"The Amazing Race..."

So, Tiff and I went on a cruise.

See that cruise ship in the background....Getting kind of hard to see..... Not good.... Not good at all.....

See those exhausted tourists trying to catch their collective breaths? Think of them as playing "The Amazing Race- St. Maarten Edition.".... and losing...... Want a small recap of why those exhausted tourists aren't ON that boat?

• They just spent the last three hours trying to get 5 miles in distance to the Celebrity Summit Cruise ship. They (we) could have run the distance by foot in 1 hour. (we found out later that we were stuck at a draw bridge that had to open for rich people on big yachts. Like this one named Tatoosh we saw. Curse you Paul Allen and all of your Microsoft products.
• They borrowed three cell phones from innocent local bystanders in an attempt to call the cruise ships "emergency number" to no avail. (Hard to do without knowing French or Dutch.... We needed your Dutch language skills Todd K. or Gerald's French. For the record I do know Charade and a little bit of Pantomime. That did the trick). What kind of emergency number goes to voicemail anyway?
• They sped down a one-way street through a shopping district only to have the car in front of them stop and the driver get out....apparently they use park benches to block off their garages. Then when they get back, they stop on a one way road, hop out, move the bench, and then pull on in while everyone else just sits there and waits. As a side note, people who live in St Maarten have a very unique way of flipping the bird.
• They drove through a flash flood (our rental car employee wondered why there was water in the door handle of our Toyota Tercel).
• They broke through a security checkpoint. Yes that is a real gun.... Probably shouldn't have done that.....even if we were late....
• They dashed a quarter of a mile only to see their boat sail away.... It was 10 feet away from the port when they arrived.
• They were declared "not drunk" when the Port Host asked via walkie-talkie for permission to take the pilot boat out to meet the ship. According to the Port Host, 95% of the people who are late for the boat are drunk at a bar and therefore unable to comprehend time. It is actually in the travel agents contract that when a cruise ship tourist is lost that he, check with the police, call the hospital, and then personally check 9 of the local bars and strip clubs before he is aloud to give up and go home. In the end, the captain was not impressed that we were sober. Of course, the fact that we were sober may not have helped our cause with this captain. This only left the excuse of "stupid" for the reason we were late. When asked for the second time if we could be brought out in the pilot boat, he replied, "negative, we are leaving"......

But most importantly....

• They will be paying for their own hotels and flights to catch up with their boat in Antigua. Kind of an expensive "Amazing Race" excursion.... (and CBS will not be paying the bill for our version of The Amazing Race.)

In memory of our favorite captain. Everyone, meet, Captain Kostas. On the bridge of HIS ship. Do you think he knows we were the ones that didn't make it on the ship?

(FYI, Tiff planned on giving our Captain a piece of her mind regarding the "emergency" number going to voicemail. We are proud to say that she managed to control herself. That is a rare thing indeed).

As for the more positive parts of our cruise, stay tuned. More to come.....

Broncos

Fall soccer has come to an end...just in time (snow is flying)! Gracie had a good time on her new team, The Broncos. Can you tell that her coach was a male? Female coaches go with "butterflies," "unicorns," and "princesses." This is the first year she has had a name taken from the NBA. I mean, the NFL.

She had some of her best friends on the team. Can't get any better than that.

Aeva has even decided to be a professional soccer player when she turns 5. She LOVES kicking the ball. You should also be warned that if you take the ball from her...the smile quickly disappears. She prefers soccer with zero opposition. Her Halloween costume was just a bonus for the last game of the season. Too cute not to post.

The last game got pretty cold. We had to bundle up the little players when they weren't out running around. Good thing grandmas are always up for snuggling. I am going to miss the warmer weather.

Good job, Ms. Gracie. You make one good soccer player. We are proud of you!

Go Broncos!

Thankful

Thank you family...for being mine.

I love you!

Halloween 2010

I figure I had better post our Halloween pictures before Thanksgiving comes....

Here we have Dorothy, from the Wizard of Oz with Kai-Lan? Any maybe a cat???

This picture is just as blurry but at least it shows the ruby red slippers. The DI is a wonderful place for finding weird items. Don't look too closely or you will see that they are several sized too big. That is part of the Halloween fun, right? If you don't fall several times while trick-or-treating, you haven't worked hard enough.

Gracie's friends in the school parade. I already reserved this costume for next year. I hope I look just as cute.

This is one of the soccer players from Maddie's team. I learned that she was a "dead soccer player." Would you guess that she is the sister of the sparkling gem above? I think Bailey would truly become a dead soccer player before she would be found in a sparkly dress. I love how every kid is different. Otherwise, we would have way too many princesses walking around.

This cowgirl lives next door. Troy thinks she looks like Jessie from Toy Story. A little red hair and he may be right.

Mrs. Froerer looking as good as ever! She grew a good 6 inches overnight. Maybe it was just the vertical stripes. I hear they are very slimming.

Squaw Sherene working hard to bring literacy to all children everywhere.

I have no idea who this kid is but I loved the costume. How come I can't remember any of these good ideas when Halloween rolls around each year?

Garrett, the mad scientist.

Ms. Maddie is dressed as Junie B. Jones. She is a character from some of her favorite books. She wasn't willing to dye her hair red or cut it short and make it look straggly...so, that is as close as you can get. Can't say I blame her. This is the cutest Junie B. Jones I have ever seen.

We didn't get to carve pumpkins this year. I am sure that it not being my favorite activity had nothing to do with it. We were simply much too busy with everything else. I made myself feel less guilty by letting them color on them with markers. That is the same as gooey messiness, right?

Aeva decided to be a fairy. These wings were well worth the $5 they cost. She wore them for several days. There was glitter falling everywhere she went. If Troy looked overly sparkly around Halloween, you now know the cause.

Headed into grandma's house for some extra trick-or-treat candy.

All the cousins (at least the younger ones) at grandpa's house.

We appear to have survived another year.

Happy Halloween everyone!

Southern Caribbean 2010

San Juan, Puerto Rico.

The Celebrity Summit

Troy and I with Captain Costas. This is the man responsible for leaving us in St. Maarten. My smile is a fake one!

I love this statue. It sits next to the pool and makes me feel confident while walking around in my swimsuit!

Leaving San Juan for St Thomas.

Taking the ferry from St Thomas to the island of St John.

The sugar factory that was run by slaves.

The ferry ride back. This umbrella was my best purchase ever!

St Maarten. This island is half French and half Dutch. Pretty cool to see.

Aimee and I waiting for our authentic Caribbean lunch.

Flying in to Antigua after missing our ship the night before. Ugh!

Antigua

St Lucia - This was my favorite island. I loved the mountains running down into the beaches. A hurricane had come through just a few days before our stop. We weren't able to see the other side of the island because of the damage. I hope to see it some day...

There is a national park on the island of St. Lucia. We decided to check it out.

Seashell hunting while we waited for our taxi ride back.

Barbados - we swam with the turtles! A beautiful beach with some awesome swimming!

Back at Sea.

Docking back in San Juan...an awesome trip!