A Day at Sea!

Swimming on Deck 9-Lido Deck, Aft (the back of the boat!) Nice and sunny and there is a nice wind break!

Time out to warm up a little, then back in the pool!

The kids were playing in the water with Denny, other kids jumping in, too, having lots of fun! Then Mom, she can be a party pooper, noticed that in the two hot tubs-right there next to the pool-the adults are having fun,too--it's turning in to Girls Gone Wild! Seriously!!

So, we've moved to the main pool on Deck 9-Lido Deck, Mid-ship.

Sophie and her Cousin spent some time in Camp Carnival. One craft time was coloring their own Carnival T-shirts! Looking good!

Dude!! Breakfast with Uncle can be quite entertaining!

Dinner with another Uncle is just as Fun!!!

And the Dining Entertainment--the wait staff danced on the tables and sang for us!

It's SHOW TIME! Las Vegas type show in the Spectacular Spectacular Show Lounge! Here's Grandma and the girls!!

And Cousins waiting for the show to start!

Ensenada

Our first stop was Ensenada. Here we are checking out the town from the ship.

Then we took a shuttle to "downtown" Ensenada-this is the ship's recommended shopping area. We didn't shop here, we caught a taxi for $30 less than what was offered at the Ship and headed south to La Bufadora!

El Senor Jalepeno-Ensenada's greeter!!

The ONLY type of tattoo Katy will EVER have (I hope & pray!) A Henna Tatto of a Dolphin--silly me, I didn't think to get a CLOSE UP of the thing!












Sophie spotted a 'braiding' sign and so decided she would be the first to get her hair braided. It was Lovely--kept her hair out of her beautiful little face for the rest of the cruise!

Then Katy decided she wanted her hair braided, too. And maybe Mom would quit picking on her to keep her Bangs out of her face and eyes and Her beautiful face!

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.
.

.

The boys didn't want to wait around for Henna Tattoos and Hair Braiding, so they meandered along the walk, braving the gauntlet of vendors!

The end of the road: La Bufadora (the Blowhole)!

Family Cruise 2009!

We'll just skip March. March pretty much STUNK.

So--we'll move right into April and the long planned Family Reunion Cruise to Mexico!!!

This was a 5 day Cruise to Mexico--departing from the Port of San Pedro (LA), stopping in Ensenada and Cabo San Lucas.

Here's the gang, we were even able to get Mom to come along!!

The MUSTER DRILL, we all had to return to our cabins, collect our life vests and then report to our specified stations. Now, here is my thought: in a REAL emergency I am NOT going to remember which deck and which side of the ship my muster station is on!!












Here is Mom and her new 'car' (rented for the duration of the cruise)! She only took out a few deck chairs (only one loaded--aka-occupied at the time of impact!) She started out with the speed set at 1, by the end of the cruise we had her cranked up to 6-7 speed!

















Dinner the first night was almost IMMEDIATELY after departure, but we stayed up on deck until we had pulled away from the dock, watched a little of the deck party, then headed to the dining room--the Gold Pearl!









Some DELICIOUS food and Great Staff to wait on us. It was VERY easy to become spoiled! Would it be wrong to want that kind of attention and service ALL of the time? Think I could talk the kids into being my personal wait staff at home?!

This Silly Man of Mine!

Here are some snap shots of Denny last summer at Nat Soo Pah. He kept making faces at the camera (me!) so I kept snapping pictures!


Note-this was Pre-Blog, so he didn't know I could/would be posting these on the internet for ANYONE to see!

One of the MANY reasons I love this Man!

Something FuN!

Can you guess who?!

Denny's Mom and Dad came for a visit this weekend and they brought some OLD photos!

Here is Denny's family (except his Mom-who else takes all the pictures!!) Can you find Denny?


Look closely, although that's kinda hard to do on a scanned photo!




He's the Third from the Left, Fourth from the Right, First Born, Second Tallest!
Now, I'll name them all from Left to Right:

Stevie, AJ, Dennis, Denny, Amber & Matt.

Ski & Snowboarding Lessons!

January arrived and with enoug snow for Ski and Snowboarding lessons!!

Katy and Asa, having already learned to ski a couple of years ago, decided they wanted to try Snowboarding! (Katy's in the front-the Mint Green/Brown jacket & Asa's right next to her in the Orange jacket.)








Ben and Sophie took SKI Lessons. Here is the beginners group learning how to put their ski-booted feet into the ski bindings. A difficult task for 40-60 pound children to do, 'jamb' their toes into the front and then to 'stomp' their heels in!









Here's Denny, as always, helping out! Denny ended up slapping some skis on himself and going up the hill with the group of skiers, last minute addition Instructor!








Sophie & Ben thought this was the best way up the rope-tow! This lasted for the one day's lesson, the following days they were on their own on the rope-tow!!

Here's Sophie: Denny helping her 'walk' up the little hill in her skis, falling down, 'cheater' ride up the rope-tow, on her own on the rope-tow, and skiing like a pro!!


Ben: Balancing walk in his skis, a little push start from an instructer, a cautious ski down a Small slope, and on his own on the rope-tow!!

Asa's Snowboard: Asa's quick-it didn't take him long to pick up the rope-tow on his own, get to the tope and board down, although, he did have a few falls along the way!

Doesn't he look like he's been Snowboarding for Years!?

And here's Katy: She really looks like a pro-the bent knees and everything!

2012 Olympics Watch Out!!

Ben's Reading Performance!

Ben is in the 2nd grade. He had a lot of difficulty reading at the beginning of the school year and has really been struggling to improve.

Monday night, the school district put on 'ELKO COUNTY READS' night-I really don't know how to describe what this is, but basically it is to try to get kids to read more. There are booths/tables set up at one of the local schools, books, books & books for the kids, GS interests, seeing eye dog info, mining info, BLM info, etc...

In the gym, classes and individuals performed readings!

Ben's class performed Aesop's Fables. 2-3 kids at a time stepped up to the microphones and read their fable. Ben's group read the Town Mouse and the Country Mouse. He read his part very clearly and without stumbling. We are so proud of Ben for working so hard to be able to read and to be able to read out loud in front of 4-6 dozen people! Another WAY TO GO, BEN!!!