Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Speaking of cruise...

We had a great time on our cruise. Even though it was only 3 days, and the time seemed to fly by, it was definitely a much needed vacation.
This was our ship...Royal Caribbean's Majesty of the Seas. Our previous cruise experience was with a different company, and we'll just say that we won't be going back to them. The RC staff was so nice and friendly, the food was super yummy, and it was just hands down a better cruise company. We can't wait to take another!

Our first day was spent at here at RC's island...Coco Cay (aka Little Stirrup Cay, part of the Berry Islands which are part of the Bahamas). We had a great time just relaxing at sea in the morning, and then did a midday sea kayaking tour. Once we got the hang of paddling (so that we didn't go in circles), the kayaking was lots of fun, but definitely an upper body workout. The next day was spent at Nassau where we did the snorkeling tour and then a little bit of shopping. Three days is much too short of trip really, but it was priced right (aka cheap!)


This is Raymond, our awesome waiter. He was soooo nice and fun....making sure we had exactly what we wanted to eat and offering advice whenever he saw us of what activities he would recommend we do...some of which were much more reasonably priced than the scheduled tours. We also had wonderful table mates. K suggested we request a large table so we could meet lots of people, but only 1 other couple showed up. They were awesome...we always found ourselves talking instead of eating, and we ended up spending several evenings socializing with them after dinner. We even have plans to visit them when we are in DC next fall. All in all it was just a great vacation, and we would highly recommend RC to anyone thinking about taking a cruise.

Awesome birthday gift


I got the bestest birthday gift ever (yes, my birthday was several months ago...but, well, I'm slow, ok). DH gave me a Canon D10 and it is awesome! My wonderful Canon 700 that I carry everywhere is a great little camera, but it is starting to wear out....the on-off button only works when it wants to. So I was thinking it was time for an upgrade, and since I have been taking so many pictures (stimulated by Becky Higgins Project 365, renamed Project Life for next year) I even had K in agreement. But there are oooohhh so many cameras out there...what's a girl to do?? Well, around this time we also decided to take a short cruise during our vacation at the end of September, and in looking at the activity choices, there was a lot of snorkeling to be had. On our first cruise in '96 we had done the swimming with the stingrays thing, and quickly discovered that the only way to get good pictures was an underwater camera...and boy are those things pricey when purchased on the tour boat! Then when we went with the in-laws to Mexico a few years later, I brought along my own disposable underwater cameras, but quickly went through both of them at Xel-Ha and then couldn't take any more underwater pictures the remainder of the trip. So I started looking around at digital underwater cameras. There are a few out there, but most seem to have really mixed reviews. And while they don't cost that much, it still seemed like a waste to buy one and potentially have it be ruined the first time underwater. But then, lucky me, Canon releases their first underwater camera. Yes, its a bit pricey, and yes, its a bit bulky and silly looking, but I love it. And it is a really nice general camera as well, so when my old Canon finally bites the dust, I'll already have a replacement. And as an added bonus...the D10 is cold tolerant as well...we had 12" of snow yesterday and I had it out quite a while last night in the snow and today in our -15 wind chill taking pictures, and it never froze up or gave me the low battery warning the whole time.

Soooo, on to the picture. This is one of my favorites of the 300 or so taken snorkeling in Nassau. These striped fish were so much fun...I was shooting away at the coral and fish along the bottom, and often when I looked up I would find myself in the middle of a large school of them. They would just swim past me like I was a normal part of their environment, and if you weren't paying attention you would even on occasion bump into one. We had a great time...now to buy our own snorkeling equipment!

Saturday, December 5, 2009

Not Fair


It's not fair! If I'm lucky, I can occasionally be found to have one critter or another cuddled up with me (Henry).

But every time K sits down he has at least 1, and often a whole swarm of critters (Serine, Meow, Pia, Fasciae, Maggie & Henry). Do you think it might be because mommy has been seen with needles around here?? I guess it is probably better for my allergies...but it's still not fair.