Oct - Dec 2004

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OCTOBER 2004

Well we are in Fayetteville AR today…  we were "suppose" to be camping at Devil's Den Campground, but when we arrived all sites were gone.  This weekend in Fayetteville, is the "Bikers, Blues, & BBQ" rally.  As I understand it there were 250,000 to 500,000 people at this event.  We had never seen so many motorcycles in our life.  From what I understand from some friends of mine, that it was a great event.  We, of course, were not there for the Bike Rally, but we were going to visit a couple of outdoor equipment stores in the area, Lewis & Clark and Pack Rat.  Both were great stores, with different types of equipment in each store.  Check them out if you are ever in the area.

Tonight we are at the Long Pool Campgrounds on the Big Piney.  We are on our way to Eureka Springs to finalize some wedding details.

This morning early, we awoke to pouring rain.  It actually sounds pretty neat sleeping in the suburban.  After a couple more hours of sleep, we are up and at it, and it has cleared off and it's a gorgeous day.  The hike to the waterfall is a short  and easy 1 ½ mile round trip hike, but we you turn off the trail to get to the falls, it takes a little bit of maneuvering around rocks and up a hill.  Once there, we realized that even with all the rain fall that we had through the night, the falls were not flowing that much.  We have a few pictures but they didn't turn out too good.  Now it’s back down the hill and to the campground, but first I had to slide down the hill on my backside, just to make things a little more exciting.

Now we are off to Eureka Springs to meet with our photographer, Michaels Photography, to finalize the details for the wedding.

Well we are in Fayetteville AR today…  we were "suppose" to be camping at Devil's Den Campground, but when we arrived all sites were gone.  This weekend in Fayetteville, is the "Bikers, Blues, & BBQ" rally.  As I understand it there were 250,000 to 500,000 people at this event.  We had never seen so many motorcycles in our life.  From what I understand from some friends of mine, that it was a great event.  We, of course, were not there for the Bike Rally, but we were going to visit a couple of outdoor equipment stores in the area, Lewis & Clark and Pack Rat.  Both were great stores, with different types of equipment in each store.  Check them out if you are ever in the area.

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 NOVEMBER 2004

Well tonight we are at a party.  A party that Mike's sister, Vicki, is having for us.  It’s mostly family, which is nice I am meeting some family that I haven't met before.  Some of our close friends are here as well.  Its kind of an engagement meet and greet type of thing, with some great food, wine, and some really nice gifts.

Well getting our rings was little bit of an experience.  Mike's ring was too big, and for some unknown reason, they decided to size my engagement ring down.  Therefore that had to be fixed, and when they did it messed up the engraving we had put on the inside of our rings, "I'm Movin On"…  With the sizing issue aside, the rings are wonderful, and Sissy's Log Cabin, produced some incredible rings for us.

Well its two days to go and there is much to do…  so much that I have no business being at work, as if anything is going to get done.  My mind is wandering and is on all the things that are left to do.  Luckily I am leaving early today, to do the hair and nail thing, after a few errands to run, I'm off to pick up Tommy.  He seems quite excited.  When I got there to pick him up, he was standing outside waiting.  It’s good to have him home, even if it's only for a couple of days.

We arrive at home with Chelsie and Chase and let’s not forget Denbeigh waiting.  It’s nice to have everyone home for dinner…

After dinner its time to get everything packed and ready for the upcoming days and week.  It has been a long day, but there are more long days ahead.

Today we are off to the Mike's Mom and Dad's for Thanksgiving dinner.  They have invited my family to join in, so my Dad and Grandmother will be dining with us.  It's a good excuse to get them out of the house for a change.  The dinner as usual is great and the fellowship is even better.  It’s good to see my grandmother out and eating like a pig like the rest of us on Thanksgiving!

Well its time to return home and pack the car up for the trip to Eureka Springs and our honeymoon.

Tommy and I hit the road to Eureka, it's a pleasant drive and it gives me some one on one time with Tommy.

Well today's the day…  Tommy and I awake in Eureka, well after Mike, Chelsie, Chase, and my Dad leave the Little Rock area.  Wendy and Jerry pick Tommy and I up to go have breakfast.  Afterwards we head back to the hotel.  I am off to my hair dressers hotel.  Later Chelsie is dropped off to get her hair done as well.  While getting worked over, my cell phone rings and it is Mike.  He informs me that he has forgotten his shoes and socks.  At first I don't believe him, but he convinces me that this is true and my sister has to come and pick up the extra pair of shoes that are packed up for the cruise.  Realizing he had not packed ANY socks, he is forced to wear a pair of Tommy's socks, since he had two pair on trying to fit into an old pair of Chase's since he didn't bring dress shoes as well…  With shoes in hand, Wendy returns them to Mike.  Now with hair done, and clothing changed, Chelsie, Michelle and I are on our way to the chapel.  We arrive and the family is there, except for Mike, because I warned him he better not show up till I am well out of site.  At the chapel there is an office, down the path next to the parking area, where brides and their bridesmaid await entrance.  This is where I wait…  I meet with the preacher and the photographer, and all is a go…  we decide to go ahead and start the ceremony earlier then the 12:00 scheduled service time.  The photographer is worried about the possible bad weather that might come from the clouds above, and I just want to get it done with.  It's amazing, I thought this day would never come, and now that it has, I just want if over with.  Call me weird…  The service went without a hitch, and of course my Dad, being the comedian he can be asked me while waiting to give me away…  "You don't want to back out of this one, do you?"  Well of course not!

Though parking downtown Eureka Springs was a problem, our little lunch reception, if you can call it that, was great and the people at Geraldi's were wonderful.  It's a must if you are ever in Eureka Springs.

After our lunch festivities, it back on the road and back toward Little Rock.  I didn't know where we were going to stay that night, Mike decides he wants to make a secret out of it.  When we pulled up in front of the new Courtyard by Marriot, in Little Rocks Riverfront it was a surprise, but then I thought that the Riverfront would be where we would most likely be heading.  The Riverfront is where our favorite party place is, Willy D's.  And after check in and a changing of the clothes, that was where we were headed.  The guys were in rare form at Willy D's like usual, and one of our favorite visiting musicians was there, Tommy Smith, and it is always a good time when he is playing.

The rest of the evening's activities I will leave to your imagination…

Photos this adventure

If you haven't tried it, you must try a cruise sometime.  It is a lot of fun, but plan on gaining a few pounds…

Today we are up bright and early, well maybe not bright, and off to the airport to catch our plane to San Juan PR.  We board our ship for the cruise on Sunday, but we decided to come in a day early and rent a jeep and see the sites of San Juan.

We arrive and as usual there seems to always be some type of problem with rental car agencies.  Sometimes it just doesn't pay to go with the big name rental agencies.  Too much red-tape!  Well we got our jeep and directions to our hotel.  Tonight we will be staying at the Wynhdam Old San Juan, which is "supposed" to be close to the ship port.  Well unless you can read Spanish it almost impossible to read the street signs in Puerto Rico.  After many wrong turns, we finally make it to where we "think" the hotel is suppose to be, but there is no Wynhdam, so I ask a police officer where it is, and he informs me that the hotel changed names 2 weeks ago and we were stopped in front of the hotel, which is now the Sheraton.  Note:  Verify name of hotels prior to departure…

Once checked we head out for some dinner, at Senor Frogs which is just behind our hotel.  Afterwards we enjoy a nice walk around old San Juan there are street vendors set up with crafts, food and entertainment.  After purchasing a few items for our kid’s gifts, we return back to the hotel for a nights rest after a very long day.

Well today we are in San Juan in our rental Jeep.  We have decided to explore some of the island, and travel up into the Rain Forest.  It's a nice a sunshiny day, with the top off the jeep.  We enter into the rain forest, after several attempts to find the road that led to the mountains.  The road we had been looking for had been blocked by construction.  But we persevered and have it to the El Portal Visitor Center.  After a stroll through the center, we get back in the jeep with map in hand and plenty to see.  There was way too many things to see on this trip with lots of hiking trails to explore.  Maybe some other time, this time we are here for the main points of interests, like waterfalls…  This is definitely going to be put on our return trip list.

After traveling through the rain forest, we head back to town via what I thought was going to be the scenic route along the coast…  at least that is what it looked like on the map!  What we encountered, was some of the more "colorful" neighborhoods.  Makes you really appreciate what you have.  It is amazing how people can live in such conditions.  Be thankful for even the little things in life.  We did get to see some beautiful coastline views.

Well its now time to return the jeep and head to the ship.  We thought we would get to the ship a little early, to give us time to find our way around…  yeah right.  If you have ever been on a cruise, you know very well that usually you figure out where every thing is on your last day there.  We drop off the jeep and head back to the airport to the shuttle for the ship.  We board a bus that takes us to the ship terminal.  Once in the terminal, here is where the waiting begins.  I don't know exactly how long the wait was, but I would imagine it was a couple of hours.  Once we make it to the check in counter, they clerk asks us why we were in the line we were in cause we had all our paper work pre filed, so what took us 2 hours only would have taken 30 minutes, if we had known that our travel agent had already completed our pre-registration.  With that done, they give us these cards, they are called "sign and sail" cards.  They are your ticket on and off the ship, plus they are used for any expenses while on the ship.  They have your credit card info, but they store a picture of you internally into the card, so when you scan your card for entry onto the ship, they know its you.  Anyway to make a long story short, I lost my favorite pair of purple Oakley sunglasses while they were taking my picture for my card.  I didn't realize it till we had already boarded the ship and had taken our things to our room.  In panic mode, we rush back into the terminal to see if we could retrieve my glasses…  there sitting where my picture was taken, was my glasses.  Just where I thought they might be.  It was a good thing, because I would have been a big whiny baby the rest of the trip without them.  Tonight we have dinner at the buffet, since none of our bags have made it to the room…  we spend the rest of the evening, checking out the ship and getting some of our bearings.  Slowly the bags arrive, one at a time, they show up in the hallway in front of our door.  But the one that we were waiting for, the one with all the bath stuff was the last to arrive, around 11:00pm.  After much needed showers, its time for a good night sleep for the adventurous day ahead in St. Thomas.

Well here's where the money gets spent…  Today we are in St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands.  Most people are aware, there are more jewelry and liquor stores then you can ever imagine, with great prices.  Today we bought few jewelry items, a beautiful linen table cloth (cheap), and several other little knick knack items.  There is way too much to see for just one short day in port.  But money can get spent quite fast in the place.

Well with money spent, we are back on the ship for the rest of the day and evening.  Tonight is our first formal night on the cruise, it's a night we all get dressed and picture are taken.  We also get to meet our fellow dinner mates.  You have assigned seating for your dinners, and you will dine with these same people every night you eat in the dining room.  We have a great group…  two couples from Ohio and one from Michigan.  We are the oldest couples at the table, but we look the youngest…  and of course we are also the only newlyweds.  Dinners are great, with more varieties of food, that it’s hard to make choices.  If you have troubles deciding…  you can always order two different items.  Cruises are a great time to try new foods, something that you would never order in a restaurant, for fear of not liking something.  Here is you don't like it you can always order something else, and it doesn't cost you, well maybe an occasional full tummy!

After dinner it’s off to the show…  there is a Vegas style production on the ship, generally a couple nights while at sea.  Depending on the show, generally you see one you've seen them all…  but you should at least see one while out.  There was also an "Adult" comedy show at midnight that night…  not that was a worthwhile show to see!

Today we are in Dominica…  Largely rural, uncrowded and unspoiled, Dominica touts itself as a 'non-tourist destination' for divers, hikers and naturalists - partly because it lacks the white-sand beaches that most vacationers are searching for.  It has the highest mountains in the Eastern Caribbean, and is mixed with British, French and West Indian cultural traditions, and is home to the Eastern Caribbean's Carib Indian Community.  We found, from our dive boat captain, that on this Island religion is very important.  EVERYONE goes to church!  Employers insure that a worker has either Saturday or Sunday off work, for a day or worship.  This island has an active volcano and had been experiencing some tremors in the weeks prior to our arrival.

Today, we are diving.  The Dive boat picked us up at the pier where the ship was docked.  This made it very easy handling our gear.  Our first stop was wall dive…  apparently they have no idea how deep the wall goes, nobody has ever tried to reach the bottom.  Nothing major, but the wall was impressive with lots of "small" life and lots of vegetation.  Apparently there are no "big" fish, like Rays or Sharks are ever seen in this area of the Caribbean.  After everyone is on board, we head to a lagoon, where we see a church at the base of a mountain.  I can't remember how old the captain said this church was, but it was very old.  You can see from the picture that it ain't no spring chicken.  In this little lagoon, there was this pool that the locals had built rocks around out in the ocean.  Since there are active volcanoes, they have places where the hot air from them comes out of the ground.  Well in this case the hot air was bubbling out in the ocean.  Since the air is hot, this in turn makes a good place for there own little hot tub.  On our next dive, they took us to a reef that they call Champagne Bubbles, where in the ocean floor, where is pretty shallow, you can see the bubbles coming up.  And when you touch the area, you can feel the heat coming out.

Well its time to get back on the ship and get ready for dinner.  Tonight we are in a rush, since we got off the dive boat kind of late and we have the early seating for dinner…  That's ok we made it!  We have another pleasant eating experience with our fellow travelers…  and who knows where we will end up afterwards.

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DECEMBER 2004

Well today we wake up to rain in Barbados…  I think it always rains on this island.  I have been to Barbados once before and it rain then too.  But what the heck we will go on our excursion anyway.  This was Mike's choice of excursions…  we suppose to go on a Catamaran, Snorkel, Sea Turtle Encounter, however when we get to the terminal to board the bus, we discover that this excursion has been canceled and that we will be get a full refund on our "sail and sign" account.   Well now, what do we do?  The lady asks us, "You look like divers?"  We inform her yes we are, but the ship did not offer any dive excursions on this island.  She then introduces us to a dive operator that will be taking a dive boat out in the afternoon and asks if we would be interested…  Hello! Yeah!  So we rush back to get our certification cards and the money to pay for our trip.  She instructs us to be waiting at the terminal at 1:00 and she will have a driver pick us up.  We do a little shopping in the meantime, and grab a bite to eat back on the ship.  Hello that food is free, sort of…    Ok 1:00 comes around and we are waiting, not so patiently for our driver to arrive.  We wait some more and Mike decides to see if he can get some answers.  He speaks with a very helpful gentlemen, who calls the dive shop and he is informed that the driver in on his way in a White Mini Van.  Mike keeps a look out for this van, and then he turns to me and says, "When you get in, be sure to buckle up".  Apparently they have different ways of driving in Barbados, one obvious is they drive on the "wrong" side of the street…  I know "wrong" side is a relative term.  We finally arrive white knuckled to the dive shop.  It is a hole in the wall dump, and Mike is wondering "what have we gotten ourselves into?"  Of course being a more experience diver, I have seen dive shops that were a lot worse then this one…  I look at the gear, and it is obvious that that is where there money goes.  No worries!  I ask the lady doing our paperwork how many are going to be on the boat.  She informs me that we are it, and we have a private dive this afternoon.  I mean how lucky could we get?  If we had wanted to arrange this for our honeymoon, it probably would have costs us hundreds of dollars if not $1000.  Getting on the boat was kind of an experience…  we had to wade out to the boat with gear in hand, and jump on the boat, in waist deep water.  Now that took some effort.

This dive was great, Boombah reef, not sure of the spelling…  but with about 5 minutes left in the dive I look off to one side and there is Mike playing with this big sea turtle, who had just swam up to him to say hi!  I tried to get a picture of both of them, but didn't get too lucky.  It was an awesome dive and one that Mike is going to talk about forever!  For the day to start out bad…  we had the best day!

Today we are at sea…  after sleeping in a bit late, we kind of lazed around, and had a relaxing day on the ship.

Tonight at dinner is our last formal night.  We are having a great time with our dinner companions.  We really seem to have "clicked" with one couple, Jeff and Cheryl, who we will definitely keep in touch with when this is over.  Picture are taken all over the ship, and tonight they took a formal group shot of our dinner mates.  Mike and I are also trying to find a picture we can use for Christmas cards so we are getting a lot of shots taken of the two of us.  Mike and I have been talking about wanting to give our new found friends a little departure gift.  We thought xmas ornaments might be good, but tonight after they took the group photo, we knew that was what it needed to be.   The rest of the night was uneventful, just people watching and wandering on board the ship.

This afternoon we will be diving, but for this morning we decide to go into "town" to do a little shopping and sightseeing.  The port of Aruba was very expensive, and just to let you know, unlike most islands, they do not barter.  The price you pay is the price that is marked.  No negotiating…  After a few hours we realize we need to get back on the ship for some lunch and back to the terminal for our dive trip.  We load up the van and are off to the dive shop.  We arrive and gather our gear and head to the dive boat.  This boat was unlike any other I had been on.  In Barbados, Mike wanting to sail on a catamaran…  well he we have the best of both worlds, a catamaran dive boat.  It was WAY cool…  I gear up quickly so I can enjoy the sunshine out on the mesh deck of the catamaran.  The dive spots we are diving today, have a lot of history, and I hope I don't bore you with too many of those details, but every wreck has a story and I like to know the history of how it got to be where it is… on the bottom of the ocean.

A little history lesson first…  From what I have found there are some conflicts on the time frame that these events occur, so I will try to be as correct and somewhat general as I can.  In the late 1930's or early 40's Aruba's oil refinery was one of the most important to the Allied war effort, producing millions of barrels of aviation fuel. While Holland had been captured by the Nazis, Aruba remained free.  The Germans secretly deployed numerous U-boats across the Atlantic to the coast of South America.  Five of these submarines were to make the ABC islands their base.  Called the Neuland Gruppe, their mission was to attack Aruba and Curacao's refineries and to torpedo tankers carrying crude oil to the refineries from the Venezuelan oil fields in Lake Maracaibo.

Our first dive site, is the site of the Antilla…  A 400-foot German freighter, built in 1938 in Hamburg.  Under the guise of a peaceful, commercial freighter working in the neutral waters of the Dutch islands, the Antilla secretly housed all supplies needed for the submarines and their crew, including a deadly arsenal of torpedoes, mines and other munitions.  Around 1940, Germany officially went to war against Holland and Aruba's Dutch powers demanded the surrender of the Antilla.  But the captain of the Antilla went about sabotaging his ship - overheating the boilers, opening valves, closing drains and, finally, he blasted a hole in the side of his freighter. The ship sunk in less than 60 feet of water; the mast and chimney still emerging from the water.  We were told that after the Captain of the Antilla scuttled the ship, he swam to shore and opened a resort in Belize, where he still lives today…  This is the largest wreck in the Caribbean (400' long), it is great for penetrations due to the large compartments of this vessel covered by giant ruby sponges and coral formations. Lobsters and many kinds of tropical fish surround the wreck. It's also a great place for night diving.  Poor visibility prevented this dive from being exceptional.  It is though a must, I am sure we will be visiting this site again!

The second site is that of the Pedernalis.  When researching the history of this one, there seems to be a few different stories, but the one I like the most is the one our Dive Master told us.  So here it goes.  On February 15 1942, knowing that the Germans were coming to destroy the refinery, two tankers, the Oranjestad and Pedernalis, were anchored outside the entrance to the refinery harbor near San Nicolas.  In an effort to save the refinery, all lights at the refinery and surrounding areas were turned off, and all lights on the two tankers were turned on.  At approximately 1:30am on February 16 the Germans fired a torpedo, which struck the Pedernalis, setting off a major explosion. Two minutes later a second torpedo slammed into the tanker Oranjestad. Satisfied, the Germans moved off thinking they had destroyed the refinery.  The tanker Oranjestad sank after being torpedoed in 300ft of water off the refinery. The tanker Pedernalis however, remained afloat and drift in the current along Aruba's south coast until she beached by tugboats from Oranjestad and salvaged. The ship was cut in three pieces. The bow and stern sections where welded back together and towed to Norfolk, VA where she was refurbished and converted into a landing ship to be used in the invasion of Normandy. The midsection was towed off the west coast of Aruba and sunk in 25 ft of water. There she was used as a target for naval and air force planes. Today her twisted remains are a popular dive site.  Most of the wreckage can be viewed by surface snorkeling as long as the visibility is good.

Even though both sites had poor visibility, it was another great day do diving.  What's the saying…  "A Bad day diving beats any day at work"!  I may have just made that one up, but you know what I mean…

Well we are back on the ship now, and ready for dinner.  Remember tonight we will be on a mission to acquire the group photos from dinner the night before.  For those who don't know, what they do with the pictures that are taken throughout your stay on the ship, they post all pictures that were taken the previous days in an area they call the "Photo Gallery", and once you find pictures that you want to purchase, you take them from the wall and take them to the register for purchase.  Well for us to make this work, we have to grab all the pictures, and be sure we get there before any of the others get there.  Luckily tonight there are only two couples at dinner, the others were at the Casino in Town and on a Moonlight Dinner Cruise.  So our mission was an easy success.  So we purchased the pictures along with folders to put them in.  Our plan now is to give them to our waiter to pass out at our dinner tomorrow night, our last night on the cruise.

Well this is it…  our last day of our cruise.  I made a comment to Mike that our honeymoon was just about over, and what he told me was, that he thought it had just begun.  Now that was a good answer…  Today is going to be a kick back day, with exception of the debarkation meeting and having to pack.  The rest of the day will be spent out of the deck and relaxing, having a few drinks and catching some rays…

At dinner tonight, we give our waiter the pictures for the couples at our table.  When he delivers them and they are opened, we discover that this brought a bit of turmoil…  in that the others had been looking for the picture, and since they weren’t out on display, nobody could give them any info on them.  Actually it was perfect, our little deception worked!  Since this is our last night on board we go and hang out with our friends in the casino and then in the sing-a-long piano bar.  It was a nice ending to a wonderful week, and a most memorable honeymoon!

Well there hasn't been much happening or any excitement since we got back from our cruise.  But things do change…  Today I went to work prepared.  Mike had been watching the forecast and today we are suppose to be in for some bad weather.  How bad, you never know.  So today Mike packed my snow trekking shoes, and down coat, and I am off to work in the Suburban.

On the day before a holiday, we get to leave early…  but today everyone has ants in their pants because the sleet and snow have started come down, and there is still no word that we get to leave.  Finally they come around and tell us to get out, it’s almost an hour earlier then what the VP wanted us too, but we left anyway.  The drive home wasn't bad, luckily I don't have much traffic to deal with.  But what normally takes me 30 minutes took me and hour.  I was one of the lucky ones.  One of my coworkers took him 6 hours to get home, and he lives less then 20 miles from home.  I felt for those who were traveling, and really glad I wasn't one of them.  People around here just don't know how to drive in the stuff, and that includes me…  that is why I just say NO when it comes to driving in it.  I just sit back and let Mike do the work.  We were able to get around with minimal effort, unlike so many others.

Well today is Christmas Eve, and there is still a little shopping to do.  But the best part, is Tommy come in tonight.  The roads are still slick from the snow and ice, so great care is taken while traveling.  All church services have been canceled, so we decide to go rent some movies, actually comedian shoes, have a good laugh on the couch, while we wait for the word to come get Tommy.  We are meeting them, as they are coming to Tom's wives parents’ house from his sisters where they have been celebrating their Christmas.  Finally the phone rings around 9:00 and we are off…  We get to the meeting place, which is next to the freeway, where there has been a major accident, thank goodness they weren't part of it.  They were part of the traffic pile up though.  So our wait was extended.  With Tommy in suburban, we are on the road to home.  Chelsie and Chase will be spending the night, and Tommy I am sure will be completely wound to be around Chase, Denbeigh, and of course it being Christmas.  Tomorrow we’ll enjoy Christmas morning as one big happy family.

Well its Christmas morning, and our alarm went off early, 6:30.  We had to get up before the kids…  We ended up having to wake the kids up.  Tommy was so sleepy he tried to walk into the closet thinking it was his bedroom.  Once out of bed and coherent, its time to see what Santa brought.  It’s so much more fun with kids around.  Of course present opening takes a lot less time then it does to wrap.  I think everyone was very happy with what they got.  Afterwards we had our pancake breakfast and off to Granny and PopPops…  That would be Mike's mom and dads for present.  The worst thing about Christmas is having to spread yourself out over several houses, family members and celebrations.  But Christmas is a time for family so you gotta make it work, right?  The kids open their gifts at Granny and PopPops, then its back to Lonoke to take Chelsie and Chase to their moms, Tommy to his stepmother’s parent’s home, and Mike and I back to his mom and dads for lunch.  Have I lost you guys yet…  Only two more stops to make.  We have to run back home to get the gifts to go celebrate with my side of the family.  We pick Tommy back up on the way and we are off to my grandmother’s house.  Wendy and Jerry are already there fixing some munchies, we add our munchies into the mix and our presents under the tree. It looks like we didn't cut back any this year either, like we said we would.  After all presents have been unwrapped, food put away, and dishes cleaned, we load our goodies and head home.

We all enjoy the food, the presents, and the fun we had all day.  But it’s been a long one, and at least tomorrow we can relax a little.

Merry Christmas to all and a very Happy and Adventurous New Year!

Well today is their birthdays, and since Chase turned 16, and got a truck from his mom for a combo Christmas/Birthday present he wants to celebrate with his friends.  Can't really blame him huh…  But Wendy on the other hand decides she wants to go to TGI Fridays for her birthday celebration.  We get my grandmother out, which we love any excuse for that, and she really enjoys it, we think.  Getting out just makes her very tired, but we just don't know how long she will be able to do the things she is able to, so we get her out as much as we can.  She says it’s her last time, well we'll see about that!

Well tonight we are celebrating Chase's birthday.  Since he wouldn't say where he wanted to go, we decide on an old faithful, Flying Fish, in the Rivermarket.  The food was great as usual, and afterwards we head to our other old faithful, Willy D's.  Is still early, 7:30, so even though it's a bar they allow the kids to come in.  When we first got there, they hadn't started playing yet, but while we were sitting there, Mike who is the main piano player, stopped by to say hi and have a little chat with us.  They began playing after that, and even though the kids were basically clueless to most the songs, I think Chase had a good time.  Chelsie was bored, but we knew she probably would be.  We had taken her there before, and she didn't seem to care for it too much.  After a few songs we get up to leave, and Mike catches us and asks why we are leaving so early, he takes one look at my little guy and breaks into playing the "Sponge Bob, Square Pants" theme, and you should have seen Tommy…  just started singing right along, loudly.  Mike thought we had lost it, he doesn't have a clue who Sponge Bob is…  the crowd applauded Tommy as we left.  As Mike said, Tommy is going to remember that for probably a very long time.  Well its back home.  Another celebration taken care of!

Well you know we can't sit still for long…  so today we are back on the road again.  First stop to McKinney to take Tommy back to his Dad, then we are heading south.  This morning, we were planning on heading to New Mexico to do a little skiing, but when Mike checked the ski conditions, there were 50 mile an hour wind gusts and he figured with me being a newby to skiing, that I wouldn't enjoy it…  so instead we head for the sunny shores of South Padre Island.  We drove through part of the night, well Mike did, I slept.  Not a bad deal if you can get it!  We stopped just outside of San Antonio for Mike to get some sleep.  At least this rest stop didn't have signs to watch out for snakes.

Well I would like to say that we were up and at it early…  NOT!  I think we got up about 9:00am, guess we needed the rest.  On the road, we realize that there isn't much of anything between San Antonio and the road to turn off to go to South Padre.

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