06/28/08

Spent time shopping, reading, and watching lots of movies the past few days. Dan's hip has been bothering him... a side effect of the sprained ankle so rest and recoop is what he needs!

Books: Undead and Unworthy by MaryJanice Davidson, A Storm of Swords by George R.R. Martin, Fifty Years in Pictures by Harry Benson

Movies: In Theater: Wanted, Sex & the City, The Incredible Hulk. Rentals: Chaos, No Country for Old Men, and Disturbia. Also caught up on the Deadliest Catch... does Capt. Phil have cancer??? :( Have I mentioned my sick fascination with Dirty Jobs? Hmm, what's "dirty" in semi-conductor that we can have them come do a show on? Any suggestions?

Been working through some scrapbooking, here's my latest page. It seems kinda simple, compared with the stuff I've been doing in my digital classes. However, I think my scrapbook style is more the "Simple Scrapbook" kind - focused on journalling more than the "Creating Keepsakes" style of creating art. If a page takes me more the 20 to 30 minutes, I feel I've spent to long on it!

Journalling says:
"One of the things that I looked forward to most on the cruise was dressing up to attend the formal meal. We had two meals, one on Monday night and the other on Saturday night. Unfortunately, Dan had other plans and did not pack any type of long pants nor semi dressy shirt. I hadn’t planned to take Joey to the formal so not packing pants for him was not a big deal, but I admit I was disappointed to find that Dan had neglected to pack anything for himself. Dan, being the wonderful man that he is, appreciated my desire to go and so the search for PANTS began. At each port stop, Dan looked for both a pair of pants and a nice shirt that he could wear to the formal on Saturday. Because of our full excursion schedule, shopping time was minimal... however on the last day in Roatan, Honduras, we had the opportunity to do some shopping. We walked to Yaba Ding Din’s and found the above shirt for $30. After asking directions to a clothing store we headed back to the ship and found, in the window a stack of pants. Dan walked and and picked through the pile, surprisingly we found a perfect khaki pair (also pictured) for only $5! No, we didn’t even try to bargain for a lower cost. My dress cost about $15 on clearance and was purchased at Target before Joey was born. So, for about $50, Dan and I were able to attend the ship’s formal. It was a glorious meal and a fantastic time. We even enjoyed some wine with our scruptious meal!"

06/25/08 & 06/26/08 At home

Well, we are home safe and sound. Our flight landed early yesterday morning and after early morning naps, Joey went to his Dad's house. I purchased groceries at Costco and then we went to see The Incredible Hulk... a much better movie than I expected.

Today, went for a run and lost my bracelet from the cruise so Dan went with me to search for it... we somehow got lucky enough to find it, YEAH!!! :) My mom joined me for lunch and then to see the movie Sex and the City since Dan decided that was WAY too girly for him and seeing it would impact his testosterone level.

Nothing else exciting planned for the next couple of days... catch up on laundry, chores and work outs before we leave for our next adventure, a trip to Rocky Point with my family.

06/24/08 Animal Kingdom

Welcome to the animal kingdom! Susan was our beautiful, smart and FUN tour guide for the day, showing us her favorite things in the park. Where Magic Kingdom was fun, Animal Kingdom was AWESOME! I'd go back here any day!

Our first stop was a ride on the park's coolest roller coaster The Everest Expedition. Although Joey and Susan did not ride, Dan and I rode the coaster FOUR times that day! It was certainly addictive and a HUGE thanks to Susan for keeping Joey entertained so we COULD ride The Everest Expedition four times.

Our next stop was to see a very cool bird show, I think it was called Fantasy of Flight. They did a fantastic job with the birds and the show was pretty darned funny. Highly recommended.

We also saw two other shows, Pocahontas and her Forest Friends (and cuz it's stuck in my head, "...can you paint with all the colors of the wind...") and Festival of the Lion King - which was our last adventure of the day and an AMAZING show...

We also went on the Safari ride through Africa. Dan was happy he got to see one of his favorites, the giraffe. Susan is amazing with kids as she spent time with Joey on the safari and the bird house helping him look for and identify the animals while I photographed away.

One of the coolest things we saw were the fruit bats. They were fanning themselves to keep themselves cool as it was a hot day. Fruit bats have a wing span of up to 6 feet and are absolutely beautiful creatures. They were fascinating to watch and we spent a good 15 to 20 minutes just marvelling at them while they slept. Joey's favorite ride was to the Kali River Rapids ride. Joey and Dan were in the "hot seat" one time and got absolutely drenched. Now on a hot day like it was for us, that's not a bad thing. The water was refreshing after walking all day in the hot weather.
We had lunch at the Yak and Yeti restaurant (no, not yakking yeti restaurant like Dan thought) and although it was a bit more pricey, it was delicious and worth every penny. I recommend the Miso Salmon!

In the center of the Magic Kingdom you'll find the fairy castle. At the center of Animal Kingdom you'll find the tree of life. The tree is fake and about 14 stories high, 50 feet wide and houses over 1000 carved animals. You can look at it for hours and each see something different. It is fascinating!

We had a fantastic day in the Animal Kingdom and can't wait to go back. If you head to Disney World, make sure to stop at the Animal Kingdom as it's worth every penny of your ticket!

06/23/08 Disney's Magic Kingdom

Today we hit the Magic Kingdom. Jason and Susan where super cool and let us borrow their awesome sporty car to drive down to Orlando and visit with Mickey. The drive is about an hour and went by quickly.

Rides we hit: Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin, Space Mountain (Joey was soooo scared that he waited for us at the end of the ride), Pirates of the Carribean, Liberty Square Riverboat, The Barnstormer at Goofy's Wiseacre (to EASE Joey into roller coasters) and finally, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. After dramatic tears at Space Mountain, we were able to ease Joey into Barnstormer and then with some extrapolation onto my favorite Thundermountain Railroad. The attached picture is from Joey on Barnstormer.

It was a busy hot day in the happiest place on earth which led us to only hang for 7 hours. Ride lines were incredibly long, but we had a great time!

Jason and Susan were also kind enough to take us to Bo's for our obligatory soft ice cream. They have the most amazing chocolate, vanilla or mix ice cream... and hard dips of butterscotch, chocolate, cherry and blue raspberry... YUMMY!!!

06/22/08 Tampa

A pretty lazy Sunday for us. We hung out with Jason and Susan, eating pizza and wings, watching TV and enjoying the rain. I was able to squeeze in both a nap and jog to burn my 350 calories so I could totally enjoy my Columbo's Ice Cream. (I'm telling you that stuff in mana from heaven!)

After the rains Jason found a HorseShoe Crab Spider spinning a web. We watched for a little while. It was so neat to watch him methodically spin the circle part and attach it to each of the supporting strands. So precise! Isn't it beautiful?

Monday... House of the Mouse! We're going to Magic Kingdom & then Tuesday, Animal Kingdom. Let's hope we don't get lost on our way.

06/21/08 A Day at Sea

Time to return back to Florida. We really enjoyed the day at sea as an opportunity to relax and rest after our whirlwind adventures. We took a nap and packed and took in some of the shows. It was sad to have our last dinner in the Truffles dining room with Skip, Amy and Kaitlyn. We got to know our waitstaff so well that we gave them hugs before we departed. Yunita and I Nengah took excellent care of us and knew us by name.

06/20/08 Isla Roatan, Honduras

The view of Roatan from our stateroom.

Our final stop before returning home was Roatan. I woke up early to work out and got to watch as our boat docked and see the sunrise. It was a very pretty way to start the day. Then, off to breakfast where Joey ate 4 boxes of cereal and a slice of bacon. (WOW!!! where did he put it all?) Dan and Joey pose on the pier.

Now one with Mom.

On the pier there were local musicians playing the drums, singing and dancing for us. They kept up their entertainment from the time we docked to the time the last blasts from the horn announced our depature from the island.

Our adventure for the day was a sea spi trip to view the coral reefs of Roatan. Unfortunately, the coral reefs are probably not at their most glorious as there were many brown and grey dead corals in the area we viewed. What was alive was very pretty though and the tropical fish were stunning. Joey LOVED the sea spi ride, although I have to admit the closer we got to the ocean breaks, the less I liked it... SEA SICK!!

Another lovely site with lovely sandy beaches. Here the boys pose with the pretty sand & sea behind them.

06/19/08 Belize

In Belize we went cave tubing. Due to the nature of our adventure, I didn't take the Nikon D40x but the cheap water camera. Those pictures have not been developed yet. However, our trip consisted of another 45 minute bus ride, and 45 minute walk through the jungle to get to the river where we took tubes, just like tubing down the salt river. We plopped our booties in the tube with lamps on our heads and rode through the cave down the river. Joey didn't like the dark part, but really enjoyed the sunlit part. It was a gorgeous and cool way to enjoy the steamy jungle.

Our tour guide, Tony, welcomed us to Belize and took good care of us. There are only 300,000 people in all of Belize and Tony told us that he'd love to have us be our neighbor... I'm all for a 2nd home in Belize, regardless of how poor the country is. It was my favorite place. Lots of little islands around, too. Here Joey and Dan pose with a small island that had 3 or 4 palm trees on it!

Every night we had a set dinner time (6 pm) in the Truffles lower dining room. At some point during dessert, the Maitre De would flash the lights and announce "SHOWTIME" in his Turkish accent. From there the wait staff would dance and pull the kids from the crowd to join them. Now, since Joey is selectively 'shy', I would join him. So, our table mate, Kaitlyn, Joey and I would dance.
Here, Joey learns the Macarana. Speaking of table mates, we were blessed to share a table with three of the neatest folks. Skip, his wife Amy and their darling daughter Kaitlyn were paired with us to share dinner each night.

Dining with them was a highlight to our trip as we had many things in common and shared our daily adventures with each other. We quickly became friends. Joey and Kaitlyn would play and talk all through dinner... singing the intro to Smoke on the Water practically every night! (Yes, we are officially sick of the song but I don't think Joey is done with it yet.)

06/18/08 Tulum Mayan Ruins, Mexico

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LITTLE BROTHER!!! I was thinking of you on your special day!

We took a 30 minute ferry from Cozumel to Playa del Carmen, then caught a bus ride for 45 minutes to the Tulum Mayan Ruins. We had a phenomenal tour guide, Leide, who had a degree in history and shared lots of cool history about the Mayan people with us. Her accent was beautiful and I could listen to her all day. This is the main temple where human sacrifices were made on the summer/ winter solstice.

The day was EXTREMELY hot! Think 90 degrees and tons of humidity. There was a 1 km walk from where the buses parked to the ruins. Apparently the diesel smoke was degrading the limestone on the buildings of Tulum fairly quickly so they moved the parking lot farther out. However once Leide completed the 45 minute tour, we were free to swim in the Carribean. You can see the view behind Joey. Again, Joey's favorite part was not the hot walking looking at old buildings, but jumping in the surf.

Now, keep in mind that the surf was enough to stir up a lot of sand and Joey and Dan found lots of sand in odd places days after we were done with this particular tour.
We placed our stuff on some rocks just below the cliff. Camoflauged on the rocks were natural wild iguanas all over. Here, Dan poses with one.

06/17/08 Grand Cayman

Tuesday dawned and we were ready to check out Grand Cayman. We took the catamaran Allura out to Stingray City to swim with and feed (and kiss) the stingrays. The catamarn was a totally relaxing adventure. Joey enjoyed the stingrays but what he loved the most was jumping in the waves.



His comment to me? "Mom, these waves NEVER stop!" Unlike the ones at the water parks that are on a timer.

6/16/08 Day at Sea

On Monday we had a day at sea... spent time at the pool to start on the tan. Joey played in the water. The pools are filled with sea water, which he didn't like so much but didn't seem to have any problems with once he started playing. We learned our way around this ship (and I found the gym!), there are shops on board and we did a little shopping as well. Food is overly abundant although Dan struggled to find service to get him a diet coke. A nice relaxing day, but we were ready for the adventures to follow the next day.

6/15/08 First day on the boat

Yup, we made it back! Jason just saved us from the Carnival dock and we're back at his place waiting for the thunderstorm to roll in.

When we last left you, we had just loaded the boat. Here is our state room, a queen sized bed for Dan and I and Joey got the bed at on the wall there. Just beyond the wall at Joey's head board is the bathroom and lots of storage areas for our stuff. We filled it all well.

We headed up on deck to see the 'blast off' and wave bon voyage to all the folks at the Florida Aquarium.

Carnival Legend

Happy Father's Day Pops & Leo! Sorry our phone call was so short. I have your card at home, too.

We have made it safely on board the "Big Boat". We have toured the entire ship (briefly) and gone up 16 flihts of stairs already. Joey has checked all the lights in our cabin to confirm they all work successfully. I have taken 20 pictures and Dan's ankle hurts from the first 8 flights of stairs. It appears I may be alone in my pursuit of maximum stair climb-age.

Note to self for next time. Print tickets before boarding and have $2.00 to tip the porter who takes your luggage the 20 feet into the security area. Getting in was easy slightly less invasive than airport security and no lice checks were performed (like Titanic). Also forgot a notarized letter from Leo saying he has Dad's permission to go out of the country but no one asked. Yeah!

Internet is super expensive (think $0.75 per minute) but will post if I can. Otherwise you'll here from us in 7 days!

Okay, off for our lifeboat practice drill. Joey is very excited about this portion of our day and wants to go IN the cool looking orange boats.

Florida Aquarium

Today we spent the day with the Florida Aquarium's best tour guide, Susan! We got to see penguins, sea turtles, sharks, sea horses and this amazing leafy sea dragon. We thought these were gorgeous creatures. They were probably nose to tail 10 inches long. We spent a lot of time admiring them.

We also spent a lot of time with the penguins. Because of our most awesomest tour guide, Susan, we were able to see some of the back workings of the acquarium. We met 3 of the 5 otters up close and in person, we saw the Harris Hawks, owls, boa, and American alligators. We even got to pet both an alligator (Dan and I) and a penguin (Joey, Dan and I). It was a wonderful experience!

Now the Florida Aquarium is big into enriching the environment that the animals live in. For instance, the otters get special play toys to climb on (think toddle gym sets and the like). However, the penguins were the luckiest... they had a TV with the movie Shark Tale playing AND a bubble machine which they TOTALLY went after. It was the coolest thing to see them so into it.

A HUGE thanks to Susan for heading in on her day off and giving us the $5.00 tour! What a total blast!

Tampa

We arrived safely in Tampa yesterday afternoon. The flight over was uneventful, although Joey found one of the radio channels on the airplane that broadcast live communications from the cockpit to towers along our route. We enjoyed listening and decifering what the communications meant.

Our friends Susan and Jason are letting us stay with them while we are in Tampa before the cruise. They have an adorable home built in the 1920s. The whole neighborhood has character and charm and is delightful. They live just a bit up from the river and we took a walk down there last night to take in the view. Breathtaking! I'm hoping to get some sunset (or sunrise) shots if I can. Will post them as I can.

We sampled a local dining establishment last night for their Columbian cuisine. It was simply fabulous!

Thanks for the prayers. I am still fighting my cold but feeling somewhat better. Now I,m praying Joey doesn't get it next.

Halo is Truth

Last night before bed, we had some family bonding time playing a rousing game of Halo. Dan was slightly frustrated that Joey and I were so close in score to him, even though he was still trouncing us. As Dan complained about the unfairness of it all, Joey responded that "The data doesn't lie, Halo is truth."

Ahh, he'll make a good little engineer some day for sure!

We are off today to Florida to see our friends Susan and Jason. Flight at 6 am. Prayers for me as I've caught Dan's cold. Flying this morning should be fun.

A scrapbook night

Just a "lazy" day running errands, watching So You Think You Can Dance (WHO is going home???) and catching up on some scrapbooking...




PS Joshua with Katee ROCK with their "No Air" Routine. :)

Books

The Digital Photography Book by Scott Kelby

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
LOVE Scott Kelby! This man knows his stuff and makes it simple and easy for anyone not a professional photographer. Really enjoy his tips and have learned some things that I use frequently now. (Just purchased a light tri-pod). Sadly the Nikon D40x does not have a mirror lock to allow for tack sharp photography... but I digress.



READ SCOTT KELBY!


View all my reviews.