{ Cruisin . . . day 8 & 9 }

Our last day on the ship was another "Fun day at Sea". We decided that since this ship was known for having sweet water slides we better give them a try! One of them was your standard water slide. Twists and turn, kinda hurts your back, you know the drill. But the other was different than anything I have ever seen. It was called the drain pipe. You went down about half the distance of a normal water slide and ended in a toilet bowl type thing going round and round depending on how much speed you got.

It was a riot! We went down a couple of times and were able to hang out in the middle to watch the others as they came down. It was so incredibly windy that day, the wind speeds were up to 80 kmh.

We found a spot to lay out for a bit before it was once again pizza time! After lunch we went and packed up our suitcases. We had to have them outside the door of our cabin before dinner that night. That last day was full of mixed feelings because I was sad that it was all coming to an end, and at the same time ready to be home with the kids. It's hard to go a whole week without being able to contact them or say good night. At the same time, I know that it would've been hard for them to hear our voices. We called from the ship once to talk to the babysitters and it was $7 a minute! Ridiculous!

Our last night at dinner we had to get a picture with our wait staff. They were awesome! We became really good friends with them. We asked them lots of questions about what their lives are like back home, their families, and what it's like to work on a cruise ship.

On the left we have Rolie. He was our head server and he has been working with Carnival for 9 years. He is from the Philippines. He has a wife and 4 boys ranging from ages 7-14. His wife works on the ship as well but she works downstairs doing paper work. His boys are back home and trade off living with his parents and his wife's parents. He was a stud! Very confident and together.

Next to Rolie is Walter. He was our bartender. He was brand new and you could tell he didn't have a clue what he was doing. We felt sorry for him because he seemed so lost all the time. He is from Peru and spoke hardly any english. It was hard to get to know him because every night at "Shh. . .ow time" he would disappear for a while. He was so shy and he refused to dance and sing with the rest of the crew.

On the far right is Made. (Ma-day) We became friends with him instantly! He was so fun and so happy. When we were first sitting at our table he would poke his head around the corner with a big grin on his face to greet us. He loved the times when we got up and danced with the crew. He is from Indonesia. He has a wife and one little baby. He had been on the ship for 3 months and only gets to talk to his wife and baby through skype. He was so full of life and energy. We loved Made!

This is a picture of the sun setting through the window in our cabin on the last night. The city to the right is Miami.

The next morning we got to sleep in a little because we didn't have to disembark until 9:00. Here are the final pictures of our rooms as left for the last time.

{Logan called her the disheveled woman. She was right outside our cabin doors.}

Once we were off the ship we had a lot of time to kill until we needed to go to the airport. We headed straight back to Budget to pick up our rental car. As we were waiting to see what car we would get we were surveying the amount of luggage we once again had to shove into the trunk.

Why would we ever doubt these guys? Of course they made it fit!

{ Our second sweet ride. At least this time we were mistaken for a cop! }

Once we were loaded up we pulled out our iphones and tried to find a place to go. We decided to check out the Kennedy Space Center!

We only saw the outside because when we got there we found out it was about $50 per person to get inside! I'm sure it would've been really cool to take the tour but we decided to try and find something else.

So we got back in the car and pulled out our phones again. We found a wildlife preservation where some Manatee lived and decided to check it out. When we got there it didn't look like much but we went on a little hike through some brush and found the bay where all the manatee hang out. It was kinda scary because they were so close to the shore!

In case you were wondering what exactly a manatee is (like I was) this is what they look like:

Kind of a walrus-dolphin combo. I believe they are almost extinct.

It was so hot and humid outside that after the manatees we decided to head over by the airport and grab some lunch before the flight. On our way there we kept seeing gators (or so we thought) in the ponds and rivers along the side of the road. So once we got closer to the airport we decided to go on a gator hunt. We found a river and drove along it slowly.

First up we found some turtles. They were so cute all lined up on a log!

We drove around a little more and sure enough . . . there it was! A real live alligator! We were stoked! I'm sure the people that live in Florida are totally used to it, but that was way exciting for us!

It was pretty far away but it still freaked me out a little!

We had lunch at a delicious BBQ called Sonny's and headed to catch our flight. The flight home was a little longer but we enjoyed the time to rest and get ready to go back to reality. We were so excited to see the kids we could hardly stand it!

{Saying goodbye at the airport. Home safe and sound.}

I am so thankful that I had this opportunity. It's not something that we do very often and I tried to really soak in every minute. Thanks again to all those who made it possible for us to go. I will never forget this experience.