Sun, 23 Jan 2011
January snowI'm starting to wonder if my kids will ever go back to school. We've been back from vacation for two and a half weeks now and the kids have had three snow days, one holiday, and Melody and Thomas have had a records day off. Since Bryan is a senior, he won't have to make up the snow days, but the rest of us could be going to school through the summer!
Before the records day, Thomas and I decided to sleep outside to pass off one of his "campouts" for scouts. We set up the tent in the backyard, used an air mattress and several foam pads, and two sleeping bags each. We were toasty warm although it was 27 degrees outside. We just beat the snow by a couple of days and haven't tried sleeping in the snow.
We did start an igloo though, but found that the snow was really too powdery to pack together. That is the problem with snow in Missouri. There is not enough to ski, but you can't do much else with it.
Except shovel it.
And enjoy the peace that a day at home brings. Except that we really are ready for the kids to go back to school now…
We especially enjoy watching the birds in the snow. They like coming to our feeder the most when everything else is covered in snow. Melody took a picture of a flicker the other day while I was gone. I didn't get to see it, but was happy to know one of my favorite birds was still around.
We've also had some pretty sunrises with the unsettled weather. The photos never really do them justice, but I try anyway.
Tue, 04 Jan 2011
Christmas and our cruiseWe decided to go on a cruise to celebrate Christmas, our 19th wedding anniversary, and New Year’s. But first we got to have a white Christmas at home. It snowed on the 24th, just perfect.
We did the traditional dinner and opening pajamas all around. We watched movies. This year, I had to go to work about the time everyone else went to bed. Santa filled the stockings while I was at work and when I came home I found everyone had received lots of goodies.
We got to eat quiche together and then open presents. Many of the presents were to read or wear on the cruise.
Melody and Thomas got new luggage. Then everyone got packed up. There was some time to play, but we left about 9 at night to drive to New Orleans. I dozed in the car, while Marc drove. It snowed on us all the way to Jackson, Mississippi, which was unusually cold weather for that area. We’d expected warm weather in New Orleans, but it was really cold.
Mexico, Honduras, Belize
We still managed to look around a little and have a nice breakfast before getting on the Norwegian Spirit about 1:00.
Marc and I shared a room and the three kids had one across the hall. We found the rooms very comfortable and not as tiny as feared. The food on board was good. Thomas had his share of French Fries and hot dogs for the week as well as mounds of sausage and bacon for breakfast. Melody ate mac and cheese liberally but ate oatmeal every breakfast. Bryan got to try lots of new foods and Marc and I just generally ate too much overall. Sometimes we ate in the fancy restaurants and sometimes at the all-you-can-eat buffet. We all enjoyed a soft serve cone whenever we were in the area to get one. It was nice to choose and nice not to worry about cooking.
There were lots of shows on board and plenty to do, although it was cold during our first day at sea. Good thing it warmed up later. We saw a couple of shows every night: comedy, Broadway reviews, a magician, dancer/acrobatics…We especially liked that our rooms were close to the theater so it was just a flight of stairs down to get to there. And two flights of stairs up for a snack…
Mexico, Honduras, Belize 1
Our first day in port was Costa Maya, Mexico. We took a taxi to the tiny town of Mahahual and sat on the beach there.
The weather was still windy and so the water was a little rough for the kayaks the kids were going to try out. We went out on a boat to the reef to snorkel and had fun although the water was pretty choppy.
Later, the guide told us that the water was about as rough as he ever went out in, but it was good that he hadn’t told us that before. Everyone did well and had fun, although I forgot to take the underwater camera that Santa had put in my stocking. At least I remembered it for the next day in Roatan, Honduras. I completely forgot he anti-fog lotion that Santa gave us for the masks! It did us no good sitting at home.
Mexico, Honduras, Belize 2
The second day the weather finally warmed up and was perfect the rest of the trip. It was probably good that it was cool, because we have such problems with sunburn.
In Roatan, we took a taxi to Half Moon Bay on the West End and spent the day alternately in beach chairs drinking pineapple juice and snorkeling in the bay.
We saw lots of fish and coral and a huge lobster.My camera was new and I had trouble seeing the screen underwater, so used a point and hope method. I got lots of pictures of bodies without heads…
Later we packed up and went to a restaurant for lunch. Bryan had wanted to try iguana for lunch so we went to a place where he could have that. We had good local food.
Did I mention that every night when we went to our rooms, we found a different towel animal waiting for us? If you want to come visit us, we can show you the same hospitality because we learned to make them!
Mexico, Honduras, Belize 3
The third day, our port was Belize City, Belize. There were about six cruise ships there at the time and we anchored about five miles out and took a tender in.
We’d booked a tour to Mayan ruins this day. We took a long bus ride and then got on a boat to ride upriver on this expedition.
After a long boat ride where we saw some wildlife, we arrived at the Lamanai ruins. We explored the ruins, climbing to the top of several temples.
Then we repeated our trip back, stopping halfway for a good Honduran meal of chicken, rice, beans, chips and homemade salsa. Yum!
Mexico, Honduras, Belize 4
By the fourth port, Cozumel, Mexico, we were sunburned and tired. We’d planned more beach sitting and snorkeling, but all were tired and we never made it out of the downtown shopping area close to the boat dock.
We spent the morning in quest of the desired souvenirs, ate churros and ice cream in the plaza, and then spent an outrageous amount of money at a tourist trap of a restaurant for better Mexican food than we can buy in Missouri. Then we declared ourselves finished and went back to the boat.
This was the last day of 2010. We got to dress up and had options of a whole night of parties on board. Not really a surprise, but we all found it hard to stay up until midnight to bring in the new year. A prospero ano nuevo to you all.
One more day at sea brought us back to New Orleans and our drive home.
It was a fun trip. We arrived home to find all safe here. A tornado on Friday had missed our neighborhood completely. The cat was fine. Unfortunately, no elf had come to clean up our Christmas mess or take down the tree, but I’m sure those things will eventually get done. Vacations are great but it is always nice to come home and sleep in your own bed!
Jan Dill Hall St. Peters, Missouri
Page created: 09 November 2008
Page modified: 31 December 2009
