Thursday, November 28, 2013

Happy Thanksgiving!

From my family to yours! 

Have a blessed day of family, friends, fellowship and food!

(and do be careful tomorrow if you dare to go out shopping!) :)

God's blessings, be safe, and have a wonderful weekend! See you on Monday!

And, to finish, my 3 things for today:

1. God's Many Blessings

2. Fellowship

3. My Favorite Holiday (today!)

It's rare for me to be in front of the camera, but someone took this on our cruise and it's recent. :)

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Thankfulness: Part 3, and Post #160!

I have hit 160 posts! I should have announced that when I hit 100... oh well. :)

Anyways... here's what I'm thankful for today!

1. MY NEPHEW!!! Yes, you read that right. Matthew & Leah are expecting!!!
Matthew took this picture...
2. Tori :)

3. My Camera
Taken by Catrina (Who I am thankful for!) :)



Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Disney Cruise - Days 3 & 4 - At Sea & Falmouth, Jamaica

We had 2 days in a row at sea, so I figured we could skip ahead a bit and get on to Jamaica. :)

So, on our at sea day, we took some more pictures on the aft deck (same as the last post)...



That night, we had a performance by magician/comedian Magic Dave. He was downright HILARIOUS. He actually came up to Dad and performed a card trick for him before the show.



After the show, we were sitting outside the theatre (where all the main shows were) and Pinnochio arrived for pictures. There weren't very many people waiting to see him, and we were sitting right in front of him, so Pinnochio's "handler" asked us if we wanted our picture taken with Pinnochio. So, Dad got up and got his picture with him.


 The person inside the suit was very much into character, and so, just like Pinnochio, he was being very curious about everything around him, including the plug to a nearby Christmas tree. Being the curious sort, Pinnochio was flipping the switch and turning the lights on and off. Dad touched the plug and pretended to be electrocuted, while Pinnochio covered his mouth in surprise! Then, cautiously, Pinnochio touched the plug again, and when nothing happened, he wiped his brow in an expression of relief! It was so funny!


Now, on to Jamaica!

We got into port pretty early... before we disembarked, we walked out onto Deck 4 (below) and took a look at Falmouth, Jamaica.


Grandma wanted to stay on the ship, so the three of us disembarked and explored the port.

Here we are, waving to... Grandma! (below!)

Here's the picture she took of us from the ship. :)
Looking at our  beautiful ship from the port.
The view from the back of the ship.
We had wanted to send a postcard from Jamaica to some friends back home, so we asked for directions to the Post Office. In order to get there, we had to leave the port proper and go into the city by walking through a gate. Let me say that we never made it to the Post Office. The minute we crossed through the gate, it was like stepping onto another planet. The city was very much a third-world place - we had at least 5 people walking next to us and trying to sell us things or "show us something"... to me, it was very scary because I had never experienced anything like that before. Retrospectively, though, those people live a very sad life. If I understand correctly, these people might make $1,000 a year. They live very simply and that port is the livelihood of the island.

So, since we were not going to try and get to the Post Office, we walked back to the port, and on our way back to the ship, there was a man with a cart full of coconuts!


I think we paid $4 and he hacked one open with a knife, stuck a straw in it, and handed it to us. For the first time ever, I tried coconut water, and fresh at that! It was really delicious and refreshing.


After the water was gone, Ian (the coconut man) cut the coconut it half and made a scoop out of the shell, so we could scoop out the fresh coconut meat, which was equally as delicious as the coconut water.


After that, we stopped by a booth where a few men were carving and staining wood pieces. They had some beautiful work on display!



We bought a carved pineapple from one of them, and then re-boarded the ship.

And, to conclude, here are the three things I am thankful for today!

1. All of our Friends!

2. Our Church

3. The Gift of Music - being able to hear it, play it, and enjoy it!


P.S. I hope this post was not too long! :)

Monday, November 25, 2013

Thankfulness Series - Abbreviated

Sooo... last year I think I was a bit overambitious with my Thanksgiving series. :)
Every day this week, I'm going to post 3 things I am thankful for, and I would love if you would join in and tell everyone what you are thankful for in the comments!

Also, look out tomorrow for my next cruise post!

Today, I Am Thankful For...

1. Salvation in Christ!!!

2. My Family

3. Our Home, and the countless times we have hosted people...
Thanksgiving 2011

Saturday, November 23, 2013

Happy Anniversary...


Happy Anniversary to the best parents EVER.

To year #12 - God's richest blessings as you continue to grow closer to one another and to the LORD.


On their wedding day...

Last month on our cruise.


Friday, November 22, 2013

Our Disney Cruise - Day 2 - At Sea

Again, there was not much going on, because we were not in a port yet! :)

This day was our day in the "rotation" to have a Character Breakfast. Basically, the characters go around the dining room and you get a chance to get pictures with them.

Goofy, Minnie and Pluto came by our table. I had my 50mm lens on my camera (which is manual focus - autofocus for that lens is not supported with my camera!), thus the photos are not quite crisp.



Our servers made us napkin hats! Dad was Peter Pan...
Grandma wasn't too thrilled with her napkin hat. :)
Mom got the same hat...
I was transformed into Pocahontas.
After breakfast, we went aft and took pictures. This is the wake of our ship.

(taken by ship's photographer)
That night was Formal Night, so of course, out came the formal dress!

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Our Disney Cruise - Day 1

And here begins our series! This is the short version of Day 1.

This is our lovely ship, the Disney Wonder. (this was actually taken in Grand Cayman, but the surroundings of our home port weren't that pretty). 11 decks, 964 feet long, and holds 2,700 people.
Commanded by Captain Fabian from Argentina.
A few hours after boarding and a safety drill, we had a little "Going Away Party".
So, we had some singing and dancing...
And of course they had to include these guys. :)
Needless to say, we were a teensy-weensy bit excited. :)
Leaving the port.
I will dedicate an entire post just for the food. :)

That's all for now. Not a whole lot happened on the first day, anyways.

Stay tuned in a few days for Day 2!




Friday, November 15, 2013

A Week Ago Yesterday...

This is what I was looking at...


This is part of the island of Cozumel, Mexico. It was one of the ports we stopped at on our Disney Cruise!

Don't worry, this is not the only picture I'll post. I will probably end up doing a miniature series... but I won't post all 1,500 pictures :) Stay tuned, and have a blessed weekend!