Day 2- Set Sail!

Today we slept in a little, had breakfast then made our way to the ship at about noon. Check-in and boarding was pretty quick compared to the last two cruises we went on. The ship looks like it's going to be a lot of fun and the girls signed up for the youth clubs for their age groups. At first they didn't want to, now they can't wait to get away from us. Magically, that works out great for us grown-ups too!

Tomorrow will be a day at sea, then when we wake up on Tuesday we'll be at Grand Caymen. Wednesday is Isla Roatan, Thursday is Belize and Friday is Cozumel. Saturday is another sea day then Sunday, sadly, we disembark.

Miami. A free Monkey with every room!

On board waiting for a cabin to be ready.

We're on our way! Miami on the horizon.

Sunset from our balcony.

Fun stuff from our steward.

~

The kids' first cruise!

Here we go! This morning we got up at 0430 and finished getting ready for the cruise. We fed the animals and then raced out. Getting parked, checked in and through security was a breeze today. We flew on American Airlines (the dirtiest plane I've been on in a long time, I must say!) and 4 short hours later we plopped down in Miami. We're spending tonight at the Hyatt in downtown Miami. I'm so excited to be cruising again, it's just so enjoyable and we got all kinds of shore tours lined up! Stay tuned to keep up with all the fun!

~

Deer Hunt 2010

At the end of the fourth day of hunting Justin and I were hiking back to the truck and took a look off the other side of the ridge where we were parked. Within a minute I spotted a little buck under a tree reaching for some berries. After we hiked into him a ways I got the kill shot from 189 yards. He ran about 10 yards then dropped dead. It was a steep, gnarly hike over to get him and we reached him just as the sun went down. Here's a few pics:

He's not a trophy, but he'll taste great!

Tough drag out!

Halfway back. The "X" on the horizon is where the Jeep is!


Ready for processing.


Roadside maintenance, just for fun.
~

Peggy in the news

Peggy and I attended a Trauma survivors luncheon yesterday at the hospital where she was taken after her accident in May. While we were there ABC 15 in Phoenix interviewed her for about 15 minutes and used some of the footage for their afternoon news show. Here's the video...

Charlotte's First Cross Country Race

This morning Charlotte raced in her first Cross Country race ever. The race for her group was 3/4 of a mile. She competed against 14 schools and 70 girls. She jumped to the lead within the first 10 yards of the race and just stayed there. One girl challenged her for the lead, but Charlotte just put the coals to it and left her in the dust. She ended up crossing the finish line 20 yards ahead of the second place runner and won the GOLD! Yay Charlotte!

Charlotte Leads From the Beginning


Charlotte at the Finish Line


Charlotte Accepts GOLD at the Podium
~

Special Operations Warrior Foundation

I know times are tough, but if you've got a few extra bucks you can spare this is a great charity. Anything helps. They're caring for over 500 families of our greatest fallen heroes. Check out the website...

~

Guitar extravaganza!

I know I've posted about Funtwo before, but someone on playlist.com finally upped some of his songs. I put two on my playlist - down close to the end. Check them out.

Cannon Rock is a rock guitar version of Pachelbel's Cannon. It's my all-time favorite song and I can't hear any version of it without getting emotional. There's another version in there played by Jerry C.

Enjoy!

~

Our new baby

...well, okay, our new charity case. Meet Gale (like the storm wind). She's a purebred Red Doberman, just a couple of months old. This picture was taken a couple of days ago. She had her ears cropped today and is all bandaged up now.

She gets along well with everyone and loves to swim. She's especially fond of grabbing Rylee's collar and riding around on her back in the pool!

We can't wait for everyone to meet her. She's just as sweet as all the other Dobermans we've had.

~

First day of school

We weren't on the ball enough to take pics of the girls on their first day back to school. Luckily our neighbor was thinking ahead and snapped a shot of our girls with her kids at the bus stop.

Charlotte and Klara in the middle with our friends Zach and Maddie flanking them.

~

Go here right now!

http://awkwardfamilyphotos.com

You won't regret it! Check the 'Awkward Family Pets' tab too! Don't forget to come back and comment on whether you peed your pants or not.

~