Adventures Aboard: Caribbean Cruise

It's always a good idea to have your passport handy,  in case, say, your sister who works for a cruise line calls and needs someone to go with at the last minute. Call on the neighbor friends, rearrange a few things, beg the husband, and yep, I was good to go.

All I have to say is prayers are answered and wishes come true in the most wonderfully unexpected ways. Mine were something like this: Please let me be able to explore the world and learn from all the people in them. This trip was just exactly that!  I loved it and I have to believe my parents have a little pull on the other side. 

Thus began our pinch-me-I-must-be-dreaming 11-day free exotic Southern Caribbean Cruise! 

Day 1: New York City

My sister and I flew in from our various locations. Both our flights were delayed putting us into NYC very late at night. We spent the rest of the time in the airport and that was just the beginning of our adventure.  Do you know everything is hysterically funny in the wee hours of the morning? 

Central Park

We took a taxi from the airport to the cruise port where we dropped of our luggage and then before embarkation we had a couple of hours to speed walk zombie fashion due to our sleep-deprived state, through this exciting city. We walked through Times Square, Central Park, 5th Avenue savored a slice of famous NY pizza.

Settling into life once on board the ship wasn't hard at all-- Room service, all you can eat everything anytime, and every kind of entertainment imaginable from karaoke to comedy?  We met our assigned dinner mates and enjoyed the view of the Statue of Liberty at nightfall as we dined on 3 delicious courses. 

Day 2 at Sea: The rough waters may have made others queasy but it put my sister and I to sleep instantly. After a great night's sleep we breakfasted and took our books to have a relaxing read on the sun deck (these are the things vacations are made of) I took my book about Australia and who should we run into but a family of Australians? We got to chatting--for like hours! and learned about life down under from politics to healthcare education. Fascinating. It seems Australia has many the same political and immigration problems we do? 

Day 3 at Sea: More dining, reading. We went to the evening entertainment in the garrish theatre, went to a comedy show and sat in on the most pathetic karaoke you have ever seen. Not to worry-- we livened it up with our rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody. We soon found out that our cabin was directly under the karaoke bar. Wouldn't you know it but someone had to belt out "New York, New York," every stinkin' night!!! Oh the hardships of being on a cruise. 

Day 4: Grand Turk

 We booked a "power snorkeling" excursion, which is like regular snorkeling except with jet packs. Our driver told us all about the island on our way but with his thick accent (he was from Haiti) so we couldn't understand a word! Something about the salt industry and wild horses roaming the island which we did see, although they were small and thin and maybe more like donkeys. Locals rode them anyway.
Our snorkeling excursion took us on a small boat to a spot in the ocean where the sea floor dropped 7000 feet. We snorkeled along the edge of it and saw myriad fish including Dori from Nemo and coral formations that could rival any earthly garden. Coolest thing I saw was brain coral, a squid and some jelly fish. Not so cool was that my sister got stung by those jellyfish. But, we didn't find that out until the next day!

Day 5 at Sea: We both woke up with major sunburns. All the sunscreen in the world could not prevent these white girls from the effects of intense tropical sun glare. To our great surprise, our very black friends were also sunburned.  Aloe was the word of the day here--and I'll tell you the cruise gift shop  makes a killing on the stuff.  To boot, my sister's ankle was swollen and purpley red, so much so that it made walking difficult and painful. It could only have been those jellyfish! The other word of the day? Vinegar. That, folks, is the only way to neutralize a sting we learned and luckily she got a bottle free from our waiter. The smell of it will wake you up like a punch in the face.   After many generous applications, she went straight to bed and well, I snuck out for fresh air as well as take in a show and dance with my Aussie friends at the club.

Day 6: Aruba

 Beach day all day. Need I say more?

We took the public bus to this beach and plopped ourselves right on some resort chairs. Happy as clams.

Day 7: Curacao (pronounced Ker-uh-sow) or Karakwa if you're my sister. 

We walked around town through an old fort turned shopping mall, walked to the floating market where we bought fresh off-the-boat tangerines. More than 100 different ethnic groups reside here but they are subject to the Dutch King, hence the quaint well-kept painted buildings.   We were just off the coast of South America at this point so I shouldn't have been surprised my Spanish came in handy when asking for directions. Dutch is also spoken as well as a unique language called Papiamento which is a mix of all the above.

 You could pay for a $50 excursion from the ship and arrive at Mambo Beach and drink some margaritas--OR as we found out after talking to the locals you could take the mini bus for $2 and go to the same beach for free. We ain't no fools.

This beach was my heaven--a reef enclosed it like a private swimming pool and had the added benefit of providing great snorkeling! We were glad we brought our own gear.

Day 8 at Sea

Besides the Aussie's we made a few other fun friends. That is the great thing about cruising is that you can meet nice people from all over the world! We had Louie the master diver, Vinny the family man from Brooklyn, and Frank from Florida who was enjoying his 72nd cruise. His advice to us was that if you want someone to remember you "kick them in the shins." (He somehow became successful anyway). There were our three table mates who lived in New York but were originally from Grenada, St. Thomas, and Jamaica.We had our South Carolina friends, our Canadian friends, and the most charming gay couple from England who also lived half the year in France. They were fascinated to find out about our Scottish ancestry and told us more about our family history than we ever knew. Finding out we were Mormons was equally fascinating to them. They wanted to know all about it and after we took turns explaining they agreed, "We love Jesus too!"

Life on the boat was grand. We got dressed up for fine dining every night, sat on the front-row of the evening shows, and came back to a tidied up cabin with chocolates on our pillow and towel figurines. The staff was great. 

Day 9:  Jamaica

80% of the country is lush green rolling hills and although it looks beautiful,  I have to admit I was not looking forward to this particular stop.  My last memory of being here was of being yelled at and harassed for not tipping enough and again for not buying more local wares. After this new experience however, I  turned an about face. Our Canadian friends had wisely arranged for a private driver to take them all over and kindly invited us to join them! We had a lovely time driving through the fern gully, where the road was lined with natives selling their handicrafts from wood carvings to painted shells, to Bob Marley t-shirts. Beyond them loomed steamy hills of lush vegetation. We stopped at Dunn's River Falls which is spectacular to view and thrilling to climb. Here you can scale up waterfall after waterfall that spills into a beautiful beach below. 

  We were introduced to Jamaican ginger beer which is like ginger ale with non-alcoholic kick. The spicy soda turned out to have a nice medicinal effect, settling my stomach through those windy jungle roads.

Our driver is what really made Jamaica fantastic. He said "ya mon" a lot which we found very charming. Also, he taught us how to bargain with the locals. It goes like this:  whatever price they give reduce it 60% and that's the fair price. We had our first chance to put this into action when a guy walked over to our van selling handmade motorcycle figurines from wood. "$25," he declared. "How about 10" I said? "15", he countered. "$12 no more" and with exact change in my hand the exchange was made. Everyone is happy! That is how it's done gringos.  

Oh the things people will do for a tip.

 We may have gotten a little carried away with the ginger beer.

We spent the afternoon being well looked under a cabana at a private beach. Kayaks were begging to be used so we once again used our bargaining powers and got 2 for less than the price of one...and honestly we had no more cash to give! Our day in Jamaica was wonderful. If you ever go there, ask for Richard. He is the magic word around here.

Day 10:  Grand Cayman

When we got to port we didn't have a plan except to get to the famous 7-mile beach with snorkel gear in tow. But, after some browsing around in the shops, we came across a tour offering a visit to Stingray City as well as snorkeling a pristine coral reef! My sister doesn't much like to share her swimming quarters with living things, especially after the jellyfish episode.  But my excitement convinced her to take the adventure of a lifetime and swim with sting rays!! It was an unforgettable experience and I loved every minute of it! Apparently you can bargain here too because we got a great deal. There were no excuses now. I think this picture says it all...

Snorkeling was awesome. I saw and dodged lots--o-jellyfish which our guide assured us were the harmless kind but big sister wasn't takin' no chances. She stayed cozy in the boat. I went off on my own a bit so I could see more than Japanese tourist legs.   The reefs were amazing with purple fan coral, large brain coral  and again fish in all their color and variety. A gentle spotted eagle ray glided past. Deep down in a crevice I spotted something very creepy looking and began to feel like I had wandered maybe a tad too far out on my own. I swam back and asked the guides about the strange creature. They knew exactly what I described--a moray eel!  Our guide dove in and brought me up big beautiful Conch shell. So cool! I have been working to de-stinkify ever since. (there is something to be said for buying them at the gift shop)

Can you believe this water??? An afternoon downpour forced us back to port and on the ship, otherwise I may never have left the Cayman Islands!

Day 11:  Last Day at Sea

Had a read-a-thon on deck while soaking up our last chance for tropical sun. Enjoyed a wonderful chocolate buffet and participated in the Thriller dance lesson on the Lido deck. Ow! 

Day 12: Debarkation in Tampa, Florida

With our trip ending on the Gulf side of Florida and a few hours before our flights took us home, we decided to end with a bang and visit the Top Rated Beach in the Sunshine State!... rented a car for the day and drove here:

As the sign says, this beach had it all--fun shops, warm water, shells for collecting, and you could see the fish swimming around you. Most remarkable of all  was the sand. It was like walking in powdered sugar!!

 There's nothing like being on the same boat for 11 days to mend a relationship. My sister and I did have a rough patch when our mom died last year but we have forgiven and moved on and that is life. You don't have to spend a vacation together but you do have to forgive. In our case it's a good thing too because we make excellent travel buddies. 

Back home I spoiled the family with t-shirts, dolls, and nick-knacks. Of course I've been sharing ginger beer with anyone willing to try. The time has come to retire the suitcases for awhile.  I've exhausted my friend equity for one lifetime and anyway the best place of all is in the loving arms of my husband and kids. Awwww. They missed me and I missed them!

Conference at Our House

When you are a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints it is a special occasion when you can stay home on Sunday, wear your PJ's and watch church on TV! It deserves special celebrating with family and treats--lots of them.

 I realized when I took all the kids to the candy store with instructions to pick out their favorite goodie that I have totally turned into my mom!

The veggie tray is my own contribution to the tradition. Surprisingly they got eaten!  Besides good food, we cherished this conference as a time to spend with family and enjoy inspiring messages from men and women and our Prophet. I have to agree with President Monson that this was a most inspiring Conference!

Be meek and lowly of heart  control your temper  Doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith  Member and missionaries must work together  Slow down, rest up, replenish and refill (or you'll get sick) 15 million members strong For those with emotional or mental illness: God expects you to get a Priesthood blessing AND the best medical help available. For those who know or care for those with mental/emotional illness--be merciful, non -judgmental and kind.  Be bold in sharing the Gospel--pray not to be afraid.  It is impossible to fail when we do our best.  80,000 missionaries

Take someone by the hand and introduce them to Jesus Christ. ASK, SEEK, KNOCK.  Know the desires and dreams of your spouse's heart--be ONE.  Courage not Compromise  Man's laws cannot make moral what God has declared immoral.   Lay aside the things of this world and seek for a better.   Then don't stand idly looking on, the fight with sin is real. Come help the good work move along put your shoulder to the wheel.  To be in spiritual shape, like physical shape, takes DEDICATION, PERSEVERANCE and SELF-DISCIPLINE.

Live a life of selfless service. Patience is required.  Were it not for challenges to overcome and problems to solve we would remain as we are, never progressing.  The stronger the wind the taller the trees. How we preserve TIME for FAMILY is vital issue--Let's be on the forefront.    Attend all three church meetings wherever you are.  10 Commandments. Look up

 I am a Child of God  Chastity before marriage, complete fidelity in marriage.   Marriage protects the powers of procreation. 41% of births in U.S. are outside of marriage.  LOVE.  The Savior is always near, especially in sacred places and especially in times of need.

Sister's Weekend

We have a new tradition in this family....

The Sister's Getaway

 Kicking off this year's festivities, in Sunny St. George---dinner, game night, and enough treats to kill a horse.
The next day we headed to beautiful Zion's National Park, where everyone could pick their pleasure when it came to hiking.

Some of us ignored the warning signs--the current death toll--the sign of a stick figure falling off a cliff. We called ourselves the Navy Seals of the family and pressed onward to Angel's Landing.

 Refrigerator Canyon was a welcome relief from the blazing sun and steep switchbacks.

 Made it to the top...

 Or so we thought....

We still had THIS to climb.  

 Clutching onto chain railing, and dodging dozens of Europeans, we scaled "The Fin"   Now we were really on top of the world.  It's no wonder that was a strenuous hike. See the dude hitching a ride in my backpack?!

It was all worth it for this view.

  I talked this chipmunk out of suicide.  He actually sat in my hand for a few seconds!

Mission accomplished.  We joined the others, who had done Emerald Pools and the Riverwalk. Concluded the day with a fantastic dinner at Texas Roadhouse, and had a movie night.

Our last day we cleaned up, packed up, and got a VIP tour of the soon to be Children's Museum in Ancestor Square. Can't wait to bring our kids back for that!  But for this weekend we sure enjoyed our woman bonding. If you haven't laughed until you've cried, you need a Sister's Getaway. Love these Ladies!

Gooseberry Shenanigans

Cheers for another eventful week...

Our driveway hosted our annual block party. Lots of shoes, socks, and jackets were left behind, but luckily no kids.  The people that rear-ended our white car called to say they actually didn't have insurance. Our whole-house speaker system got fried in an electrical storm. Crazy weather we've been having, right? The house has been eerily devoid of news, music, and all my favorite talk shows.  I accompanied our third grader on her epic overnight field trip to Gooseberry . Cannon has been home through it all, sick with a cough and fever. And the grand finale of the the week--We celebrated 16 years of marriage with a trip to the temple, a restaurant dinner, and uninterrupted conversation. (see last week's post)

A little more detail about the field trip:
Gooseberry (n) A rite of passage for all 3rd grade residents of this county that consists of 2 days and one night of outdoor classes about things like fire safety, wildlife, stream ecology, and what to do if you get lost.  The children have dinner and sing campy songs around a fire. Then when it gets dark they hear a story from a veteran storyteller about "Annie Bangs," the ghost girl that haunts the campground.

 ....It was a hard winter back in 1800-something and the Bangs family never made it out of the canyon. Later that Spring, explorers found their cabin, the parents frozen dead in their beds but little Annie's cradle?  Empty. What had become of her? No one knew until hunters and campers began to notice their food or clothing would come up missing, especially RED things. There were sightings but Annie Bangs was elusive and remained  legend.

Suddenly, there she appears in the flesh running through the woods, like a man-teacher dressed in red with a crazy white wig.  To their utter horror, she runs through the crowds grabbing kids and threatening to haul them off into the forest. The kids,who have parents there cling to them and scream. The kids who can't find their parents cling to me and scream-- and those who do not have parents there? -- heaven help them. After a good amount of terrorizing and children bawling, everyone is sent to bed in their assigned cabins with warnings that Annie Bangs may come scratching at the windows.  No one sleeps except those who are snoring.
The next day the teachers cook breakfast, there is a flag ceremony and more hands-on learning from the forest rangers. It ends with lunch and clean-up.  Everyone returns home smelly, exhausted, and with a t-shirt "I SURVIVED" (not really but they should)  You may wonder, especially if you have city roots, Is this humane? and why is this program allowed to continue year after year? The answer: This ain't the city. Those 3rd graders come home a little older and a lot wiser. Like the running of the bulls or the polar bear plunge they know they have joined another generation to have survived an epic tradition-- Gooseberry.

 In search of Annie Bangs...Oh yes, we dare.

 Survivors

Month in a Minute

Today we had the amazing opportunity to go to church and listen to an Apostle of the Lord speak to us. Those conducting also randomly called some people from the audience (heart attack) that luckily weren't me--to speak-- so it was a really awesome meeting. This apostle ( and those few people from the audience) taught us humbly but so powerfully the gospel of Jesus Christ. As the Apostle was speaking I literally KNEW that everything he was saying was true. I knew it with my entire body-- heart and mind. As we sang together the closing hymn I just could not stop the tears. It was a beautiful feeling.

"Fear not, I am with thee; oh, be not dismayed, 

For I am thy God and will still give thee aid.

I'll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand,

Upheld by my righteous, upheld by my righteous,

Upheld by my righteous, omnipotent hand. 

(Hymn #85 How Firm a Foundation, verse 3)

I know God lives and loves me just as he knows, and loves each one of us. I know where I came from, who I am, and where I am going. Nothing else really could be more important. Nonetheless, here is what else happened lately:

1.  Brandon and Cannon got rear ended on their way home from the hardware store. They were in our old paid for-white car. (the one that's not the minivan so the kids think it's a real joy ride)  The brakes on this poor guy's truck apparently didn't work. It smashed up our trunk pretty good but nobody was hurt except for a little whiplash. 

2. We had a wonderful family getaway to St. George to celebrate my birthday #36, but who's counting? and an early celebration of our anniversary #16. I got to do all the things I love to do and don't get to do very often: shopping, going out to dinner and a play, swimming, reading by the pool, and exploring nature. The Shakespeare Festival's production of Peter and the Starcatcher was highly entertaining. Loved every minute of it.  We came home late to a clean condo and all the kids in bed. Thanks Kate! Lastly, we enjoyed a fun-filled hike to Kanarraville Falls, where the trail crosses through the creek so many times we finally resigned to sloshing right through the water in our shoes. We passed through slot canyons, hiked up a waterfall, and slid down another one. How refreshing!  Not one, but two rattlesnake encounters on the trail back, had us feeling very alive and jumpy.

3. The kids all started school! What do I do all day, you are wondering, with my kids all in school now? I clean up all the messes they made before they left! Cannon declares Kindergarten, "awesome!" Kate is loving all the social interactions that another year of middle school brings. Adrie and Brynn have great teachers and everything is going swimmingly. Two changes have made this year better already. a) No carpools. My kids either ride the bus or their bike.   b) No home lunch--No longer do I have to bust my brain thinking of lunches that are not only healthy and budget-friendly but also require no heating or refrigeration and still taste delicious.  I gave up!  Except for Fridays, when they can come home early, they are all eating school lunch and it is worth every penny.

4. Besides, domestics I also am getting back into the routine of doing my own learning-- reading, music, French. Brandon says learning French is the nerdiest thing I do. I prefer the term C'est Magnifique, especially because it is fun to say. Besides, I am going to France someday and I don't want to be a total ignoramus. 

5. I have loved, loved, LOVED, getting to know all of my foreign exchange students and their wonderful host families. It's been exciting to hear about all their American firsts--first dream in English, first date, first time at IHOP. I love hearing their observations about where we live. Anna from Finland said, "Everyone in America is so happy and smiling all the time!!"  Renato from Brazil observed, "Americans don't eat very healthy food, everything is too sweet!" Maren from Norway said we have this weird stuff called peanut butter and it is in everything!    It has been very rewarding for me to hear how the students feel like they have the perfect family for them and the families feel like their student is one of their own. I am so excited to host our own student next year. A French girl, perhaps? Oh la la!

I feel really grateful that living in a little town, I can have, with these students, a connection to the great big world. Plus, they are just so darn cute!

Well, I think that's a wrap until next month, or week, or whenever I get my durned basement put back together...carpet coming soon!

The Crazy Month that was July!

Holy smokes! July was CrAzY! My house has looked about how my brain works and how this post is going to be: scattered.

1. We had the C family reunion! I can't access my pictures because my computer crashed but just imagine a ton of nice people in blue shirts sitting on the steps of the historic Manti temple. I can now put on my resume that I cooked dinner for 70 people. We stayed in cabins, played games, went swimming (my favorite), had a ladies lunch, music video night starring each family (my other favorite) and lots of food and devotionals in between.  On the other side of the family....

2. Our WA cousins (boy age 13 and girl age 11) came to Utah to stay with us as their part of the '"cousins" exchange. We got to play tourist every day for 2 weeks and when I am a tourist I am in my element!  They experienced some of our everyday country fun like floating down the canal in an inner tube. And some not so everyday things for us like horseback riding and river rafting. We took them on our favorite local hike to Bullion Falls, our favorite campground, Maple Grove. We had shaved ice at least a couple of times, Took a trip to Seven Peaks water park and played some mini golf at the Fun Center. We couldn't leave out  the nitty gritty of our life which meant morning and evening jobs and the occasional moments of me losing my sanity and screaming for everyone to get to bed already! We took introduced them to In-n-Out Burger and Cafe Rio. I taught them to make Kettle Corn right on the stovetop and how to assemble taquitos.  They got to join in our regular routine which was not so routine to them to do things like church,  family prayer and scriptures. Church for 3 hours? They couldn't believe it they and they couldn't believe they survived it. All that fun but what they will probably remember the most?....

3. The FLOOD. What a doozy. The main water line to our house decided to bust not 2 days after our visitors arrived and sent water gushing into the basement. Could it have picked a better time? At least we were home and caught it early--if you can call 3 inches deep of water in the basement, early. The neighborhood volunteer brigade was called in stat and went right to work moving furniture and ripping up carpet. The worst part? All the boxes of photos and papers I inherited when my mom died. My "to do" pile suddenly became like a salvage pile. We painstakingly dried them by individual sheets all over the upstairs. Maybe that was my mom's way of getting me to go through her stuff.  On a good note it was heartwarming to read all those old family letters back when people used to write letters. The bad note? well that's a big list starting with the smell of wet paper and ending with Insurance agents. Lessons learned??

4. Store your stuff in plastic people! And make sure you have good homeowners insurance. I can't say they have been fun to deal with but they are sending a check for carpet and repairs.

5. The resulting flood has had us all sleeping upstairs. Sleeping bags have taken over the living room. The kids are literally living out of suitcases. It's like being in a hotel--except one that I have to clean. Also it doesn't have a pool:(  The TV has been moved upstairs and we are watching way too much of it. It's come to this...

6. I CAN'T WAIT FOR SCHOOL TO START!!!!!!!!!!!!!!