sweet Sunday

Liane and I enjoyed a sweet Sunday afternoon together...skiing and chatting at Hatchers Pass followed by free gourmet burgers at Red Robin. Doesn't get much better than this! Thanks, friend:)

10 + 1

11 is a bunch. More than two hands as a matter of fact! Ella turned 11 on the last day of January. She celebrated with 6 friends and a birthday breakfast followed by sledding at Hatchers Pass. This weekend, she and I will spend a day in Anchorage shopping...her request to pick out a gift. Ella is a giver. She is incredibly nuturing with her brothers. She is always up for the next adventure. She is a hard worker and she is just plain old fun these days. I like 11 & love how it fits Ella!


She doesn't like cake, so always requests something untraditional each year....donuts this year!

beyond thankful

Tom spent his 41st birthday backcountry skiing with a bunch of buddies. We celebrated a day early at home with him & told him what we loved about him at dinner. He is an amazing dad & husband. Without a doubt, our marriage gets better every year. I am beyond thankful for this Godly man I share my life with. I love you, Tom. Happy Birthday!

The kids & I spent an entire day making this birthday banner for him:) A major accomplishment given this momma doesn't sew! When I took out the sewing machine Ella asked, "You know how to use that thing?!!"

she is great

Today is Great Grandma Darlene's 90th birthday. Here are some pics of our last trip to MN which remind us of how very much we miss both great Grandmas! Happy Birthday Great Grandma....you are indeed GREAT in our eyes!

cruise of a lifetime...

We celebrated mom & dad's 50th wedding anniversary by going on a cruise together in January. Mom & Dad treated all 20 of us to a wonderful week in the Caribbean. The cousins had so much fun together. It was so neat to see them re-connect. The seas were calm, the sun bright and the time together priceless. Thanks mom & dad!

COZUMEL...Our fourth and final port was Cozumel. We taxied away from all the cruise ship shops to find a wonderful beach for the 12 of us to enjoy for the day. It was absolutely perfect. There were large conch shells everywhere and the occasional peacock or chicken wandered by. Ella & Emily went parasailing together here. The throttle cable snapped, so the girls got an unexpected dip in the ocean, but it all adds to the stories, right?!! Tom and Paul & Sam also went parasailing.


Conch shells were hanging all over this dead tree. I thought they were birds at first!

BELIZE...
Everyone except for mom & dad, went on a tour when we got to Belize, our 3rd port of call. We toured parts of the rainforest and the city. Our guide was really good and we enjoyed seeing the real side of Belize from his perspective. Check out how many of us he crammed into his van...

While the food on the cruise was good, there is nothing like eating fresh, local food. The food in Belize did not disappoint. (I've never eaten such amazing salsa...drank the last bit out of the cup!) Thomas' highlight here was having his own bottle of cold coke...it was HOT in Belize!

The girls had their hair braided in Belize. I'd love to have these ladies' help in the mornings before school or church...Claire's hair took just 10 minutes, Ella's maybe 20 minutes!

The streets in Belize were super narrow. They were built originally for horse drawn carriages and remain to this day!
Our guide stopped at his friend's coconut stand so we could all try some fresh coconut & coconut milk. It tasted NOTHING like the grated white flakes that we call coconut here... I think I might have actually liked it had it been cold as the sign suggested:) Neat experience for the kids though!

ISLA ROATAN...

I just realized that I'm posting all of our sites in complete reverse order....oh well!

Isla Roatan was our second port of call. It was HOT here! Unfortunately, two cruise ships shared one small beach so it was a crowded place as well.





Tom, Ella and Don went for a long walk and Ella found this neat conch shell.

Imade was our waiter. He was from the Phillipeans and did a fabulous job taking care of all our food requests. He was deeply offended the one night several of us decided not to eat in the dining room so we didn't do that again!
GRAND CAYMEN was our first port of call. Tom took the girls and went snorkeling. Paul, Karen & their kids all went snorkling as well. Everyone had a good time. Some of them actually held sting rays as they snorkeled!
The boys and Grandma and I enjoyed the Turtle Farm at Grand Caymen. We pet and held several different sizes of sea turtles. These little guys were just 2 weeks old!

The boys went to Camp Carnival a few times while we were on the ship. Face painting was definitely one of their favorite activities!
Ice cream for breakfast, lunch, supper & snacks. Our kids ate TONS of ice cream on the cruise! Soft serve ice cream any time of day! Ryan made a goal the first day on the boat to eat 100 ice cream cones during our week at sea. He didn't quite make this, but we were all amazed at his valiant effort...66 cones was his grand total!

Every evening, we returned to our room to find a new animal made out of towels by our room attendant, Ivan.
The food on any cruise is always amazing. Here, Claire & Sophie are checking out the lobster. I was most impressed by the fact that the waiters actually cut the kids' food for us! Wow...true pampering!
There were photographers all over the ship. This first night, I had all the kids gather around me and told the photographer that this dozen all belonged to ME!:)
Mom, Dad, Ella and I enjoyed afternoon tea together one day.




Read the "older posts" to find even more cruise pictures...