Mello Yellow

Well - today has been productive... yesterday was too... but it seems like it just hasn't been quite productive enough. Know what I mean? I guess it never really will be but I'm certainly glad to have gotten done what I did.

There's a bit of extra yellow in the house today.

The pretty flowers in the back are from my little buddy Charli (and her mom and dad). They brought them over for Wii night Thursday (along with some delicious steaks) and they are the perfect addition to my kitchen counter!

The clear container is full of homemade dishwasher soap. I stole the recipe from a blog I follow... it's a cup of Borax, a cup of Arm and Hammer Super Washing Soda, and a container of Lemi-Shine. I've yet to try it yet but I've read that it works great, is much cheaper over time, and is a pretty safe and natural concoction. I was using those handy little packets before but those things really add up.

Front and center is a pan of lemon bars. I'm taking those and some rolls to Dac's family's Easter dinner tomorrow... yeah, I'm going all out this year. =)

In other news, we've been busy with photography again, so be expecting lots of posts on the photo blog soon!

The Thief

It's Good Friday. I honestly never gave a whole lot of thought to Good Friday as a kid... I mean, all the focus was on Easter, ya know? It wasn't until high school? Late middle school maybe... that our awesome youth group leaders had us perform a Good Friday service. It was very serious, very moving, and this song was part of it.

"Thief" - Third Day

It's now one of my favorite songs and Good Friday is more important than ever. Sometimes bad things have to happen in order for the good to be seen... for God's glory to be fully recognized.

Luke 23:47 - "Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last."

Jesus' final thoughts were those of trust. I should really do that more.

John 3:16 - "For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life."

Educated

Today is Ryan's birthday. Even more than all the hurt the past few weeks, I've thought a lot about the good things. Here are just a few of the things I've thought of recently - just some random things I experienced with him and/or learned from him.

Ryan:

chased me around the kitchen island at my Grandma B's house.


gave me many a vocab lesson. =) I'm sure some of the words weren't as family friendly, so we'll just stick with that example.

introduced me to the world of MTV, Pantera, and later, Beavis and Butthead. We keep it classy like that.

taught me how to properly sport a doo-rag and how to run for my life to avoid getting whipped by one. (UGH)

initiated my love-hate relationship with scary shows after watching my first, "The Nightmare on Elm Street." Thanks Ryan.

presented Orange Julius'. What What!

made sure I knew the best baseball team always has been and always will be the Cubs! =) Good thing!

relayed the message, in a not-so-friendly manner, that a Ryne Sandberg rookie card is way better than any ol' Phillie Phanatic holographic card or, Heaven forbid, a Beauty and the Beast collector card.

re-affirmed my knowledge that No. Matter. What... you don't drink freaking milk after a freaking game of cousin baseball. For crying out freaking loud.

convinced me that he would literally pulverize any guy who so much as looked at my picture wrong, let alone actually treated me wrong. Mr. Tough Guy.

hogged the TV with more Zelda than I care to remember.

demonstrated the unofficial dance moves to DMX' "Party Up". "One, two meet me outside, meet me outside. All my rough riiiiiiiiiiiiiidas, meet me outside, meet me outside..."

Cheered me on at one of my first musicals while on one of his first dates with Erin.

pretended to be excited when he was home from college and I made him listen to endless stories and look at my scrapbook for an hour.

sat me down and explained that maybe Dac just didn't care about going to prom if it had to be with someone else (when I was upset he was skipping his first prom).

laughed and rolled his eyes with me at the grownups when they'd act a fool.

never stopped giving me crap. All the time we were dishing it back and forth.

earned my respect by always knowing where the line was and never crossing it.

asked me to sing in his wedding.

fuh-reaked out before the rehearsal when he asked me how the song sounded and I told him "not great... hopefully it won't suck too bad." Then said "What?!?! Erin's going to be pissed! I told her you sang good."

cried during the song and told me I was a brat for worrying him.

told me time and time again how much he loved our pictures and how he couldn't wait for us to shoot his family.

never let me get by with anything.

made a great stand-in big brother. He pestered me to no end, stuck up for me, and gave some pretty sound advice for being such a clown.

Man oh man. Love those good times. =) Just wish there could be more of them.

Happy Birthday Rufus! Hope there's cold ones in Heaven and that you're enjoying the ultimate celebration. =)

Also, on this day a year ago... my grandpa Carl was diagnosed with cancer too. Like I said... April's extra hard this year. Good thing it's almost over!

The Days After

Ryan brought all kinds of people together. I didn't realize just how many different "kinds" until his service... I guess it was just more visible then. It was only practical that even in his death he was bringing people together. He even brought our already pretty close family closer together.

After a long and fast and stressful and sickening trip to Minnesota for his service with my dad, Aunt Cindy, Courtney, and Jerry Neil...we stopped by Ryan and Erin's house. How awful was it that the first and only time I visited there was after he was gone? I hugged Grandma B. and Aunt Diana who were already there then waited patiently and nervously to hug Erin. Sure my heart hurt for myself... and my heart hurt for his mom, Nannie, and the rest of the family. But my hurt hurt the worst for Erin I think. I guess because I could relate more to her. The truth is... I have no kids. No grandkids. Ryan is the closest thing to a brother I ever had. BUT - I have a husband. A best friend who has always been here and who I've planned to have around forever. My heart hurt for her like it was me that was going through it... even though I know I can't fully realize that pain... and certainly I'm glad for that. But I hurt. I hugged her and again, all I could say was "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." What else is there? I couldn't let go, just hugged her and cried.

Later, we travelers came together... for "Happy Hour" in the hotel restaurant. It was 1/2 price pizzas, appetizers and drinks from 9 to midnight. "Kids" at one table and "grownups" at the next. And we ate. We talked. We laughed. We clanked some glasses together and said "To Ryan". Why? Because I'm certain that's how he would want it. I'm also certain he would have got a kick out of his baby cousin (he's 6 years older than me) Alisha knocking back some drinks on his behalf. Ha!

I swear, after the grownups went to bed, out of nowhere there was all this sad music playing in the bar. At first it was kind of comical. We chuckled at how we were those people...all depressed in the bar. I mean for crying out loud. We even re-wrote some song lyrics to be more applicable. =) Then, all of a sudden, that was it... we lost it... before I even realized it was happening. And here I had been doing so good. Done. Just like that. Once we pulled ourselves together, we took the party outside to the tailgate. We listened to this. I heard it a few weeks ago on my Pandora station... the second it came on, I felt sick to my stomach... it took me a while to figure out what it was but then I remembered. We said it wasn't fair that he wasn't there with us. Why Ryan. We watched a guy get pulled over and the drug dog plow through his car. Then, we went to bed.

The next day we spent with Erin and everyone. As hard as it was, it was nice to spend time with everyone and see her and the girls. That night, we cousins got together for another "Happy Hour". Let me tell you... it was fun. I just wish Ryan could have been there for it. We don't all get to hang out together very often and that would have just made it perfect. Sure there were sad times and more crying and sure there may have been some sitting on the bathroom floor pouring our hearts out but it really was fun and it was good. Then we joined the millions of Ryan's friends who were gathered out in the hotel lobby. I'm thankful for that night and for all of these people. They made everything a little bit better and I love every one of them.


The service was rough. I mean really rough. BUT... again, really good. It was the real deal and people from all points in Ryan's life spoke the kindest and funniest words. Afterward, my Dad and I headed home... drove clear back that night and I guess life got back to normal, though it will never be quite the same.

P.S. - look what showed up at work for me yesterday!=) Thanks for the week-brightener Kayla!! We also went to dinner at none other than McDonalds (yeah, we're classy like that). It was the perfect pick-me-up during a hard week. I feel much better already.

A Year

A year ago today, I woke up at 7 a.m. I fixed myself a bowl of cereal and sat down to eat, check e-mail, read blogs, etc... before church.

I had a facebook message from Charles. I was excited because I had talked to him the day before about my t-shirt idea for the Pancreatic Cancer Race I had been training for. It was going to be pretty sweet and I had already talked to Ryan's mom and Erin to gather some more nicknames and "one liners" of his to include in the design. Charles was going to send out a message to the rest of the gang. I SO wanted to get that shirt made and sent to him so he could smile and know that I was rootin' for him.

As I read more of his message, I got confused. I sat on the couch with my cheerios in my lap, completely confused. This message was supposed to be asking Ryan's friends for input on the shirt design. Instead, it was informing Ryan's friends that he had passed away in the night. Passed away. Died. Gone. What!??

"April 11, 2010 at 1:35am Reply • Report
This is not the ideal why to be informed about this type of news but it seems easiest and I do not have everyone's phone numbers.

Most of you know Ryan was battling a relapse of his cancer, the last few months found that the treatments were not effecting the tumor much and the cancer had actually spread. He choose to discontinue treatment about a week ago in hopes of gaining some strength and enjoying what time he had with his family. That time turned out to be short as Ryan passed away in his sleep around midnight sat/sun.

I do not know any details on the burial at this time but will pass them along when i do.

Please forward this to anyone that might need to know. "

I re-read that message probably 30 times at least. Did it really say that? Did I misunderstand? Surely I read that wrong. No. That's exactly what it said. My breath was gone. I sat the computer on the floor. The bowl of uneaten cereal right next to it and I went back to the bedroom. I crawled up by Dac and hugged him... shaking. He asked what was going on. I bawled. He knew.

I skipped church and called my dad. He wasn't answering... his phone was off. Aunt Diana had tried calling him throughout the night and never got him. She called me and I couldn't bring myself to say anything but "I'm sorry". I still hadn't really caught my breath. I dumped my cheerios in the sink and we went for a walk. It was a pretty silent walk because I couldn't really express what I was thinking and feeling... aside from how absolutely heartbroken I was... I didn't really even understand how I felt. Honestly, I found it hard to even cry. I had cried for weeks... every day. Thought through so much. Prayed so much. I honestly never lost hope and faith that he would beat that cancer. Never. Only once or twice did I even think about it as a possibility. I was SO sure he'd make it.

I hopped in the bath when we got back and while I was in there Courtney called. I called her back when I got out and we were both in about the same place. Wanting to make sure each other were ok but not able to really talk yet. My "Boo" had kind of been my "go to" the past several weeks. I'd shoot her an e-mail telling her how crappy things were and what I was felling, and she'd do the same back. I felt foolish feeling the way I did... I mean, who was I to be hurting when he had a wife, kids, parents, sisters, etc... But Courtney got it.

That afternoon we had an engagement session with Josh and Laci. As completely drained and exhausted as I was, I think it was a blessing that we had that session. It got me out of the house and even though I still thought about it, it helped that I needed to suck it up for a while. They are such great people and I did manage to have a great time with them. The next day or so was filled with thoughts of mundane stuff... stuff that didn't matter... stuff like when and where would the funeral be? How much time should I take off work? How will I reschedule sessions? The stuff that really didn't matter. The stuff that kept my mind from wallowing in the thing that really did matter... he was gone. =(

The next few days were filled with more tears and more laughs than I'd ever experienced together before... stories worth sharing and remembering, but all that will just have to wait for another day. I'm done talking for today. I miss him, I'm mad, I'm sad... that's it.

Heaven received one heck of a gift on April 10, 2010.

More Food

This weekend is oh so hard. Aaaaand, I think I've decided why I've been cooking and cleaning so much... it keeps my mind off things. It doesn't completely help, but it's definitely better than when I just sit down and don't do anything. Being engulfed in a TV show helps too. I realize these aren't exactly proactive, healthy ways of coping... but hey, I'm runnin' with it.

So, since pretty much all I've done the past few days besides work is cook (and eat), that's what I'm going to talk about today. =)


I boiled a bunch of extra macaroni the other night and had lots of chicken left over, so last night I decided to make a baked pasta with some oven-fried chicken (no coconut this time) and lemon cream sauce. I didn't really follow a recipe for any of it... just went with it. It wasn't too shabby. I did all this while it was hailing and storming out. I loooooove storms. =)

I also made the honey mustard vinegarette dressing for the salad. It was super easy to whip up and tasted pretty good too.

Tonight we went out to eat with my mom and dad... so I decided to make some cookies for afterwards. They are these low fat banana nut oatmeal cookies. I do love a good cookie. =)

We had a great time with them... it was good to get out for a bit and visit with them! I also got to see my ol' dog Heidi. =)

Taste of Home

So clearly I've been turning to some "comfort food" lately. You know... the cheesy baked kind.

I realized this last night, so we had this:
It's a leftover turkey burger (we had them earlier in the week... or was it last week? with mac-n-cheese. See? Totally outta control.)

Anyway, the turkey burger has some seasonings, some pomegranate chipolte sauce, and some cheddar cheese (don't judge) mixed in. It was pretty good. Threw some sweet potato fries in the oven and suddenly I'm feeling better about myself. haha. Until I have some more comfort food tonight. (More on that menu later.) Sigh. Here's hoping it helps!

EDIT (4/8/11): Well, it was my turn to cook for Wii night last night (why I still call it Wii night is beyond me, but I still do, and probably always will.) I was too busy and forgot to take pictures... but thought I'd share the menu anyway since I said I would. =) We had baked, coconut chicken strips, baked macaroni and cheese (again I say, don't judge), and salad. I was supposed to make a honey mustard dressing for the salad (and to put over the chicken on a salad) but I completely forgot to do that. FAIL. Anyway, it all turned out ok. That is my favorite baked macaroni recipe... I've even fried up macaroni bites before and they too were amazing. The coconut chicken was good... but definitely would have been better with the honey mustard... they were kind of bland. The salad? Please. I didn't even eat any of that. =) Oh - and Val brought some delicious ice cream (we're all still craving it I think) so we had that for dessert. We had a lot of fun. I got to see my girl Charli, and we had a blast catching up with Steve and Cori, who we haven't seen in weeks. There was lots of laughing... I'm a fan. =)

April

Fact: April is the pits. This time last year was truly one of the hardest, if not THE hardest times of my life. It. Was. Horrible. It was filled with so much busyness, pain, tears and while it was also filled with some good memories, the truth is, it was still hard.

Fact: This April isn't shaping up to be much better. I'm still super busy, work is taking over my life, and all of last year's pain and hurt is on replay. Unfortunately, I'm sure you haven't heard the last of it.

Fact: May and June are going to hurt too. I'm sure of it.

Fact: This blog is my scrapbook and I think it's acceptable to jot that stuff down here.

Fact: I don't want to depress the heck out of you guys... so I'm going to focus on the good too.

Fact: Cavatini is good. =)


I made this last weekend since Mark and Kayla chose enchiladas the night before. Cavatini is something my mom made a lot when we had family visiting us... I guess because it's good, for one, and because it's so easy to throw together. Plus it feeds an army. It's my go-to meal to make for people who just had a baby, surgery, etc... because of that. Seriously... this pan fed us twice, plus I froze some for a third meal. AND I gave a lot to Austin too because he loves this stuff and treats me like I'm Wolfgang Puck when I make it. =)

I kind of combined mom's delicious recipe with this pizza-pasta skillet recipe I found when we first got married to make this super simple recipe. It doesn't have a ton of ingredients so it's great for kids and picky eaters, and me... who has the food tastes of a toddler. =)

Here's my "recipe" if you can even call it that. It's so easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy.

• 1 big bag/box of rotini noodles (cooked/drained) (I typically use whole wheat)
  
• 1 lb ground meat of choice (cooked) (I typically use ground turkey but you could do beef, deer, or whatever you have)
  
• 1 jumbo bag of shredded mozzarella cheese (yes I use the whole thing... this dish isn't for the faint of heart people)
• 1 jar of pasta sauce (I use Newman's Own a lot)
• 1 jar of pizza sauce (I use whatever's cheapest)
• 1 package of pepperonis
• Sometimes I add a small can of sliced black olives... depending on if I have them and who I'm cooking for.

Once the meat and pasta is cooked, I spray some cooking spray on the bottom of a 9x13 (or whatever that size of cake pan is... I don't really do measurements) baking dish. Then, I stir together the pasta, sauces, ground meat, and any other extras I want to add. Then, I start the layering.

I put the pasta mixture down first, then pepperoni, then cheese. Repeat. Then top with the rest of the cheeeeeese. Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes or so... you know... until it's all golden, cheesy, and delicious looking... or... until you're so hungry you can't wait anymore... it's all cooked already anyway. =)


You can serve it with salad, or other veggies, or both if you want to be gross (I kid, I kid), or you can serve it with cheesy garlic toast. Done and Done.

Story Time

Can't believe that just over a year ago I wrote this to him on Facebook. It was typical me - not being too serious during an obviously serious situation. We were rarely serious though.

My way of telling him how important he is to me.

Can't believe this time last year I was training for a 5k and planning a special t-shirt design to let him know I was in his corner.

This was before I saw the pictures. Before I realized just how serious the situation was. Before he was gone.

One of the very last things I said.

"Story Time:
(Don't ask me what made me think of this! RANDOM!)

Once upon a time, back when Ryan and his family first moved to Ark City and were staying with Alisha and her family, Alisha had a pair of fabulous (yeah, that's it) late 1980's red plastic sunglasses. One day, while Ryan, Alisha, Jennifer (and baby Dori might have been in there too) were dragging every single toy out of the Cabbage Patch toy box, Alisha pulled out the awesome shades and put them on. Ryan said "those are hot". Perplexed, Alisha yanked them off her face, felt them, and said "no they're not!!!" Ryan then rolled his eyes and proceeded to tell her that "hot really means cool." Alisha continued to look like a total dweeb, Ryan continued to be fed up and wished he had cooler, more mature people to hang out with and Jennifer, of course, just giggled.

The End"

This picture was taken a while after the "hot shades" incident but is still proof that I was a dweeb and that Ryan humored me by being my friend. =)

April. Is. Rough.

Cruise: Da Boat

First, a little tour of our boat, the Carnival Fascination.

Our room:

Teensy bathroom... the shower reminded me living in the dorms.

Our Seagull friend.


The infamous whale tail.

The mini golf course and walking track on the very top (very windy) deck.

The Lido deck
Hooray for life boats!!

More Lido deck... pool, etc...

Now, a quick (or maybe not so quick, only time will tell) list of my Pros and Cons of cruising. Let's start with the "Cons" first so that we can end on a happy note. =)

CONS:
1) I'll start with the most obvious and the one that really, kind of affects all of them - It was my first time cruising. I researched, got really excited, and researched some more and while I think that certainly helped prepare me... I was still a rookie and there are things I just didn't "get" until we were there. This made some things rank lower than my expectations... which granted, I had some pretty high expectations after psyching myself up for so long.

2) The food. Now before you get all wild ninja on me, I'll give you a little sneaksy peaksy and let you know that food also makes an appearance on my Pro's list. Anyway, to be honest, I thought the food was "ok". Mediocre if you will. Granted, the first couple days I was still not back to my 100%-eat-a-lot self so that probably had something to do with it but the buffets that everyone had raved about... were just that... buffets.

3) This one's simple enough... people were packed onto the sun decks like sardines. It was hard to find free lounge chairs... especially more than one or two together.

4) The boat. Was. Full. Of. Kids. Our boat was full with 2,000 guests. Of those, 850, I repeat, 850 of those were under the age of 18. I'd wager that probably well over half of those were under the age of 10. It was nuts. Granted it was Spring Break, so duh, we knew there would be kids, but oh my word it was outta control. A lot of parents just let their kids run like wild Grimlins all over the ship without any supervision. Also, they completely ruled the pool and all hot tubs (which were clearly marked "Adults Only". There might be 30 kids in each hot tub. It was wild son! I like kids and all but I think next time I'd try to go one one that had less of them milling about.

5) Without excursions and without a limitless supply of cash, Island time can be potentially lame. Sure, everything's what you make of it, but I think it's important to note, if we ever go on a cruise again, we WILL be booking excursions well ahead of time.

6) While on the boat, it seems in order to truly enjoy it, you have to truly embrace the cruise culture. I could certainly tell the seasoned cruisers apart from the rest of us. They were always very friendly, relaxed, social, and participated in the silly games and events. Sure some of that stuff is cheezier than Cheez Whiz on mac-n-cheese with cheesecake for dessert, but those people looked like they were having a blast. Plus, you can only lay out (maybe this just applies to my ultra white freckly self) for so long, so doing some other activities probably would have helped. Anyway, our family isn't exactly the "get involved" type so we really didn't much of anything.

7) The water. Oh my lawd. The water (and tea and lemonade that are made from the water) is gross. Eeewww. I will say that it seemed to get better as the week went on, I guess because I was getting used to it, but still, it was nasty. You could buy big bottles of water for like $5, which, if I ever do this again, I would totally do even though the price is no bueno. We did get tasty bottled water when we had dinner in the main dining room though... you better believe I sucked that stuff down like it was going out of style.

8) Had it not been for number 7, this probably wouldn't have been such a big deal, but the drinks (pop too) were pretty pricey. I completely expected this, but it's still a con, am I right!? They also didn't have Dr. Pepper. WHAT?!?!?

9) Dac felt dizzy off and on while on the boat... so that's a definite con but what's even worse was when were both feeling that way when we got home! Did NOT expect that. We were super dizzy, exhausted, and just felt like crap overall. It took several days for us to feel normal again and the whole time I had to ask myself if it was worth it. We were completely miserable.

10) We had to come home. =) Just kidding... of course we were happy to come home but that dang cruise got us all use to that beautiful weather... oh man was it perfect. Then, we come back here and it's 30 degrees. Boo to that, friends. Boo. To. That.


PROS:
1) Hello!!! It was vacation! Thanks to the inlaws' graciousness, it was a fairly inexpensive one, and a week away from work is always a blessing. We really did have a great time and loved the chance to rest a bit. =)

2) The food. There was a pretty big variety and more importantly, it was always there. My favorites were the french toast, chocolate milk, cheeseburgers, chicken strips, ice cream, mozzerella sticks and much of what we had in the formal dining room was real good. I also loved that you could get yogurt, ice cream, pizza and sandwiches basically around the clock... so you were never left to starve. That's a big concern. =) Oh, we didn't take advantage of this, but you could order free room service at any time also. AND you could eat anywhere on the boat. We found ourselves missing the food when we got home... maybe that's why people think it's so awesome... you just don't realize how awesome it is until it's not there anymore and you have to cook for yourself again! =)

3) The service. The guys and girls on this ship were top notch. Our steward had my name memorized from the first second and always greeted me by saying "Hello miss Alisha" when I'd pass him in the hall. Our rooms received a good tidying up at least twice a day and sometimes more. We never had to ask for anything and they never showed up while we were there... it was just magically clean when we came back to get ready for dinner and again when it was time for bed. Amazing. The drink waiters were a riot... we had a lot of fun with them. There was one in particular that was just hilarious and was always dancing around. Then there were people who, I swear, all they did was clean up after people. They were constantly carrying around dirty dishes and trash. It couldn't have been fun but they were always so nice. You've already heard me talk about the waiters in the dining room. Awesome. They made sure we had what we wanted (even if it wasn't on the menu) and they let us try whatever we wanted and however much of it we wanted. All and all, I have NO complaints about the service on Carnival. I was impressed.

4) There's always something to do. From sun-tannin', to eating, to swimming, to learning to do the Thriller dance, to trying your hand at a trivia show, to playing ping pong, to learning to make towel animals, dancing at Diamonds are Forever, hitting up a comedy show, karaoke - you get the idea... the list goes on and on... if you want something to do... you will have something to do. That simple.

5) The people are, for the most part, really nice and friendly. Let's face it, even if you're not a people person, which I am, but even if not... being surrounded by happy people who are having a good time and include you in it, helps. It just does.

6) You get the opportunity to see and do a lot in a fairly short amount of time for a fairly reasonable price. For that reason, it's almost hard to beat. I definitely see why so many people go on cruise after cruise.

7) The rooms (interior rooms) are completely pitch black inside unless you leave a light on. It made for a pretty awesome sleep atmosphere. And really, aside from a few wild elephants, I mean kids, running up and down the halls one night, it was fairly quiet too.

8) Things were organized. I was half anticipating mass chaos when it came time to board and disembark but really, things were handled very well.

9) If you're with friends and family, you'll have fun no matter what - which we did.

10) We didn't wind up in jail. Read this:

All in all it was a great trip. There's definitely things I'd do different if I went again but I really have no complaints. We'd definitely cruise again! HOLLA! =)

Cruise: Day 5

Wednesday morning we woke up in Freeport. This last minute stop was to help make up for missing Half Moon Cay. Although I certainly commend Carnival for ensuring we got another stop, it in NO way made up for missing the other. Of course we made the best of it though and had fun anyway. =)

We docked next to a ship yard.
Cute little tug boat! =)

Once we got off the boat we were welcomed by lots of pastel colors, just like Nassau.
But this time we were let out into a market of sorts. That was essentially all there was. We could have taken a taxi 12 miles to the beach and downtown shopping area, but since we had just done those two things the day before, and since we weren't going to be there very long that day, we decided to pass. We shopped around and I got a bracelet for Sky.
I will say this, the majority of the shop owners were sweet, friendly, and helpful but after an hour or so of walking and looking at the same kinds of stuff over and over again, I was done, and ready to get my lounge on again.
When we got back on the boat, there wasn't really anyone there... so we got these good seats (even though the view wasn't the best) and by gosh, I parked it there. I left only long enough to get some chow and hurried right back.

Like I mentioned yesterday, my legs had gotten pretty burnt (an ugly, splotchy burn which has, of course, turned into a splotchy white girl tan) so about halfway through my lounging exercise I had to keep covering my legs up... they were killin' me. Oh, I'd also like to note that once again we were sitting next to some nice people. =) Hooray for that.Val and I were determined to stay in our good spot until we left that afternoon. We did and here's a few shots from that:




Hello blue water.
=)
After we left, we checked out the Fun Shops on the boat (they were having a sale) but I didn't find anything I couldn't live without. The Aloe was horribly overpriced so I just finished off my little travel tube of it and prayed my legs wouldn't blister before I got home to my gallon jug of the stuff!

Then we got ready for dinner. It was bittersweet since it was our last night.


My starter: crab cake (I don't really even like crab but I made myself step out of my comfort zone and you know what? It was actually pretty good.)
Dinner: Short ribs (basically roast) with veggies and mashed potatoes.Dessert: Baked Alaska

Dac's dessert: A CHEESE PLATE. (Are you kidding me!?!?) It stunk so bad and he wasn't particularly impressed. Cracks me up. A cheese plate. hahaha. For dessert. Crazy.
Terese and I with our waiter Kenroy and his assistant (who was just as cool but I can't remember his name...eek). They were fun.
Sunset that night.After dinner, Val and I went to check out the Hey Mambo show in the Palace. It was a musical and we just caught the last 15 minutes or so. Then, we headed out to the deck.
We watched them drain the pool and do all sorts of other cleaning to get ready for the next batch of people boarding the next day.

A seal...
And a heart. With chocolates. That night we packed our bags, requested a wake up call and hit the hay. The next day we flew home. I'll touch on that tomorrow and the post will feature pictures of the boat.

Cruise: Day 4 - Part 2

Once we got back on the boat, we got cleaned up, and since I didn't eat much at Senor Frogs... I headed down to get me some grub on the deck. Val and Terese went with me and we goofed off aaaaaaaand maaaaaaaybe got an ice cream cone. Just sayin'. =)


Our sneaky and ridiculously priced coconut heads.
They were having a midnight Mexican buffet this night... here's the ice sculpture they were working on for it:
I can't remember for sure, but I think we may have hung out in the Palace and watched people learn how to dance or something. Or maybe we watched the Trivia? Maybe both? Then we hung out on the deck for a while with David and the boys while listening to live music. The drink of choice on the ship... Miami Vice. Val and I first discovered these at the comedy club... and had them again on the deck while we listening to live music.

Here we are hanging out.

THEN... it got good. THEN... we attended the dance part on the deck. It. Was. AWESOME. I mean, when do I get to dance anymore... really? It was fun. =) We did lots of line dances... like this one. BACK IT UP.... AND JUMP!!!!

While we were out havin' a good ol' time... Austin was doing this:
Just about every night we came back to the rooms to find him like that. WITH cartoons on. =)

Fun Night!


Day 5 in Freeport comin' at ya real soon like.