St. Maarten’s

  • Driving back from the beach. There were five boats docked.
  • Stopping for some gelato.
  • Walking towards the taxi area.

Thursday morning we had arrived at St Maarten’s island. There were two other boats docked by us in the morning. By the afternoon there were five cruise ships docked. Our ship is nothing to sneeze at but it was the smallest one. I think I decided I like that though. In talking with people from other boats through out the day it seemed like our boat had a little more homey feel to it, not crowded, no lines for anything, excellent food. We could always find a place to hang out on the boat that no one else was around. The bigger boats do have more on board activities though which kids would probably like. I felt thouroghly entertained throughout our seven days. I think the quality of shows would be better on a bigger boat though. That is something I felt like was lacking on our boat. We went to three different shows one was ok, one was tolerable and one was awful-we would have left but we all fell asleep instead.

Anyway St Maarten continued our beautiful island cruise and did not disappoint. It had more of a modern, lots of rich people live here look the islands we had seen so far. Ryan and I had booked a SNUBA excursion with a company we found online and were supposed to meet them at 9:30 am. Kenny and Sherri went to do some exploring and shopping and we went to ‘Bobby’s Marina’. When we arrived it was just the two of us. There were about ten other people that were supposed to be booked at our time but they were on a different boat that was about an hour behind schedule. So the company decided to take Ryan and I out to the bay a let us SNUBA with two of their divers while the boat went and picked up the rest of the people and then came back. They kept apologizing because they were ‘leaving us’ but we didn’t care at all. Instead of SNUBAing with ten other people for 25 minutes, we had a private tour for 45 minutes. It was pretty awesome.

So SNUBA is basically scuba diving but instead of having to get a lot of training and carry the oxygen tank on your back, you don’t have to have any training and the oxygen tank is on a little raft and there is a long tube with the respirator attached to you so you can swim and the raft follows you around. You wear snorkel goggles and fins and a weight belt along with the belt that the hose and respirator are attached too. Ryan liked it a lot and said he would definitely do scuba diving. Your vision is pretty limited (zero peripheral) so my claustrophobic self liked knowing that I was tethered to something. It took me a little longer to get used to the breathing than Ryan. It is compressed air so if I breathed in and out like normal (which is what they said to do) I was getting way more oxygen than I was used to and even though I was breathing I felt like I was suffocating. I figured out to breath out about twice as long as I breathed in and I was able to keep my O2/CO2  levels more normal. I still had to stop and concentrate on relaxing and not freaking out a few times. Since we had 45 minutes our ears were able to adjust to the pressure and by the end we were about 20 feet deep. It was pretty amazing. One of the divers took pictures for us and we just swam around and explored the ocean. A lot of the coral was ruined in the hurricane but we still saw some cool stuff. There was a ship and a helicopter crash sunk that was cool to explore.  We saw a squid and a moray eel among all the many different fish sea anemones and urchins. About one minute after we ran out of air and surfaced the boat came back with all the other people. We got out and dried off while they got in. I was looking around the water and saw 2 dorsal fins about 30 feet away. It took my brain a few seconds for it to register what it was and then they were gone. I didn’t think it was a very good idea to start yelling shark and not that I am a shark expert but it didn’t seem like a shark to me for some reason. I kept watching and then I saw three and realized it was dolphins not a shark. I pointed them out and people started to look. Our guides didn’t believe me at first but then they saw them and they got pretty excited. It was kind of funny. They kind of forgot they were helping people dive and got really excited to see the dolphins. One of the guys staying on the boat immediately dived in and started swimming towards them. One of them told me he has lived there for 35 years and never seen a dolphin in this bay. He told me when I yelled dolphin he thought I was seeing a buoy. By the time I got my camera out to film them they had moved further out but you can see them pop up a few times on the video. It was a really fun excursion, made even more fun because it turned into a private excursion.

  • There were dozens of pelicans and baby pelicans living in these rocks right by were we were SNUBA diving.
  • First time coming down into the water.
  • Find the Eel.
  • Different view of the eel
  • Moray Eel
  • Holding a sea urchin
  • Giving the ‘everything is good’ signal
  • These rocks were covered in coral before the hurricane a year ago.
  • I’m trying to equalize my ears.

After we returned from our SNUBA we met up with Kenny and Sherri. The day was about half over so we didn’t have to much time to explore. We had heard of a really nice beach so we decided to grab a taxi to the beach and spend the afternoon there. It took us a little bit to find a taxi that would just take us to the beach but we finally did. Traffic was pretty congested on this island too so it took a good 40 minutes to get to the beach. It was a gorgeous beach though. We grabbed some lunch at a questionable restaurant but it was the only one around and we were starving. We also learned that St Maarten islanders are not good about estimating time. Everything took at least twice as long as they told us it would. Getting to the beach, making our food, and going back to the ship. It was a little slow going. After we enjoyed the beach for a while we luckily decided to head back a little earlier than we originally planned since we had to find a taxi. We were able to ride in a taxi that was picking up some other people but it took us over an hour to get back to the boat-even with our driver driving on the wrong side of the road a few times to pass everyone. Everyone seemed to have the same issue because when it was time for the boat to leave there was still a few people missing. We made it back though and had a fun evening on the boat and enjoying some delicious hot chocolate from Veneesh at dinner.

  • Crystal clear water, so gorgeous.
  • Sherri tried to bum a ride for us on that catamaran back to our boat. The captain was cool with it but he said the cruise line would fire him if he came back with more passengers than he left with.
  • We ate at this ‘restaurant’ on the beach and tested our immune systems.

Dominica

  • I took this for our family lessons on ‘be grateful and appreciative for what you have’
  • One of the schools.
  • This is the only sign on any of the islands we ever saw that said something along the lines of ‘be careful’
  • Trafalgar Falls
  • Kenny found a personal pool.
  • Hot Springs

When we woke up on Wednesday we were in port at Dominica, which is called the rain forest of the Caribbean. All the islands have a lot of trees and forest up at the higher areas. Dominica was all jungle with a house occasionally peeking through the green. They get 200-400 inches of rain a year!

Our exploring plan worked out pretty well on Grenada so we decided to do the same thing on Dominica. We found a taxi driver that took just the four of us on a tour. He drove around and showed us different views of the islands. We ended up at Trafalgar Falls. After a short hike the trail opens up to a little look out area and there are two beautiful waterfalls right by each other. You could stay there or walk down and climb around in the water and rocks. So we did. We climbed and explored for a while, we found a small pool that we all got in to refresh ourselves. It was cold, but how many times do you have the opportunity to take a swim in a river on the island of Dominica?! 

Next on the tour was some of the islands hot springs. They have one as big as a football field but we didn’t have time for that one. They get a lot of mud and minerals that are good for your skin from their hot springs. They were trying to rub it on us the whole time we were there. It goes on gray then dries to brown. Someone tried to give us a tattoo with it with a leaf. A sneaky old man rubbed some on my arm when I was walking by and I had a brown blotch on my arm for the rest of the day. Dominica was the place we felt like we were being haggled the most. You couldn’t walk two feet without someone wanting to sell you something. I tried to just avoid eye contact because I was not very good at saying no. I decided to not carry any cash on me after I spent two dollars on a paper flower made of crepe paper so some little girls could go to school so I could just say I didn’t have any money. A little bit later a guy with a guitar started following Sherri and I around singing a made up song about how our husbands looked like Tom Cruise and Bruce Willis. I told him I didn’t have any money and he said that Ryan and Kenny had told them to come find us and sing his song after he sang it to them because we had the money. 🤦‍♂️ 

After the hot springs we asked our driver to take us to a beach. Dominica isn’t as well known for its beaches as some of the other islands we visited but he said he would take us to one that was actually a black sand beach. I thought that was pretty cool because I had never been to a black sand beach before. It sticks to you more than white sand. The waves were black too which I did not expect and looked pretty cool. We rented a little palm tree shade area and some chairs to relax in. This beach was the first place we saw pelicans. They were flying and around us and diving for their food. All of us swam and took a nap on our chairs. I spent way to long trying to catch a pelican diving on camera. It was a wonderful afternoon.

After a few hours at the beach we headed back to the boat a little early. After we changed Sherri and I went to the rock climbing wall. We were the only ones there so we raced a few times and then tried the harder climbs. It took me a few tries but I was finally able to get to the top of the hardest one.

  • Black Sand Beach
  • Sherri and I didn’t get towels on our head soon enough.
  • He put a towel over his head so people would stop trying to sell him stuff.

Grenada

  • View from our balcony at Grenada port
  • Spice Shop
  • John teaching us about cocoa
  • Nutmeg
  • Learning about the Isle of Spice, spices.
  • View from the spice shop
  • Spice owners view from his back yard
  • Nutmeg tree
  • We hiked up, then down, to see the waterfall.
  • Jack the Mona monkey

Our third day on the boat started with waking up in a new port at Grenada. We all agreed this was our favorite day overall. After a delicious breakfast at the Windjammer Cafe (we started calling it the Facejammer) we left the boat.

The guys convinced Sherri and I to live on the wild side and not book an excursion/tour through the ship. So we walked past all the buses and vans crammed full of people going on the same tour and we found a very nice taxi driver named Ricky who agreed to take the four of us on a tour of the island, bonus- for less than a third of what the cruise line would have charged us.

Grenada is known as the Isle of Spice, so the first place he took us was to a nice little old man named John’s spice shop. John gave us a demonstration on how they make nutmeg and cocoa and all kinds of information that I thought I would remember but don’t about the many different spices they make on the island. It was very interesting, and of course my natural herbalistic side was intrigued and we got some spices and herbal remedies to bring home with us. They had some highly recommended cocoa balls that they recommended making ‘cocoa tea’ with. We got a few of those and thought it would be a fun drink to try and we got a few to give as gifts. Later when we boiled some water, dissolved the cocoa ball and added twice the recommended amount of sugar we tasted it. It was disgusting. I have tried an herbal tea called Matte so I was expecting something kind of like that. It was way grosser than that. Even after adding more sugar and then chocolate milk I couldn’t handle it. So that went down the drain. I feel bad for giving it to everyone I did too. Hopefully someone likes it. But I feel like I should say sorry if you are reading this and I gave you a cocoa ball. I didn’t know they would be that gross. At the back of his shop there was a little balcony that gave you an amazing view of the island. It was a great little place to stop. Our tour was off to a good start.

The next stop on our tour was up in the mountains a little bit. He dropped us off and showed us where to find a short trail that lead to a waterfall. When we got to the trail head there was a man with his pet monkey. For a small donation he would let you hold it, so of course we all did it. The water fall was very pretty, we explored a bit then headed back to Ricky. He drove us around a few more places. There was an old Fort you could tour by the prison. The prison was pretty small and actually looked like a farm with walls around it. We asked him about it and he said that if someone went to prison they had to work and grow food so they weren’t just sitting around. He also said there really wasn’t a lot of crime on the island. He said that everyone watched out for each other and kept tabs on each other. I noticed that on all the islands people were very helpful and kind. Sometimes you could tell it was more of a tolerance because tourism is their bread and butter but in Grenada especially the people were very genuine and welcoming. As we were driving around we passed one of our churches. We pointed it out and he said that there are two missionaries on the island with white shirts and ties that he has seen. Ryan told him to talk to them next time he saw them and tell them he drove a bunch of Mormons around for the day. 

We wanted to check out a beach for a while so Ricky took us to one that was not as crowded and was a calm area. We walked into a restaurant with two people eating at the counter and giant open windows overlooking the ocean. It was gorgeous. Kenny said he felt like we were in a picture. I agree. I took a lot of beautiful pictures. We ate some local food. I tried the creole fried chicken and it was delicious. Everyone else tried something called rotie. It was alright, way better than mafungo. After we ate we spent some time swimming in the crystal blue water and hanging out on the white soft sand beach. After a few hours it was time to head back to the boat. On the way we came down a hill that overlooked a little bay and there was a beautiful complete double rainbow. Ricky stopped right there on the road so we could take pictures. It was an incredible view. Ricky dropped us off just outside a strip mall so we could walk through and shop a little on our way back to the boat. It was a wonderful day. 

That night we went to a comedy show, played more cards and, stayed up late talking, and watched a dance contest between passengers and the crew. 

  • Can you see the animal in this picture?
  • This is the restaurant where Kenny said he felt like we just walked into a picture.
  • Mullet Bay
  • Ryan’s picture of the full double rainbow. 🙁
  • Better but now the camera is the wrong way.
  • This is Sherri’s pic

Day at Sea and Barbados

Our first full day on the ship was a day at sea while we sailed south to reach Barbados. We slept in and woke up to the beautiful view of the ocean and the occasional island in the distance. We shopped in the stores on board a bit. Ryan and Kenny had signed up for a Sushi making class. While they were at that Sherri and I attended the ‘giant giveaway information meeting’. That was our only regret of the whole cruise. It was a waste of an hour of our time. We tried out several different areas to eat on board, sat out on our balconies and watched or participated in several of the games they have going on throughout the day like trivia, or name that song, and a belly flop contest.

Enjoying the fresh air and the view from our balcony.

After dinner that night we ended up in the Safari Lounge which kind of became our spot. We went there often to play Spades or Hearts. They had karaoke going on the first night we went there. There was quite a range of talent but it was fun whether they were good or bad. Everyone was cheering either way. I convinced Sherri to sing ‘Any Man of Mine’ by Shania Twain with me. My friends and I had a cassette tape of her music in high school that we sang along to everyday on our drive to and from school and anywhere else we went. We wore that tape out. Anyway, we sang it and it was a blast. I would have voted to skip the last verse because it got a little long but it was fun. We came back the next night and Ryan sang ‘Sweet Caroline’ by Neil Diamond. It was a hit. I don’t think he moved a muscle the whole time he sang but he sang well. Ryan didn’t want Kenny to feel left out so he took the liberty of signing him up for a song. He kept telling Kenny he was next and three songs later about the time Kenny was starting to relax and think Ryan was just messing with him, they called Ken French up to sing ‘Oops I Did It Again’ by Brittany Spears. He was a good sport and went up and sang. It was hilarious. When the crowd saw this big burly guy walk up to sing a Brittany Spears song they loved it. He got comments about it the rest of the week from random people while we were walking around.

Monday morning when we woke up we were docked at Barbados. It was a pretty small island. Our cruise came with some on board credit so we used ours towards a sailing and snorkeling excursion on a catamaran. There was a note on our itinerary to make sure we didn’t wear anything that was camouflage colors or even just the standard ‘marine green’. Anyone wearing that color that was not a member of their military would be arrested for impersonating a military officer. Apparently there was a little bit of tension politically on the island. As we were leaving the ship one of the passengers was arguing with a crew member about having to change his shorts. Maybe I am just a chicken but I don’t know why you would any shade of green when the risk of being thrown in a foreign prison was explained.

We found a bus to take us to the docks for the catamarans and we started out adventure. There was about 25 people and 4 crew members. The first two hours we just sailed around the island and they pointed out different things as we went. I sat up front and relaxed on the net for a while in the sun. They fed us a nice lunch and then we arrived at a place to snorkel. Everyone geared up and we all jumped in the ocean. The place we went usually had turtles which we saw. There was a sunken ship with lots of fish and even a turtle swimming around it too. It was pretty fun. I have never snorkeled before but it isn’t hard. It was a little crowded in the water because they tried to keep us close together so they could keep track of everyone. Everyone accidentally was grabbed or grabbed someone several times. It was a neat experience. When I was swimming back to the boat I also got to experience an under tow. One second I was an arms length away from the ladder, the next I was 10 feet away and going further. I decided to go to the other side of the boat after swimming and getting no where for a while. After we snorkeled for about 45 minutes they took us to a nearby beach. We were able to jump off the boat and swim to the shore. I am always amazed at the blueness of the water and how clear it is. It is so pretty. We walked along the beach for a while and then Ryan buried his feet and I made myself a mermaid tail in the sand. After the beach the excursion was over. They took us back to the docks and we rode a taxi to our ship. We met up with Kenny and Sherri for dinner. We didn’t see a lot of Barbados other than the coast line but it had the typical island bright colored houses spattered along the coast and up the mountain and greenery growing in any unclaimed space. It was a very nice first day of the boat excursion.

Pre-Cruisin in Puerto Rico

Ryan and I have been talking about going on a cruise together ever since our first one 6 years ago for our 10th anniversary. Earlier this year Ryan decided he couldn’t wait any longer and he pulled the trigger and booked us a cruise for December 1-8 to the Western Caribbean. It left from Puerto Rico so we added a few days before to  have some time to explore Puerto Rico too since neither of us has been there. Then we invited Sherri and Kenny to come with us. Ryan’s parents helped us out by coming to watch the kids while we were gone.

It was GLORIOUS! We loved every minute of it. The first time we went on a cruise I was pregnant with Emilee and it wasn’t that great. The cruise was awesome but I didn’t feel good, had no energy and couldn’t do a lot of the activities. I didn’t know how much of the yuckiness was pregnancy or sea sickness so I was a little worried about going again. Turns out that it was all pregnancy and no sea sickness. I didn’t have any trouble at all, in fact I found the motion very relaxing and soothing.

Ryan’s parents came Wednesday night and got settled. Roger took us to the airport Thursday morning. By 5pm we were arriving at out hotel in P.R. We tried a restaurant recommended by the hotel ‘next to the cock fighting arena’ and tried some local cuisine. The local authentic dish is mafungo. It is plantains smashed and fried and sometimes can have spices mixed with it. Not my favorite. We walked around outside for a little bit but it was dark so we hung out at the hotel. I never quite got used to Christmas decorations in a tropical environment. It always seemed weird and a little cheesy to me.

Friday morning we walked on the beach that was 5 minutes from our hotel then Ryan rented a car and we drove up into the mountains. There are several gorgeous water falls you can hike to. Some of the trails weren’t repaired from the hurricane but we hiked to Quebrada Juan Diego Falls, and a tower that overlooked the Yunkan forest. We found a little smoothie stand on the side of the road on our way back down the mountain. Ryan was excited to get an ‘authentic’ fruit smoothly. I was a little relieved when they made it with Kirkland brand ingredients from Costco. It was yummy though. 

  • Getting ready to climb the tower for an amazing view
  • The climb was worth it.
  • Breath taking views
  • Hiking to our first waterfall.
  • Ryan braved the cold water.

After the rain forest we headed to the beach. The water was perfect. The waves at the beaches in PR were pretty big. We spent an hour or two swimming in the water then walked through some shops and grabbed some dinner.  When we go on vacation Ryan and I switch rolls. He becomes the planner and organizer and I become forgetful and carefree. So before the shops we had to find a bank to withdraw some cash because I forgot our bag at the hotel with our cash in it. That was a different experience. When we walked in through the first door it locked behind us and the second door was locked and we had to be buzzed in. I rarely go inside banks but when I have they are not that busy. This bank, appropriately named Banco Popular was hopping. There were at least six tellers and then that many more people at desks (all wearing their Christmas bedazzled headbands) and no less than 20 people being helped or waiting. And Ryan and I were the only two white people in there and stood out like a blinking light bulb. Everyone was very friendly though and after paying ridiculous fees to get $40 in cash we were soon on our way out after being buzzed out and locked in between the two exit doors again.

After we ate we headed to Fajarda where we had booked a kayaking trip from the ocean two miles down a little inlet that opened up into a bay. We arrived about ten minutes before sunset. We watched the sunset several times on our trip. It was always pretty but I noticed that it isn’t as colorful and vibrant as sunsets with mountains or more things for the lights to bounce off of. It was still beautiful to watch. Once the sun went down the bay we were at contained bio luminescent algae that put of light when the water gets stirred. We read lots of reviews about how awesome it was (well Ryan did, I took the carefree approach) and some friends of ours actually went to one in another part of PR and said it was the highlight of their trip.  So it got dark and we started stirring the water…not a lot happened. The guides got our group together and explained how it all works and this bay was one of only four bays in the world that glow year round, but sometimes water and weather conditions allow for more glowing than other times. Then they gave us a tarp to put over our heads so we could stir the water in total darkness and see it. You could see little sparkles but it was no where near what was expected. It was a little disappointing. We paddled around the bay in the dark for about 10 minutes then they told us to start heading back down the inlet to get back to the docks. As we were paddling in the pitch black through the mangroves the hilarity of 10 kayaks  the two we were sandwiched between containing people with zero kayaking experience and zero natural ability quickly became apparent to me. The only light was the glow sticks on both ends, unless a guide shined a flash light momentarily to help you get your bearings. So instead of hearing calm slow strokes Ryan and I were surrounded by almost panicked nonstop unfocused splashing followed by the crunch of a kayak running into the mangroves and watching the little glow stick lights ping pong back and forth from one side to the next with occasional complete spins in circles. When it got particularly chaotic one of the guides turned their light on to find that one kayak had basically crashed into the other and was high centered. We were stuck in the middle of this for about 15 minutes before we were able to sneak around them. It was some of the best entertainment I have had in a while. I was crying and had a side ache from laughing so hard but trying to not be to loud about it. Amongst all the chaos some of the funniest things I heard was someone tell his wife to put her paddle down and she was no longer allowed to paddle. The other two were arguing about which direction they were facing and rowing. HI.LAR.I.OUS. It almost made up for going kayaking on a kayak trip in the dark and not seeing what you were supposed to see.

When we finished our kayak experience is was late and Kenny and Sherri had arrived so we went back to the hotel and hung  out with them for a bit. Later that night we were talking about how we had spent the entire day together. We couldn’t remember the last time just the two of us spent all day together. We actually got to talk about things beyond the basics of surviving the next 24 hours. We both enjoyed it, luckily we still like each other. 😉

The next morning the four of us checked out and loaded up in the car and went to Old San Juan. There is two forts that have been there for over 400 years that we toured. They were pretty impressive. I felt like I was walking around a castle. Another observation that we all made while on our trip is that rarely do you see any posted rules or guidelines like you do in the US. At the fort there were dozens of windows and lookouts that you could walk right out on and they dropped off to a 50-100 foot sheer cliff, no railings or anything. They would have had gates blocking any access to them if it was in the US. It was the same with driving. No stop signs, rarely a stop light. Everyone just took turns and used common sense and politeness. Anyway, we walked around the forts for a few hours then wandered through town and found a restaurant recommended to us by a friend. We passed on their mafungo recommendation and had some yummy seafood instead. Then it was time to return the car and head to the boat!

  • This is the road cars drove on around Old San Juan
  • They kept the land clear of anything to hide behind around the Fort. There is also a giant dry moat around the Fort at the top of the walk way.
  • We are on the walkway leading into the Fort.
  • We are both standing in a look out area that drops off a shear cliff anywhere from 50-100 feet.
  • You can see more of the look outs behind him. He is standing on one too. We were shocked they would let people just walk right out on them.
  • Looking out from the fort. There is a huge dry moat around it, along with the flat open fields.
  • The rocks filter out any sand so the water is a crazy bright blue.
  • Coming down to the kitchen area of the fort, and lower canons.
  • This is the appropriately named triangle stair case. They used it to get up and down the different levels in a hurry of they needed to.

We checked our luggage in and got out sea passes and boarded the boat. We were on Royal Carribeans Jewel of the Seas. It is one of their smaller boats which I think is perfect because there are not lines everywhere and it feels less crowded. After we explored the boat we had to go to our muster stations and learn how to evacuate. Then we ate our first dinner on board. This particular boat is known for its better than usual food. It was very good all week long. We bounced around to different waiters the first few night but then we settled into a spot with Domingos and Veneesh for the last three nights. They were both from India, and were very kind and sweet. Domingos always remembered our names and what our favorites were. Veneesh remembered that we preferred hot chocolate instead of coffee with dessert and made some of the best hot chocolate I’ve ever had. It was always the perfect temperature too. Mmmm, its the little things that matter.

After dinner our staterooms were ready so we checked them out and unpacked a little. We got a balcony which was really nice to eat breakfast on, or just sit out and relax and enjoy the view. I loved waking up each morning and looking out to see the ocean or the new port we were in. The boat departed at about 8:30 pm. It was a little windy the first two day but otherwise the weather was perfect and the seas were pretty smooth. Before we called it a night we went up to the front of the boat and took our ‘Jack and Rose Titanic Pictures’. It was awesome to be three days into a vacation that was just getting started.

  • On our way to the ship through Old San Juan.
  • That’s the Bridge. There was always one or two people standing in those windows.
  • Enjoying the fresh air and the view from our balcony.
  • Leaving Puerto Rico on our first night on the ship.
  • On our way to the Safari Lounge I took this picture for Allison. She loved it.
  • Towel Penguin greeting us when we came in one night.
  • Main pool, and location of the very funny belly flop contest.
  • Janae: ‘I’m flying Ryan, I’m flying!’ Ryan: Your hair is hitting me in the face. Kenny: You are ruining the best part of the movie.
  • Top of the 12th floor looking all the way down to the 4th. This was called the Centrum of the boat.
  • Standing on the glass that looks down through 8 floors of the ship.
  • On board entertainers
  • They had fancy sitting areas all around the ship. Sherri liked these flower chairs.
  • Swan…or cobra in a basket waiting for us after dinner.
  • Sunset
  • Trying out the pano function on our cameras. This is Grenada.
  • Ryan’s photo taking skills need some work, so he didn’t take to many pictures. He couldn’t get enough of this view though.

Thanksgiving

Our November flew by in a flash! Everyone had lots of activities going on, I worked quite a bit, and Ryan was extra busy with work. I also like to get as much Christmas prep done as I can in November so when December comes we can have less to do and enjoy the season. So we got our decorations up mid December and most of the present shopping done too. The girls had a daddy daughter dance with their dad for Girl Scouts. It happened to be on the same night as Ross and Lauren’s annual Pie Night, so the girls decided to leave the dance a little early to make it to both activities. Ryan was very happy with their decision because he looks forward to Pie Night. Emilee found a cat while we were waiting at piano lessons. She coaxed it from the neighbors driveway to the one we were at and played with it. I had a spell of momentary weakness come over me that almost ended up with me bringing the cat home. I was able to talk myself down though. The kindergartners celebrated Thanks giving by having a little singing program for their parents. They all dressed up as an Indian or a Pilgrim. Then they had a feast together when they were all done. The Saturday before Thanksgiving we had a Friendsgiving with some families from Matthew’s baseball team. It was a fun night. We are very lucky to have a nice group of families on the team.

  • Girl Scout Fall Ball
  • Emilee found  friend.
  • The kindergarten classes sang some songs and had a Thanksgiving feast.
  • Emilee loves holding Linnea whenever she can.
  • Ready for breakfast but not ready to wake up yet.
  • On the way to Grandma and Grandpa Jones house.
  • Enjoying the nice drive through a blizzard.
  • After driving almost 11 hours in the snow, we got stuck in our driveway. Thank goodness for neighbors with snow blowers.

My mom had a surgery on her neck the week before Thanksgiving so we went up to South Dakota to see her and my dad for Thanksgiving. It has been a while since we have been up there. I was very happy to find my mom in very good condition considering she had a major surgery one week before. She was doing so good I had to keep reminding the kids that they had to be careful with her.

Ryan and I both worked on Wednesday so we headed up on Thanksgiving Day. We decided to celebrate on Friday instead. 
My mom likes to cook but couldn’t, I could cook but don’t like to so we decided to pick the favorites we wanted from a traditional Thanksgiving dinner and nix the rest of it. 

My mom, always prepared (even when having a surgery), had made rolls ahead of time, and had the options of a turkey, chicken, roast or ham to choose as the main dish. My mom and I were out voted on the turkey for  a ham. We added the rolls, corn, mashed potatoes and gravy, a Sam’s Club pumpkin pie (the very best pumpkin pie you can get) and we had a great Thanksgiving feast on Friday. For the rest of our time in South Dakota everyone’s goal was to relax. I think we were very successful at it. We all went to the theater together and watch the new ‘How The Grinch Stole Christmas’ movie. The kids discovered the 1992 Mighty Ducks movie. I remember loving it when I was younger and watching it many times. We watched the original, second and third movies of that. The boys went and saw the new Harry Potter movie too. My mom and I were able to squeeze in several Christmas Hallmark movies and the adults all watched ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ which I don’t recommend. Among all the couch potatoes watching movies there were many card games of Golf, and Baloney (BS), and various board games going on as well. It was a great long weekend.

We checked the weather several times and were debating on leaving Saturday or Sunday because KC up to Omaha was supposed to get hit with a big blizzard. We decided on leaving later on Sunday when the storm was done. When we woke up Sunday the storm was much bigger and slower so it was supposed to hit in the afternoon, so we left as early as we could to get home instead of waiting. The roads were crystal clear until we got just past Omaha. Then the freeways were closed and everything else. We tried the side roads for a bit but I got tired of that quick so we went back to the freeway and we were able to get on but we drove 30-40 miles the rest of the way home. This made the last usually 2 1/2 hour long trip take more than twice as long so by the time we got home it took us almost 11 hours instead of 6. It was a long day… the kids did great and were able to hold going to the bathroom for new record times. Ryan was pretty grumpy, and I was the driver the last 8 hours so I was tired. We were both a little irritable and we learned our lesson to be better at checking the weather. We told the kids it was a good example for them as to why we don’t drive in bad weather, and it wasn’t mom and dad’s best decision.

Flat tire…again

Over the years I have had several flat tires. I don’t know why, I only drive on roads but I am good at finding things to pop my tires. It is never convenient of course but my luck has always been with me in that when I have gotten a flat Ryan has always been with me or it was a slow leak that I could just drive it to the repair place. Last week I pulled into the garage after getting groceries and when I got out of the car I heard the dreaded hissing sound of a flat tire.🤦‍♀️ Luckily I had made it home so I wasn’t stranded somewhere but I wasn’t going anywhere because one of the tires I had put on my car less than two weeks ago was completely flat in about two minutes. To add to the fun it had just started snowing. We have road side assistance on our car insurance but I had two hours to be at work so I decided I was going to have to pull up my big girl pants and do it myself because getting RSA would take to long. So I got everything out and made a quick call to Kenny to get a little help on exactly where to put the jack because Ryan was in a meeting. Twenty minutes later I had my spare on and was ready to head to the tire place to get it fixed.  Woohoo! When I got there they were pretty busy and wouldn’t have it done in time for me to get to work on time. It was still snowing and to be honest I didn’t trust my tire changing abilities enough to drive across town and back, so I started looking for a ride.

Ryan was not available still but recommended Uber. 🤦‍♀️ No thanks, getting in a car alone with a complete stranger that is most likey a man goes against my survival instincts. I asked Lauren and she said she had an appointment soon but would take me. I started waiting for her but felt bad making her late for her appointment so I put on my big girl pants again started reviewing my self defense strategies and ordered an Uber. I called Lauren to let her know and she said they bumped her appointment an hour when she called and she was already on her way so she could take me. Woohoo! No Uber for me. She was there about 30 seconds later so I got on the App and tried to figure out how to cancel my Uber ride. Supposedly it is very simple but I couldn’t figure it out and five minutes later got a notification that my driver arrived. I called him and felt like an idiot explaining to him I was no longer there. I got the notification from him he canceled and continued chatting with Lauren. About five minutes later I got another notification that my second driver had arrived.🤦‍♀️ I tried a few more things and didn’t get anymore notifications about drivers showing up so I think I got it figured out. I made it to work and went into discover that because of the snow half the afternoon patients had cancelled and they only needed one of the two hygienists. 🤦‍♀️

Oh well, I changed a tire all by myself. Go me!

Kids activities-November here we come!

Allison had her 3rd grade music performance last week. They did songs about rocking through the ages. Each grade does a performance each year. Every year when parts get assigned and come home she flips out about how she got the worst part and she isn’t going to dress however she is supposed to. This year was the same. She was supposed to dress up like a nerd and she said there was no way she was going to do that. I have found it is best that I don’t say anything and by the time it comes around to the performance she is fine. That’s how it went this year too. Most of her friends ended up being nerds too so they all had a fun time planning their outfits and they did great on their performances.

Allison is in the front row, bottom left corner in the pink shirt.

Emilee sang a song with her class for the annual Veteran’s Day Performance at the school. She did a great job and liked that there was never any direct attention on her.

She is in the back center of the back row wearing a black shirt.

Matthew is done with football and started basketball practice, it is just once a week until games start after Christmas so he is also focusing on his baseball training. They aren’t supposed to throw in November so their arms get a break, so he has been hitting and doing Boost classes, which is weight and cardio training.

 

 

100th Post…Emilee’s birthday

This is the 100th post for my blog! I didn’t really know what to expect when I started. I have really enjoyed having a blog so far. I think it is perfect for our little family journal. The kids like to read it already. I’m planning on printing out a book each year of it too.

Cute little sweet Emilee had her birthday today so she is a perfect subject for my 100th post. After counting down for the last few months her wait is finally over. She is now 6 years old. I can’t believe my youngest is 6.  She came bouncing in this morning after sleeping in as long as she wanted (something she loves and looks forward to on Saturday) and wanted to have crapes for breakfast and then open presents. So that’s what we did.

She has said she wants everything she sees for her birthday for the past six months but she had a few things that were mentioned consistently.  She loves tiny little things and cuddly soft little things. Mom and dad gave her a ‘big horse’ that she wanted. Grandma & Grandpa Terry gave her a Gleamerz and an LOL doll. Grandma and Grandpa Jones gave her a little purse with a baby unicorn in it. Matthew gave her Hatchimals and Allison gave her a little toy that is soft and fuzzy and can wrap its tail around her arm and ‘hang on’. She was also a good sport and gave Allison a big giggle when she opened a present from her that ended up being all her own underwear. She was in heaven. So many little snugly things that ‘she could just play with forever’.

She loves playing at other peoples houses so she was very excited to take her new toys and go play at Jovee’s house for a couple hours while we went to Matthew’s last football game. After that we picked her up and went to her birthday party.

This was her first birthday party and she decided to have it at her gymnastics place. She wanted to invite every person she knows but we narrowed it down a little and there was about ten of her friends that came from school, church, or the neighborhood. It was a perfect place to have a party for 5 and 6 year olds. They got to run and jump and climb to their hearts content. They had two gymnast helpers that did fun stuff with them too if they wanted. They all had a great time and were worn out with all the fun when it was over.

After playing we went to the party room and had cake and ice cream and opened presents. She requested a pink and purple tall (double layer) circle shaped vanilla cake with lots of frosting, just like the last couple of years. She picked out some Neapolitan ice cream too because it has pink in it but isn’t strawberry. It actually is strawberry but as long as it doesn’t have chunks of real strawberries in it she doesn’t notice and we don’t tell her.

I used to try and pick out what I thought would be nice when the kids had a party to go to but I have learned to take my kids with me to pick out birthday presents for their friends or ask them what they want to get them.They usually get something very different than I would have thought to get and their friends always love it. It isn’t as easy to put yourself in the mindset of what a six year old wants as you would think. Her friends did a great job and were very sweet with the gifts they gave her. Emilee helped me put together little thank you bags for each of them to take home. They all had the same things in them but different colors and Emilee had a specific color to give to each of them and they all said, ‘That’s the color I wanted!’. This is such a fun age for kids I think. They are still sweet and kind to each other and aren’t worried about boys or girls and can play all together. They still listen, and get excited easily and are easy to manage.

After her party it was dinner time, she picked Pizza Street for her birthday meal. The kids love that place, Ryan and I not so much, but it is the birthday girls choice so that is where we went. She got her fill of cheese pizza and frosted cinnamon twists and then came home to play with her new toys. The Terry cousins came over to play for a few hours while their parents went to a work party. They played tag and other games until they were worn out and ready for bed. She said she had a great birthday. She is looking forward to being sung to in primary tomorrow and then taking birthday treats for her class on Monday.

Emilee loves unicorns right now so Grandma and Grandpa Jones dressed up like unicorns to sing her happy birthday. 😂😂😁

Matthew’s Pizza

The other night Ryan and I went out to dinner with some friends. Matthew watched the girls for us. (Awesome perk of having a 12 year old) I told them some options for dinner before I left that they could make when they were hungry. Matthew called us about half way through our dinner and we had to settle an argument about if he had to make Allison a pizza or not because ‘she won’t starve’. (Not so awesome perk about kids watching their own siblings) When we got home there was pizza stuff on the counter and cold cereal. We asked who are what for dinner and they all said cold cereal. Matthew mumbled something about the pizza not being very good. I asked him what was wrong with it and he said he didn’t know, he left it in the oven for me. I looked in and found this.

We figured out that he had set the oven to broil instead of bake and this is what a pizza looks like after it has been broiled for 14 minutes. Before we left I was reviewing standard safety rules because they said they were probably going to make a pizza. Matthew was being a little snarky and answering all my questions with the answer, “Immediately call 911 and run around screaming.” Luckily while his mouth was being sassy his brain remembered what we talked about. I didn’t specifically cover what to do in case you broil the pizza instead of bake it but when I asked him how he decided to deal with it he said, “It wasn’t on fire so I turned the oven off and left it for you to figure out. We had cold cereal so it wasn’t an emergency so I didn’t need to call you or 911.” I clarified if he meant the pizza wasn’t an emergency or eating cold cereal wasn’t an emergency, to which he said, “We still had food to eat even though we wanted pizza.” We were gone for two hours.

Sometimes I would love to see the inner dialogue and thought process of the 12 year old brain. He felt the need to call me to determine if he had to feed his sister at all, but when he opened the oven to what should have been a perfectly cooked pizza and instead found a charred melting blob he thought it best to just close the oven and leave it until I got home. 🤷‍♀️

I got to go out to dinner and enjoy a delicious meal with friends and my Punkin and everyone was healthy (and no one starved in the two hours we were gone) and the house was standing and no one called 911 so it was a successful evening.