Nov 19, 2008
Buttons, buttons, who's got a button?
Thanks to Lara from Overstuffed for gifting the great blogging buttons to EVERYONE!!! I've always wanted a blog button!!
Cruise Day 3
Nov. 12th Cozumel, Mexico
We docked in Cozumel early in the morning, but we woke up with barely enough time to get breakfast! We had planned to meet the brothers in the Windjammer (a buffet), but we must have passed them coming down as we went up. They all had excursions so they were off early.
Since we hadn't planned anything for the day, we took it easy lounging around on the boat and took a few pictures of Cozumel from the boat.
Then we wandered down around the dock to the shops. Most of the more serious shopping was to be found a few minutes away, but we would have had to spend a little extra on a taxi and we figured they'd have about the same touristy stuff near the docks so we stuck around there.
We found some cool stuff! Derek started a collection of masks. We got our first one in Korea. At first, I thought it was ugly, but the more I think about it, the less ugly it gets. At one of the kiosks, a seller was selling a variety of colorful Mayan masks. She told us that they retailed for $60 but she would give us a deal for $45. After bargaining a bit, we still thought it was too expensive so we started to walk off. She called out after us telling us to come back and that she would sell one to us for $30. A much better deal.
We also got a Mayan and Aztec circley thing. I think it's a calendar? I'm not sure, but it looks cool. And we got a cute little Nativity scene. Good stuff!!
While I was waiting for Derek looking at something, a guy came up to me with a beautiful parrot! He transferred the parrot to my arm, SO COOL! Then he took the parrot off my arm and then laid it in my hand like a baby then walked a little ways off. I was just standing there holding the bird in my hand. After a bit the bird starting air cycling, so I gave it back to the man. We tried to take a picture of me holding the bird, but the guy told us that it was $5 to take a picture!!! Way too expensive, so we didn't take one.
Once Becca heard that we got a Nativity scene for a good price, she wanted one too so we all went back ashore to look for more and t-shirts. It was fun going shopping again with them!
We got back on board just in time put away our treasures and get ready for dinner. Derek had fun posing with his new mask. He was so excited to get it!!!
We docked in Cozumel early in the morning, but we woke up with barely enough time to get breakfast! We had planned to meet the brothers in the Windjammer (a buffet), but we must have passed them coming down as we went up. They all had excursions so they were off early.
Since we hadn't planned anything for the day, we took it easy lounging around on the boat and took a few pictures of Cozumel from the boat.
Then we wandered down around the dock to the shops. Most of the more serious shopping was to be found a few minutes away, but we would have had to spend a little extra on a taxi and we figured they'd have about the same touristy stuff near the docks so we stuck around there.
We found some cool stuff! Derek started a collection of masks. We got our first one in Korea. At first, I thought it was ugly, but the more I think about it, the less ugly it gets. At one of the kiosks, a seller was selling a variety of colorful Mayan masks. She told us that they retailed for $60 but she would give us a deal for $45. After bargaining a bit, we still thought it was too expensive so we started to walk off. She called out after us telling us to come back and that she would sell one to us for $30. A much better deal.
We also got a Mayan and Aztec circley thing. I think it's a calendar? I'm not sure, but it looks cool. And we got a cute little Nativity scene. Good stuff!!
While I was waiting for Derek looking at something, a guy came up to me with a beautiful parrot! He transferred the parrot to my arm, SO COOL! Then he took the parrot off my arm and then laid it in my hand like a baby then walked a little ways off. I was just standing there holding the bird in my hand. After a bit the bird starting air cycling, so I gave it back to the man. We tried to take a picture of me holding the bird, but the guy told us that it was $5 to take a picture!!! Way too expensive, so we didn't take one.
Enjoying a cool lemonade while we waited for the others to get back
We met up with Daryn and Becca, and Doug and Melanie and went swimming on the ship. I wasn't too excited about getting in the pool. It was a little cold and I still had my make-up on, but it was nice to cool off after getting all sweaty shopping.Once Becca heard that we got a Nativity scene for a good price, she wanted one too so we all went back ashore to look for more and t-shirts. It was fun going shopping again with them!
Derek with a cool mariachi band. Did I spell that right?
We got back on board just in time put away our treasures and get ready for dinner. Derek had fun posing with his new mask. He was so excited to get it!!!
Dinner was great as always. The food is amazing and I am starting to understand how much fun it would have been to grow up in the large Cheney family. And only 4 of the brothers were there! There's 6 of them!!! Our big, round table was perfect for conversation.
After dinner was another show. This time it was better. The Platters, with an original member Herb Reed, came to perform. They were great! We were all shocked with how OLD Herb Reed was! I mean, he had to have been because the Platters' first hit was back in the 50s and he has been a member from the get go. They sang a lot of their old hits along with some from the temptations. Great performance.
Again, my memory is a little fuzzy on what we did after the show. Probably played some games like Backgammon or shuffleboard. Does anyone remember specifically?
Tomorrow: Belize City
Nov 18, 2008
Today, I defeated my enemy!
You all will laugh at me for my sillyness by the end of this post. I am a wuss. There I said it. A complete wuss.
I try to walk to my parents house each morning. And I fail completely for two, no three, reasons. One, I'm lazy in the mornings. I like to sleep. Therefore I don't usually have time. Two, I make excuses easily. It's too cold to walk, or it's too hot, too windy, too sunny, too wet... You get the picture. But the biggest, most embarrassing reason I don't walk is because of a stupid, shrimpy dog.
This dog, I swear, tracks me down. Only me. Nobody else. And then he "chases" me. He howls, barks, and growls as he runs after me. His legs are I think 3 inches tall so when I'm walking, he has to run. Plus he's right at my heels. It's not that I'm scared of dogs. I just don't like a dog I don't know "chasing" me and barking. What's he going to do?
So usually, I avoid walking to my parents house because he can find me on almost every route I've found to get there. I thought I had found one that was relatively safe, but as of today, it's not.
I don't know why his (I'm going to call it a he because I think of boy dogs as meaner than girl dogs) owners don't keep him penned up or on a leash or something! Not that they have to coop him up in a kennel, but come on, every house in that neighborhood has a back yard!
Anyways, today as I was walking, I saw him about a block and a half away. He saw/smelled me and came running. At first, I got really nervous and thought about running away. But then I remembered what Caesar always says, "calm, assertive energy" and "own your space."
So I stopped, faced him exuding calm and assertive energy, and told him to "go home!" And then pretended like he wasn't there. I owned my space yo! The dumb dog kept barking for a couple more minutes and a couple cars drove past us and I'm sure they were wondering what I was doing. After a little while, he quit barking and I walked on, owning my space along the road.
I looked back after I got a ways down the road and he was still there, standing in the same place but NOT barking. When I got to the corner, I looked back again and he was gone.
So yay for me! And now you can all laugh because the dumb dog was a basset hound. One of the least threatening dogs on the planet!
And for the record, this is not the dog that was chasing me. I found this pitiful pooch picture on wikipedia.org.
I try to walk to my parents house each morning. And I fail completely for two, no three, reasons. One, I'm lazy in the mornings. I like to sleep. Therefore I don't usually have time. Two, I make excuses easily. It's too cold to walk, or it's too hot, too windy, too sunny, too wet... You get the picture. But the biggest, most embarrassing reason I don't walk is because of a stupid, shrimpy dog.
This dog, I swear, tracks me down. Only me. Nobody else. And then he "chases" me. He howls, barks, and growls as he runs after me. His legs are I think 3 inches tall so when I'm walking, he has to run. Plus he's right at my heels. It's not that I'm scared of dogs. I just don't like a dog I don't know "chasing" me and barking. What's he going to do?
So usually, I avoid walking to my parents house because he can find me on almost every route I've found to get there. I thought I had found one that was relatively safe, but as of today, it's not.
I don't know why his (I'm going to call it a he because I think of boy dogs as meaner than girl dogs) owners don't keep him penned up or on a leash or something! Not that they have to coop him up in a kennel, but come on, every house in that neighborhood has a back yard!
Anyways, today as I was walking, I saw him about a block and a half away. He saw/smelled me and came running. At first, I got really nervous and thought about running away. But then I remembered what Caesar always says, "calm, assertive energy" and "own your space."
So I stopped, faced him exuding calm and assertive energy, and told him to "go home!" And then pretended like he wasn't there. I owned my space yo! The dumb dog kept barking for a couple more minutes and a couple cars drove past us and I'm sure they were wondering what I was doing. After a little while, he quit barking and I walked on, owning my space along the road.
I looked back after I got a ways down the road and he was still there, standing in the same place but NOT barking. When I got to the corner, I looked back again and he was gone.
So yay for me! And now you can all laugh because the dumb dog was a basset hound. One of the least threatening dogs on the planet!
And for the record, this is not the dog that was chasing me. I found this pitiful pooch picture on wikipedia.org.
Epson Printer, my entire Christmas list
The Epson Artisan Series All-in-One Printer is on my Christmas list to Santa as it is WAY out of our budget. Love it, love it, LOVE IT!!
Cruise Day 2
Nov. 11th
We got up around 7:00 AM so that we could eat breakfast in the dining room. On our way down there, we met up with Daryl and Kim which was nice because even though there was open seating (meaning not our assigned dinner table) in the dining room for breakfast, you still had to sit where they told you and with who you came in with.
Daryn and Becca were already eating when we got there so unfortunately, we weren't able to sit with them. But the four of us made some new friends, Brian and Eunice, but we didn't know their names for a few more days. We called them our "breakfast buddies" and we saw them EVERYWHERE! You know how when you learn something new, like a new word in a foreign language, you swear you've never heard it before, but now you hear it all the time? It was like these people! Most of the time it felt like we never saw the same people twice, except Brian and Eunice! Good thing they were friendly!
Since we had only planned on one excursion, we didn't have any specific plans in Key West, our first port of call, and neither did Daryl and Kim. We spent the morning with them shopping and walking around town. As we got off the boat, they gave us all kinds of coupons so that we would spend a lot of money. The one that I was interested in was a $5 pearl pendant necklace. So pretty! Daryl and Kim wanted to find t-shirts for their kids and parents so we followed them around while they looked. Key West is full of tourist traps and bars so once we found what we were looking for we moved on out of the central shopping area.
The one thing that I knew I wanted to do in Key West was see the Ernest Hemingway house and museum. Not because I love his work, but because the place is full of polydactyl cats. I am officially a crazy cat lady. Thank goodness I have a husband and that he is equally crazy about cats.
The house was beautiful and the cats were nice and friendly so it was a success all around.
My memory is a little fuzzy on what we did after the show. Probably looked for our pictures on the picture wall. Photographers took our pictures everywhere we went it seemed, and we were supposed to find our pictures on the wall. If we liked them, we could buy them for a whopping $20 a photo. If we didn't, we were supposed to throw them away in a special box.
We might have also played shuffleboard. Derek and I played it a few times with different couples. I don't remember which nights we did, but I do remember I LOVED IT!!! I want my own shuffleboard in my backyard!!!
We got up around 7:00 AM so that we could eat breakfast in the dining room. On our way down there, we met up with Daryl and Kim which was nice because even though there was open seating (meaning not our assigned dinner table) in the dining room for breakfast, you still had to sit where they told you and with who you came in with.
Daryn and Becca were already eating when we got there so unfortunately, we weren't able to sit with them. But the four of us made some new friends, Brian and Eunice, but we didn't know their names for a few more days. We called them our "breakfast buddies" and we saw them EVERYWHERE! You know how when you learn something new, like a new word in a foreign language, you swear you've never heard it before, but now you hear it all the time? It was like these people! Most of the time it felt like we never saw the same people twice, except Brian and Eunice! Good thing they were friendly!
Since we had only planned on one excursion, we didn't have any specific plans in Key West, our first port of call, and neither did Daryl and Kim. We spent the morning with them shopping and walking around town. As we got off the boat, they gave us all kinds of coupons so that we would spend a lot of money. The one that I was interested in was a $5 pearl pendant necklace. So pretty! Daryl and Kim wanted to find t-shirts for their kids and parents so we followed them around while they looked. Key West is full of tourist traps and bars so once we found what we were looking for we moved on out of the central shopping area.
The one thing that I knew I wanted to do in Key West was see the Ernest Hemingway house and museum. Not because I love his work, but because the place is full of polydactyl cats. I am officially a crazy cat lady. Thank goodness I have a husband and that he is equally crazy about cats.
The house was beautiful and the cats were nice and friendly so it was a success all around.
Derek and Daryl in front of the "Cheney Bros. Inc." truck we saw along a street in Key West
Us in front of the Hemingway House
More Hemingway House
I love to take pictures of Derek, not of myself.
Someone said this cat was 20 years old and REALLY cranky. There was a Japanese group there who thought the cat was cute (so did we) so Derek said "Kawaii desu ne?" Meaning, "it's cute right?" At first the lady acted like it was completely normal to have a white guy speak Japanese, but after a couple seconds, she realized the amazingness of the situation and exclaimed, "Ah nihongo o-jouzu desu ne!" Or "your Japanese is so skilled!!!" The typical response from a polite Japanese person. I was never prouder of my husband! :)
This is one of our signature poses. Derek is the master at self photos.
His eyes were a little closed, but he's so cute!
The bench I sat on was a little wet, darn!
All the cats were friendly. This one especially!
This is an example of a polydactyl cat. They have 6 toes instead of 5. All the cats living at the house are descendents of Hemingway's original pets who were polydactyls.
Derek and Daryl posing next to a HUGE ice cream cone. I guess Derek really wanted some.
Us in front of our boat.
We got back on the boat just after noon and went to have lunch. We met up with Daryn and Becca and had an AMAZING lunch in the dining room. They had the best salad bar I have ever tried!!! You go through and tell them what you want--they had a gazillion choices--they even picked out all the nasty, crunchy, white parts of the romaine lettuce for me (I am a picky eater)!!! Then after you have everything, they toss it in the big plastic you start with and then transfer it to a more manageable, clean bowl!!! They also had the most amazing blueberry cheesecake. I would have eaten 10 if I had the chance!!!!!
The rest of the afternoon was spent being lazy and getting ready for the formal night. For dinner, one night everyone was supposed to dress more formally. I stressed a bit before the trip, trying to figure out what to wear. It's hard for a girl to find an appropriately formal outfit. I had heard that some people dress super formal and others dress more casually. So I shopped around a bit. I didn't want to buy something that I would only wear once; I also wanted to be able to wear it to church. But I didn't want to get anything too casual. Agh!
Finally at Dress Barn, I found the perfect outfit. A new, nice looking black skirt and a gold, satin shirt. I even found a casual summery dress for only $14!!! Yay!!
Here's some of the pictures from the formal night. Somehow I didn't end up with any group shots, but Kim said she'd share what she has with me! :D
Derek and me after dinner. You can see my pretty pearl necklace!
Each night they had a show on board the ship. The first night was the dumb comedy thing. The second night we hoped would be better. The boat had some singers and dancers who performed throughout the week. This night the performance was titled, "Can't Stop the Rock." Sounds good, right? Well, it wasn't so hot. They chose songs out of all rated-R movies and most of the costumes and dance moves were well... petunie. Just ask Jane what that means. But it was fun to hang out with the family!!!
Kim, Me and Derek waiting for the show to start. Everybody else was there too, they just weren't in the picture.
Another of our signature poses. This time, Derek wasn't all in it...
Derek posing with a statue. He's so good about doing all kinds of weird things in pictures for me! :)
My memory is a little fuzzy on what we did after the show. Probably looked for our pictures on the picture wall. Photographers took our pictures everywhere we went it seemed, and we were supposed to find our pictures on the wall. If we liked them, we could buy them for a whopping $20 a photo. If we didn't, we were supposed to throw them away in a special box.
We might have also played shuffleboard. Derek and I played it a few times with different couples. I don't remember which nights we did, but I do remember I LOVED IT!!! I want my own shuffleboard in my backyard!!!
Nov 17, 2008
Where have you been?!!
So I kind of forgot to tell anyone--except the people who were taking us to the airport--that Derek and I were going on a family cruise this last week. Sorry everybody! I tried to pre-post for the whole week, but I ran out of time.
This week for your enjoyment and for my record keeping needs, I'll be posting day by day what we did. It was a ton of fun for us for two reasons, we LOVE to travel, and we LOVE to hang out with Derek's brothers and their wives. The whole week we were trying to invent some word that meant "Derek's brothers and their wives" because "Derek's brothers and their wives" is too long and hard to say. The best thing I could think of was "Chibrives" and that obviously stunk so I quit thinking about it.
November 9th
Our flight left Boise going to Ft. Lauderdale via Seattle (I know, CRAZY, right?!) and Atlanta at 9:30 PM. I purposely picked an overnight flight because one, it was cheaper, and two, we wouldn't be wasting day time. I mean, what do you do on a plane anyway? Sleep!
Thanks to the Tuft family for taking us to the airport! It was really nice of them and even though Boston screamed and cried half the way there (Nathan dropped him and Shauna off at Gma and Gpa's house part way through), it was way cute in a really pathetic baby's-got-a-cold sort of way.
November 10th
Our flights went pretty well, or as well as overnight flights go. Daryl and Kim came to pick us up the next morning and the four of us found a nice beach to spend time at. The weather was SO NICE! I was genuinely shocked at the heat! I had heard of places that were warm year round. I've seen them in movies and television (Ernest Saves Christmas comes to mind), but I never personally experienced it.
The beach was pretty and it was just fun to hang out, talk and spend time together. Here's some pictures...
Unfortunately, we didn't get any pictures with Daryl and Kim. Maybe they have some of themselves on the beach they would like to share? *Hint hint*
We met the rest of our family group at the dock around 1:30 or 2:00 PM that day. All the passengers needed to be boarded on the ship by 3:30 for some official reason. It was great to see everybody! Four of the Cheney brothers were able to make it on this vacation, Doug and Melanie, Daryl and Kim, Daryn and Becca, and Derek and me.
We were--or I should say I was, Derek never stresses about anything--a little stressed getting on board because before we left, we weren't scheduled to sit with the rest of the Cheney clan at dinner time which really stunk because that is the best quality chat time on the boat. Plus, I wasn't on the ball and didn't schedule our excursion online early enough. After boarding, it was first come, first serve for the tickets. So we rushed on and got everything taken care of easily. No need to stress. I had called ahead about the seating thing a few days earlier and they had already taken care of it.
The rest of the afternoon was spent being oriented by the cruise staff, getting to our staterooms, completing a muster drill (It was quite an experience! Almost worth its own post. We'll see...), getting showered (at least Derek and I, because we took an overnight flight, it had been 24 hrs since our last showers), and getting ready for dinner. Fortunately, all eight of us were seated together at our own table!
Let me tell you, a cruise is worth it just for the food! Great stuff and you can try everything on the menu because the cost is included in the ticket price! Our servers, Devang Agrawal from India and Mauricio Gonzales from Panama (?) were so friendly and nice.
About half-way through the meal, I started getting really sleepy. Really, REALLY sleepy! I was trying not to blink because when I did, I fell asleep a little each time. By the time we were finished eating, I was ready for bed. I didn't know if I'd be able to make it through dessert!
After eating, I tried to go to the comedy show, but that didn't work. It wasn't all that funny and I was tired! I think I was asleep by 7:30. I'm not quite sure what everybody else did. Derek said that most people did their own thing and went to bed early.
Great first day!
Tomorrow, Key West!!!
This week for your enjoyment and for my record keeping needs, I'll be posting day by day what we did. It was a ton of fun for us for two reasons, we LOVE to travel, and we LOVE to hang out with Derek's brothers and their wives. The whole week we were trying to invent some word that meant "Derek's brothers and their wives" because "Derek's brothers and their wives" is too long and hard to say. The best thing I could think of was "Chibrives" and that obviously stunk so I quit thinking about it.
November 9th
Our flight left Boise going to Ft. Lauderdale via Seattle (I know, CRAZY, right?!) and Atlanta at 9:30 PM. I purposely picked an overnight flight because one, it was cheaper, and two, we wouldn't be wasting day time. I mean, what do you do on a plane anyway? Sleep!
Thanks to the Tuft family for taking us to the airport! It was really nice of them and even though Boston screamed and cried half the way there (Nathan dropped him and Shauna off at Gma and Gpa's house part way through), it was way cute in a really pathetic baby's-got-a-cold sort of way.
November 10th
Our flights went pretty well, or as well as overnight flights go. Daryl and Kim came to pick us up the next morning and the four of us found a nice beach to spend time at. The weather was SO NICE! I was genuinely shocked at the heat! I had heard of places that were warm year round. I've seen them in movies and television (Ernest Saves Christmas comes to mind), but I never personally experienced it.
The beach was pretty and it was just fun to hang out, talk and spend time together. Here's some pictures...
Derek on the street right next to the beach.
Palm trees, obviously..
I tried and tried and tried to get a decent picture of a little bird digging for food. It was hard because the sun was bright and I had sunglasses on, making it hard to see the little screen on the back of my camera.
Derek and a palm tree on the beach
Another palm tree. I think I need one in my yard. Do you think they'll grow in Idaho?
Unfortunately, we didn't get any pictures with Daryl and Kim. Maybe they have some of themselves on the beach they would like to share? *Hint hint*
We met the rest of our family group at the dock around 1:30 or 2:00 PM that day. All the passengers needed to be boarded on the ship by 3:30 for some official reason. It was great to see everybody! Four of the Cheney brothers were able to make it on this vacation, Doug and Melanie, Daryl and Kim, Daryn and Becca, and Derek and me.
We were--or I should say I was, Derek never stresses about anything--a little stressed getting on board because before we left, we weren't scheduled to sit with the rest of the Cheney clan at dinner time which really stunk because that is the best quality chat time on the boat. Plus, I wasn't on the ball and didn't schedule our excursion online early enough. After boarding, it was first come, first serve for the tickets. So we rushed on and got everything taken care of easily. No need to stress. I had called ahead about the seating thing a few days earlier and they had already taken care of it.
Us on the boat after getting nicer looking
The rest of the afternoon was spent being oriented by the cruise staff, getting to our staterooms, completing a muster drill (It was quite an experience! Almost worth its own post. We'll see...), getting showered (at least Derek and I, because we took an overnight flight, it had been 24 hrs since our last showers), and getting ready for dinner. Fortunately, all eight of us were seated together at our own table!
Let me tell you, a cruise is worth it just for the food! Great stuff and you can try everything on the menu because the cost is included in the ticket price! Our servers, Devang Agrawal from India and Mauricio Gonzales from Panama (?) were so friendly and nice.
About half-way through the meal, I started getting really sleepy. Really, REALLY sleepy! I was trying not to blink because when I did, I fell asleep a little each time. By the time we were finished eating, I was ready for bed. I didn't know if I'd be able to make it through dessert!
After eating, I tried to go to the comedy show, but that didn't work. It wasn't all that funny and I was tired! I think I was asleep by 7:30. I'm not quite sure what everybody else did. Derek said that most people did their own thing and went to bed early.
Great first day!
Tomorrow, Key West!!!
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