I'm BAACK...

We had a lovely time. It was almost too short, although by the end of it we were missing the munchkins. For all our missing the girls, Ladybug paid us back in spades with the number of tantrums that she had on Saturday and Sunday. I think she used up all of her nice behavior for her grandparents, which I have to say that even if I had to endure her this weekend I would much rather that be the case than her poor grandparents having to deal with it.

But the cruise, the cruise was wonderful. There were times where we had no idea what to do with ourselves. Literally. Lots of sleeping and reading and drinks with umbrellas. I even squeezed in some training too... although I probably should have done more... but at the same time, I needed the rest.

Monday before taking the girls to daycare, I got in an hour on the stationary bike followed by a 3 mile run. Then the girls to daycare with some wailing on their part, which actually made it easier for me to leave. I definitely enjoyed the respite from Mommy duties, even though I missed the girls at the same time. It was nice not to have to clean, dress, cook for etc. anyone for several days.

Tuesday I had intended to take off since it was our 1st full day on the cruise, but I kept thinking about running. Wierd, eh? I thought so too. We got up, had some breakfast and got to the island in time for our couples massage. Awesome way to officially start our vacation. My masseuse also suggested that I get a hot stone massage later in the week because my muscles were overworked (his words). I told him I was training for a half-ironman and he said "you need the hot stones." So I said ok. Then we, both completely relaxed, wandered around the island walking until we found the part were not many people were sitting (there were maybe 4 other people around) and we sat near the water under an umbrella, reading. Wandered back to the populated side for lunch and then back to the ship for a nap. On the way back to the ship, I kept thinking a run would be good. Napped and then thought, a run would be good. Went and played trivia (came in 2nd - darn no cruise line key chain...) and thought a run would be good. Asked Mr. Darcy if he wanted to run with me on all 3 occassions, and he finally said "I do not want to run. Go and get it out of your system." And so I did. 12:11 pace, constant for all 4 miles. I felt great afterwards, although rather sweaty.

Wednesday we were in Nassau and had an excursion for sailing and then 1 hour's worth of snorkeling. It was the 1st time I've ever snorkled and it was AWESOME! We snorkled over a reef and saw tons of fish, brain coral, other corals and even a stingray swim by. So, I got in about just under a mile probably as a swim... although who knows. Mr. Darcy said I was a speed demon, but I thought I was just moving about normally... I did have to wait for him a few times, but that was OK by me! It was fun to snorkle together. Afterwards though, poor Mr. Darcy had a terrible headache so we headed back to the ship for lunch and a nap. I read for most of the 3 hours, but Mr. Darcy slept like a log. By the time we were up and off the ship, everything had pretty much shut down so we only got to wander through the straw market and pick up cute little straw purses for the little ladies. Then back to the ship for a little more trivia, reading and some random show before dinner.

Thursday was at sea and a bit boring in some ways. I had gotten up early and cycled for 1 1/2 hours going 51 km (or miles, I couldn't be sure from the reading on the machine, but my guess is km because even though it was a stationary bike I'm doubtful I could go 51 miles in 1 1/2 hours), then had some breakfast, showered and went back to sleep. Mr. Darcy was sleeping the entire time. Then I wandered the ship with Mr. Darcy while he primarily read, we watched a belly flop contest, and I had my hot stone massage. PURE HEAVEN. My muscles felt awesome afterwards. It wasn't the total mind and body relaxation of the 1st day's massage, but it was the type of massage where I was present mentally but my muscles felt relaxed and rejuvenated at the end. Highly recommended! We went to a sad little art auction on board, played some trivia, read. Nothing too eventful.... other than packing our stuff up for departure the next morning, which was when I realized how much I wanted to see Angelfish and Ladybug. I missed them!

Friday we headed home at 8:30 ish in the morning, and by the time we got home I was strangely tired and slept about 3 hours. I guess I didn't sleep as well as I thought I did while on board, but that pretty much wiped out the chance of getting my Friday workout in. We got the girls from daycare around 3:30 pm when I couldn't take being home and not having them with us. It was great to see them again... Ladybug headed straight to me and was thrilled to see me. Angelfish wanted nothing to do with me and only to be with Mr. Darcy... which has continued somewhat this weekend. Not sure if she's punishing me for not being there all week or if she just always is super partial to Mr. Darcy and this is the first I'm realizing it, but what can you do?

Saturday we lazed around and I skipped training because Ladybug was pretty much sleeping ON me when I woke up and then up and running about with me while everyone else in the house slept. Today (Sunday) we ran errands with the girls after a morning fraught with tantrums from Ladybug (including half of the ride to Costco... at one point she told us over and over again that she wasn't going to talk to us anymore and to which I finally said, "for someone who isn't talking to us, you sure are talking alot" and she stopped). Watched "The Tales of Desperaux" which they sort of liked and sort of didn't, and I felt guilty for not doing my big brick that was scheduled for today but that I couldn't quite pull myself out of bed to do.

But I'm back to work tomorrow, which also means I'm fully dedicated to my training as it's only about 8 weeks until race day. Luckily I return to it with an evening track workout to kick my butt back into gear and keep me accountable for getting back into it since people will be looking for me. I've missed the movement of my body in a long distance mode the past few days and found myself waking up this morning wiggling my toes - which either means I'm stressed again already or just that I have extra energy I need to burn. I'm thinking it's the latter at the moment, but I'll be able to tell you more tomorrow after reading all my emails from last week and attempting to catch up. The punishment for a nice week of vacation and relaxation, but I'll take my licks since it was a much needed break and a lot of fun to be with Mr. Darcy - just the two of us.

But now, back to reality...