Vacation - Part 2

... back in Puerto Rico...

After wandering around Puerto Rico for awhile on a hot and humid day, Gerald and I decided to take a rest at a little bar/restaurant in the middle of a hotel - it was beautiful, the food was great, and I had the BEST Mojito ever!
This is the house I would buy if I moved to Puerto Rico - it's overlooking the water and totally beautiful!

Rolling cigars in the square at the market.
We were ready to head back to the ship after a hot afternoon ashore, so we headed back to get cleaned up and have dinner on board. After dinner, I took a photo of Gerald's sunburn - that's what happens when you sit on a beach without sunscreen!! He felt better the next day, though!


The towel turkey...

DAY 5: St. Thomas, USVI

We didn't get many photos of St. Thomas because we headed over to St. John for snorkeling and didn't want to leave our camera on the beach. It turns out that we ended up shopping in St. John instead and it was the most beautiful of all of our destinations, but alas - only memories for us! Here are a few photos that we took at the ship pier.
There were about 10 iguanas hanging out on the rocks by the ship pier. Just chillin' in the sun. I got some cool photos of them...


Heading down to dinner.
The towel stingray we had waiting for us after dinner...



Day 6: At Sea

We slept in, sat by the pool, read books, and relaxed on our final day at sea. We didn't take any photos, but here's the towel animal of the day - an elephant!



Day 7: Half Moon Cay, Bahamas

Holland America owns a private island in the Bahamas - Half Moon Cay. Our final day was spent on the island - and it really was fantastic. I got a chance to snorkel and I actually saw a lot of fish! Gerald stayed on the beach and enjoyed the sun. Then we had a BBQ onshore - the food was great and it was nice to be able to eat in your swimsuit! After lunch, I headed back into the water for a bit before heading back to the boat. It was a really nice day!


The last meal of the cruise was a grand affair - singing and dancing and 5 courses. We took some photos of us in our goofy hats.


All in all - it was a great trip! Thanks to my family for watching Izzy for us and again to ArtsFund for the wonderful gift!

Our Vacation!

Hi everyone! Sorry I haven't posted an update in a while, but as you probably know Gerald and I went on a fantastic cruise to the Caribbean from February 6th - 14th so the last month was spent getting ready for vacation, on vacation, and recovering from vacation! THANK YOU TO ARTSFUND for the trip - it was donated to them by Holland America Lines and Alaska Airlines and they gave it to me as an award for my volunteer work with them last year. What an honor - I get to volunteer with some of the greatest people in our community AND I get prizes for it?! And a HUGE shout-out to my fellow Sellen Associates who really pulled in the win for me through our rock-star workplace giving campaign! Here are a few photos of Gerald & my adventure:

DAY ONE: Embarking the ship in Ft. Lauderdale

Just arrived on the boat - had lunch and got our first dessert of the cruise - a trend at every meal!

While we waited for our room to get ready, we explored the ship and a bit of sun that peaked through the clouds in Ft. Lauderdale.

Finally reached our room - we upgraded to a Veranda Stateroom and it was worth it - check out the little patio where I sat most days and read. If you ever take a cruise - pay the extra money for the deck!

Finally on our way!!

DAY TWO: At Sea

We actually didn't take many photos on day two since we just hung around the boat - we got a bit of sun and then watched the Super Bowl with 1000 people in the main stage auditorium where they normally have performances in the evening. It was actually pretty fun especially since there were fans from both sides in the room. I will say it was LAME to watch the Super Bowl on ESPN versus the big network because there weren't any cool commercials - just ESPN ads!! But, what can you do from the middle of the Atlantic Ocean - I'm not thinking there are many choices out there! ;-)

Every evening after dinner we returned to a towel creature on our bed - this is the frog/snake/reptile thing from day two. We took photos of all the animals so I'll share them throughout just for fun!

DAY 3: Grand Turk, Turk & Caicos
We ordered room service and sat on our patio drinking coffee as we arrived to our first port of call - Grand Turk. The ship docked at 7:30 am and we were ready to go!


Gerald and I planned to spend the day on the beach, but when we arrived at 7:30 am it was pretty overcast and windy so we just walked around the little area of shops first. There was a Margarittaville that made for several fun photos, a Ron Jon Surf Shop where Gerald got a t-shirt, and... that was pretty much it! So ... we ended up at the beach relaxing and taking in the sun. It took a while by by 11:00 am the sun was out.

By noon we were ready to head back to the ship, so we had lunch on the boat and cleaned up. By the time the ship was ready to leave port at 3:00 PM, the sun was really warm and the water was a beautiful blue color - we knew we had arrived in the Caribbean! It was a short day off of the boat, but the next day we would be in Puerto Rico, which we really were looking forward to, so it was OK. One cool thing to note about Grand Turk is that Gerald saw a sea turtle in the water near the dock as our ship pulled away. He said it surfaced and waved it's flipper at us. He ran in to get a camera, but the turtle was gone before he got a photo. Izzy talks about this constantly because we brought her a turtle home from the trip and explained the story. Her version is "Izzy turtle, Daddy boat.?!"

The towel butterfly waited for us after dinner...

DAY 4: San Juan, Puerto Rico

In all fairness, I should start my comments about Puerto Rico with an admission that Gerald and I have very different versions of this port of call. Puerto Rico was my favorite stop - the history, beautifully colored and adorned buildings, and fantastic shoreline made it something to want to return to and explore more. Gerald found it hot and smelly and dirty. I don't disagree, but I could see the roses past the thorns...


Our first stop was Starbucks for a cool drink. It was 90+ degrees in San Juan by the time we arrived at 1:00 PM. And, since we were in a U.S. Territory my cell phone cost the same as being in Seattle, so we took a few minutes to call home and see how everyone was doing. It was nice to get an update on Izzy - despite the fact that we learned she had a cold. At least we knew she was in good hands with her Auntie & Grandma and Grandpa. Thanks Kristi & Mom and Dad!

Next we wandered around Old San Juan to do a little shopping and exploring. Many of the cobblestone streets are still made from blue paving stones that were used originally as ballast by ships crossing the ocean from Spain.

Some of the city's charm were the shopping districts nestled in the midst of historic forts, churches, etc. And the streets were lined with 16th & 17th century Spanish colonial buildings. I could have taken photos all day!



To be continued...

Dentist

Izzy had her first dental check-up on Wednesday. It's a great pediatric dentist office in Everett. The whole place is decorated cool and the doctor and assistants were great! Izzy kind of freaked out when she had to lay down on my lap for the doctor to look at her teeth, but all in all she did well for her first time. And ... the doctor said her teeth are looking great!

Singing

Izzy is very into singing right now. Every night when we drive home from daycare she is insistent on singing "twinkle" "abc" or "row row row". She pretty much knows all the words, but is pretty shy about singing the songs by herself, so Heather helped her out so we could capture it on video. These are so funny!

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star:



ABC's:

MLK Day

Izzy's daycare was closed on Monday, so I took a vacation day. We spent the morning with Jil, Landen, and Avery at the Everett Children's Museum. I only brought my video camera with me to the museum so here are a couple of videos of the kids playing...

After Izzy's nap, Auntie Heather came over for a visit. They played with Izzy's new play dough stuff that she received for Christmas - they had a great time!

And finally after bath time, Izzy sported her new hat & scarf that Ninang Rachel made for her for Christmas - so cute!!

The Big Reveal

Izzy received so many wonderful toys for Christmas that it was time to convert our rarely used guest room into a play room for her. We've been working hard on it the last couple of weekends and it's finally ready! I think I might like it more than her because I got my house back!!

Goodnight Stories with Aunties

Kristi & Heather watched Izzy on two successive nights last week so Izzy was spoiled with Auntie story time two nights in a row. I failed to pull the camera out when Kristi was here, but I got a few shots with Heather. Izzy loves all of her aunties!!

Bye-bye Lolo & Lola

We headed to Bremerton on January 10th for one final visit with Gerald's parents before they left to the Philippines for a couple of months. Marie, Larry, Alex, and Auntie Nila were able to come over as well. It was a nice day filled with lots of food and fun & games for Izzy & Alex. A few photos...