Christmas & Thanksgiving in the Same Week

You might be a little confused by the title of the blog today...I was too. I came home last Sunday from day camp and my house had been transformed into scene right out of the Pottery Barn Christmas Catalog (OK - not really - but you must admit it sounds pretty good). Anyways, it was at that point I realized why Mom and Dad had sent me to play with my friends that day. It had given them time to get the house in order for the Christmas season.

Mommy and Daddy purchased a new tree last year after Christmas. I was excited to see it. I think it turned out beautiful. What do you think?





Then, later this week we went to Grandma and Grandpa's house for Thanksgiving. You see, I was confused as I thought Mommy and Daddy had their holidays mixed-up this year. But, they didn't. It was Mommy (I know it wasn't Daddy) being as efficient as possible.

It was really great to see Grandma and Grandpa. The last time I saw Grandma, she was unable to put any weight on her leg. She had surgery to remove the cancer in her bone and she was still recovering. But, this time, Grandma was crusing around just like I remember. And, she and Grandpa played with me a ton. Grandpa even got on the floor with me and played! That was pretty cool.



I did get to take a long nap with Grandma. I like taking naps with her! It was good that Grandma and Grandpa were around to take care of me. Mommy and Aunt Kristin left the house at 3:30 a.m. to head out shopping on "Black Friday." I have absolutely no idea why they would do such silly things, but they came back home claiming to have been successful! Daddy, Grandpa, Grandma and Uncle Eugene just looked at them like they were crazy. Honestly, I think they really were, but whatever floats your boat, right?

Thanks for letting me come and see you! I had a ton of fun and can't wait to come see you at Christmas. Oh, and you better have my treats lined-up for me (I know you will).

A Long Week

It has been a long week. Mommy was out of town this week. She was in Boston for work. I heard her tell Daddy that she was going to work at a show called "Greenbuild." I did a little research and the show was about "green" building products. Pretty cool.



But, I missed Mommy terribly. I would wake up in the middle of the night and look for her. I couldn't understand why she wasn't home. Daddy did his best to distract me (sending me to day camp, getting up at midnight and chasing me around the house) but it really didn't work. But, I was super excited when Mommy came to pick me up from day camp on Friday.

This week is Thanksgiving. That means that I will get to see Grandma and Grandpa. I can't wait to see them. Mommy told me that Grandma is now done with her Chemo. And, I can't wait for Grandpa to take me on walks around the neighborhood.

Election Night

To make a long story short, I was so excited on election night, I could hardly contain myself. But, "Mr. Donkey" helped me put it all into perspective.



I can certainly say that I am glad that the election is over, but I will miss the talks Mommy and Daddy would have with me about the pros and cons of each candidate. But, in the end, I was left to make my own decision.

Obama! Yes We Can!

Last Day at Sea

The overnight had been rough. We experienced gale force winds and 13-20 ft. seas. We were near a Hurricane on our last cruise, but we can safely say, we had never experienced weather like this.

The morning started out with a facial. I had won this during the art auction for answering some art question - but I can't tell you what the question was. I simply don't remember.

After returning from my facial, I needed to rest a bit. My tummy wasn't feeling so great (not sick, but little unstable - just like the sea). Joel went and had breakfast. He said it was cold and windy on deck.

So, I got dressed, and we headed out for the day's activities. We made contact with Aunt Angie to see how Cosmo was getting along and we went to the dining room for lunch. This was our first time in the dining room for lunch, as we normally would eat at the buffet. Like dinner, you are seated with others on the ship.

The dining room was located at the back of the ship. And, it was very rough. The seas were still turning.

After lunch, we headed to the art auction. Again, we had no intention of buying art, but we came away with 5 more pieces. And, we won another piece in the raffle. Oh well, each piece already has a home and we know we will enjoy it for years to come.

After the auction, we headed back to our room to pack. We had learned during the presentation in the morning that we could walk off the ship with all of our bags (even if they weren't carry-on size). We decided that would be the best route, eliminating the frustration of finding our bags in the terminal (a not so positive memory from our last cruise).

We dressed and headed for dinner. We didn't have pictures taken, as my face began to peel after my facial in the morning. Guess that sunburn really had taken its toll.

But, we did have pictures taken with our table mates and with our dining room staff.





The staff sang to us - as a farewell. I was able to capture the whole thing on video.
Enjoy!



And, I can't forget the towel animal...a bunny!



We had a great trip, but were looking forward to heading home and seeing Cosmo. We really missed him. But, we knew he was having a ball at Aunt Angie's.

Grand Cayman

Grand Cayman. We were very excited about this stop. We had signed-up to swim with the Stingrays at Stingray Beach.

But, something seemed off in the morning. We had to be up very early that monring, as the time of our excursion had changed. We had been notified the night before that the our excursion time had very little interest - so we were all going on the early one (9:45 a.m.).

When I went out onto our balcony that morning, I two other ships were heading our way. Now, we had been in port with other ships in the past, but the direction they were headed just seemed out of place.



We showered, got dressed and before we left for breakfast, our cruise director came on to tell us that the Georgetown port had been closed due to bad weather. OK. There were some clouds (a little sun), but things didn't appear to be bad.





We headed off to breakfast and then down to exit the ship on the tender (otherwise known as a small boat) to meet up with our tour guide. We had been told to leave at least 45 minutes ahead of our excursion time, as this would allow us plenty of time to get to shore.



To be honest, it didn't take us too long. Here are some photos we took while on the Tender.















We had finally arrived on shore. We had our picture taken. Look closely, you can see the storm clouds building behind us.



We found our tour and we waited to board the bus. As we were waiting (under a tree), we felt some sprinkles. We thought they would just pass. And, then out of nowhere, a downpore. The rain came down so hard you couldn't see in front of your face. Then, the wind picked-up. Not only were we wet, but we were now freezing cold. Note to self...next time, pack rain gear.

We sat in the rain for more than 20 minutes before deciding we would be miserable the rest of the day. So, we opted not to go on our excursion and we headed back to ship (along with almost everyone on our excursion).

We had been lucky up to this point with the weather. But, of all place, it had to rain in the Caymans.

We got back on ship and took hot showers and then headed our separate ways. Joel took a nap and I went to play solitare on my iPod in the library. It was entertaining, as there was a group of older women playing cards. And they were extremly competitive (yelling did occur).

The weather was so poor that day that I only got a couple of photos from the Lido deck.





When we left port, things got really rocky. The wind picked-up and so did the waves. It made for an interesting dinner.

Oh, the animal creature of the night...Crab.

Ochos Rios, Jamaica

Look at the morning sunrise. Isn't it beautiful? This is what greated us as we awoke on Monday morning.



We had finally arrived at our first destination. Ochos Rios, Jamaica. The morning was perfect. Sunny, warm and the landscape was so green. I guess we didn't know quite what to expect, but I guess we didn't expect things to look so green!









We had decided the night before to change our excursion to something more relaxing. We were going to do a tree top tour, but we opted to go to the beach instead.

So, we got off the ship and headed out to find our tour guide.





Once we found our tour guide, we loaded a bus to head to the beach. It was then we learned that the beach we thought we were going to had been destroyed by a recent hurricane. So, we were headed out on a 25 minute drive to another beach. Also, our tour guide Audra, told us there weren't problems in Jamaica, only situations. That made us feel much better (not).

On the way, we saw lush green country side (see the pictures I took from the bus), cows, goats, horses and interesting billboards. Joel's favorite was one of a cracked motorcycle helmet with the words "Protect your head or end up dead." Gotta love truth in advertising.







We had finally arrived at our destination. A very secluded beach. Or, so we thought. We soon discovered that we were somewhat sharing the beach (or coastline) with the Headonism III resort next door. Clearly, this made all of the men on the beach very happy.

We were greeted at the resort by Jamaican dancers and lots and lots of rum punch. We eventually learned that the rum punch was 51% alcohol (slightly more than what we would have here in the States). Needless to say, there were many happy people on the beach later in the day.

Joel and I found a good spot and set our stuff down to head to the Caribbean ocean. On my way to the water, I almost stepped on the little crab below. Can you find him?



Here we are at in the ocean!







Our surroundings were beautiful. And, needless to say, the ocean was so blue. We spent the rest of the day lounging around (under a canopy - as to avoid serious burn), partaking in the entertainment, eating the local food (sausage, rice, pasta and jerk chicken) and reading our books. Now, this was truly a vacation.











As we were leaving, several people came up to me to say my face was extremely red. I really didn't think anything of it, as my most of you know my face is naturally red. I explained this to the individuals and they seemed to understand. But, I recall, this is the only place I didn't put sunscreen. I didn't think I needed it. I had my sunglasses on and I wasn't facing the sun. But, I was wrong. On our ride back to the ship, I realized my nose was starting to hurt. I thought at this point I might have been burned, but didn't think it was too serious.

After we arrived at the cruise terminal, Joel and I decided to hit some of the shops. We thought about buying some alcohol to bring back for everyone, but once we realized the steps we would have to take to get it back into the states, we opted not to purchase any. But, we did find a great gift for Bernadette (inside joke). We also went through some jewelry stores where Joel was able to take a look at some watches he had not seen yet (and I could buy some gold earrings).

During the shopping trip, I noticed my face was hurting a little more. So, we headed back to the ship and to my horror, realized I had been burned pretty badly. The rest of my body was a little red - but not like my face. So, I promptly took a shower and headed out to buy some aloe vera. That helped.

That night, I couldn't bear to sit for photos that night, as I was clearly a little "red" in the face. So, we went out on the deck and took a couple of our own.





At dinner, the Matradee stopped by and was very worried about my face. He would proceed to stop by every night to check on me.

Oh, and the animal creature tonight...Stingray.

First Day at Sea

Our goal for this trip was to spend time relaxing at the pool, having a few more drinks than we did on our last cruise and simply chillin'. We got off to a good start by hanging out at the pool on Sunday morning. Joel enjoyed a Pina Colada. I thought that might be a little too early, so I had water.



We decided to partake in the Art Auction on board the ship. We enjoyed this part of our trip last time. We had no intention to buy any art this time around, so we thought we would go just to learn about the history of the art. Well, I got a little excited and purchased a print on the first day (Aloha Bugs). It is a Warner Brother's image of all of the characters on a beach in Hawaii with a Cruise ship in the background. Plus, I won a facial and another piece of art. So much for not buying anything.

After the auction, we headed back to the pool to enjoy some more sun. We enjoyed the "drink of the day." And yes, it came in a replica of the Carnival Cruise Ship smoke stack.



But, what we enjoyed most was being able to watch a football game on the huge screen out on deck. Or, at least, Joel enjoyed it. He thinks we need to replicate this set-up at home somehow. I am not sure how we will be able to replicate the weather, but I am sure he will come up with something.







When the sun went down, we headed back to our room to dress for dinner. It was formal night. But, after seeing the wide variety of "formal wear" on our last cruise, Joel opted for slightly different attire. I decided to recycle the dress I wore last time. It worked.

We proceeded to take our own pictures - including some with the Halloween decorations on board (yes, we knew that they would be having a Halloween party on the ship).





We again decided to have our photo taken by one of the ship photographers. Here are some of the pictures he took.





We enjoyed Steak and Lobster that night for dinner. And, it should be noted that this was the second night in a row that Sarah had fish. And, it should also be noted that she had fruit every day of the trip. For those of you who know her, this is quite a feat.

Anyways, the waiters sang a song for us in Italian (the ship's captain was from Italy) and the ship photographers came around and took more photos.









After dinner, we decided to head back to the Lido deck to enjoy the World Series Game.





But, when it got a little too chilly, we headed inside to the Disco to enjoy a little electric slide. Joel did not participate, but Cecilia and I really tore up the dance floor.

We headed off to bed to get a good night's sleep. We were excited that we would be waking-up in Jamaica.

Oh, but I can't forget about our towel animal. Carnival is very famous for this. They create a towel animal each night of your trip. The animal comes with some chocolates and the newspaper with the next day's events. Tonight's animal...Elephant.