Hansen Family Happenings: The Hansen Family Christmas 2011

The Hansen Family Christmas 2011

In September 2011 we made the final decision on how to spend Christmas: A 4 day cruise from New Orleans, LA to Cozumel! At the time the trip was booked it seemed like it was "forever" away, but December 22nd came quicker than we thought!

... and a bonus to our trip was that my mom and step dad would be joining us for our cruise!

OUR TRIP SUMMARY

Wednesday December 21st

The kids had half day of school and our plan was to hit the road as soon as they got home! Hunter got done with his finals sooner than planned so we had him pick Dayne up from school so we could hit the road that much sooner! (Funny story: Hunter went to Dayne's old school {her elementary school, not her junior high school} and had terse words with the secretary for not letting him take her out of school. Then it hit him: He was at the wrong school! hahahaha!).

We hit the road a little after noon and planned to drive to Jackson, Mississippi ... 10 hours away. The drive was pretty uneventful and we stopped for a bite to eat at a real classy place in Arkansas: Subway. You just can't go wrong with Subway, right?

Thursday December 22nd

We hit the road a little after 7am and headed towards New Orleans - just over 3 hours away. We passed through interesting geography ... especially as we got into Louisiana. And by 'interesting' I mean ... swamppy. I thought we'd be running into the filming crew for the tv show "Swamp People" at any given moment ...

We arrived to our port with plenty of time to drive around and gawk a bit. We parked in one of the parking garages, loaded up the cab and headed to the docking place!

The Hansens wait to board the Carnival Elation

After we boarded the ship we quickly headed to "Tiffany's Bar & Grill" for some eats and drinks! I helped myself to an adult beverage to kick off the much anticipated four days of relaxation at sea! About 30 minutes after we boarded the ship my mom and Patrick joined us! It had been a few years since we had seen each other so it was great that they could join us!

While we cruised our way out of the mighty Mississippi and headed toward the Gulf of Mexico, we roamed the ship to get a lay of the land and find the various restaurants, shops and different things to do on board!

Dayne and Hunter taking in the night scenery of the Carnival Elation

The pool at night. Looks more inviting than it really was - since it was a balmy 50-ish degrees.

After getting settled into our rooms we headed down to the dining room for our 8:15 dinner. Each night we were given so many options of great food! We enjoyed alligator, duck, filet mignon and each night the kids enjoyed a Chocolate Molten Cake for dessert!

Our dinner table. Very fancy eats! Great food! Our waiter, Tortega (from India) was phenomenal! He asked our first names on the first night of dinner ... and remembered each of them every night AND as he saw us on the ship!

After dinner we headed to the Theater where we watched a performance with all the crew members and got an overview of the ship's festivities planned over the next four days. Following the Crew Show, we headed to a comedy show. Hunter got to join us for the "adults only" comedy hour since he had just turned 18!

Hunter replicating one of the art pieces

Friday December 23rd

Friday was our first full day at sea and we had high hopes of high temps and lots of sun! ... Sadly, those hopes never came true. The overcast weather continued on ...

We spent the day roaming the ship, visiting the various food bars, shopping at the duty free stores, taking cat naps.

Our Cabin

Our Cabin Numbers

Patrick & Mom enjoying a few beverages!

I loved sitting in the bay window on the ship and staring out into nothingness!

Friday night was the Captains Dinner, in which we had to dress up "formally." We Hansen's love any chance to get dressed up. And, if I do say so myself, we clean up quite nicely!

Saturday December 24th

Merry Christmas Eve!

We arrived in warm, sunny, beautiful Cozumel around 8am on Christmas Eve! We had all signed up for a Shore Excursion: The boys, along with Mom & Patrick, decided to rent clear canoes that, along with a guide, they'd paddle out a bit and go snorkeling.

Dayne and I took advantage of some mother-daughter time and swam with the dolphins then enjoyed an authentic Mexican lunch!

After we were done with our excursions, which lasted about four hours, we met up with the rest of the crew at the ship. The girls went shopping in downtown Cozumel while the boys spent the afternoon at Carlos O'Charlies and caught some football!

Mom and Dayne on the "Mexican Carriage"

Dayne and I on the "Mexican Carriage"

Could Dayne look any more like a tourist? Cozumel shirt, Cozumel bag, pasty skin tones ...

Me, Mom and Dayne - done shopping since we had to be back on the ship in time for our 4:30 departure.

I just love this picture. It captures Dayne's adorable freckles and her beautiful smile.

After our shore excursions we headed back to the ship and spent the rest of the day relaxing on the pool deck, listening to the band and entertainment, watched one of the crew members carve a chunk of ice, snacked on some great food ... oh, and took cat naps!

That night we enjoyed anther fantastic dinner followed by another 'adults only' comedy show. Then, we called it a night and got ready for the most unique Christmas morning any of us had ever had: Christmas from the Gulf of Mexico!

Sunday December 25th

Merry Christmas!

Victoria Secret yoga pants, xBox Kinect games, a watch and some perfume added to the kids' Christmas Cruise

As with the other days spent at sea, we enjoyed lots of R&R, lots of good food and even some gambling!

Hunter won $21 on his first gambling adventure!

Sunday also proved to be sad as it meant the end of our cruise and the end of our time with mom mom/Nanny.

Nanny with her Grandbabies

Monday December 26th

Our ship arrived back in port in New Orleans a little after 8am on Monday morning. We had planned to spend the day leisurely in downtown New Orleans. Prior to our cruise I gave up all meat for 8 weeks and broke my vegetarian stint so I could enjoy some authentic New Orleans style jambalaya!

Although Mom & Patrick's plane wasn't scheduled to leave until 2pm, they weren't able to join us for our day in New Orleans since Patrick's back and legs had been bothering him really bad . Unfortunately, their plane didn't depart on time which caused a domino effect to their connecting flight in Baltimore. They ended up spending the night in Baltimore and not getting home until the next day!


The French Quarters

One of the many bands that were playing on the streets of NO. I loved these! I could have sat on the benches and listened for hours!

My long awaited jambalaya! (really what I wanted was gumbo, but I had them confused:( ).

Some of the "education" we got in New Orleans. Who knew these place really existed?

As we waited, a homeless man - who was quite angry about something! - threw hot coffee at us. Very bizarre. A nice New Orleans local shooed him off and then apologized on behalf of NO. :)

After we enjoyed our lunch at the French Market and took in the traditional New Orleans sights, sounds and smells we headed back to our truck and started our drive home!

We drove for a few hours and landed in Montgomery Alabama for the evening and enjoyed an authentic BBQ dinner at a local hot spot.

Tuesday December 27th

We had a relaxing morning, slept in a bit, enjoyed the continental breakfast and hit the road a little after 10am. The drive home was about 8 hours and proved to be pretty uneventful.

A New Year's Eve Tradition Continues

As has become our tradition with the Reustman Family, Dick, Marilyn & Zoe visited us to bring in the new year!