Christmas Vacation 2016 in Puerto Rico

After a fabulous Christmas Eve and Christmas day with family, we flew off to Puerto Rico early the day after Christmas. We arrived around 2pm and headed to our hotel. We were greeted by Steve, who was always available to book a reservation or get us anything we needed. He showed us to our room letting the kids ride in his golf cart after we parked the car. Our room is almost like a little villa. There is a balcony overlooking the ocean, a living room, kitchen, and bedroom.
After unpacking, we explored the hotel area. We found a place with pool tables, an arcade, restaurants, and a Starbucks. After the longest game of pool ever (made a rule that Carley had to hit the 8 ball in because Chris was making all their shots and Caleb and I aren't pool sharks), we headed back to our room with pizza for dinner.

Tuesday, we woke up and had breakfast where we ended up eating each morning because we had 2 free buffets for each day (thanks to Chris having Hilton status). The breakfast area we chose was right near our room. The kids ordered chocolate chip pancakes most days except for each venturing out and trying the French toast which they both enjoyed one day. We had a visitor two days during breakfast...a lizard. The waitress told us he liked fruit, so we threw some to him and enjoyed watching him eat. After breakfast on Tuesday, we headed to the main pool. The water was very cold, but we all braved it and got in to cool off, it took me (Cindy) the longest to get in...as usual! We had perfect weather for most of the trip! Tuesday night we ate at a place similar to Shogun...the food was delicious, great service, and fun night.

Wednesday, we headed to a private island. The hotel took you there by a boat ride that took about 15 minutes. The ocean wasn't too choppy that day. We rode horses up the island and around it. It was about an hour ride. Carley loved it. That girl loves all types of animals. After riding, Chris and Carley played putt putt, we had lunch, and then fell asleep by the ocean. Perfect day. While we were eating lunch a rain storm hit without warning. Caleb ran and got our bag so our stuff wasn't soaked. It's funny how it's sunny then all of a sudden, pouring down rain. That actually only happened two or three times while we were here.
Wednesday night, we ate at a fancy steak place called Chops. Carley ordered steak and mashed potatoes and loved it. Caleb and Chris ordered fish and said it was great. I had steak, too.
We had a brownie in a skillet pan and Pina Colada cobbler. Carley wasn't happy with the amount of brownie I put on her plate, but ended up being full. Funny how moms know these things. ;)

Thursday, I had a massage first thing (thanks Carmen for a great Christmas gift!) and met the kids and Chris at the infinity pool. Carley loved the view from there.  We then headed to the main pool which was pretty crowded that day. We found some chairs and ordered lunch. Carley met a girl in the pool from Germantown (yes, TN!) and we met her parents. Small world! They played most of the afternoon. Thursday night we ordered pizza and ate in the room. We watched football and movies. It was funny...I told Caleb to charge his phone for the night and he said, "You do realize it's 9 o'clock...y'all are old." Ha! Whoops!

Friday after breakfast, Chris went golfing and both kids wanted to go with him. He said yes and honestly I was nervous they may argue and ruin his golf day, but he said they were great. They both drove the golf cart and saw several iguanas...one even growled at Carley. Guess she scared him. Ha! While they were golfing, I laid out by the pool enjoying the sunshine...my favorite! We left the hotel and ate at a place someone recommended, Kasavista. It was good, local food.
Saturday, we hit the pool after breakfast. It was partly cloudy, but while playing volleyball, it started to sprinkle, then stopped. We saw dark clouds moving in, but stayed in the pool until it suddenly started to POUR down rain. We gathered our stuff and went to our room to pack and relax and watch football (or Netflix for Carley).

Saturday, we woke up and headed to the pool after breakfast. We braved the cold water and played volleyball in the pool. It was good for lots of laughs! It started to sprinkle, but we stayed in the pool. Then, it quit raining for about 10 minutes...and then it POURED! We got out, gathered our stuff, and went back to our room to pack and relax.
We left the hotel for a New Year's Eve dinner at a restaurant called Pacion (Passion). It was delicious! Chris had steak and lobster, Caleb had grouper, Carley had steak, and I had chicken breast with garlic sauce. For dessert, Caleb and Carley had the chocolate lava cake. That was the entire reason Carley wanted to go to that specific restaurant. It was great! We returned to our hotel after dinner and our hotel shot off fireworks at midnight. They were right in front of our balcony, so we had a great view!

This was a great getaway. It's so nice to have warm sunshine in December. I was a little nervous before we left because the weather app showed rain for every day. We found out when we arrived that most weather predictions show rain because we were so close to the rainforest. We only had cloudy/rainy weather one day! I'm so thankful for Chris working for Hilton and earning frequent flyer miles! We made some great memories on our trip to Puerto Rico!

Spring Break 2016

This year for Spring Break we went on a Disney cruise to the Western Caribbean on the Disney Fantasy. We had a great trip. We set sail Saturday, March 5th from Port Canaveral. Caleb knew several friends that were on the ship last year with us, so he immediately found them and we didn't see him much other than dinner time. Carley, Chris and I enjoyed the Sail Away party with lots of characters making an appearance. 

Our first dinner was in the Enchanted Garden restaurant where we met our servers for the week, Nery and Suzy. They were wonderful!

On a Disney cruise, you rotate between three restaurants but have the same servers. 

Day two was a day at sea. We hit the pool, found some characters, and did some activities onboard. 

Day three was in Cozumel. We didn't do a planned excursion but went off the ship to check out the port and shops and ended up taking a carriage ride around town. We made a few stops to check out a few local places. 

After we returned to the boat, we watched Zootopia in 3D. 

That evening for dinner was Pirate Night. Carley and I found Jack Sparrow for a photo shoot. 

There was also a pirate show on the ship. 

Day four was in Grand Cayman. We did an excursion called Snooba. We walked on the bottom of the ocean with a helmet on that had air pumped into it. It was great. We saw lots of fish and coral and even a barracuda. 

We returned to the ship and hung out after a little shopping. To get on and off the ship to shore, you had to take a smaller boat. 

Day five was a day at sea and was Star Wars day. People went all out dressing up as characters and Disney had characters around all day for pictures. 

All week they showed Star Wars movies and the new one. There were also several Star Wars shows that day. We had tickets to meet CP30 and R2D2. So neat!

We also had tickets to meet Chewbacca. Very cool!

The next day was another day at sea. We enjoyed great weather (just windy) and hung out at the pool and did other activities onboard. Chris and I had an adult lunch at the restaurant Palo. It was delicious. 

Our last day was at Disney's private island, Castaway Cay. It was a beautiful sunny day. The water was COLD though!

We played in the ocean, rode bikes, had lunch, played ping pong, saw hermit crab races, and more. It was a fun day.

 

Carley had a bee land on her hand while riding the bike and jumped off the moving bike and scraped her toe pretty badly. We were with another family we made friends with during the week and thankfully they had band aids.

That evening, Carley and her friend rode the Aqua Duck and had the Mickey pool to themselves for a while. 

She also got stuck on the Aqua Duck and they had to go get her from near the start of the water slide. Quite an eventful day!

We ended our dining at Animator's Palette and all drew a character they made come to life on the big screen. 

We had a fabulous time!

Forgot to include that our ship rescued 10 men from a boat that had been at sea for four days near Cuba. It was quite exciting! They kept them onboard and the Coast Guard picked them up from Castaway Cay. 

Dallas Trip-December 2014

Well it's been a while since I've posted. Chris decided we should take a quick trip before Christmas to Dallas to see the Cowboys play. We left Friday after school and arrived around 8 that night. We stayed at the Great Wolf Lodge. If you've never heard of it, it's hotel with an indoor water park and lots of other things. The lobby was packed when we arrived and the water park closed at 9, so we checked in and went to dinner at one of  the restaurants there. 

Saturday morning we woke up, had breakfast, and hit the water park. Chris and Caleb are the brave ones and would ride anything. Carley and I stuck to the easier water slides. Chris and Caleb love one called the Tornado that is dark with lots of drops and a funnel at the end that makes you think you'll flip out of the raft. Carley and I rode it on our last trip but declined this time. 

After fun at the park, we headed to the Grapevine Mills mall for some Christmas shopping. We didn't get it all finished but at least we got a start. We ate lunch at the Rainforest Cafe. 

(Traveler tip: join the Landry club for $25 and at the restaurant and get immediate seating! When you register your card online you get a $25 reward and it is a one time registration fee. From then on you get priority seating!)

We went back to the hotel and watched the Eagles lose, then headed to the Gaylord Texan hotel to see Frosty on Ice. Everything was carved from huge blocks of ice by people from China. It was amazing. The characters looked just like the ones from the Frosy Christmas special. So cute! It was 9 degrees so they gave you a coat to wear but it was still freezing! The end had a Nativity made from ice that was just beautiful. 

Sunday after breakfast, we headed to a tailgate party for the Cowboys. The food was a BBQ buffet and it was good. We met Drew Pearson and got his autograph. Chris got to wear three Cowboys super bowl rings. 

It was fun. We loved the game because the Cowboys won big time and clinched the division title and Romo set a record for most passing yards. After the game we went to dinner with Chris' sister Carmen and her husband Chris who flew in for the game. Any time we are with them we laugh a lot!

Monday morning, Carley had an appointment to get her nails done at the kids' spa and then we played in the water park until it was time to go to the airport. 

We flew home through Atlanta and our friends John and Karen Zermeno (who moved to Denver) were also at the Atlanta airport and met us for a quick snack. Chris told me they were there but that they had already boarded their flight. I couldn't believe we missed them. Then I saw Chris wave to someone and looked over and there they were! I let out a little scream and jumped up to hug them and teared up because I was so happy. We got to visit for about 30 minutes. 

We had a great trip and even though I have a lot to do tomorrow to get ready for Christmas, I wouldn't trade the great times and memories we made on our trip!

We hope you all have a Merry Christmas!

That Time of Year Again

We are in Gulf Shores for a week. This is like our sixth or seventh year in a row to come here with our small group from church. Two families have moves out of the Memphis area, but still came for our trip. It's funny how with good friends you can just pick up like you saw them yesterday. There are 15 of us here this year. We have a great house right on the beach. We consider the beach in front of our house "our beach" and have two tailgate tents up all week. 

I have decided that this may be my favorite week of the entire week each year for a couple of reasons. First, spending time with friends so close we really consider them family is a huge blessing. I'm so thankful that God brought these people into our lives. We sure do miss the Gosas and Zermenos though. (The Gosas live in Tuscaloosa and the Zermenos live in Denver now.) it also makes me realize we need to spend more time with the Worths and Dowtys when we are back at home. 

Second, I love this week because it's a week of nothing. No homework, practices, games, crazy schedules, work, etc.  Just wake up, eat breakfast, go to beach, eat lunch, go back to beach, eat dinner, and hang out. How perfect is that? Just time to enjoy family and friends.  If you've ever seen our family calendar, you know every year we NEED this trip. Like everyone else, we are just busy a lot. 

We've had perfect weather so far which is great. I find myself sitting under the tent or umbrella more than in years past. Probably because I know how bad the sun can be...two places of skin cancer last summer stays on my mind when I'm in the sun. I make sure we are all coated in sunscreen but we do enjoy being outside though. 

I've also been thinking lately how grateful I am that I have such a great family. Yes, occasional arguments between the kids but I think that's normal. Every day I am thankful that the stupid cancer is out of Chris. It makes me so happy to see him with Caleb and Carley. He's such a great dad! (He probably won't like me sharing all that-but who knows of anyone actually reads my blog. Ha ha!)

Anyway, tomorrow we are renting a pontoon boat with a slide and getting a tube and headed out! We've done this a couple of times in the past and it's fun. The men head out Thursday morning to deep sea fish. If they catch anything, we will have fish tacos for dinner. If not, I have to figure out something else to cook as it is our family's turn that night. We've had chicken and shrimp, BBQ nachos, and mexican night so far...it's all been delicious!

It's a great time and I love every second of being here! I'm so thankful to God for my life. 

Day Five: POI school kids and school for the blind

Today after breakfast we headed to the building where we went to church. This time, 50 kids from the POI program were there. They were kids who had good attendance and good grades. This was a party to celebrate their hard work! About 3/4 of the kids were girls. 

We led relay games, played with the parachute, indoor baseball, indoor soccer, and more! It was a ton of fun!

After game time, we all had pizza for lunch. We ate after we served them. We ran out of plates and the POI kids were so patient. After lunch, we said adios! They were too cute and so grateful! They loved the candy we all passed out. Yum!

We made a stop by baskin robbins before the school for the blind. Everyone enjoyed a scoop of ice cream!

We spent the afternoon at a school for blind children. They were such a joy! We gave them candy too and they loved it! 

We had three piñatas they broke and LOVED! (Not all the students were totally blind-some were just visually impaired.) They took turns and some were very strong!

After that, the kids from our team put on blindfolds and played soccer with their kids with a ball that had rocks or rice in it so it made noise. The blindfolds allowed our kids to experience being blind. 

After the game, we served cake and ice cream to the kids. They loved it!

Then, the kids sang to us. Two blind men played the piano for them and two girls played the recorder. It was beautiful. 

After that, we asked for one more song we could dance to...our interpreter said the kids from the school wouldn't dance, but we got them up and it was so great to see them dancing and smiling and laughing. Definitely one of the highlights of the trip for me. The guy playing piano played "I Will Survive" so we were even singing! Just seeing the joy on their faces was such a blessing. One person said it may be the first time people have danced with them. 

After the show and dancing, we fed them KFC chicken, fries, and a biscuit. Ruth from POI told them it was a treat for them to have fast food. Overall, we had another amazing day!