Not a whole lot to do in Grand Turk

grand Turk is pretty much a second version of carnivals private island. They are currently paying its youngsters to clean up the road sides over the Christmas break. They have built a huge welcome center which will open soon and they bring a lot of ships into its small island.

It's a pretty island and not the most commercialized of the Turks and Caicos islands. But we got a taxi and drove the seven miles seeing lots of houses, old salt ponds and a lighthouse. We saw tons of asses ahem donkeys and even got to scratch ones ears.

At the lighthouse we even saw one having his way with another. 😱. It was over fairly quickly.... Not sure if it was because of her obvious dislike of the activity or if he was just in a rush. 🙊

There seems to be quite a lot of history on the island and about 4000 inhabitants.


We wandered in the beach a bit and made our way back on board for a nap poolside.

We chose this to be our pinnacle night and had early reservations. Dinner was excellent as usual.... But wasn't terribly hot. This was disappointing but the service and flavor was amazing.

The show was a magician. He and his assistant were amiable and funny.... But I have been spoiled by James and Isabelle Cielen. Not sure if any other magicians can compare anymore. Plus I know that Isabelle has added in silks (cirque du soleil style).


Today is San Juan.... Not sure what we will do. I know there is a Crossfit gym that I'd like to try a class in. We will probably do a bit of shopping.... But I am just as happy sitting on our balcony or up by the pool. :).

All aboard! Bon voyage

Awhile back, dad asked me if I wanted to go on a cruise with them in December. I did some figuring and was able to work it out. Jason has the kids and I get some time to relax.

The week leading up to our departure was a bit stressful as the kids and I all got sick. I finally went to the doctor and had bronchitis and sinusitis.... A few antibiotics and I was good to go. The kids each went tot he doctor and were diagnosed with viral and given nothing. 😞

I flew to Fort Lauderdale on Friday and met up with mom and dad. We did some last minute errands and went to our hotel. Dad went to a dinner with an old geyser who used to work for us. I am mad at him for his treatment of dad so mom and I stayed back in the room. We ate in the hotel and watched silly Christmas movies. 😃

Saturday morning we got ready and started the trek to the ship.... Dropped off our rental car and rode the shuttle to the ship. I have sailed from Fort Lauderdale so many times that, even though it had been many many years, it felt like home.

Getting on was easy enough. Finding our cabin was easy. We went and had some lunch and made it to lifeboat drill. The cruise director came on and I swear they haven't changed the speech one word. The only thing they changed was that the captain now does a good portion of it. I guess since costa Concordia they have to take things more seriously.

Then we went back to our cabin.... We have a corner suite... The balcony wraps completely around it. So we sat and had a glass of wine and enjoyed our view. We did finally go up to lido to see sail away it by this time all of the festivities had ended.

There was a suite welcome with the captain... So we went to that. I have sailed with this captain... But at the time he was a second or third officer. He doesn't remember me but that's ok. I had a chance to meet the new human resources officer.... And I had a great time chatting with him. I learned there is still a "9141" entertaining passenger number. 😃.

We had a very nice dinner, saw a bit of the show and headed to bed.

The more things change... The more they stay the same. The roles have changed. The positions have changed. But it's still the same old ship feel.... I do miss it.

Phone Pics

Jocelyn never ceases to amaze me with her fashionista styles...  so there are quite a few of her in her outfits.  Many of which she has chosen.  God help me!  :)

 My sweet little sleeping pumpkin. 

Joe is loving reading.  He is reading to his new "girlfriend" Kaitlyn.  :) 

Whenever I drive Joe to school, we always take this picture before he gets out of the car. 

 I love my snuggle bun. 

  

 One of my goals with crossfit has been to be able to climb the rope.  I was finally able to do it this month. 

 Happy Wednesday y'all! 

Pumpkin Patch 2013

It was the Sunday before Halloween and Mom and I took the kids to a pumpkin patch out off of Spring cypress.  The lines were long but the kids had fun.  :)

 Sibling love

Good time to be had by all.  :)

In a word...

I look at this picture and if I had to caption it... it would say 

"JOY!"  

This is a two year old's version of unadulterated JOY!  

Right before there was hiding

and more giggling

and a bit of posing for the camera.  

 Life involves changes and God brings into our lives just what we need.  

Thank you to Crossfit Equality for bringing these remarkable ladies (and gentlemen) into my life.  Thank you for showing me what I am capable of and not to accept the word "CAN'T".  

 

"JOY"

A bunch of adorable little girls... ahem... Mario's birthday party

So we decided to throw an impromptu birthday party for Mario's 33rd birthday.  He had no idea and doesn't like a big fuss over him so he never would have agreed.  

I drove in from Fort Worth that Friday afternoon.... picked up the cake and headed home to prepare.  

Everyone started coming over around 6.  Christina and Raul were the first to arrive but only after they walked into a neighbors house by accident.  :-)  Luckily it's a friend who happens to live in the same exact house as me.  They walked in like they owned the joint only to realize it wasn't my house.  HA ha ha ha ha ha ah!  :)  

Jocelyn and Layla took off like a house on fire again.  Layla into the high heels and Jocelyn holding her hand and skipping off.  And another friend brought her 2 year old too, Zoe.  She jumped right in with the girls.  

Joe was much more fascinated with Kaitlyn who is 14 and "his girlfriend".   She was a great sport and let him read to her and sit on her lap.  

 Tell me this picture isn't "JOY" personified!  Love these girls!

The whole crowd at the end of the night... and we had a halloween workout to do the next morning.  HA!  We made it through... and mostly smiling.  HA!  What a fun night! 

Dose of Cuteness and other miscellaneous

A couple of weeks ago some friends from Crossfit Equality came over for dinner with their two adorable daughters.  Their eldest is Jocelyn's age and the two had such fun.  Layla walked around in Lj's high heel princess shoes all night long.  :)

 Liliana is just 1 year old and cute as a button. 

 Isn't she gorgeous?  Look at those eyes! 

 The next day, my parents and I took the kids to the Cyfair Fire Festival and Joe got a chance to sit in the firetruck. 

 "Do NOT push any buttons!" 

 Now THAT is a tall ladder.  :-)

 

 the kids got the chance to hold and spray the hose. 

 Any good firegirl needs an apron, a pink fire hat, white sparkly shoes and a pink dress! 

 Jocelyn wanted NO part of this picture.

 But she would crawl up on the old timey fire truck.  :) 

 We went into the smokey RV to prove we could get out if we needed to. 

 And Joe needed to do the old timey truck too.  :-)

It was a really  nice event and the kids had a great time. 

"Little" Girls Trip 2013

This would have been our sixth year going on Girls trip.  I was so sad not to get to go this year.  It just wasn't feasible with my finances and a bunch of other stuff going on.  So, Shannon and I decided that we could do one night at City Centre in Houston with our little girls.  The girls are the same age and aside from the chorus of "mine!" we heard every  now and then, they really got along very well!  

We checked in around 3:00 and took the girls to the pool.  They swam and splashed and ran in the pool area that was completely empty.  Then we went on up to our room which had a sleeping room and a sitting room.  

The girls colored and played. 

and made fingernails with the marker caps.  

then we got ready and headed out to dinner at GRUB, a burger bar.

  It was delightful and perfect for the girls.  They ate and jumped and sang.  Then we gave them some wipes and they cleaned the floor.  :-/

Then we headed out to the green to listen to the music and let the girls do somersaults and dance and run. 

Shannon was so smart!  She brought a bottle of wine in her big ole bag and opened it before we headed out.  We then poured it into our cappuccino cups which she had remembered to bring... and we had our built in cocktails.  :)  We didn't know if they would let us bring wine with us...  turns out that there were other people with cocktails but ...  this worked perfectly.  :)

This was not the girls trip we are used to having and we sure missed being a part of our annual trip but on a quick whim... this was so much fun and I'd like to do it again.  We woke up on Sunday and took the girls to Flora & Muse for brunch and it was a delightful way to end a nice staycation.  Thank you Shannon for suggesting it.  :)