Off Again

I finally finished posting about our cruise and now we are off again to Atlanta, GA, and Columbia, SC. I will blog about that adventure when I get back. We have a 5 1/2 car ride with the kids to Atlanta first so I am bringing lots of movies (we have a DVD player in the van) and hopefully they won't get too restless.

Calica & Mayan Ruins of Tulum

We arrived in Calica, Mexico at 7 a.m. on Thursday morning. And wouldn’t you know it, it was still raining. Our shore excursion started at 8 a.m. We were going to the Mayan Ruins of Tulum. Because it didn’t involve water it was not cancelled because of the rain. Two tour buses were used to take us over there.
It was about a 45 minute drive from the pier. The pier was industrial but it was still a beautiful port. During the drive we drove through very lush landscape. Our tour guide talked about the Mayans as we drove over. We first stopped at a little market place to use the restroom and to look at the work of the locals. It was very expensive so we didn’t get anything but a couple of books about the ruins of Tulum and Chichen Itza.

We get to the ruins and before the ruins is also a large marketplace. It was still raining pretty heavily and as soon as we got off the bus there was tons of locals selling rain ponchos, for $5 bucks each. We bought one for me and it was just a really cheap plastic bag like thing that easily tore. Not the nice reusable type we got at the shop in Cozumel for Ray for $3. After we purchased ours and started toward the trolley to take us to the ruins someone called out that they were selling them 2 for $5.

It was only half a mile to ruins but the street was flooded that is why we decided to take a trolley. Most of the people on our bus did. The guide took us in through a hole in the wall that was one of the original entrances to the city. Then he took us to two spots and spoke for about 10 minutes at both spots talking about the Mayan people. I was near the back and the rain was so loud on the poncho I didn’t hear much of what he said. I know he said that the Mayans abandoned their cities about 900 AD and no one knows why. Those who believe in the Book of Mormon may have an idea though.

Tulum was built on a beautiful cliff. There was access to the beach down below that we would have been able to go too but because of the rain and choppy water they had it blocked off. Some of the original paint still exist on bits of the ruins. Also we could not climb on them because others before started to deface the ruins. Someone always has to ruin it for everyone else.We had about an hour to go around and take pictures of the ruins. The rain nearly stopped right before we left. It was barely drizzling. I took several rolls of film on my 35 mm camera with the 300m zoom. I have to get those developed. I will have more pictures for a later blog once I get them all developed.

We spent the whole hour looking around and got back to the bus about 10 minutes before it left to go back to Calica. Once we got back we had lunch and then took some pictures of the port. We were supposed to depart from the pier at 5 and be back on the ship at 4:30. Ray and I were standing at the railing on one of the upper decks waiting to see us cast off.

About 10 before 5 a taxi pulled up with two teenage boys or maybe early 20s. They didn’t have money to pay the taxi I guess because one stayed with the driver as the other ran on board. They tried to us an ATM at the pier but guess it didn’t work. A few minutes later the boy ran back and handed some money to the driver. They both ran on board but we still didn’t cast off.

A half an hour later two tour buses pulled up and started unloading. It was the tour from Chichen Itza. Our dinner partners went on that one and they told us at dinner that the one bus had gotten a flat tire and the other stopped to help fix it.

Calica was my favorite stop. It’s a small area, not very touristy and it has the beautiful ruins all over.

Cozumel, Mexico

The ship got into Cozumel at 8 a.m. We had signed up for the bike and snorkel adventure shore excursion. It originally was supposed to start at 9 so we were going to do that from 9-1 and then that would give us from 1-5 to shop and eat lunch out. But the night before we got a note under our door saying because of operational difficulties it was going to start at 10 instead. Ray and I decided to try to do a little shopping before the shore excursion. He wanted to get a hat. I wanted to go to Del Sol to get the kids some bears.

When we left the ship at 8:30 we were carrying our beach towels and had my camera case. It was down pouring rain. The pier was pretty long and we had to walk down the pier to the little shopping area but they said in the shop talk that those were the most expensive shops with prices jacked up. We needed to find biodegradeable sunblock for our shore excursion as well. No one had it. We started to walk down the street along the coastline where all the little shops were. We started to get soaking wet. I put my towel over the camera case to protect it a little bit. We walked about 7 blocks to the Del Sol store and it was closed still. We started heading back and noticed Viva Mexico was open. We got the Mexican Survival kit because it had a blanket, bag, and hat included. However, it also came with another bottle of tequila. So now we had two to give away. Ray also picked up a poncho. I decided to wait because I was already wet.

We had worn our sneakers and socks because we were going to bike. The roads become rivers when it rains there. They have no gutter system and so to cross the road our feet were completely covered in water. We get back to the pier where we meet our guide at 9:30. Ray and I decided to go on the ship and change out of wet clothes.

I put on some work out shorts (we had our swimsuits on underneath because of the snorkeling part) instead of the wet denim ones and put on some comfy worn out sandals. We hurry back off the ship and get to the meeting point. We were the only ones there with a few guides sitting there. After we sit down they ask if they can help us. We tell them we are there for the bike and snorkel. They then inform us that it has been cancelled because of the weather and wave conditions.

It was now 10 a.m. Most of the shore excursions had already started but we decide to go back to the ship and try to get another one. We get back on the ship and the shore excursion desk is closed but one of the carnival people is there and she tells us that a lot of shore excursions have been cancelled and we might as well go do what we want and then come back later that night to make sure we are refunded the money.

We decide to do some shopping. We go back to our room and change again and I leave my big camera there and just take the digital. We go back out and the weather is clearing up. We go back to Del Sol and start back. The prices in Del Sol are outrageous. Granted it is pretty cool that the stuff changes color in the sun but with being on a budget we couldn’t afford to get everyone tee shirts there. Instead we went to a little shop next door and bought 5 shirts for $20. She got two since she is hard to buy for and I found two I knew she would like. T doesn’t get to wear his until he is 4 since that is the smallest size they had. We also got the kids some maracas there.

We make our way down going in some of the shops that carnival recommended. I got some pearls at A Touch of Gold. They were $1.50 per inch while here in the US they are around $11 per inch. Then we went back to Viva Mexico. We got some vanilla, a blanket for my friend for watching the kids, and another bag since the first one we got there when we got back to the ship with it and it had rained had gotten it’s yellow die all over everything. We got a big black canvas bag that zipped up. It was nice until Ray rubbed a hole in it getting off the ship. I should be able to mend it okay. Both times we spent money there at that store we also got a small bottle of vanilla free so I ended up with the large one I bought and two small ones. I gave one of the small one to Noel as well along with the blanket. She mentioned (before she knew I had gotten some small bottles) that she should have asked me to get her some since she had just run out of her Mexican vanilla. I wish I had thought of getting her a big bottle but I was glad to give her one of my small bottles. She did me a huge favor by watching our kids so long and it was the least I could do.

While in Viva Mexico it started to rain really hard again. We went up to the bar/restaurant above it to try and wait out the rain a little bit. I should have bought a poncho then when it was $3 like Ray did but I didn’t and you will see why when I get to Calica. We ordered some chips and salsa and guacamole. It was very good. We wanted to eat at one of the little restaurants but decided just try to get to the ship and out of the rain and eat at the buffet.

We did stop at one other shop that was recommended. I try to bargain for a purse (real leather) but they only came down $10. I didn’t buy it. I am not a great bargainer (neither is Ray) so we stuck to shops that had their prices at a price we were willing to pay. One lady got some one to more than half their price on an item.

There were people dressed up in different characters that wanted tips for pictures. I only took a picture of one since they were pretty cool. While it was still nice out we stopped at the little plaza and sat in the park. It was beautiful.

We got back to the ship and I took some pictures of the port and then we went downstairs and ended up watching Hancock while we waited for the weather to clear. We were disappointed that we didn’t get to see more of Cozumel.

Also I knew we would be hounded to buy things but every shop (and each shop was only a few feet across so every five feet or so was another one) had 2, 3, 4, or more people outside calling to us trying to get us to come in. Don’t ever try to take anything free. They suck you in. A guy was offering a free map and I reach out to take it and he immediately pulls it back and starts talking and writing all over the map at how to get to his resort and kept going. We walked away after a few minutes.

I was also surprised at the prices. I guess they have them so high because they usually end up knocking down the price, sometimes significantly for the hard bargainers.

Our trip, onboard 3

We had two days at sea, the first full day and the last full day. The first day we went to the shore shopping talk. The guy talked about the different shops in Cozumel that were guaranteed by the ship and what you could get at them. Lots of jewelry stores. We put in for the raffle. We never win anything so I didn’t get too excited. We sat up in the balcony. I will never go to that again. The next day in Cozumel I found out they recommended stores that were very high price. Only two store on the list did I actually buy something from. I will talk a little more about that in my Cozumel blog.

Anyway, they started raffling off stuff. Oh, and if you every go to the talk sit in the front row. A lady got a string of pearls that sat in the front row. Also he threw things out to the first few rows. The last two items they raffled off was two bottles of tequila. I turned to Ray and told him if we were to win anything that would be it since we didn’t drink. We didn’t win the smaller bottle but then the last item was a big bottle that everyone wanted (that drank at least) and he has someone come to pull out a name. The first one he pulled out was blank so he drew again. The guy like dug deep and looked like he was picking through him. The guy takes the name from him and says, “You better not be Ray Walden.” Ray won the bottle of tequila. We had a good laugh about that.

The ship also had a 9-hole mini gold course on the top deck. Glass windows surrounded it. The first and last day at sea we played a round. The first day I actually beat Ray by a couple of points. I never beat him at miniature golf. The last day was so windy that we stopped taking score. The balls would blow everywhere. I had just picked up some of our pictures and the caught the wind and blew up against the glass. If it were a normal rail I would have lost the two pictures. I anchored that to the table with my camera case strap.

The pictures they take on the ship are unbelievably expensive. An 8x10 is usually $20 and a 5x7 is $8. We did buy a few but not all of them. We got the one from our formal dinner, then the Halloween night one, and then one from Calica. I got a small package of the formal one so we can give our parents and have a nice picture for the kids’ books. I also bought a cute Scrapbook album that was made specifically for Carnival.

The ship also had three pools. One was a kids wave pool, the second was a three foot round pool (that usually was full of kids) on the back of the ship, and the last was a 4.5 foot pool with a twister slide. It was also not very large so when the slide was in use no one could really swim. Ray and I did go down the slide a bunch of times the two sea days. I was scared at first. I don’t do well with getting my head dunk but it was fun and so I willingly did it after Ray had to talk me into the first two times.

The ship also had a gym in it and Ray and I went and worked out one day for about 20 minutes. That was a good work out. I wanted to do it the last day too but the seas were rough and I was having trouble just walking.

One thing I wished we got to do was dance but all the dance floors were in the smoking lounges. Deck 9 & 10 were the only ones that allowed smoking and by the last two days those decks just reeked of cigarette smoke. We never went in the casino as well. The ship also had a library with the Internet but we would have had to pay $20 for 30 minutes.

The rooms did have TVs and since we did spend more time in there then we thought we did watch some of the shows we would have missed and we also watched “Hancock.”

The room stewards would fold towels into different shapes every night when they turned down the beds and leave them on our bed. The first night we didn’t know what it was so we didn’t take the picture. But then we got a dog, a stingray, an elephant, and a lobster/crab. They came in and cleaned in the morning and then came in the evening and turned down the beds, made the animals, and left our capers (programs for the next day) on our beds.

Because it is near Halloween they had a Frightful night. I brought our costumes from last year. It took me most of the evening into convincing Ray to really dress up. When we finally got up on deck the party was over and the talent show was starting. That is when we ran into Ulga and Javier. They didn’t know about it before they left so they just came up with funny outfits from their clothes. The costume contest was at 11:30. I debated about going to bed but decided to stay. The contest was lame. It was held in a smoky lounge and they way they decided on the winner was by applause. Those that got the most applause were the scantily clad women (since it was held in a lounge of drunks) and those with large groups of friends. We did get some applause and Ulga did cheer for us but we were out the first round. I didn’t think we should win but I was very disappointed in the Halloween thing (why did they have the talent show in the middle of it?) I wouldn’t have brought our costumes. But we did get a cute picture out of it. That night at dinner our dessert was also Halloween themed. I will at least get to do a cute Halloween theme page for our trip scrapbook. We went to bed after we were out (I was very tired) and found out from Ulga that the bee and flower one which out of all the costumes I thought was the best and the most original.

The last day was very rough seas and I started to get really tired of the rocking. A lot of people got seasick. I never got sick but I was tired of walking and stumbling. I was so ready to get home. I missed the kids terribly. We did call Noel Friday morning to see how they were doing.

We got into port at 8 a.m. yesterday. We had to wait for them to call our deck to disembark, which was about 8:30. We made it through customs rather quickly and left the parking lot just after 9. But then some walk for the cure parade blocked us. It took us 45 minutes to get 10 miles but once out of Mobile we made good time and got to Tallahassee at 2:30 (Eastern time.) The kids were excited to see us. T held onto me like no tomorrow. Noel showed us the pictures and videos she took of the kids. We left their house just about 3:30. We had brought home the kids bears, tee shirts, and maracas. T also tried on Daddy’s hat. It was good to be home and with the kids again.

Our trip, onboard 2

After we watched the ship sail we looked around the decks and then went down to get ready for dinner. Our dining room was the Four Winds and our seating was at 6 p.m. We were assigned a table. When we got there we were seated in a booth with another couple. We became good friends with them quickly. They are from Rhode Island: the wife, Ulga, is Dominic Republican and the husband, Javier, is Puerto Rican. They were just slightly younger than us and were hoping to start a family. They two were celebrating their fifth anniversary. The husband was also in the military.

We had dinner with this couple every night and had the same waiter and bus boy every night. The dining room food was excellent but the buffet food was just run of the meal cafeteria food. We ate in the dining room as often as we could, every morning, every evening, and then the two lunches we were out to sea. The shore days they just had the buffet for lunch . They had pizza, ice cream, and room service opened 24 hours a day. During breakfast and lunch in the dining room we didn’t have an assigned table and was put with a different group every day. We met probably a dozen or so people on the ship because of that. Lunch and dinner was served in three courses, starter, entrées, and desserts.

That first night we ordered our starters, I got shrimp and Ray got a papaya smoothie. We laughed when we saw his. Mine was a little dish of fried shrimp. Ray got a plate with slices of fruit and four little dabs of the smoothie around the plate. At least our steaks came out pretty good size.

While on the ship I tried lobster and squid for the first time. Loved the lobster. The squid tasted okay just rubbery. That was from another one of Ray’s starters. He ordered what he thought was pasta but I had read the description. It said that it was a selection of Italian appetizers and so not knowing what that entailed I didn’t order it. Ray tried just a little bit of something that looked like a noodle, but it was not a noodle. Maybe it was a squid suction cup. I tried another thing that looked like really thin ham or bacon rolled up. That was pretty salty.

Our waiters, matre’d, and other dining room staff performed every night. One night our waiter talked Ulga and I into getting up and joining the conga line but it ended up being mostly a line of people just walking through the dining room.

(Our waiter made this doll for us one evening)

They also had shows every night. The first night was a comedy show. Since I hadn’t slept much and it was at 10:30 we foregone that and went to bed early.

The next night they had a dancing, singing show called “Xtreme Country.” That was the best of the shows by my opinion. I couldn’t take pictures of any of the shows because of copyright laws. The country show had two singers (a boy and a girl) and then about 12 dancers (3 boys and the rest girls) that would sing and dance to famous country songs. They made it into a little story line and it was very riveting.

The next night was a juggling and comedy act. We almost didn’t go to that one but we did. The juggler was pretty funny and at first I didn’t think he was really going to juggle much, just tell jokes but he finally got into it and it was very good. The comedian was also very funny. I was afraid he would get racy but because it was a family show he kept it cleaned. He did have an “R” rated act every night in one of the clubs.

The next night was a talent show for the ship’s passengers. Ulga, Javier, and us went to that for a few numbers. Now, that was very interesting. I think that we had a ship full of drunks and religious people, and maybe they were both that got up there. Everyone sang that we saw (and not very well) and most sang some song about Jesus. But some kept going on and on afterwards (that is why I think they might have had a few too much to drink.) Everyone that participated received a small trophy of the ship and a bottle of champagne. I am sure that is why some did it.

The final night was a show called Shout. It was also the singers and dancers. They sang songs from a bunch of different music genres. It was good but not as good as the country one because the story line didn’t flow as well.

Our trip; onboard 1

I am going to split our vacation into several blogs. The first few will be about being on the boat. Then the last two will be about our first stop, Cozumel, Mexico, and about Calica, Mexico.

As I blogged about it “Can’t Sleep” I did not sleep the night before we left. I finally dozed between 4:30 and 5:30 but never fully slept so I was extremely exhausted but also extremely alert. We decided only to take one car so I called my friend Noel and told her we wouldn’t be leaving the van and she was okay with that. She hadn’t planned on using it, just in case of an emergency.

I did not sleep until after we dropped the kids off and only then a little bit. We left at 6:30 in the morning and got to Tallahassee to drop the kids off at about 9:15 Eastern time, we are on central time. It didn’t take as long as we thought to leave the kids. They immediately started playing with the kids and just waved at us when we said good-bye. I had to go to them to kiss them.

We stopped and got breakfast on the go and then headed for Mobile, which is also in the central time zone as well. We stopped for gas once but made excellent time and made it to the port just about 12:40. 12: 30 was the earliest time to check in and there was already a huge line. We dropped off two bags and then parked our car. Then got in line. It took us about an hour to check in and get on the ship.

We went down to our stateroom to drop off our carryon bags. There was a buffet lunch up on the lido deck (10.) Our room was on Rivera deck (4) but we got on at the main deck (5.) The room was nice but no basket of fruit like it showed on the website. We went up for lunch and then went out on deck to watch the ship take off from port.

Oh before we took off we had to attend a safety meeting where we had to get our lifejackets out of our staterooms then go to our muster station. Ours was the cute little coffee shop and hence the only time we were there. After we were shown how to put on our life jackets (they really are big and bulky and strangling) we walked up another deck to our two lifeboats.

Back from cruising

We are back from our cruise. I will be blogging about the experience the next few days. I am still rocking, or at least, I feel like the world is still rocking. We had a rough day at sea yesterday and so my body is taking a little bit to adjust to being on solid ground again. The kids enjoyed staying with their friends as well.

Can't sleep

Call it anxiety or excitement but I think it is both and now it is stress but here it is 2 in the morning and I haven't slept a wink since my hour and a half nap this afternoon. In 3 hours my alarm clock is going to go off. In 3 1/2 (4 at the most) we need to be on the road to take our kids over to my friends house to drop them off. It wouldn't be so bad if they still lived here but now we have to take them 1 3/4 hours away. It wouldn't be so bad if we had until 4 to get to the cruise ship unstead of 2:30. We were going to drive both cars to our friend's house and then leave the van for them since they only have one car and it only fits 5 people, not 7, but now if I don't get any sleep that might be out of the question. Everything is pretty much packed and ready so there really isn't a reason I shouldn't be asleep but I'm not so here I sit blogging about it.

It wasn't so bad

This might sound horrible but I always fear being asked to sub in the nursery. I already want to pull my hair out with my kids on occasion so sometimes going to church and dropping them off for two hours is a sanctuary in itself. So last night when I got called to sub the nursery I of course said yes but I secretly dreaded going to church.

We are leaving for a cruise tomorrow so I really wanted a relaxing day so I don't feel rushed tomorrow. Well, we got up in the morning and both my kids were on one. Crying, screaming, fighting. At least Sheila picked out her skirt and shirt without fighting about wearing a skirt.

We get to church and I immediately start counting the nursery age kids. Only two besides my two. That might not be so bad. Ray has agreed to stay in the nursery with me so at least I have some help. Then another family showed up with two more nursery kids. We're up to six. I figure we might have 8 if all the ones come that usually do.

Sacrament meeting just seemed to drag. Maybe it was because I was dreading two hours in the nursery. Maybe it was because my son started screaming in the middle just to hear himself do it. Then the kids are fighting over the hymn books and the toy cars and the cereal. Is there a wall I can pound my head into nearby?

We get into the nursery and then the kids start coming. Eight little heads bouncing around the room. Some of the usuals didn't come or we would have had a bigger crowd. But I was happily surprised. One mother stayed in since her son still has issues being left. Another cried for a few minutes until I became cool because I killed a bug on the floor. The kids played really well with the toys and with each other. Only had to break up a few fights over toys. They cleaned up when it was time for the lesson, all sat in their chairs nicely, ate their snacks, and then participated in singing time. We then just played again until the parents came to pick them up. So my dread was unfounded and maybe next time I will be a little more cheery about subbing in nursery.

Big Read

The Big Read is a National Endowment for the Arts program designed to encourage community reading initiatives and of their top 100 books. They estimate the average adult has read only six. Here’s what you are supposed to do: Look at the list and bold those you have read. Italicize those we intend to read.*Star the books we LOVE.

1. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2. The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
*4. Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6. The Bible
7. Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8. Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9. His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10. Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11. Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12. Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13. Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14. Complete Works of Shakespeare
15. Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16. The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17. Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18. Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19. The Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20. Middlemarch - George Eliot
21. Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22. The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23. Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24. War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25. The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26. Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27. Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28. Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29. Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30. The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31. Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32. David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
*33. Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34. Emma - Jane Austen
35. Persuasion - Jane Austen
*36. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37. The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38. Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39. Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40. Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41. Animal Farm - George Orwell
42. The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43. One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44. A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45. The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46. Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47. Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48. The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
49. Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50. Atonement - Ian McEwan
51. Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52. Dune - Frank Herbert
53. Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54. Sense and Sensibility- Jane Austen
55. A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56. The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57. A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58. Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60. Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61. Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62. Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63. The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64. The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65. Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66. On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67. Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68. Bridget Jones's Diary - Helen Fielding
69. Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
70. Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71. Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72. Dracula - Bram Stoker
73. The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74. Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75. Ulysses - James Joyce
76. The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77. Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78. Germinal - Emile Zola
79. Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80. Possession - AS Byatt
81. A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82. Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83. The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84. The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85. Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86. A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87. Charlotte's Web - EB White
88. The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90. The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91. Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92. The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93. The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94. Watership Down - Richard Adams
95. A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96. A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97. The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98. Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100. Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

I got this off Tiffany's blog and thought it was very interesting. It was kind of fun to see which ones I have read and which ones I wanted to. Some of the ones I intend to read I might have read when I was younger and just don't remember. My mom and dad had a couple of old sets of the classics and I read most of them but I can't remember all of the ones I did read. Anyway it was kind of cool to see that I have read at least one fifth of them. Way more than the 6 average for adults. Funny thing is most of them I read when I was a teenager or younger.

Week in Review and Friday Fill-Ins

She went to the dentist for the second time. Still didn’t like it much. Daddy had to hold her while the dentist looked in her mouth. He said her teeth look great and no decay. She got a new princess toothbrush. It took all of 10 minutes.

I’ve started to bike ride every afternoon with a neighbor. She is also my visiting teacher and her daughter is our babysitter. We try to go around the neighborhood twice, which is about two miles. Hopefully we will continue doing that after we get back from vacation too.

Ray passed his physical fitness test for the military with flying colors. He took it a few weeks early since we are going on the cruise and he didn’t want to have to worry about trying to pass it when he got back and after he gorged himself on the cruise’s food. He only ended up working 1 1/2 days this week and now he is off for three weeks for our vacation.

Only other thing going on this week is getting ready for our cruise. I have been cleaning and packing all week. Today we are having the missionaries over for dinner so I will be making a dessert this morning and then dinner tonight.

1. Follow the prophet.

2. My camera is something I always take with me on vacation.

3. To achieve your goals, you must work hard.

4. I really love being a mother (even if sometimes I don't act like it) is something I'd like you to know about me.

5. I have a family here on earth.

6. Root beer floats.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to having the missionaries over, tomorrow my plans include last minute packing, shopping, and cleaning and Sunday, I want to got to church and get some rest before the cruise!

Day at the Beach

We finally made it to the beach after promising She we would go. We tried Saturday but ran out of time. Yesterday morning we made it out there. It was overcast and so we were a little worried it would rain but the clouds cleared up as you can see. We went out to the Base's beach and I haven't been out there since Hurricane Ike came through. The storm surge created a new sandbar out a ways and when the tide is down like yesterday it makes a tide pool and that is where the kids were playing in the picture above.
This is on the sandbar with the Gulf to the left. The kids crossed over the tide pole with their dad. It came up to his knees but was up past She's waist.
She wore her new swimsuit. Her care bear 3T one was getting a little small so I got out her 4T one early. She sure looked cute in the yellow swimsuit and she liked it. This might be our last time to the beach until around March unless we decide to camp out at the state park on the beach next month.

We stayed for just over an hour and a half. We walked along the beach for awhile and collected seashells. She enjoyed digging and writing in the sand. T enjoyed digging and crawling in the sand.