I have been more than like two feet from him, I decided I would blog. J. Hogan has been a little under the weather this week and therefore VERY clingy to me. I am little exhausted, but really, I'm okay with it. He will be asking me to drop him off around the corner before I know it.

I thought I would fill you guys in on our week last week. I had not mentioned it on this blog due to my crazy safety OCD and did not want many people knowing we would be out of town. These feelings were only exaggerated since our beautiful cousin Lauren was house/pet sitting for us and I did not want her to be bothered by having to report a break in.

So last Saturday morning, Chris, J. Hogan, and I picked up our good friends Chad, Debra and their six year old daughter and began vacationing... or fleeing some sort of danger. I'm just not sure. Why else would you leave at 3:00 a.m.? But, we had more fun than you can imagine. The kids were awesome and I do believe J. Hogan will forever have a certain kind of love and admiration for that six year old sweetie pie.

I won't go into too many details... right now. I mean I could tell many tales on this blog and I might just continue this for weeks to come. I'll just give you some of the highlights.

First we spent one night in Cocoa Beach, Florida. That evening we gathered the crew and ended up at a place called Fishlips. Hmmm... That was my first thought too. It was great. We ate upstairs on a covered porch and had some wonderful seafood and ice cold beverages and all the while a great band entertained us. It was a lot like college minus the wonderful seafood, oh and I now have a child to chase. So here is the highlight - J. Hogan picked up his first girl. I mean THE BOY PUT THE MOVES ON A LITTLE GIRL AND WON!!! Here is how I think he will remember it -

"It was a cool fall evening at the beach. The band was playing "Brown-Eyed Girl." She was an older woman (a mere two days come to find out). I spotted her from across the room. Her dance moves were irresistible. I casually danced my way to her and once our eyes met, she never wanted me to leave her. Parting was such sorrow, but I will never forget her"

And that is pretty much how it went. I have it on video and thought about posting it, but I need to do some editing first. We all laughed so hard. He is such a mack daddy.

So on Sunday, our 12th wedding anniversary mind you, we hopped on board a cruise to the Bahamas. This is our sixth cruise, but the first for our friends and J. Hogan. Honestly, the week leading up to our trip, I began to panic about taking a 20 month old on a cruise, but I just reminded myself that we love to travel and will not be the "leave the kids at home" kind of parents. Well, not all the time... maybe a few trips a year.

So the verdict - IT WAS AWESOME. Well besides the last night feeling like the boat was going to tip over from the rough seas. No really, I was actually in bed with J. Hogan and I suddenly found myself thanking Jesus Christ that we had a balcony room and asking him to give me the strength to swim through the door and to the surface with Peanut in my arms. Needless to say, the boat was arockin' and not in the good kind of way your mind just went to.

We had a blast. We visited Port Lucaya just outside of Freeport and had the BEST conch salad ever known to man or beast. We then went to Atlantis in Nassau which all I can say about is PURE PERFECTION. Chris and I promised all of the staff and the many pools and water slides that we would be back next year for a long stay. And that is a promise that I am just not comfortable breaking.

Other ship highlights included a great little Halloween party for the kids where J. Hogan won his very first trophy by winning the costume contest that might I add, he was technically not even old enough to be in. But he won - of course, because he is a mack. All in all, it was a great cruise - great cruise, great entertainment, great food, great ports, and most of all - great friends.

So Thursday we got off the ship and headed to the mecca of all happiness. No, I am not talking about the Burberry Store, but that place does make me cry a little every time I visit. There's just so much goodness. No, no... we went to Disney World!!!! We got to the resort around 12noon and tried our best to get the kids to rest - Chad and Debra 1 Reeves 0. Then put on our Halloween costumes and headed to the Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party. It was magical. I think I actually cried at one point. I mean not every kid gets to trick-or-treat for the first time at Magic Kingdom. I know he won't remember a thing about this trip, but we will, and the memories will be incredible.

If you are not familiar with Mickey's Halloween party, I urge you to go immediately to the website and book your next trip. The best way to describe is it is what you imagine Disney World to be like. They only allow 1/4 of the number of guests into the park during this time and therefore there are no lines. Did you hear that? THERE ARE NO LINES!!! We met tons of characters and walked on almost every ride. Chris and I have been to Disney many times, but never with kids. We were so surprised to find out that J. Hogan could ride almost every ride at Magic Kingdom. He had a ball... and a power nap... then another ball.

We played at Magic Kingdom on Friday too and then headed back to reality on Saturday. BOOOOO (I am using way too many CAPITAL letters in this post). These are just a few photos I thought you would enjoy out of the 393 I took... and I think the Debra took twice as many as I did. I will post more later. They are just that good, and I want to tell you so much more, but "The Mack" just yelled for "Ma-mee". That would be me - proudly me.