Tuesday is the big day

Picking her up after Embark 2 weeks ago.

The dorms are only 1 year old, very nice!

One of the class room buildings,a walk through the woods to classes.

Climbing the stairs, her room for the Embark was on the 3rd floor. Whew!

From 10-12 am tomorrow T begins her college days. We move her in and then come back that night for a BBQ. Soccer practice starts the next day, practicing twice a day, both times in the heat of the day:) Bittersweet time in our life.

Day One with the Grand Boys

We picked them up in Waco, had lunch at McDonalds and then went to the Dr. Pepper Museum. It was interesting and we all enjoying seeing the processing equipment. Once we got home we rested for a while then headed to the pool. Of course it is never dull. There was a big black dog running around outside the pool and he headed straight to the busy highway in front of the pool. A few seconds later we heard a horn honk and heard a crash. I just knew the dog had been hit but he came running back around the corner. The car that slammed into the back of a trailer, trying to avoid hitting the dog was not so lucky. We just got settled and into the water and the "rain" came. No thunder so the kids stayed in the water. Of course the rain lasted 5 minutes and was gone. After swimming we ate supper, played Wii fit and then waited until it was really dark and drove to the haunted Hutto bridge. You can read about it here Once we found it, we had to turn around several times to wait for cars to pass. Turned the lights off, put the car in neutral and sure enough, away we roll. The boys were amazed and scared at the same time!

Stingray Smoochin'

When we were in the Cayman Island we swam with the stingrays. This was an unforgettable experience. They are big and intimidating but feel like velvet.

Everyone got a nice back rub from one of the stingrays. We fed them squid, with instructions on how to hold the piece of squid. If felt like a vacuum cleaner hose when the stingray sucked up the squid.

It is said that if you kiss a stingray you will have 7 years of good luck. So far so good:)

She is leaving for college

in 20 days, think my life will become dull!! Concordia you picked her!

I Found Them

We followed this relative, in our taxi that was not a relative, from downtown Cozumel back to the pier. He was a speedy little fellow. After I snapped the picture I noticed there was a really hot relative parked just in front.I am sad I missed getting to meet him but at least I got a fleeting glimpse.
My bug's relatives! I didn't see a single relative in Jamaica and didn't really care. At Cayman they must have all been at one of the many banks, making deposits or withdrawals,so missed them there too!

Cozumel, was a different story! They were everywhere! VW's are made in Mexico so I guess all these relatives have retired and have condos on the beach in Mexico.

I crossed some busy streets to have a short visit with my relatives and they were all very happy to see me:)

Arriving in Jamaica

We were so excited to pull into Jamaica. I have never been there before and was looking forward to it. The country was beautiful from the ship, beautiful water and lush, green mountains. If you click on the picture below, you will see a lady that must have been here before! We all had the same expression getting back on the ship. As soon as we left the boat, everyone was trying to sell us "Ganga". They would not leave us alone, begging for money and trying to sell drugs.
This was what we saw in "downtown" Jamaica. Nasty, dirty, and nothing pretty about it. We were on a bus and when they came to a spot in downtown, not one single person would get off the bus. This was one scary country. People from tours have been robbed, and some have just never been seen again.
We went to a private beach and the water was beautiful and the beach was clean. There was a "guard" that kept the natives off the beach and watched over everyone there. We did have a good time at this beach for about 2 hours.
Margaritaville, Jamaica. Not much better than the country. I think there were 2 waiters and the place was packed. This fire eater did put on a show, but I think he had a little help in numbing his mouth to do it.
We were all glad to get back on the ship and leave this country. There were about 100 people that were late getting back on the ship, their bus broke down. For entertainment there was a marching band that played for us for about 45 minutes. People threw coins from the ship and enjoyed the show. We sat on our balcony and enjoyed the show, once again glad to be safe and sound on the ship.

On Our Way

Chillin' on our balcony and checking out the ship. Loading our luggage on the ship...knew we should have packed less:)
There were 3,000 adults and 1200 children on this ship so getting onto the ship was an event! There were miles of the snake lines and I was wondering how R was going to hold up standing in line that long. No problem, the custom lady saw his cane and asked if we were together and we got to bypass the hundreds of people and were on board in about 20 minutes. Rule...always travel with a cane when there is a long line:) We ate lunch, checked out the ship and by 4 pm we were pulling out of port for 2 days at sea, heading for Jamaica.

Cross this off the Bucket List

We drove to Galveston for the 4th and did not dream the traffic would be so bad on the seawall! Everyone came to Galveston to see the fireworks and celebrate the 4th. We checked into our hotel and decided to eat at Joes Crabshack.We could still see a lot of damage from Hurricane Ike just 10 months ago but they have made a lot of progress.The fireworks were across the street from Joe's on a jetty. T celebrated her 18th birthday a little early at Joe's doing a Seagull dance through the restaurant. Us girls had to use the potty and the line at Joe's was really long so we thought we would just walk to a convenience store across the street, get some water and snacks for the fireworks and use their facilities. The line to the bathroom was not long and when T and I walked in and it was too late to turn back we noticed a different type of toilet paper.....newspaper! The girls were speechless and a little confused as to what to do. Sometimes you have no options! If using newspaper was on our bucket list, now it is marked off!

How to dance in Cozumel

We are home! Seven fun, sun filled days and tons of pictures. This is how 2 teenage girls have fun at Margaritaville in Cozumel, Mexico. We managed to stop at Margaritaville in Jamaica,Cayman Island, and Cozumel. They could have spent the entire time there but for us old folks a little goes a long way!

Getting on the big boat

We are leaving tomorrow for a wonderful 7 day cruise. Celebrating the 4th in Galveston,hopefully to see fireworks over the water. I want to see how Galveston looks after the hurricane last year. We set sail Sunday for Jamaica and we are so excited. Hopefully we will get to visit with our friends that have a home on the Cayman Islands on Thursday. Then is it on to Cozumel for more beach, sun, and fun. Hopefully no hurricanes will find us. We have had some hurricane effects on every cruise so far.
Happy Fourth of July!

BAM's Baseball album

Our oldest grandson has been playing baseball forever! He is travelling some this summer and thought he needed an album for all these games. His initials are BAM....neat huh!

My Bug's Cayman Relatives

I love it when my bug has relatives living on a tropical island! My friend, Ann, took these pictures of my cousins SeaShell Susie and Digicel Rita. Since I have never met these cousins personally, we are going to cruise on over to the Cayman Islands next month and see how they are doing!

Breakfast with Dodger

After a long winter Dodger came out of where ever he stays during the winter months. He has been living with us about 5 years and every May he becomes social. If we leave the patio door open, we have found him clumping on the wood floors in our house and is very content to be inside. At least 3 times a week he sees, hears, or however he knows we are on the patio, and comes scooting up to our feet. Dodger will sit at our feet until we give him breakfast. He loves corn, on the cob or off, strawberries, and grapes. Some days he will have a breakfast of hamburger meat, raw or cooked. He will eat out of our hand but I believe he prefers the throw it on the patio method of service. Once Dodger has had breakfast he turns his shell around and crawls off, it is hard to imagine that turtle can move fast but he does have a turbo mode.

911 is a good thing

This morning about 6:30 dh woke me up holding onto the wall and the bed. I thought he might have a leg cramp or his back was really stiff. That was so wrong! He said he was very dizzy and nauseated, so I got him back in bed and things went downhill from there. I called the insurance nurse hotline and once I described the symptoms he said it could be a stroke and to call 911. I did and within 3-4 minutes the fire paramedics were at our door. A minute or so later EMS arrived and 4 people were working on him. His heart rate was very low and they put him on oxygen. By the time they put him on the gurney he was very nauseated and vomiting.I followed the ambulance to the hospital and after some blood work and extensive testing they determined he was suffering from vertigo and no stroke.That was a relief! The dr. gave him Valium in his iv and he was out of it. A pill followed, plus meds for the nausea and more oxygen. About an hour later we got to go home. He slept all day and feels a little better, but movement is an issue. Hopefully, the meds will help and in a few days he will be feeling better. What a scary day but thankfully EMS was here so fast.The 911 operator stayed on the line with me and told me something that I would have never thought about, to put your pets up before EMS arrives. No, I didn't take pictures but I did save the EKG tape EMS left here, but threw all the needles, wrappers and tape away.

Emeril Lagasse Watch Out!

T has discovered cookbooks! I don't know how she found them, I try to keep them well hidden. She read the cookbooks, picked out what she wanted to make and went to the grocery store to purchase the items she needed.Amazing,I think she has cooked 3 or 4 meals this week, lovin it!There were a few learing curves, the difference between a frying pan and sauce pan, how to melt chocolate, but overall everything was a success.
She is planning the Father's Day menu, I think I really like this new person that has moved into our home!

The Advantages of Back Surgery

Since dh had back surgery in April, I have had to put on my handyman belt and believe me it does not fit:) I have replaced a belt, sensor and motor in a laser machine. I have climbed up in the attic to adjust the a/c something or other when it was 90 degrees outside. I have replaced a thermo coupling on the water heater, don't even know if I spelled that right, much less what is was.Not to worry I was very closely supervised:) T has taken over trash duties, plus helping me carry out the handyman duties. This Saturday T & I started out to trim the hedges in the front yard. Of course we had to have a lot of supervision,using a hedge trimmer. At one point I thought of another use for the hedge trimmer other than trimming hedges! Then our supervisor decided we had some tree branches that needed to come down. Not only did we trim trees in the front yard but our supervisor had us progress to the back yard. Once all the trimming was done in 100 plus degree heat we had to load them in the truck and haul the branches to the recycling center, AND unload them there, all the while being carefully supervised:)The tree we trimmed in the back yard is now going to be removed...sure glad we worked so hard on that stupid tree.We did get a lot done and the song I am Woman certainly stuck in our minds all day Saturday! Only 4 more months of this.

Hey Cupcake!

Cupcakes are so hot now and we heard about this little "store" that had the best cupcakes ever! We spent the day visiting with the soccer coach at Concordia University and decided we needed a treat. Their menu consists of about 8 different cupcakes, including 24 Carrot and a Michael Jackson! We picked 3 and they were delicious. We had frosting all over our fingers and face but the cupcakes were worth the mess. It was not raining,it was about 100 degrees, so we could use the cute pink umbrellas to have some shade while ordering and eating the cupcakes.

The things you see on I35

We went to Scrappin Good Time in Corsicana today, to deliver some product and pick up some left over from the GASC. There is always something different to see on a road trip down IH35 and today was no exception. We pulled up beside this little beauty and I could not believe what I saw. This little jewel of a car, floats on water. You can see on the front of the drivers side, the registration for a boat, but it gets better. We got behind it and low and behold, there were propellers! Love the license plate, Floats! Just another fun day down the Interstate.

Remember the vacation

Finally, finally, finally finished last years vacation album. I had lots of leftovers and just had to do a "junk" page. I used the tags from the MM line and added anything I could find. I used Tattered Angels misty stuff for my chipboard and think I have a new best friend. Just spray and let dry...no more painting. This album is done, put a fork in it:)

I tried

my hand at digital scrapping! I have been reading about this and wanting to try it and I can see why people love it. Of course this was a quick page,so not much thought involved. I do think it will be a while before I can progress to anything but a beginner.