Cayman Island/Cozumel cruise July 2012

I've finally got all the pictures uploaded on the computer so I can write about our vacation. It was awesome! We left out around 11pm on July 13th and headed to Tampa, Florida. It was actually a really easy drive. Tia and Justin tried staying awake with me for the most part since I have to drive most of the time (I get sick.) We made several bathroom stops, eating stops, and even a Walmart stop and still made it to Tampa around 11am. It was perfect timing! Our luggage didn't arrive in our room for a couple hours after the boat left the dock and of course my motion sickness patches were in my suit case. Go figure. But after that it was smooth sailing. :) Our first actual day was a day at sea so we got to hang around the boat, do several trivias, swim, eat, eat more, and more. LOL Day 2 - Then the next day we went to Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands. We didn't plan on an excursion because apparently the Cayman Islands are way expensive so that means all the excursions were more expensive too. Plus there wasn't really much we were interested in and the Cayman Islands are all about sting rays and turtles. Whoo hoo! (I'm being sarcastic by the way.) We went to the beach and shopped at the little tourist places and that's about it. But that was actually really fun and simple. Gas there was $5.67/gallon! Day 3 - Cozumel! Cozumel was AWESOME! We got off the boat and went straight to our excursion which was swimming with the dolphins at Dolphinaris and lunch there. We got to touch a dolphin, have a dolphin pull us in the water (which I totally did not want to do), and of course have our pictures taken several times with the dolphins doing other random things. Then we got an "authentic" Mexican meal of fajitas. It was actually dry because they didn't have the salsa and stuff like we do here so we were ready to eat again by the time we got on the boat. But of course before we went back we HAD to go find some Coach purses and Oakley's! We racked up! Then we went to an outside restaurant and had some margaritas and cokes and watched people dance. It was fun and we will DEFINATELY be going there again. By the way, EVERYONE spoke English. So what's up with them not speaking it here in the US?!?Day 4 - Another day at sea and basically sleeping in and eating a lot of food. LOL We had an awesome time though and spent too much money and are already talking about our next trip. :)

Some help they were keeping me awake. LOL

Our boat!

Our one-legged friend

Ready to swim!

Comedy show time

Obviously people in the Cayman Islands don't know how to spell

Cozumel

Random summer photos

Me and Tia are addicted to trying new things right now. She saw something on how to dye your hair with pastel chalks so of course we had to try it...on Addison. :)Addison was more than ok to be the guinea pig for this. LOL

New play jewelry and high heels. :)

Pool time

4th of July 2012

I didn't get many pictures from the 4th of July, which is totally not like me, but we were busy eating and playing volleyball, and goofing off, it was non-stop all day long. As always we had tons of food and played volleyball in literally 100 degree weather. Needless to say we only lasted one game and it was way too hot. Andrew, Misty, and the kids came in from Franklin. We were definitely missing Traci, John, and the girls. :( I think this was the first holiday in a long time we didn't play peanuts at either. LOL I did get a few pictures of Camden and of the strawberries that me and Tia had made. Also of course a couple pictures of what we do at the house at 1am while cooking for the 4th. :) The strawberries, dipped in white chocolate, then dipped in blue sugar for the red/white/blue effect. We're getting better!

Lake time - June 2012

We spent the day at the lake with one of my co-workers a couple weeks ago. Karen lives in Roane County right next to the lake on a farm so the kids love going up there and seeing all the animals, picking corn, and playing in the water. I think this was even Addison's first time on a boat. She loved it. She wasn't scared of the water or the boat. She loved feeding the fish and "jumping" in the water. Of course her jumping consists of holding my hand and just falling in the water. :) The boys have been raised in the lake basically so they've never really been scared of the water. Jacob didn't get to go and I got fussed at by him when I got back. LOL