I finally figured out how to work the comments on my layout. Don't ask me how I did it. I don't know how it happened, but I was up late Friday night trying to figure it out. Go figure. It was an accident...

I know I owe you all more cruise news, but first, a little on our week last week. We finished our first full week of school and that went well. Her teacher seems really nice and I think this is going to be a really good year.



Last night, we met Micah and Gage at the Wilson County fair. It was superb weather, but being the last night, it was packed! But Gage was in a good mood and we were glad to get to see them.

OK, so more on the cruise...let's see, where was I?

Wednesday, August 6, Day 4 - Cozumel Mexico

We got up pretty early this day too and actually went and ate breakfast in the dining room. We meandered off the boat about 10am when the crowd had thinned out. The water in Cozumel is amazing. but the "mall area is alot like Thailand in that they want to follow you around and show you their wares and that really makes me uncomfortable. Jenna got a braid in her hair. We saw several kids with half or whole hair braided and luckily Jenna didn't want that! After we wandered around looking for the Harley shop (there's not one), we took a cab down the strip to eat. I had see this restaraunt in Grand Cayman and took a picture of it for my friend Stacey. Stacey...this is especially for you. :)






Finally, it was time for our excursion which was really more for Jenna. She got to swim with the dolphins and absolutely loved it! It was worth every penny we spent, but man, was it hot for those of us just observing!!!

Thursday, August 7, Day 5 - Belize City
Rather than eating in the room or the dining room, we had breakfast up on the lido deck. This day we just had a day at the beach. It was called Bannister Cove Beach. We had lunch there and just basically played around. It was beautiful here too, but the beach was very rough right at shore due to all the shell pieces. Further out, the sand was so soft, it felt like mud.



Friday, August 8, Day 6 - Isla Roatan, Honduras
We just did a beach day here too. I think I have already talked about how beautiful it was. In the midst of the poorest of the poor, there was this beautiful resort called Tabyana Bay. This is where we snorkeled and just had a really good time. Because I did spend so much time in the water, I didn't get a picture of it, but here are a few of the area in general.



We went back to the boat to have lunch this time because lunch on Belize was expensive. Our second formal night was this night...we were a bit red, but we got some good pictures nevertheless.
And then we had to try and stay up for the midnight buffet which was amazing as always. We did NOT stay up long enough to actually EAT any of it though. For those of you who have either never been on a cruise or never went to the midnight buffet, the entire display is made of food. It is really unbelievable what people can make out of fruit, cheese and the like!

OK, that's enough for now. The last two days were spent on the ship, so there's not really much to say...but there are a few more pictures I want to share...

Until next time.....

Comments

Well, I just figured out that there might not be a way to post comments on this new blog design which is really frustrating to me because the comments let me know that someone is actually reading what I write!

If you have any suggestions or are a blog designer looking to give away a free design, email me. Most of you reading should know how to find me in one place or the other. If not...well, I guess I'll never know then!

Stay tuned....more changes may be coming soon.

Phew!

I have decided that I could never be a web designer. It's taken me two nights until bedtime (last night nearly 11pm!) to finish my new blog look. Let me know how you like it. I know there are no photos, but never fear, I'm on it. It's just late again and I'm going to bed.

More to come, but let me hear your thoughts on the new look.

New Look

I'm working on a new look to my blog...bear with me as things change. :)

More to come

I went back to work today after 2 blissful weeks of vacation. I was able to stay un-stressed and relaxed about 1/2 a day and then it all went down the tubes. Oh well.

Since my last post, we've had an eventful time...I got Jenna registered for school and she had her first 1/2 day last Friday. Today was her first full day. I'm so blessed that she likes going and looks forward to the beginning of school. I always liked school and never wanted to miss and I prayed she would be the same way. So far, so good.

I know I didn't get through most of the cruise, but life's going to be crazy while we get back on schedule, so bear with me. I'll get to it eventually. Right now, I'm beat from getting up early. Tomorrow is Weight Watchers day. I know I gained while on the cruise, but hoping to have gotten it back off. Last week, I walked 3 days in the week and mowed the grass two, so exercised 6 days.

OK, more to come, I promise.

Check this out...

My cousin sent this to me (Thanks Tracey!) and I thought it was way too good not to share.



Jenna had her registration for school today. She is a big 1st grader now. And looking back, I can't imagine her being in 2nd grade instead. I'm so SO glad we did Pre-1st. If you have the choice and have a summer birthday child, I highly recommend it. Anyway, we didn't really have a preference for teacher this year. We had some concerns of her being in one class only because the teacher was over before and aftercare as well and since JG participates in that, we thought that might be a little too much. As luck would have it, Jenna was placed in the "new" teacher's class, Ms. Gates. I met her for the first time today. She's young, very pretty and super nice. I think we are really going to like her. Tomorrow is the first 1/2 day of school. Jenna is super excited and I am too. I will admit, I live vicariously through Jenna because I always looked forward to the first day of school too. :)

After registration (I volunteered the whole time), we met Steve and went to lunch. I had a doctor's appointment at 1:30 supposedly to follow up on my eczema. However, that is going fine...but I had developed a "place" on my back that I thought might have gotten infected. I noticed it last Thursday or so while I was on the cruise. I don't remember getting bitten, poked or hit by anything, but when I noticed it, it was already painful. And as time has passed, it has gotten worse. Way worse. And as luck would have it, I had this appointment already set, so I went in. The doctor agreed that I have a serious infection and thinks it might be a bite of some kind or a hair follicle that got infected. I don't know for sure and really don't care. I just wanted some relief. The pain was getting nearly unbearable. I got a big ole shot in my hip, antibiotics for 20 days (2x a day) and a bunch of samples of Aleve and Advil. I tell you, 34 is apparently the age at which my body has decided to fall apart. I was hoping to get to at least 35, but seems that this is the beginning.

It stinks getting old.

The Cruise-Part 1

OK, so several have emailed wanting details about the cruise...so here we go...

Sunday, August 3, Day 1

Our flight was at 6am, so that meant getting up about 3:30 to get out of the house by 4:15 so we could get to BNA by the allotted hour before flight. The good thing about Steve walking with a cane was that we got to board first and with Southwest, that's a real perk! The flight was probably not even 1/2 full which made since at that time of morning on the weekend. We arrived in Tampa right on time at 8:45am local time. We went to baggage claim and got our bags and then carried them to the TGIFridays in the airport to get breakfast. After that, I sat an surfed the net while waiting until time to go. A taxi took us to the Carnival Port and then we stood in line to get everything set. It wasn't too bad though as we were there WAY early. We did get to board the boat early but did not get into our rooms until 1:30. We were automatically upgraded to a balcony stateroom which was a nice surprise and even though it was a partially blocked view (lifeboat), we truly enjoyed it. Soon as we got on, we went up to the Lido deck and had lunch overlooking the water (before embarkation). That was nice and Jenna just thought the whole hotel looking boat was awesome. Our boat was the Carnival Legend.

After embarkation, we just looked around the boat and got ready for dinner in the main dining room. I guess being obsessive about planning paid off because check out the view from our table in the dining room....
We went to bed early since our day started so early. Oh, and the other thing to note is my lifetime watch battery died about the time we got on the boat. UGH

Monday, August 4, Day 2
We slept in since this was just a day at sea. We ate breakfast in the main dining room and then tried to go to the pool. Well, by the time we got up, got breakfast and got up to the pools, they were jam packed. I had woken up with a really stiff neck. I had the same thing happen to me 3 years ago when we moved into the house. I must have strained my neck while moving and that time, when I woke up, I literally could not move. I had to roll off the bed and crawl to the phone to call Steve. After a couple days with heat and a muscle relaxer, it was better. I didn't have it to that extent on the cruise, but after a few minutes at the pool, my neck started really tensing up and I was in a fair amount of pain. So, back to the room we went, hooked up Steve's TENS unit (an electrical stimulation unit for pain) and a heating pad and took some pain reliever and after a while felt like I might could get up off the bed. This was the first formal night, so we started getting ready for dinner. Here we are... After dinner we went to Camp Carnival for a while and Steve and I wandered the ship and stopped by to drop some buckage in the casino. I won back my $20. Steve spent about $5. After that, we picked up JG and went to the show and then to bed.

Tuesday, August 5, Day 3-GRAND CAYMAN

We had to get up pretty early so we had room service breakfast. We left the boat for our excursion at 7:15am. The bus first took us to the Turtle Farm then on to one of my favorites... the city of Hell. It's really not much there, but the city's name is actually called "Hell" and you can send a postcard to yourself which is postmarked from Hell. I just thought it was hilarious and so I sent my BIL and myself a postcard (it's not arrived yet). Then we went on to StingRay City which Grand Cayman is very well known for. The stingrays are extremely docile and swim right up to you. It was a 20 minute boat right to the middle of the ocean to get out of the boat. The water was about 4.5ft deep and so we all got out. But the waves were choppy, yes even in the middle of the ocean, and it was hurting Steve to try and stay up. I was holding Jenna and it was hard to hold her and keep myself on my feet. But we did get some good pictures.

OK, I know that's only a couple days, but that ought to give you all some reading fo the time being. I have other things I want to say about today and then I'll post more about the cruise...

Back in Tampa!

Well, it's official. The Taylors have re-entered reality from the land of relaxation and fun. Total bummer. :)

We are now sitting in the Tampa airport waiting on our flight. We arrived here about 10am this morning and our flight doesn't leave until 2:25pm.

We had a fabulous time! I kept a written diary of things we did, mostly for scrapbooking purposes, but I will also use it to blog. However, the quick itinerary is as follows:

Last Sunday, Day 1-the flight out of Nashville to Tampa and then boarding of the boat and embarkation. Most of this day was travel and unpacking etc.

Monday, Day 2-at sea. We slept in and had a big breakfast. Spent just an hour or so at the pool on board (because EVERYONE was there) and then just hung out until dinner...you know, exploring the boat.

Tuesday, Day 3- Grand Cayman....ahhhhh....that's all I'll say for now. But we toured the Turtle Farm, Hell (oh yes...I sent myself a postcard from Hell) and Stingray City.

Wednesday, Day 4-Cozumel Mexico. We did a little self tour around the pier, ate lunch and then took Jenna to do Dolphinaris where she got in the pool with a Dolphin. Very cool pics from this. One of my first purchases when I get home is a scanner. :)

Thursday, Day 5-Belize City, Belize. This was a private beach day. It was nice to just relax. The beach was a little rough as there were lots of shells and shell pieces, but once you got just a few feet into the water, it was OK...the sand was a little mushy feeling, but it was beautiful.

Friday, Day 6 - Isla Roatan, Honduras. Holy Cow. I almost did not book an excursion on this stop because really...Honduras? Who does Honduras on a cruise? The waters we docked in were beautiful, but the port was just like you would imagine Honduras to be. Very poor looking. We had booked a beach day at this stop as well. It was about a 15 minute trip by van/taxi and it was straight throught the poorest part of the city. But then you end up at the beautiful, wonderful white, powder sand beach. Unbelievable.

And here I must confess...I have never snorkeled before. I did try on the last cruise and basically hyperventilated the minute I put my face in the water. It's that pressure or something. I just couldn't breathe. But I rented snorkel equipment on this beach determined to get it right now that I had time to do it slowly and learn at my own pace. My first dip in the water caused the familiar hyperventilating, but after removing those stupid flippers and readjusting the life vest, I had the hang of it. I saw a fish here and there, but nothing spectacular. That is, until the little man in the kayak (who was apparently patrolling the reef) pointed me in a different direction. And as I swam, this beautiful coral reef opened up below me and there were colored fish all around. I was amazed. I have never seen anything like this before and it was amazing. So amazing that I rented ANOTHER set of snorkel equipment for Jenna and took her out with me. Of course, she has no fear and is a way better swimmer than me, so it was easy. She was amazed and kept wanting to go further and further out. I'm so glad we did because there was like another world out there. However, we got too far out and somehow got caught up in the coral close to the surface. Not sure if any of you have done battle with coral, but it's no fun and you will lose. Suffice it to say, Jenna got an express ride back to the beach in one of the kayaks patrolling the reef and it took me another 30 minutes to swim it back. And both of us had bleeding scratches on multiple parts of our body. But we survived. :)

Saturday, Day 7- Sea Day. Got up early this day, had breakfast by one of the pools and then let Jenna spend most of the morning at the pool and then just a variety of things around the ship.

And that brings us to today, in the Tampa airport. And on a PC that has a battery about to die. I need to start thinking toward getting wrapped up because in just a couple more hours, we'll be on the way home. I will give you more details about our stops when I'm home. I took all next week off and have a couple things to do (dentist appointment, meetings for school, registration, first 1/2 day etc.), so I hope to have time.

Bon Voyage!

Well, just a few hours and we are off!

Jenna spent the night with a friend last night and didn't come home until 4pm, so we had all last night and today to get things together. Steve and I went to see Journey to the Center of the Earth in 3-d last night. It was good. It was nice to watch a movie that wasn't animated or a cartoon.

I got most everything done, or so I thought. But here I am at 10pm and not close to getting into bed. Our flight out leaves at 6am, so we have to be at the airport by 5am and that puts us leaving here at 4:30am no later.

We are very much looking forward to this trip. I'm taking my PC, but not sure how much access I'll have to the internet, but I figure I can at least have it to download my photos to if needed.

Will update when I get back!