Day at Sea--Day 2

We slept in our first morning on the cruise. We went to a shopping talk (about where the best places were to shop in Cozumel) and then barely made it to the buffet in time for breakfast. Then Brian and I went and laid out for a few hours. I took Twilight and he took some magazines. Talk about relaxing! I was actually cold for a little while because of the cold breeze, but it warmed up.

We wanted to eat later because we had dinner so much later. We got some lunch and went to Lido deck for the "Men's Hairy Chest Contest". Talk about HILARIOUS! Oh MY! Then it was back to the room for a nap. We knew that our formal dinner was that night so I spent some time steaming my dress and then I started getting ready. Brian went exploring on the ship while I showered. I called in some room service since we had so long until dinner (a fantastic center cut beef loin sandwich with brie cheese and then a fajita wrap--we tried them both).

At 7:15, we had the Captain's Party. We ran into two of the other couples from our table (Dawn and Wayne, and Christina and Joey). We sat with them and had so much fun.





Then the Captain introduced himself, as well as rest of his staff, to us and then dismissed us all to dinner.



Dinner was AWESOME...lobster! I had never had lobster before (well, I tried it a tiny bit once in Maine, but thought I'd give it another shot). And how could I forget to mention the dessert??? Actually, I had it every single NIGHT! It was a melted chocolate cake.... One word: sinful!




We met the 5th couple at our table that night, Kasey and Jason.




Each night, towards the end of dinner, the lights (normally blue) would turn red, the small clear lights would start blinking and the entire wait staff would come out and sing and/or dance. It was hilarious! We quickly learned that Dante was a HOOT!! His assistant, Venera was hiliarious too... Oh my, what she has to put up with! We were sang to by the both of them ("happy anniversary to you...") and then at the end of each line, Dante said "Kissy, Kissy!" He made you kiss through the whole song. Everyone they did it to laughed so hard through the whole thing they about cried!



After dinner, we watched Wayne play roulette at the casino before Dawn and I headed off to the show at 10:30 with the Carnival dancers/singers. It was INCREDIBLE!!!! It was country-themed. Brian and Wayne went to the 'cigars and koniac' thing that night. No koniac for them, but he said he wanted to feel like the guys on Boston Legal with a suit, on a balcony and a cigar. Oh those boys....



We came back to our room to a towel dog. That night, we slept VERY well. I hated to set the alarm clock, but we had heard that the other cruise ship (that left New Orleans) would hit our same ports with us and we knew that Mike and Kathy Johnson (Jennifer's parents, Abbey's grandparents) were on that ship. We had tried talking them into going on OUR ship, but they wanted to go out of New Orleans instead. We wanted to get up in time to catch them get off their ship.

Our Cruise...Day 1

Many of you know that Brian and I had planned on going on a cruise to celebrate our 10th anniversary last October. This past week, it finally happened. What a vacation of a lifetime! It was so incredible that I will have to make each day a separate post! (lucky you...LOL)

Ok, here it goes... We left our home at 2:30 Saturday morning to make it to Galveston by noon. We checked our bags and got in line to check in. We couldn't go to our room for a few hours so we walked around to get acquainted with the ship and got some lunch. The Lido deck is where the pool and buffets were located. It was toward the back of the ship and had a great view. There was a water slide that I decided right then I had to try before getting off of the ship!




When we could get in our room (M250), I was pleasantly surprised at how roomy it was. Our ocean view was great and the room was laid out to where I didn't even notice how small it was (but had 2 1/2 closets!!!). Soon after, we were called to the muster drill and then we left the port. It was pretty chilly as we started moving with the breeze, but we did see some dolphins before going to shower for dinner.





One thing we did not like when we first got to the ship was that we found out we had been assigned the LATE seating for dinner (8:15) instead of the early seating (6:00) we had requested. When we learned that the 6:00 was full we decided to go with it and that we may even enjoy it... I even thought that since there were SO many kids on the ship, the later time may be better--hoping they had been given the early times.

We came to dinner and met 3 of the couples at our table. All of them were young married couples, all but one with young children at home. After a yummy dinner, we went to the nightly show. That evening, it was the Carnival dancers/singers and a comedian. The dancers were awesome, but the comedian was a little too offensive for me.

When we went to bed, we had a Carnival Caper (the daily schedule and bulletin), chocolates and some kind of towel animal that I couldn't make out--maybe a walrus?--on our turned-down bed. Couldn't wait for the next day, a day at sea to RELAX!

My baby turned SEVEN!

Olivia turned 7 last Friday. We had a Rock Band party for her on Friday night. Oh MY, how much fun did I have planning it!! My dad planned on coming out, so I made him a 'security' shirt so that he could be the bouncer. He passed out back stage passes with Olivia's picture on it (remember the alley pics?).



The invitations were concert fliers advertising a battle of the bands. We had a HUGE turn out (17 kids and 17 adults!). The kids rotated through 4 stations (make up and hair, band-naming/poster creating, frame-making, and practiing). This took over an hour, then we had cake and presents...then had the big competition.



the make up/hair station was a BIG hit...even with the boys. They wanted mohawks!



Julie is quite the guitar-master. She helped several of the kids out that had not played before.




Bella found the make up as well...







Abbey got Olivia a matching necklace as well as a dance sign for her room.



Olivia got Heelys from Dude Dad and VonVon...she's just a LITTLE happy about that...




Each band got a chance to perform. Rob (Abbey's dad) was our MC and kept up with the scores for each band. Olivia's group ended up getting the most points. It was a great party (although chaotic at times...). Liv said it was the best one ever, and that is what matters!



The battle is starting...




Julianne loved to sing






Olivia's band, The Rock Stars (Kenny, Hannah, and Liv)




(top, L-R: Baylee, Caleb, Katy, Sydney, Keiona, Mary Ellen, Bailee, Jenny
bottom, L-R: Kenny, Olivia, Hannah, Julianne, Valerie, Abbey, Julianne
not pictured: Bella and Jace)


Yep...the party is over....

Hall of Fame

Olivia and Kenny took their duet to Hall of Fame on Feb. 21. It is not a competition that our whole studio went to, but we did take our solos, duets and trios for more practice. Love Shack came in 3rd over all. They received a tap technique award (which was a big deal). We bought a CD of pictures that were taken during the dance (with the copyright, these are legal, LOL). They are great!

KAR

Our first 'big' dance competition was March 8, Kids Aristic Revue (KAR). I say big because it was when all the dances were supposed to go. Hip hop didn't but at this point, we aren't sure if hip hop will materialize into a competing dance or not. These kids have worked SO hard (and literally every day for 2 weeks) to learn a small group tap dance, Funk. It is a very difficult dance and has the potential to win it all! Well, first was the duet and it came in 2nd over all. Then, Funk received a special judges award of Bringing Down the House and came in 2nd over all. The large group dances all received a top first (just as the duet and Funk), and 5678 received best costume, terrific tap award and 5th over all. Angels won 3rd over all, and Wild Babies came in 4th over all. It was a LOOOOONNNNNG day, but as always, we had a blast!

Honor Roll Ceremony

Olivia had her honor roll ceremony at school on February 17th. My principal let me come in late to school so I could attend. She received a good character award and the distinguished honor roll (all A's). We are so proud!

Birthday pictures of the girls

I took the girls to the alley behind my studio to take their pictures...Belle for her 3 year old pics, and Liv for her 7 (OH MY!). I wanted to put them on her birthday invitations for her Rock Band party. I think they turned out pretty good. I had them printed on metallic paper and they look great! Just had to share.

Nexstar

Olivia had her Nexstar competition Feb. 7. She got some great awards! For her duet, Love Shack, she and Kenny received a high gold, first place tropy and FIRST PLACE over all for duets/trios in their age group. YEA!!! Then, for the large group dances...Wild Babies received a platinum (one of only a handfull handed out), first place trophy and FIRST OVER ALL! Angels Among Us received a high gold, first place tropy and second over all. 5,6,7,8 received a high gold, first place trophy, and third over all. So much fun! This was the first time their jazz dance, Wild Babies, had performed and it was INCREDIBLE! Here is a picture sent to me from Julianne's mom. Aren't they adorable?