The Cruise That Dead Grandma Paid For

I know it sounds bad but it's actually true. When Neal's mom passed away about 4 years ago, we found she was quite the collector of stuff. Luckily not a hoarder, just a collector. A collector of things that we mostly held no interest in. Enter Ebay.

Yep, for 4 years we whittled down the boxes and boxes of "stuff" and passed it on to those it would could bring joy to, like it did Susan.

Grandma would be happy to know she treated her two kids with their spouses and her grandkids to a 7-day Caribbean cruise. Mahogany Bay, Belize City, and Cozumel. Thank you, Grandma for the fun and memories made.

Oma and Opa joined us for the fun and off we went to Houston the first day to enjoy restaurants, museums, and the space center. We finally experienced the spectacle Bucky's is on our way there. That place is crazy with people but they have yummy cookies and taffy! We stayed in a hotel with a great view. Sunday we headed to church and joined the pack for traveling to and boarding the ship.

It was gloomy Sunday but we had fun exploring the ship, getting settled in and dining. We did what people do on cruise ships, nothing and everything. Aunt Kira planned a great scavenger hunt for our families. We took photos and shared them afterwards and the kids got prizes. There were two tall water slides on the ship, a ropes course, and miniature golf which we had fun doing. We ate A LOT and tried lots of things. I ate a mussel and snails and didn't die. Neal and Rhys tried frog legs and ox tongue. Sophie ate shrimp like it was going extinct. Rhys danced with our waiter during "show time" 3 nights or so and he actually got weepy when it was the last night in the dining room because that fun was coming to an end. We enjoyed playing trivia games, getting professional photos done, and seeing shows. It was just fun hanging out with family and resting.

Trivia winner and smarter than all his family!

At Mahogany Bay in Honduras, we went on a family excursion to enjoy macaws and monkeys up close and personal. That's what was advertised and that's what we got so we were very happy.

  

Another Carnival ship was docked in front of us that wasn't leaving for some reason as expected so we ended up in port for hours after our intended departure time. Because of this the next days excursions were delayed and we had to take a tender to land. Neal, the kids, and I followed our tour guide through the port shopping area to the bus when a Carnival employee showed up and said our excursion was cancelled due to time constraints, though they had repeatedly told us all was well, up until that point. We were really looking forward to seeing the pyramids and ruins and seeing the wildlife on the boat portion. Neal was so disappointed and we were all wondering what to do in our new circumstances.

After a few minutes to rethink and an hour or so of wondering around, we ended up in a win-win situation. Bert, a taxi driver, stopped us as his last shot before heading home as he had not had any luck that morning. We were looking for something to do that felt safe and right. He asked if we wanted a tour, and I felt good about it so we talked some more and since I still felt good about it, we enjoyed a great, very informative tour of Belize City. He was great. I wish I took a picture of him and the area but we were too busy asking questions and learning. We saw the slums, the new areas, the water drainage, wild dogs, street vendors which we got fried plantain chips from, and historical buildings. Our kids didn't care much about what was happening but they didn't complain either. It mad a unpleasant situation into a good one. And Carnival comped us for the excursion and the previous day's excursion.

We spent the last day at port in Cozumel where our whole family and got another taxi, shopped, saw ruins (no pyramids but still good) and the blue blue water of the beaches. I've seen blue waters in pictures and on TV but I still could not believe how blue the water actually was. It was a real nice day.

Looking up at a group of 5-6 bats inside.

It was a great trip and an extra good one because of being with great family (and limited phone/device usage).

There is only one more cruise I care to go on in my lifetime and that is an Alaskan cruise and I wouldn't feel sad if that never happened but it would be nice. Neal's family seems to be cruise people. I am not complaining. It was great! I just want to do other things more. Luckily we don't have to miss the best part of the trip too much as we will be with family again on a trip this upcoming August.

Hear Ye, Hear Ye!

This cute guy (Rhys, not the 3 week old pig) was recognized at Falcon of the Month at his elementary school! Way to go, kiddo!

Win-Win

Julius Kraus, my dad's mom's dad, and my great-grandfather. His wife and daughter reported he wasn't all that great.

Tonight was cool! The kids and I took turns--I told them about their ancestors and answered questions, they told me about their Pokemon characters and answered my questions.

President's Day

We celebrated President's Day by touring important historical buildings and landmarks that represent our country's freedoms and values--Lego style!

Washington Monument

 

Statue of Liberty

Liberty Bell

Capital Building

Independence Hall

Fun way to get some steps in but the treat of See's Candies that followed ruined that--totally worth it though.

Hockey Weekend

Thank you Jack Henry & Associates, Inc for providing Neal with hockey tickets! We were able to invite friends to Friday evening's game and had a blast. Good game too! Allen Americans' goalie, Gill, had his 6th shut out.

On Saturday, our family got to go again and it went into overtime but we lost when they blocked the goalie and no penalty was called. It got more than a little mean after that. Rough game.

Valentine's Day Celebrations

It just so happens that the weekend before Valentine's Day was Sophie and Neal's Father/Daughter winter camping--which looked not a thing like winter.  Neal and Sophie enjoyed time with the Huffs and Sophie even got in the lake up to her thighs. They also tried something new--Samoa cookie s'mores.

Rhys and I invited several girls and boys over for a cookie exchange and service project, in which we made plates of cookies and loving cards to give to those each family thought could use a lift. Following that we were off to see the Lego Batman movie on opening night with all-you-can-eat popcorn for dinner.

The next day we went to the library and ate at McDonald's (both his request) and then were off to a Lego Batman Movie Lego Build at Toys R Us.

For Valentine's Day, at breakfast we served our usual peanut butter oatmeal but with a heart jam a top and added a drop of red food coloring to the milk to make it pink. We had goodies waiting at their place settings--candy, notepads, pens, and other love themed trinkets. 

At school, they did not have kids parties but still handed out valentines. For some reason they wanted to have one of the district's food days on Field Day near the end of  the year. It works out for me because I can treat my own kids with goodies and they still got plenty candy from classmates' valentines. When they get home, I like to look at all their valentines with them. For an after school I made frozen yogurt heart pops.

We like to celebrate love and kindness as a family rather than focus on the romantic aspects of the holiday. We like to have our "fancy" dinner. This year it was chicken burgers from the freezer dressed with ketchup hearts and a celery-apple salad. For dessert I made a strawberry trifle to enjoy. 

We didn't send out cards this year but we hope you enjoyed being with those you love and care about!

Hear ye, hear ye!

Sophie, is in the drama club at school and decided to be a back stage cast member when the play was announced. She had never seen Alice in Wonderland, let alone Alice in Wonderland Junior, so we encouraged her to consider participating in singing and speaking parts and checked out Disney's animated Alice in Wonderland from our library.

She and a friend said they wanted to be Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum and with much enthusiasm during try outs they got the parts. Sophie will be acting as Tweedle Dum in May. Congratulations, Sophie!

I think I can I think I can I think I can

Every time I get a sub job, I text Neal and say how many more jobs are left until we pay ourselves back for December's plumbing work. Little by little...

District-Wide Competition

Sophie spent many a Tuesday afternoon with a small group of upper graders studying  to recognize 40 select paintings, titles, and artists' names to compete against other elementary schools in the district. The fourth grade team took 5th place of 17 schools! What this means to us as parents is that Sophie is willing to try new things and stick with it. What this means to Sophie is pizza party!

Hockey!

Because Neal's employer is a sponsor to our local hockey team they often provide free tickets. This has changed our family's (okay, Neal's) favorite sport from baseball to hockey!

The New Year

On our way to the Andersons for a New Year's Eve party, this was my Facebook post:
"The Four Seasons "December '63/Oh, What a Night--I love that song every time I hear it!"

On the way back from the Anderson's later that night, this was my Facebook post:
"Nothing says Happy New Year like your kid throwing up in the car on the way home from a party!"

I think that pretty much sums it up.  We had a Family Home Evening lesson on Monday about what's acceptable behavior for buffet style eating.

Enjoyed getting all the Christmas stuff put away and watching the Rose Parade with the kids.

Girl Time!

This girl cashed in a Christmas present to spend some time getting pampered with her mom!

Christmas Eve and Day

So this happened a couple days before Christmas.

We had a slab leak in our master bedroom that surfaced in the garage and then caused more troubles in our master bedroom later. We were grateful for Rudy to be able to come over and help move furniture and help bounce ideas off of as we decided which way to go with the plumbing solution. Turned out that we did not need to jackhammer but rerouted into the attic and walls. Everything was up in the air for just a bit but they had it all wrapped up the afternoon before Christmas Eve. We are still running fans today to dry carpet which we had to pull up quite a bit.

We just finished paying off the minivan a few days before as our Christmas gift to ourselves. Given the cost and timing, I felt tempted to complain. However, I was given some extra insight from a church video I happened upon at the time and spent some time pondering and decided to demonstrate gratitude to my Heavenly Father and husband for the blessings they have provided to our family and that we were able to take care of this given that. It helped Neal to view it differently too and helped us enjoy our Christmas.

Christmas Eve Opa and Oma came over and we had fun talking and eating and playing games. Actually, the game was not fun but it was fun to be together. Had fun opening gifts and hanging out. Kids got carrots out for the reindeer but forgot to treat Santa which is a good thing in the end.

With the fans roaring away in our master bedroom, we had the added perk of a few minutes more sleep as we couldn't hear the kids exploring their stockings over the fans. We got ourselves dress and headed to church for an hour of song and testimony. It was great. And everyone was so warm but even more so than usual.

Back at home, Neal wanted a family photo before we changed into more comfortable clothes. We put cinnamon rolls in the oven and made icing and then got started opening gifts. It was a great time and all were happy with their spoils.  We then spoiled ourselves with the cinnamon rolls that I had been dreaming about since my cousin, Barbara Knudsen, had made them at Thanksgiving. So sweet, so good.

Spent the rest of the day with getting gifts in working order, playing, going for a walk (given it was a balmy and in the 70s!) and calling and texting family. We ended the day with Christmas nachos for dinner and watched Home Alone (One) for the first time since I was a kid. I had forgotten how rude the family members were but it was a blast watching the kids laugh at some of the better scenes.

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Hope your Christmas was special in it's own ways. Love you!