Nassau

I did not love Nassau. No, I did not love Nassau. It was so hot and humid, but I expected that. I didn't like the way we were constantly confronted (yes, I do mean confronted) by hair-braiders and taxi drivers. I was incredibly annoyed that the stores didn't open until 10. If I was to go back, I would only do a shore excursion and skip the shopping/tourist area altogether. Yuck.

We are missing Jack in the above picture because he went on a snorkeling tour with Lane's sister Michelle and her husband and daughter. He had a great time and it worked out well since it was his birthday that day. He's 13!

Jack with his birthday cake and hat at dinner that night.

Lane and me and Grandma with our dining room servers, Elizabeth and Tri. They were excellent!

Half Moon Cay

Half Moon Cay (part of the Bahamas) is by far the most beautiful beach I have even been to. The water was perfect. The temperature of the water was perfect. The beach was fine sand, no rocks anywhere. I am not typically a water person, and I never wanted to leave this beach. I highly, HIGHLY, recommend a cruise stop here. It's even better than 7 Mile Beach at Grand Cayman.

It was Space Alien night at Addie's Camp Carnival.

Jack and I took a bicycle tour of the island before going to the beach, but those pictures are on Jack's camera and so will have to be another post. After all, his camera is ALL THE WAY upstairs.

Grand Turk

Nope, that's not my attempt to be artistic. That's what happens to my camera lens in humidity. And humid it was!

The water was unbelievably clear. I'm not sure how far down that starfish is, but the water was so clear and tourquoise! Beautiful!

Jack kissing the stingray at Gibbs Cay, Grand Turk.

. . . and then kissing the barb.

Jack also did some snorkeling at Gibbs Cay and had so much fun he went again when we got to Nassau.

Camp Carnival had a pirate themed party and Addie made herself a pirate hat. She had a great time in the Camp Carnival for her age, as did Jack. Taylor . . . not so much.

Formal Night

I don't know why he looks like that. Maybe it's because he had finally eaten himself into a stupor. Even though he ordered two entrees every night for dinner, he still stopped by the buffet ON HIS WAY to dinner for a pre-dinner meal.

It was Grandma's birthday, so they brought her some cake with a candle in and made her a birthday hat/bow from a dinner napkin. She's 81 years young and still going strong.

Waiting for the show to start in the lounge. Despite being formal night, I changed out of my dress right after dinner for much more comfortable lounging attire, and my jacket since it was always cold in the lounge.

Addie and Lane being silly while we were in the lounge.

This day was a full day at sea, and we had the pleasure of a rocking ship all day long. I don't know if it was from Hurricane Katia or what, but there were pretty big swells coming at the front of the ship all day, all night, and some of the next morning. It was pretty ferocious, and although I didn't get sick, Taylor and my MIL did and the ship quickly sold out of motion sickness medication and bracelets. Everyone walked around like drunk people and even the crew members we spoke to said it was pretty bad. Luckily, the rest of the cruise was fine.

Miami and Boarding Day

We got off on our trip at the unholy hour of 4 am, when we left our house to drive to the airport for our early, early flight at 6:20. The flight was pretty empty and we actually landed a little early in Dallas. Since I have never once left the Dallas airport on time, I expected this trip to be no different, and in fact we left about 10 minutes late, which is far better than what I'm used to (anywhere from 45 minutes to 3 hours). So we were close to on time when we arrived at Fort Lauderdale and arranged for 2 mini vans to take us to Miami Beach.

After checking in at our hotel and settling in some, we took the short walk down to Johnny Rockets for dinner. It was an extra hot day in Miami, but the food was good as always and Ocean Drive was hopping.

After dinner we took all the kids out to the beach for the rest of the evening before turning in. My kids had a great time playing around in the water.


We played in the water for a little while the next morning before heading to the Port of Miami. Carnival changes the boarding procedure every time we go, and although it was slightly confusing, the lines moved very quickly and we were on board with minimal aggravation.

Jack and Addie at dinner. Why is Jack drinking hot chocolate? I don't even question him anymore.

Taylor and Don, my FIL, at dinner

Lane dancing with Addie at the Camp Carnival Welcom Aboard family party, where Lane won the coveted "Solid Gold Ship on a Stick" trophy for being the Best Dancing Dad. No really. I'm serious. I have the trophy to prove it. Clearly Addie is having a blast.






They were showing a Journey concert on the big movie screen that evening so we watched it for a little while.

He did it. He really, really did it.

We ran/walked/ran again the Sunlight Over Africa 5k on Saturday. We had a good time (even Lane, though he refuses to admit it), and I managed to beat my Strawberry Days time by 2 1/2 minutes, which is shocking considering we had to go up Battle Creek from Locust to our church. That's a beast of a hill! But we didn't finish last (nearly last is NOT last) and I had a lot of fun doing it. I ran almost 2 miles straight and felt great. We lost Lane along the way and I was pretty sure he had either gone home or to his Grandma's, whose house is along the course. I'm proud to admit he did neither, though he does admit he considered it.

Jack and I coming down the home stretch

Sorry, I know pictures like this should not be for public viewing, but you take a risk by reading my blog and this time it didn't pay off well for you, did it?


Lane came along not too long after us. The event organizer refused to let him walk across the finish line, so she ran along with him until he was done.

Almost there . . .

All of us at the end. Lane is enjoying a peach, and still giving me the stink eye. I warned him I was going to sign him up. It's his own fault he didn't take me seriously. He should know better by now.

Can Someone Please Rescue Taylor?

So I finally walked ALL THE WAY upstairs to get my camera and download the latest round of pcitures. So here goes catch-up time:


Jack and his cousin Henson on during the closing ceremonies of Timberline. Jack had a great experience. Henson was serving on the Staff, which Jack hopes to do next year.

Addie at PCMC, waiting to see her cardiologist, Dr. Day a few weeks ago.

Last week I invited my dad to join us for our Saturday morning hike, and he accepted the invitation. Since his knows all the trails here-abouts, I told him to lead the way. He took us up Grove Creek Canyon (not to be confused with Battle Creek Canyon). I've never been up this trail before, and I really enjoyed it. Again, there was a waterfall, and I guess there is an even better waterfall if we had gone further. We spent about an hour hiking around, which all of us enjoyed. Except Taylor, of course. Sadly, she has been cursed with cruel parents who rudely wake her up early on a Saturday morning for Family Fun. I've been told that no one else's parents would do anything so outrageous and if she could find the number she would report us to child welfare sevices. She even ignored the long-standing family rule of No Electronic Devices During Family Fun and brought her ipod along anyway.

My dad sent Jack and Lane up a little trail to see where it went. Apparently, it went no where.

This is my dad who was kind enough to take us on a fun little explore. And to the best of my knowledge, he hasn't had a heart attack. So we'll take him again.