I hate when this happens

Happy 5th Birthday Nicky

3/12/04
9 lbs. 13 oz.
22 in.
Ouch.

Disguised as a Holstein, about

6 mos. old.

Two year old devours pop tart, crashes on table.

Today!

Eat sitting down?

Not this 17 month old.
Sometimes we have to
throw food in his mouth
as he runs by.

Bermuda Triangle Survivor

Here we are, back on terra firma. At least, I’m fairly certain I disembarked our cruise ship on Saturday, but my inner ear is still sailing the high seas. Hopefully this drunken sailor sensation will wear off in a few days and doesn't develop into Mal de Debarquement Syndrome. I was surprised to discover that despite the massiveness of the ship, it‘s movement is easily felt.
We arrived in Miami on the 21st, and sauntered through the airport to find our shuttle to the pier. The Miami airport is kind of shabby and had freaky blue migraine-inducing carpet. This trip is off to a dubious start, I thought. Then we saw the palm trees outside - hey, neat. I’d never seen any before, so I made Nate take a picture.

I had never been to Mexico or the Caribbean or anywhere, really, so this trip had a lot of firsts. First time seeing the Atlantic - the water really is blue. We’re not on murky Lake Waconia anymore, Toto. In Fort Lauderdale the embarkation process went smoothly and I was pleasantly surprised to find our stateroom was a comfortable size. Our ship was the Ruby Princess, a relative baby, only 3 months old.

Here we are on deck before setting out to sea. It was cool (I think I’m gonna run out of adjectives) to see the other large ships sail out of the channel before our turn. It was a party atmosphere - everyone was on the upper decks, drinks in hand and music playing. We set sail for Ocho Rios, Jamaica and spent Sunday at sea. I was disappointed that a ship with over 3,000 people didn't offer Mass on Sunday, and later no mention was made of Ash Wednesday & the beginning of Lent. So, I thought, super…we’re sailing the heathen boat of the Caribbean, and God may surely smite us.

We decided not to schedule a specific activity while in port at Jamaica on Monday, since we had tours lined up for Tues. & Weds. This turned out to be a bad idea. There was a beach right off the pier which we thought we’d lounge on for a while, but we had to make our way through hoards of Jamaicans who wanted to sell us souvenirs or taxi rides or snorkel gear or jet ski rides et cetera ad nauseum. Finally, we made it to the beach and paid our $6 admission. We hung around a while, then some dark festering clouds blew overhead and we were in a downpour. We ran back to the ship while trying to keep the camcorder & camera dry in the backpack. Here’s Nate giving our ship a push out of the pier:

Tuesday we arrived at the island of Grand Cayman where we did some snorkeling over the wreck of the Callie and then over a reef. I found a youtube video of snorkeling over this particular wreck - it’s a bit long and boring but gives the general idea. Snorkeling was a fun, weird experience - having to defy the basic mammalian survival rule of not breathing when your face is in the water took some getting used to. The shipwreck wasn't particularly old. It ran aground in ‘44 and was purposely blown to bits in the ‘50s. We saw some colorful fish while snorkeling over the reef, and a couple little squid who eyed us suspiciously.

From Cozumel on Wednesday we took a ferry to Playa Del Carmen, and then the bus to the Tulum Mayan ruins. Our tour guide Juan spoke fabulous English, unlike many of the crew of our ship. He told us some of the interesting history of the Mayans. Basically, they were mathematical astronomer human sacrificers. It made sense that the structures were roped off, but it was a bummer not to be able to explore the ruins more closely. This was the only place that felt hot to me - the other locations were mild or warm, and it was cool enough at night for a sweatshirt or light jacket.

Thursday was another day at sea. By now, I was feeling like I’d had enough of ‘the experience‘, and was ready to go back to my babies, but first we had Friday's stop at Princess Cays. This is the cruise line’s private beach on an island in the Bahamas. Overnight on our way there, the seas were quite rough, enough to wake us up at night. At breakfast we overheard a man jokingly conjecture that we must have hit a dead whale. That’s pretty silly. Princess Cays is in the Bermuda triangle, so it’s more likely that it was dead aviators or pirate ghosts trying to capsize the ship to steal our booty. Anyway, the whole private beach thing sounds nice, but it was full of people. We had to stand in long lines to get through the lunch buffet. Before getting back on the ship, Nate and I used a transparent hull kayak for our allotted ½ hour time slot. There wasn't a whole lot to see, though, besides the pretty sparkly blue water.

So, all in all, lots of good memories to take home. During our time on the ship we took advantage of some of the classes and entertainment options. Three dance classes - the merengue, cha-cha-cha, and waltz, saw 3 comedy shows and a Vegas entertainer, and watched the Oscars & The Dark Knight on the big screen over one of the pools at night. Nate played the slots at the casino a few times. We were a bit disappointed with the food. Much of it was good, some of it was so-so, and most of the desserts were bland. We hypothesized that it was diabetic-friendly food since most of the passengers were retirement age and a few were in wheel-chairs with oxygen tanks (think I'll stay closer to home when I'm 95). I remarked to Nate how strange it was to go a whole week without seeing every third person or so with a cell phone plastered to their head. We were all just living in the moment, being where we were, if that makes sense...I guess that's what's nice about vacation.

back home

Got back about 7 tonight. We had a good time exploring parts of the Caribbean, but a week was long enough and I'm glad to be home. As the saying goes, there's no place like home - and nothing like familiar surroundings to ease the mind and return the digestive system to rights. I'll share some details and pics this week.

Arrr, Matey

We are gearing up for our 6 am (bleah!) flight to Miami tomorrow. Here's our itinerary:

Saturday - sail out of Fort Lauderdale at 5 pm
Sunday - at sea
Monday - Ocho Rios, Jamaica, where we'll probably see Dunn's Falls & some dolphins
Tuesday - Grand Cayman, Reef & Wreck snorkeling
Wednesday - Cozumel, and a ferry to the mainland where we'll tour the Tulum Mayan ruins
Thursday - at sea
Friday - Princess Cays, Bahamas
Saturday - back at Fort Lauderdale & fly home

This is all assuming Nate doesn't come down with the stomach flu that Zach, Adrienne and I had earlier this week. Yeah, great timing. So, keep your fingers crossed for us and I'll bore you with the details when we return. I gotta go pack!

Of Martyrs and Cupids

Happy Valentine's Day! In reading up on some of the history, it's odd how the commemoration of certain Christian martyrs ended up being a lovey-dubby holiday.

more than you wanted to know about this

Speaking of Feb. 14, I'm reminded of Some Like It Hot, a good movie about a couple guys who end up cross-dressing in hiding after witnessing the 1929 St. Valentine's Day massacre in Chicago. I suppose it's thought of as a Marilyn Monroe flick (or her image is used to sell it, anyway), but I enjoyed Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis's performances more.

And, you may have noticed that I've been utilizing information like this more lately.

dreams dashed

Here's the cartoon I made & emailed after I broke myself. Well, Nate helped with formatting the text into the thinking bubble and such (he gets his tutu in a knot if I don't give proper credit - and now I'll be in hot water for outing the tutu). Had to run it top-to-bottom so it'd fit.

In other, more pleasant news - we're counting down the days to our 1st Caribbean cruise. We skip town a week from tomorrow, on the 21st. The grandparents are taking turns baby-sitting. No kids' homework or dirty diapers for a week! Yeah!

Feb. 12 - another anniversary

It's been 3 years since I permanently messed up my left ankle in a sledding accident. I found an x-ray that looks similar to mine, and this cool diagram of bimalleolar left ankle fracture with internal fixation, complete with skin staples.

link to enlargeable diagram

getting older

I had a birthday recently. Just when I had gotten used to the idea and the sound of "30," I turned 31. It's less bizarro and surreal than last year, but still a bit jarring. Remedy: presents and cake. Plus, it should still be several years before that funky old person smell sets in.