Colorado, Oklahoma, New York - July 2007

The Chinese call it the year of the pig, but, for me, it’s been the year of the apple.

Kris and I finished our first year of teaching well, with my winning Teacher of the Year and the Freedom Award and Kris making massive improvements to several key processes within Winfree.  But, having had an exhausting year, we were ready for a good summer of travel.

After a few days off, Kris and I drove up to Denver to visit my sister and her family from June 10 - June 21, 2007. 

While we were there, Jimmy flew up as well. 

We had a lot of fun celebrating Jenny's birthday, going to the park, pool, sprinklers, and to the Colorado Renaissance Fair.  As much as it pained me to leave, we headed back home on the 21st. 

We then had a few days alone before Adam came to stay with us, and Terri joined us on the 4th of July.  After a trip to Oklahoma to visit the WinStar, we all headed down south to Houston to spend a few days in Pasadena with Wayland, Terri, and Adam, then drove back home to give me time to pack for my New York trip with Valerie Albright on July 12 – July 16, 2007.

Thursday, July 12, 2007
We flew from DFW to Newark airport with a connection in Atlanta.  Our first flight left at 5:45 am, and, if you know me, you know that I didn’t sleep any the night before.  I was quite tired by the time we arrived at EWR, but we took the Airtrain to NY Penn Station and pulled our luggage the four or so blocks to the hotel anyway.  (This wouldn’t be such a hard feat if you didn’t have swarms of people running into you and going the opposite direction.  I felt, quite often, that for every two steps I went forward, I went one back due to the pressure exerted on my luggage.)  We checked-in to the Wingate Inn Manhattan Midtown, a really nice hotel with a nice sized room and super comfy bed.  They offered a free hot continental breakfast every morning.  I was quite happy with the hotel.  Then we rest and unpack before Danny comes and picks us up from the hotel to drive us to Astoria to see the entire family.  (Now I’m ready and raring to go.  Miraculously, I don’t feel any of my previous exhaustion.  That hits me on our trip home.)

We make it to Astoria to have dinner with Aunt Alice, Uncle Nick, Danny, Nicky, Caroline, and Juliette.  They delighted us with fantastic pasta, ravioli, pasta salad, potato salad, BBQ, etc.  My aunt even went out before we got to NY and bought my favorite soda.  Then, after a remarkably tasty dinner, Danny gave us a remarkable driving tour around the city. 

We got to see Times Square, Rockefeller Center, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, and more all sparkling and dazzling at night.  It was phenomenal.  Walls and walls of light and concrete spanning distances beyond imaginable.

Friday, July 13, 2007
I’m a tripaholic.  I love traveling and planning to travel.  I almost live for exploring new places, taking pictures of new places, testing the boundaries of what’s completely familiar to me…well, as long as I still have a semblance of control over the situation.  That being said, I went a little plan happy over this New York trip.  So much to see, so little time and all.

After eating breakfast, we walked to Planet Hollywood to pick up our New York 3-day passes (highly recommended for those wanting to do a lot of activities).  We walked in Times Square and over to Rockefeller Center where we stopped at La Maison du Chocolat for Iced Chocolates and a platter of amazing chocolates.  We then took our first subway to the Museum of Natural History.  After touring the museum, we walked across Central Park to the Guggenheim, which wound up being my favorite museum.  We walked east to Ray Bari’s pizza parlor where Val and I both had a slice of cheese pizza and I had a lemon Italian ice.  We then walked to my mother’s old high school, St. Jean the Baptiste, and to her old church, which was very pretty in a churchy way.  Then southwest to the MET before hitting a subway back toward our hotel. 

A few showers later, we headed toward the Empire State Building to meet up with Danny, his cousin, Joey, and Joey’s girl, Chrissy.  The five of us got on the NY Skyride…really cool…and then went to the top of the Empire State Building.  This was definitely worth doing…we were up there on a beautiful night with great company and a spectacular view.  Afterwards, we went to Scotty’s where I had an amazing meal…roast chicken stuffed with swiss cheese and broccoli. 

Saturday, July 14, 2007
We got a later start today and had a slight revision in plans.  We hit a few stores in the morning and then took the subway to Rockefeller Center to go to the NBC Experience Store and do the NBC Tour.  The tour was incredibly neat.  We got to see where Conan and SNL are filmed, how makeup is used, and I even got to pretend to be a newscaster while reading a teleprompter.  I’m glad I wasn’t the weatherman…that guy embarrassed himself a bit.  We later ate at Planet Hollywood ($20 off thanks to the NY Pass), visited the Hard Rock Café and a few other shops, and took the subway back near our hotel.

After cleaning up, Val and I took the subway to our chosen off-broadway show, My First Time.  It was so phenomenally funny, and we had front row center seats that couldn’t have been beaten.  It was super enjoyable.  After the show we walked to a subway station that took us over the E. 60th and 3rd where we met up with Dan, ate some pizza at Patsy’s, and had AMAZING Frrrozen Hot Chocolates and desserts at Serendipity 3 (from the movie).  Then Dan gave us a few hour long tour of the city.
 

We drove to the WTC site and walked around, drove uptown, downtown, Chinatown, Little Italy, Wall Street, over the Brooklyn Bridge, and to the South Street Seaport (where we walked around).  He gave us such an amazing tour of the city.  I don’t think you could pay hundreds of dollars and get the caliber of tour that we got.  We didn’t get back to the hotel until 3am.

Sunday, July 15, 2007
We woke up and took the subway to Times Square to grab a hot dog and take the M42 bus to Pier 42.  We were able to grab our tickets onto the “Beast” to see the Statue of Liberty. 

(The Beast is a speedboat run by the Circle Line.)  There was no line and no wait, which was amazing, and the boat ride was fantastic fun.  I strongly recommend this ride as the way to go see the Statue of Liberty.  After our 30 minute boat ride, we rode back to Times Square to get a subway to Little Italy. 

We walked Canal Street, bought some Coach in the back room, ate at a great little restaurant called Vincent’s (I had the stuffed shells and Val had ziti), and we decided to get the heck out of Chinatown.  It smelled really badly.  We headed back to the hotel, stopping in a few shops along the way, and I got into the shower.  When I got out, Val was sleeping, so I went to a little shop near the hotel and bought a really cute top.  I was later picked up at the hotel by my Uncle Nick to go see Dan and Nick play ice hockey.  (Val was plum tuckered out, so she opted out in favor of R&R at the hotel.)  Aunt Alice, Danny, Nicky, and I went to the ice hockey game, and I got a few great hours watching the guys and seeing my Aunt.  After the game (which the guys won 5 to 2), we drove back to drop off my aunt and cousin Nicky and Danny drove me back to the hotel.  Val had already packed all of her stuff, so she was nice enough to help me pack mine.

Monday, July 16, 2007
Val and I hit a few shops right near the hotel, and we picked up black & whites for our respective loved ones back home before Danny came to pick us up at the hotel.  The streets were bustling, so I must add here an astounding observation…I don’t see how anyone can drive safely in New York…let alone in a garbage truck.  Geez, it’s amazing.  Uncle Nick had picked everyone heroes up at this great deli near my aunt’s house, and the lot of us – Aunt Alice, Dan, Nick, Caroline, Juliette, Val, and I – ate a fantastic lunch before getting to
see “Sugarless” (one of D&N’s garbage trucks) and a tour of Caroline and Nicky’s house.  After a few hours of talking, Danny and my aunt drove us to Newark so we could catch our flight.

All in all, my trip was fantastic, and I can’t wait to go back.

And this is why I call this the year of the apple…from teaching to visiting the big apple…back to teaching again.  It’s a theme.

Camping in Lewisville, TX - April 2005

(Trip write-up by Kris)

Kristy and I took Adam camping on Lake Lewisville in April 2005.  We enjoyed burgers with roasted potatoes.  Afterwards, we sat around the fire singing oldies while I strummed the guitar.

Weddingmoon in Hawaii - March 2004

Day 0 - Monday, March 1st
We departed DFW and arrived in Honolulu. We departed Honolulu and arrived at Lihue, Kaua'i. We got our rental car from Thrifty, a purple Dodge Stratus. We picked up some sandwich stuff and beverages at the local Wal-Mart then headed, through the pouring rain, to our rental cottage, fearing we were lost the entire drive.  In short, we arrived.

Day 1 - Tuesday, March 2nd
We met our wedding planner at the Pono market, a tiny shop in Kapaa, where we obtained our marriage license. (While there we met two 90 year old people who were also getting their license. They were a sweet old couple and invited us to their upcoming nuptials.) Due to the rain that Kaua'i had been experiencing, our wedding location was changed to Hanalei Bay, as the wedding planner feared the bridges leading to our original location would be closed. She also mentioned that Hanalei Bay had a pavilion where we could be married in case it started raining again.

We wanted to go find a private location on Hanalei Bay for our wedding, so we decided to drive there and look around. Much to my dismay, the skies were dark gray, the water choppy, and the pavilion that had been mentioned by the wedding planner resembled the back of a prison cell. The only nice thing about the beach would have been the free witnesses...as the pavilion was a hangout for local beach bums. Kris saw my disappointment and decided we'd check out neighboring beaches to see if we could find a better one. We went to the Princeville Resort, where Hideaway Beach was located, and to Anini Beach, where we decided to hold the ceremony. We called the wedding planner to let her know of the change in our plans, and went back to Hanalei to grab a bite at Bubba's Burgers, before heading back to our lodging to get ready.

*A little side note here...many of the Kaua'i beaches allow camping. Anini is one such beach. Luckily for us, the beach is closed for camping on Tuesdays due to cleaning and general maintenance, and so it lacked crowds.

We met with the wedding planner, who acted as our witness, her husband, our photographer, and our minister, a Hawaiian spiritual leader, at 5:00pm. A few pictures were taken before the ceremony began so the photographer could familiarize himself with our digital camera. The ceremony began with the minister speaking of the sanctity of marriage and giving us a native Hawaiian wedding blessing. Kris and I said our own vows (and, while he'd probably kill me for saying so, I swear you would think these were vows from some incredibly romantic movie...they were that fantastic), exchanged rings, exchanged leis, and were pronounced married. Oddly enough, it didn't really hit me that we were (getting) married until the minister said to Kris "You may now kiss your wife".

I stood there through the entire ceremony, saying vows, etc... but until then, it was like I was watching the ceremony, not participating in it. Just one of those funny little things. While taking pictures afterward, we got a few congratulations by people walking by...one lady even stopped and asked to take our picture. (I'd like to think we were the highlight of her vacation.)

For those of you who might care about these things, I followed the traditional something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue:

Old - Terri made my bouquet and used part of her veil to make a ribbon on the handle.
New - My wedding dress and pearl-lined flip-flops
Borrowed - Linda was nice enough to let me borrow her pearl earrings
Blue - My bouquet had some blue ribbon on it, and I had my toenails painted blue.

Before we had left, Wayland had told Kris that we were to go out for a nice wedding dinner. We decided on Zelo's, a restaurant in Hanalei's Chiang Young Village. Complimentary garlic bread was shared, and Kris and I found our dinners to be wonderful. We splurged and got a fantastic dessert called a Mud Pie.

The biggest mistake of our trip, however, had to be walking around the Hanalei shopping center after dinner. We were the unfortunate victims of Stanley that evening, a salesman of horrible proportions. He just wouldn't stop talking. (Stanley was one of those guys who set you up with an hour-and-a-half time-share lecture so you can get 2-for-1 deal coupons to local amusements/attractions.) Thankfully, my bladder was on my side for once and required that I seek out a bathroom. The one in the local shopping center was closed for the evening, so I actually had to go across the street to find one. When I got back from the restroom, Kris was still there. He couldn't have been actually interested in what the guy was saying, could he? (This is why Terri's advice should always be followed...say you are leaving tomorrow...always say you're leaving tomorrow.)  We were finally able to break away and head to our Riverview Retreat.


Day 2 - Wednesday, March 3rd
We had decided to take Wednesday easy. We were planning on doing a boat ride/snorkeling on Thursday and kayaking on Friday, and we didn't want to exhaust ourselves, so we found some local sites to explore. One such spot was the Maniniholo dry cave across from Ha'ena beach park. You are driving along the road, which is bordered by ocean on one end and green tropical mountains on the other, and right in the middle of a massive mountain is a huge hole, the Kaua'i dry cave. Naturally, we also checked out the beach. Moving further west near Lumaha'i beach the Waikanaloa wet cave was found. Before reaching this destination, you had to pass through a stream. (The Hawaiians were apparently too lazy to build another bridge for this one, which, while small, could cause major problems during heavy rain.)

The furthest point west capable of being reached by road is Ke'e beach, where we spent much of Wednesday. Walking the length of the beach, until reaching residences, we made many a discovery. From beautiful coral that was washed up to a Monk Seal sleeping on the sand, an endangered animal I might add, Ke'e was quite nice to explore. We also saw one of the most interesting couples I've ever seen in my life. It sure was funny to see a full-grown man with his hair up in a pony-tail scurry up a tree to chop down coconuts. His barefoot wife/girlfriend was on the jagged rocks below barefoot holding an infant. Crazy stuff.

We later went shopping at the shopping area in Hanalei (no Stanley, phew) and bought Shaved Ice to enjoy. We also, with a bit of trouble, finally located a post office in which to mail the postcards we had written out. Kris made an executive decision to just have dinner at our suite. We dined on leftovers from the evening before and relaxed in our private hot tub.


Day 3 - Thursday, March 4th
We had planned a boat ride on the Na Pali Explorer for Thursday, and, being it was on the opposite side of the island, we had to wake up and leave pretty early to get there in time. We would soon find out that our boat for the day was the Na Pali Explorer II which boasts "superior comfort on the largest boat of its type in the US. - a 48', 35 passenger Explorer class adventure craft featuring smooth ride quality and the lowest seasickness rate on the island." I was pretty worried about the weather, as we awoke to someone dark skies on our side of the island, but we called into the boat company and all things were a go. When we got to the Na Pali Explorer headquarters, there were pastries and banana bread waiting for us, as well as some morning beverages. After checking in, we were all instructed on how to get to the boat dock to begin our trip.

The boat ride started decent enough, with our captain, Rob, giving a bit of Kaua'i history and a view of a decent sized sea turtle. Nerve-racking, however, was the knowledge that as we were heading out, many other boats were heading back to shore. Pretty close to the beginning on the trip began our 45 minutes of snorkeling. They anchored the boat near a sugar cane factory, and explained a bit about snorkeling...making sure to remind everyone that we were in the ocean, and there are things that bite in the ocean. While we were all sitting there waiting for snorkel gear to be passed out and listening to Captain Rob's spiel, I experienced my first touch of queasiness. Luckily, pretty soon we were able to jump off the boat and begin snorkeling.

While visibility wasn't perfect, we were able to see quite a few pretty fish. The yellow and black Angelfish were the easiest to spot. We were near a small bed of coral that had many neat discoveries, if you were patient. Our snorkel time was over before we knew it, and we were all washing off with the hose at the back of our boat. (They called it a freshwater shower.) Huddling beneath towels, we all faced the chill of the wind as our boat began heading toward the Na Pali Coast. It wasn't long before there were ooohs and ahhhs heard throughout our boat. We had found an area filled with Spinner Dolphins. I love marine life, and dolphins are truly my favorite animals. It was so amazing to see them in their natural habitat. Here they were, in an enormous family group, swimming around in pairs, threes, and even in sixes. A few would show off and jump in the air. When they got pretty comfortable with our being there, one jumped into the air and showed off his spin. It was amazing. We also got to see a Humpback breech.

The captain made an executive decision as we went toward the Na Pali coast to turn around. Due to the weather, he felt as though going forward would be dangerous. He offered us free t-shirts as a consolation. The waves were quite rough at this point and Kris got pretty drenched. I got my fair share of water in the face too. We headed back to the dolphin location for lunch. After they broke out the food, I was forced to go to the back of the boat. Smelling the food was just a little too harsh on my weak stomach. Kris was concerned for me and kept coming back to check on me in my nauseous state. He told me that whenever I passed by, people looked nervous. It made me chuckle. In the end, I held onto my innards.

After we docked, about an hour and a half prior to schedule, Kris and I walked around and looked at a few of the shops in the town. We also stopped for Shaved Ice at Jo Jo's. After enjoying our snowcones, we headed toward the Na Pali HQ where we received our free shirts. One of the guys that had been a helper on the boat asked me if I was feeling better and if I'd like lunch, since I couldn't eat on the boat. I declined his offer (as I had had Kris grab a sandwich for me for that exact reason). We changed from our swimsuits into our new shirts and some shorts and headed for the road that lead to the Waimea Canyon.

The Waimea Canyon road was quite a curvy road. Kris seemed certain that as we ventured up the mountain we wouldn't see any of the roosters/chickens that have populated the island.

*Side note here. There is an overabundance of chickens on Kaua'i. Kris kept pointing out each rooster we saw on our trip. He also made a point to take pictures of them. Each time he'd see another one he'd yell out "Rooster" as though he'd never seen one in his life. What puzzles me is with so many chickens running around, why isn't chicken cheaper?

Driving back down the canyon made me sick to my stomach again.

On the way home we decided to stop in Lihue to eat and shop at Hilo Hattie's. Almost every brochure we got in Hawaii mentioned Hilo Hattie's, so I felt it necessary to stop in. Good thing too, as I found a t-shirt there that I liked and Kris was able to buy himself a ukulele. We asked the cashier for a dinner recommendation, and, with her recommendation, went to JJ's Steak & Seafood for dinner. They have an upstairs formal steak and seafood menu and downstairs casual dining. We decided to eat downstairs since I couldn't find anything I would eat on the upstairs menu. I ordered a chicken teriyaki sandwich and fries. Kris said the waitress made a face when I ordered it. Kris ordered the coconut shrimp. The waitress said, "good choice." When our meals came out, I had a plate full of food. Kris got six pieces of shrimp. I was really hungry, and my meal tasted really good. Poor Kris wasn't too fond of the shrimp, and it didn't come close to filling him up. Luckily for him, I got full and was able to share the rest of my meal with him. He later commented that my meal, the one that the waitress seemed to disapprove of, was better than his. We decided to head back for some R&R. We'd had a busy and tiring day.

Day 4 - Friday, March 5th
While we were on the Na Pali Explorer, one of the guides suggested snorkeling at Lydgate Park. We decided to forgo the kayaking we had planned and go snorkeling instead. We headed for Lydgate Park, and, while sunscreening up, saw a couple that had been on the boat with us the day before. Kris and I had left our snorkel set down in Houston from when Terri and I went on the cruise, and so Kris had bought another set from Wal-Mart before we left. Unfortunately, the set was a piece of junk, so, after trying for quite some time to make my mask work, I gave up. Instead I headed for the car and amused myself by taking pictures of Kris snorkeling. Regardless of whether you were able to snorkel or just walk around in the water, Lydgate's visibility was fantastic. You could see clear to the bottom of the ocean from where I was walking, and I got to see schools of huge fish, a few pretty yellow fish, and a bottom sucker. After Kris was finished snorkeling, we went to the restroom/shower to rinse off and change.

We noticed that we still had over an hour to kill before Kris's All-you-can-eat Shrimp and Steak for $11.99 began (from 3-6pm), so we headed over to the Coconut Marketplace, the biggest shopping center on Kaua'i. For the entire trip in Hawaii I had been eyeing the black pearl jewelry they have. These pearls are quite pretty, and, due to Linda's loan, I have become quite partial to pearls. Unfortunately, the black pearl is also very expensive and generally only set in gold, not white gold. While walking around the Coconut Marketplace in Kapaa, Kris convinced me to stop at pretty much each shop/booth and see what their selection was like. I rarely have an interest in jewelry, so I thought I should take advantage of my interest and have a life-long souvenir of our Kaua'i vacation. The final stop we made, I found a gorgeous set of pearl earrings in a lavender color. They are set in 14k white gold and were quite reasonably priced, so I got them. It was off to the Wailua Family Restaurant for Kris.

After eating, we decided we would head toward Ke'e beach and see the sun set. When we got there the parking lot didn't seem as crowded as it had the time we'd gone before, but the beach was more crowded. We walked down the beach to find a good spot to watch the sunset and passed a wedding on our way. Kris and I plopped down in the shade at the beach to wait, and Kris took a bit of a nap.

He woke up and decided to go exploring in the woods. While he was gone, I watched a windsurfer struggle with his equipment. It was quite amusing. Kris came back full of bug bites. They hurt/itched so much he tried to bury his feet in the sand thinking it would help. He failed, but the sunset was gorgeous. While waiting I drew funny things in the sand. Kris drew his infamous Queetar character. Kris also found a sea urchin which he brought up the beach to show me. He put it in the sand, and it was really neat to watch him move. After a few pictures and a mini-movie, Kris set him free. After the sun set, we decided to go back to Riverview to clean up. We thought since we'd had a late lunch, we would just go eat dessert somewhere nice.

Bamboo Bamboo was the restaurant chosen for dessert. They had been nice enough to let me use their bathroom the night of the wedding, and I thought it looked like a nice place. We got this really neat padded corner booth and glanced at the menu. Kris was actually sort of hungry by then, so he proposed the idea of splitting an appetizer and dessert. After perusing the menu, we thought we'd get a brick-oven pizza instead of an appetizer. With the fresh bread that came complimentary and the huge pizza, we wound up not getting dessert, but it was quite delicious anyway. We spent our last night at the Riverview Retreat relaxing in the Jacuzzi.

Day 5 - Saturday, March 6th
Our final day on the beautiful island of Kaua'i came too fast. We showered and packed and were out of the Riverview Retreat by eleven, at the request of Ray. I had eaten our leftover pizza for breakfast; Kris finished off the last of our bread and had PB&J sandwiches.

Our destination was Poipu to see the Eucalyptus Tree Tunnel and Spouting Horn. We also stopped by the Poipu Shopping Village where we bought a card for Wayland, a baseball cap for my mother, and had intended on grabbing a burger. We didn't get the burger. Being we had time, Kris and I headed to Wailua Falls. Not only did we see the falls, but I got to pet a baby Hawaiian pig, pre-luau.

We returned our faithful Stratus and awaited our departure. We arrived back in DFW on Sunday at 5 am.

Two weeks later, Terri and Wayland graciously threw a wedding reception for us.  It was a big bbq reception complete with cake.  They are so amazing.  I'm a lucky lady to have them for in-laws.

Cruise to Mexico and Belize - September 2003

Cruising the Caribbean on the Carnival Elation

Day 1, September 28, 2003:

Terri, Elroy, Rachel, and I departed Galveston at 4pm on our cruise.  Wayland had been nice enough to drive us down there, and we got there about noon.  The wait was in line was painful—a couple of hours.  After finally getting on board, Terri and I hurried to our room (E-14) to unpack.  (Our luggage was already waiting for us.)  After unpacking (and before the ship had disembarked) we had to complete an emergency drill.  (We had to put on our life jackets to complete the drill.  I became an official “helper” to a few people who sat near us.  They thought that I worked on the ship or something.  They couldn't believe that I had never put on one of these life vests before.)  Afterwards, Terri and I went to the deck to watch the boat pull away from the dock.

We went and explored the ship.  At 6:15pm, we went to eat dinner in the Inspiration dining hall.  (Here I had the best chicken I have ever had in my life called Supreme Chicken a la Grecque.)

Later we went to a Game Show where Terri was chosen to play!  She got to 50 points first and won a 14 carat gold plastic ship on a stick.

Later that evening we went with Rachel and Elroy to grab late ice cream.  Terri and I, being the old folks we are, hit the hay at 10:15pm.

Day 2, September 29, 2003:

The water was VERY choppy this day and people were vomiting all over the place.  Luckily Terri, Rachel, and I had seasickness patches on that kept us from having trouble.  It was truly odd to see barf bags taped to stair railings.

After eating breakfast at 8, Rachel and I went to find out more info about shopping at the ports of call.  ~Terri and I had already decided that Cozumel would be our shopping port.  After this seminar, I laid down for about 30 minutes.  I made it back in time to see a seminar about the available shore excursions.  Terri, Elroy, Rachel, and I all signed up to go cave tubing in Belize, and Terri and I signed up to do a kayaking adventure in Progresso.

I then left Rachel to go to a seminar called “Frustrated With Your Hair.”  Only one other lady, besides me, showed up, so we got complimentary consulting scheduled for Tuesday. 

I should probably mention here our old versus new itinerary.  A tropical cyclone hit Progresso, so a change was necessary.

Original 

Tuesday in Progresso

Wednesday in Cozumel                      

Thursday in Belize

New

Wednesday in Belize

Thursday in Cozumel

Friday in Progresso

We all met for lunch, and, afterward, went to the casino.  I entered a slot tournament that Jane’s sister wound up winning.  $500 was the prize.  After this, Terri and I took a nap on the deck, went to the cheese/wine tasting (promptly deciding to leave), and then went to Pete’s Piano Bar for Tea Time.  This was followed by more trivia.

We ran into Elroy and Rachel at the casino and decided to go play spades until time to get dressed up for our formal dinner.  After changing out of our dresses after dinner, we went and saw a dancing/singing show, followed by more Spades (where I must mention that Terri and I beat Elroy and Frances twice).  After this was the Late Show, a very funny comedy act.

When it was time to retire, Terri and found chocolate mints on our pillows and our beach towel was made into a frog.

Day 3, September 30, 2003:

Today was supposed to have us stopping at Progresso.  Instead, it was a sea day.  We did have an emergency stop in Cozumel to let off a lady who had fallen down and broken a hip. 

Our day was:  breakfast, hair consultation (where the lady tried to convince me to dye my hair copper), Brain teaser, trivia, casino, lunch, men’s hairy chest contest, gambling, Bingo, a tour of the galley (which was huge and stainless steel), chips and salsa happy hour, casino, dinner, casino, and a juggling and comedy show.  Bedtime required that we set the clocks ahead an hour.

Day 4, October 1, 2003:

            

Today was a stop in Belize.  Rachel, Elroy, Terri, and I went Cave Tubing and Rainforest Walk shore excursion after a quick breakfast.  We waited in the Mikado lounge where we tendered to shore.

The Cave Tubing was supposed to be very strenuous—but the only difficult part of it was that I had rented water shoes that were so thin that I could feel every rock for almost three hours.  (A 45 min. walk through the rainforest—the rest was on the tube (except for a few shallow spots.)  The water was quite chilly at first, but eventually our bodies regulated and we were on our way.  (There were military men in camouflage with large guns standing on the cliffs.  That was a bit freaky too.)

            

The caves were amazing.  At one point we were on the river in pitch black—and at others had just the light from the headlights they provided.  We were able to see bat caves on the ceiling and HUGE stalagmites and stalactites.

           

We had lunch at a place called Cheers.  The menu was black beans and rice, coleslaw, curry chicken, watermelon, and bananas with caramel sauce.  (This may have been my first time to have curry.  I liked it, but this wasn't the spicy kind.)  Then we had our choice of lemon juice or iced tea. 

            

We then headed back to Belize City, shopped a tad, and loaded back onto the Elation. 

            

Terri and I took quick showers and tried to play in the casino, but they keep it closed until the boat disembarks.  We headed up to the deck and took short naps before heading down to play spades with Elroy and Rachel.  We then got dressed for dinner, played more in the casino, saw the ending of a fiddler/patriotic show, and played cards again.  (Terri and Kristy 3, Elroy and Rachel 1)

Day 5, October 2, 2003:

            

Today was Cozumel.

            

Terri and I did most of our shopping together, getting some free items and lots of gifts.  Since we thought we had to depart early, we hurried up quite a bit.  We did manage some good deals though.

We got four spray painted pictures for $30.  I got Kris a t-shirt, and Terri and I both got him hot sauce.  I was held up in one of the stores by a Mexican police officer who insisted I speak to him in Spanish.  I was really nervous he'd arrest me.

When we were passing by one of the Carnival’s recommended stores, I got escorted in by the owner.  He hooked me in by the arm and pulled me into his store.  He told us about their free shipping policy, and then told Terri that she could have one of the oriental rugs if he could keep me.  She decided, thank goodness, that I was more valuable than an Oriental rug.  I never thought I'd get bartered for a rug!

After our shopping, we went back to the boat.  (This is where we found out the change of port.)  But we went and ate lunch, played some more spades (Elroy and Rachel 2, Terri and Kristy 1).

            

We saw a Mexican show at 7:15pm, and I got pulled up on stage to dance with them.  (Mexican men must like women with red hair.)  

Then there was a scavenger hunt…Terri and I gathered everything we could find from our room.  (We had guessed the scavenger hunt would either be “who has this…” or a list of items we would have to go around and collect.)  It turned out to be the items that people currently had on them, and, if you had the item called, you earned a point for your team.  Out of however many items they called, we only missed three of them.  Some woman provided us with a lighter, but we had a lot of obscure stuff like a beach towel wrapper and mint from our pillow.

Elroy was wonderful!!!  They made a guy from each team:

1. Wear women’s high heels and walk the stage
2. Dress up like a woman (in 3 minutes) and do their best woman walk across the stage.  (He came in 2^nd but secure our win.  We got our 24 carat gold plastic ship on a stick.)  
3. I must also commend Frances here.  The women's clothes had to come from somewhere, and Frances didn't think twice about ripping off her skirt to loan to Grandpa Schorn.  So she's sitting there skirtless, and Terri was wearing a sweater.  I ask Terri to give her sweater to Frances to cover her legs.  Terri said she was cold and didn't want to give her sweater up.  It took a bit to convince her that Frances's nakedness trumped three minutes of chilly.

Later that night was the guest talent show.  They had a couple of singers, a hula lady, and a woman who could whistle through her toes.  After the guests performed, the cast put on a skit “If I weren’t on the sea, this is what I’d be…”

After laughing a lot, it was time for bed.

Day 6, October 3, 2003:

            

Today was Calica.  Terri and I signed up for a kayak adventure at Tres Rios in Cancun.  We kayaked up and back one river, but opted to lie in the shade at the beach.  After the kayakers got back, we snorkeled through the 1^st river.  The water was very cold at first, but it was a nice trip.  When we were done, we changed clothes and ate the extensive Mexican buffet.  It had an open bar, so Terri and I got soda and virgin strawberry daiquiris. 

            

We took the thirty-minute bus rid back to the Elation and looked through a few shops there at Calica in front of the ship.  Terri and I reboarded and took showers before heading to the Battle of the Sexes trivia.  We then played in the Casino where Terri and I both won some money on the quarter Wheel of Fortune slot machine.

            

During dinner we had Baked Alaska for dessert.  We then played more in the casino until the Elation put on a show called “Spin”.  After the show, we went back to the casino.  We saw Elroy win at Caribbean Stud.  He got a full house, which paid $100 plus his bet 7:1.

Afterwards, Terri, Frances, Elroy, and I played spades.  We then went to the Gala Buffet at midnight.  They had gorgeous food carvings and ice sculptures.  Frances saw a display of what she thought was guacamole by the sushi display.  She sat at the table and took a HUGE spoonful.  We see her face turn red, her eyes water, and she starts coughing.  It turned out to be wasabi. 

Day 7, October 4, 2003:

            

The morning started off with Terri, Rachel, and I playing trivia.  (Actually, the day started off for Terri at the wheel of Fortune slots where she won $56.)  Next was “Win a Cruise” Bingo.  We didn’t win.  I did, however, get another 14 carat gold ship on a stick in a Mind Teasers trivia game.

            

Then Jane’s family won the horse race for the horse they had purchased and decorated.  We participated in TV/Movie trivia then headed to play spades.