Pre-Cruise & Cruise Day 1

We left Friday (2/6... Jeff's Birthday!) after work to head to Birmingham to begin our trip! We met up with Jeff's sister and brother and his family. From there we all drove to Jeff's parent's house in Mississippi on Saturday. We were wondering if our niece Abby would warm up to Jeff this time. At Thanksgiving, she was really leery about him. This time they were best buds from the start of the trip. As you can see below, she had him wrapped around her finger!

For dinner, Jeff's brother Mark seared some yummy steaks for all of us and Jeff's dad made a "bomb" for Jeff's birthday dessert. Its a wonderful homemade ice cream cake with oozy chocolate in the middle! Yum!

Sunday morning we all packed up and drove to New Orleans to board our ship, the Norwegian Spirit! We had an easy time getting there and embarking. We headed straight for the dining room to have lunch and then checked out our staterooms. Then we walked around on the deck to wait for the boat to sail away!

Below is a picture of us sailing away from New Orleans at sunset.

Our first cruise day, Monday, was a day at sea. The water was really rough-- the most rough day I've ever had on a cruise. By evening I was a little green, but managed through it. We spent the day eating good food, catching up on sleep, and learning our way around the ship.

Stay tuned for more...