A day in the life... Continued...

After the school program, time to fill the car with gas and grab a drink, and then off to practice a song two friends and I will be singing in sacrament meeting.

Then dropping off schoolwork since Alex has been home with allergy stuff and picking up the next round of work for him.

And then an hour of relaxation with a massage I finally scheduled since i got it in January.

A day in the life....

My kids always wonder what i do all day long, so here is my day in the life...

I'm skipping the wake up, getting kids up and dressed and finding clothes and shoes, backpacks and making breakfast and lunches. And dropping off kids at the schools.

After doing carline at the school i had a half hour to hang out and wait till i had something on my calender. These bleachers won't be empty for long... Dropping in on Alyssa's 4th grade PE program that the 3rd and 5th graders are watching. :) first of a day of multiple things...

Whoa... Sorry!

I haven't posted anything since the cruise last September!! I promise that doesn't mean I haven't been doing anything! :)

The kids are doing well at school, I'm staying busy with primary, volunteer stuff at the kids schools, taxi cab driving, and trying to be better about exercise.

Ill try and get back into a better habit if posting on here... And add some pictures soon. :)

Oasis cruise days 7 and 8

Our Port for the day was Cozumel.  We have been to Cozumel before and decided to take the excursion to Tulum over on the mainland.  This required a highspeed ferry transfer to the mainland.  We had the option of the top deck that was not airconditioned and had hard benches, or the lower deck that is enclosed and airconditioned with padded seats.  We choose the lower deck, inside with padded seats.  I had read that sometimes the ferry ride can be choppy, so I had taken a dramamine that morning and felt that would take care of things.

Well... when you barely have cast off from the dock and the employees come out with rolls of barf bags and start passing them out, it's not a good sign.  It was a 45 min ferry crossing, and I made it through 35 min of it before I was joining others on board utilizing the barf bags the smell had just gotten to the point that I could not handle it anymore... I was regretting our choice of an excursion and couldn't even imagine how it would be on the way back at the end of the day.

Once we got to the dock at the mainland, we got out and had some fresh air and people started to feel better.  We found our tour group- we had signed up to see Tulum, and then afterwards we would stop and have lunch and some time on the beach.  At this point in time I wasn't sure I wanted to have any lunch before the trip back that afternoon! :)

Tulum was neat, it is beautiful how it is so close to the sea and has been preserved much more than other settlements in the area.  It was used as a light house to guide vessels in around the long black coral reef that protects that part of the coastline.  The Mayan people were shorter than the norm is now, and the small doorways into the walled city were short- they have added to the doorway to make it easier for visitors to go through them now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our lunch and beach time was at a very picturesque beach a little further down the coastline.  The food was good, I kept it simple and just had the rice and beans and fresh pico de gaio, but it was so flavorful and yummy I enjoyed every bite!  We had about 2 hours for lunch and to relax at the beach.  This was on the ocean instead of a cove that we had in Haiti so we played in the waves - in Haiti it was just a gentle wave instead of the real ones here.

 

 

All too soon it was time to rinse off and board the bus for the hour drive back to the dock and our ferry.  I was dreading it, but we decided to try the top deck this time and see if it was better.  The skies were bright on one side, and dark and gloomy on the other, made for some neat pictures.

 

 

The trip back was pleasantly uneventful.  The fresh air did the trick and I didn't feel sick at all.  We were able to enjoy the trip back and I'd gladly trade the cushioned seats for the hard ones with fresh air! :)

 

We were on the ship on the left... the little itty bitty one on the right was a carnival ship that I think is about the size our ship was the first time we went on a cruise.

 



 

The little blue and yellow ferry is about the same size as the ferry we were on.

 

As an aside- the Oasis was scheduled to leave port at 6:30... our ferry pulled up at 6:45 and I was very glad we had booked through the cruiseline so they were holding the ship for all of us on the ferry.  By the time we all got on board it was only a matter of minutes before the gangplank was raised and we were out of port.

 

That night to say we were tired would be an understatement.  Good think we booked our massage package for that night.  We needed every little bit of relaxation we could get that night and I was close to falling asleep through it and dinner that night.

 

The next day was our last day at sea.  We slept in, went ice skating, watched a movie, saw the show Come fly with me- another one full of acrobats and amazing feats- also the singing was beautiful kind of narrating the show.  We then saw the ice show and enjoyed all of it.  The skating they do on the little tiny ice rink is beautiful and the sand drawing is amazing that they can do it so quickly and precisely.  We enjoyed a day full of relaxing and having fun. 



 

We packed our suitcases that night and kept out only the barest of necessities for the next day, and got ready to re-enter life.  We had about 6 hours to wait at the airport the next day before our flight so we found a city tour to take that would drop us off at the airport on time for our flight.  The weather was raining though so we didn't see as much as we would have, but we had a nice time seeing sights around Ft. Lauderdale and learning tidbits of history about the area.  We took a riverboat ride through some canals and saw some spectacular houses (anyone have an extra 20 million laying around to buy one?) and felt it was time well spent instead of sitting in the airport all day long bored to death. :)  At the airport we had pizza... I think it was the thickest pizza crust I have ever had in my life... and I enjoyed my first Mt Dew in over a week. lol! :)

 

What a wonderful vacation it was and we teased each other that we didn't even get tired of being alone with each other.  We had a great time with no fights between kids to break up, no complaints of not liking the food or being hungry 1/2 hour after a meal.  We enjoyed our longest trip ever without the kids and are grateful for friends that made it possible.

 

Next time we decided we'll take the kids along though- it's too good of a vacation to keep to ourselves and we'll try to talk any friends we can into coming along as well!  We have cruised with friends as couples, as a family, as a solo couple, and next time we want to have the experience of cruising with our family with a lot of friends and their families! :)

Oasis Cruise Days 5 and 6

 Our stop for today was Falmouth, Jamaica.  Rich's brother Dave went to Jamaica on his mission so it was neat to be able to visualize where he lived for 2 years and some of what he experienced.  Our excursion for the day was the Zipline Tour and Dunns River Falls.  We had a great tour guide Anna and hilarous bus driver- Crazy Joe that told us what to look at, how to avoid the agressive vendors and just made the day a great wonderful adventure.

 

 

I think this was the cove that Columbus sailed into (I could be wrong)

A beautiful old bridge across the river- they told us before the new road was built two trucks would drive on this bridge in opposite directions... with an inch to spare on either side.

 

 

A monument errected in appreciation to the Queen who had the new road built.  The road was named "The Queens Highway"

 

All suited up and ready for our zipline adventure!

 

 

Don't let the face fool you, he was having fun! :)

 

By the time I got things figured out- how to stay going forward and not swing backward, and how to keep  my feet up at the landings, I was done with the entire course. lol! :) 

 

 

Such a fun experience and great way to see the rainforests and all the beautiful plants.  The guides were great and would stop and tell us about the different tree's and flowers and plants.  They kept everyone laughing and smiling and having fun through the entire time.

 

We had lunch after the zipline and were treated to jerk chicken and traditional rice and beans and a coleslaw- all yummy.

 

Then on to Dunns River Falls.  We were amazed at how many people were there, and we were told afterwards that this was a "slow" day and not crowded at all!  Everyone went up the falls in groups with guides leading the line.  Holding hands so everyone would walk the paths that were the safest and to warn each person behind them when holes or other obstacles were hiding under the water.

 

Down at the bottom as we started up the falls...

Somewhere about 1/3 of the way up Rich snapped a picture of me.  I knew I wanted to be able to take pictures on the trip, but didn't want to spend money on a waterproof camera.  We found a waterproof case to put the iphone in and it worked great!  It was buttoned in a pocket on my shorts for the whole trip up the falls and it kept it nice and dry and we got some pictures to remember the day.

 

This is about the halfway point.

A picture as we left Falmouth that evening... the picturesque look...

 

 

And our fun towel animal of the night- a bat with my sunglasses on.

Dinner that night was just in the dining room, we went and watched the Love and Marriage show- (like the newlywed game, but a newlywed couple, one married about 15 yrs, and one married 57 years) and enjoyed the evening.

The next day was at sea... we slept in, ate, read books on the deck, mini golfed, had icecream, watched movies, had a yummy dinner at Chops (steakhouse) and went to the comedy show that night.  I didn't take a single picture that day... :)