Saturday: Eventually all good things must end.

We started the day with good news!  My Facebook friend, Stacy, has located the recipe for WCMC and the three amigos are thrilled.  Mamas at home are expected to take note.  This discovery alone seems to make Facebook a credible means of communication.

After breakfast we packed the truck for the last time.  Sabrina does not look too happy about this event.

The quote of the day came from Samuel as we rode along the highway.  He mused, "Compared to a cruise, life is pretty stressful."  Yes, Samuel, a glorified situation where your beds are made for you, food is prepared for you, entertainment is offered, and you travel to exciting places without dodging semi-trucks along an interstate, and there is no homework and no job assignments, compared to cruise life...real life is a bit stressful.

We are not in Cozumel anymore...for sure.  This was a jacket morning, and the farther north we drove, the more jacket-weather it became.  Sabrina had brought a small DVD player and a selection of movies, so the 9:45 showing was "Cheaper by the Dozen" as we covered the miles.

We stopped at Cracker Barrel for lunch before completing the last leg of the trip.  It was at this final stop that we realized we had not had a single picture taken of all five of us, so we took one in Cracker Barrel by the candy selection.  We all look a bit road-weary.  Mental note to take a group picture earlier in the next trip!

On the final part of the trip we modified the game they played on the first day of the trip, "I am going on a cruise and I am ging to take..." to the updated version:  "I went on a vacation and my memories are:"  Alphabetically, here are the results the group came up with:

Alma (our server at dinner in the dining room)

Beignet

Chichen Itza

Deva (our cabin steward)

Elation (name of our ship)

Fancy dinner

Gangway

Harbor

Ice cream

Johnny (WWII veteran we met at the museum)

Knots (speed of the ship)

Lifeboats

Milkshake

Navy veterans (from WWII museum)

Ocean

Punchliner (name of the comedy show on ship)

Quarters (Olen borrowed several from Sabrina for the penny machines.)

Romeo and Juliet (where we had our worship service)

Scavenger hunt (on board the ship)

Towel animals

Violent sacrifices (at Chichen Itza)

Warm chocolate melthing cake (This one was a "given"!)

Xylophone (street-performer in Cozumel)

ZZZZZZZZZZ (What we will all be doing when we get home!) 

We took a picture of our cards we used on the cruise before we got home and everyone took their cards with them.  

As we arrived back in Athens the cousins shared a group hug before parting.

What fun we had!  These children are precious.  They were delightful travel companions.  They never complained about anything we did, any of the food we ate, any of the places we went.  They were smiling constantly, and even with the constant togetherness, there was never a cross word between the three amigos the entire week.  We could not have asked for a better experience, and we thank the parents who were willing to share these precious children with us for an entire week.

Friday: The beginning of the end of our adventure

Today dawned bright and sunny with clear blue skies.  Gone were all of the rain clouds of yesterday, but that system did leave behind cooler weather and a stiff breeze...the kind of confusing weather that makes you want to wear shorts or cropped pants AND a jacket at the same time.

 

We had breakfast at the motel this morning.  It took Olen and me a few minutes longer to eat than it did the others, so they started back to the room ahead of us.  When we got to the room, they were all hiding grins, and Sabrina said innocently, "I am sure we were not doing anything suspicious."  As I am sure you realize...when a fourteen-year-old tells you they are NOT doing anything suspicious, you need to begin immediately to look for suspicious activities.  Apparently there are numerous group selfies now on Olen's phone, but their disappointment will be in finding that Olen never takes any pictures with his phone, so it may be months until he notices "nothing suspicious".  

The three amigos are still grieving over not getting any more of the warm chocolate melting cake we enjoyed on the cruise.  To save breath, they have shortened the name to WCMC when discussing the delicacy.  

We drove back to the area of the French Quarter of New Orleans to take a two-hour walking tour of the area.  Our guide was extremely well-informed on the history and culture of the area, with abundant oinformation about restaurant selections for adventurous eaters.  (We would have been happy if he could have pointed us toward the nearest Burger King, but I realize not everyone shares our view.)

While on our tour we re-took some of the cloudy-day tourist photos we took yesterday, plus many new ones.  

This is said to the most photographed building in the French Quarter.

We learned about what the guide referred to as the historical "Fs' of New Orleans...flooding, fire, fever, and food".  We learned about the architecture, and enjoyed seeing all sorts of street-entertainers, such as a dog who played dead and was lying in a dog-sized casket, a man dressed as a human transformer toy, various mimes, serious musicians, jazz musicians of all types, a human teddy bear puppet, a man apparently defying gravity, and several ladies dressed in feather costumes (we predict they will never get off the ground).  It was windy and cool this morning, so this lady played classical violin music while she was wrapped in a sleeping bag to keep warm. 

We ate lunch at the French Market, which the guide books describe as "similar to European markets".  We found the area to be more similar to a rural flea market, or perhaps a blue-light special at K-Mart.  We did eat a hamburger there while listening to a jazz band.  We did not intend to listen to the Jazz band...it just happened to be playing close to the hamburger area.

We planned to leave the New Orleans area by driving across Lake Pontchartrain on the 26-mile causeway, but when we got to the causeway area we learned that there had been a really bad wreck on the causeway and all north-bound lanes were blocked.  So much for that plan.  We headed around the east side of the lake...along with everyone else who had planned to go over the causeway, so it was slow-go for a while. 

Finally we arrived in Meridian, MS, our destination for the night.  Our motel has an indoor pool and the water was a similar temperature to bath water.  The three amigos enjoyed extended pool time, and they had the entire pool to themselves!  

We ordered in pizza for after the swimming, and plan to spend one more evening playing games before bedtime.

Where has the time gone?  Tomorrow we return to the real world...but we still have tonight to enjoy.

 

Thursday Part 2

There are things I can not explain.  Now that I am back in Blog World, I have noticed that my post for Sunday has been mistakenly placed in the September 22, 2014 place in the blog listing.  I can not explain it or correct the location of the post at this point.  However, if you have been reading this blog and wonder what we did on Sunday, you will have to go to the September 22 listing for last year. I am sorry, but from time to time computers seem to have their own mind.

Thursday: Goodbye cruising. Hello New Orleans.

We were up early, packed, and at the "grazing area" for breakfast by 8:00.  Everyone selected traditional breakfast food (cereal, pancakes, etc.), but also added one last pass at the ice cream machine.

(You are remembering that we are still under "Gandma Rules", aren't you?)  Samuel arranged the leftover trash from breakfast to illustrate our "balanced diet" we had for breakfast.

When we arrived in New Orleans it was raining...the overcast, type of drizzly rain that looked as if it had set in for the entire day.  This changed our plans for the day, so we chose an inside activity, the WWII Museum.  Although this sounds a bit too educational for a spring break trip, it was actually extremely interesting and fun, including state-of-the-art multimedia experiences such as a 4-D journey through the war narrated by executive producer Tom Hanks.

The first thing we did at the museum was to spend time with "Johnny", an 89-year-old WWII veteran who took several minutes to talk to us about his experiences and graciously posed with us for a photo.

Olen took time to show Maggie where her WWII-veteran great-grandfather Black had served in Italy.

We had one experience involving the submarine, USS Tang.  This was an extremely realistic experience demonstrating the actions of this brave crew...all but nine of which perished during the battle.  The 4-D movie event was spectacular, and the kids decided that having seen this movie they could skip about three weeks of listening to classroom lectures and notetaking.

We spent five hours at the museum, and enjoyed every minute of it.  However, to see everything that is there would take weeks.  By mid-afternoon we left and went to the French Quarter for a brief visit.  We stopped at the Cafe du Monde for beignets and hot chocolate, a delicious treat, and one of those touristy things one must do when in New Orleans.  

The rain finally stopped, and we walked to Jackson Square and took a picture.

By this time it was late afternoon, so we headed toward our motel for the night.  During the ride, Olen and I listened to the conversations in the back seat and decided that the sugar from the treats at Cafe du Monde had defintely kicked in.

Samuel has collected ball point pens on this trip, and he went into a lengthy and detailed discussion of the attributes of the pens from Cozumel, Carnival Cruise, and the WWII Museum.  Maggie went into detail about the "fancy" Wal-Mart we passed in Merida, Mexico that had awnings over the cars in the parking lot.  Sabrina and Maggie chanted several rhymes in unison.  They all commented on how much they were missing the warm chocolate melting cake already.  Yes, the sugar in the beignets and hot chocolate from Cafe du Monde had kicked in!

We are at our hotel for the night with plans to play games before retiring.  Hopefully, the sun will come out tomorrow and we will have some special time to see more of the sights in New Orleans.

Even on overcast and dreary days, these special children bring happiness and sunshine in our lives.  There are no disappointing days when you spend them with special people.

Wednesday: A day at sea

Technically, Olen and Samuel are in one stateroom, and I am in a room three steps away with the girls. However, once we all get ready for bed, the kids have requested to sleep in the same room, and we switch back as soon as we wake up the next morning.  Last night the group stayed in the same room and obviously had a late night of playing card games.  We told them to "sleep in" this morning, since we have no specific schedule for today.  When Olen and I woke up, I went up to deck 10 and got breakfast for the two of us.  We waited in the "guy's room" until finally Sabrina showed up at the door about 10:15-10:30.  She was hungry, so we sent her down to get breakfast.  About a half-hour later Samuel showed up.  I checked on Maggie, who was still in bed, but was semi-awake watching cartoons.  Since it was "sleep-in-day" we left her alone a while longer, while Samuel and Sabrina enjoyed breakfast.

We had told the kids they could plan our last day since by now they were totally familiar with the ship and the grandparent-approved options.  They had one time slot in the day unassigned, so Olen and I filled it with a shipboard scavenger hunt (counting steps from one deck to the next, finding out the name of the captain, counting the lifeboats, getting the price of the necklace in the jewelry area, etc.). This took over an hour and filled the open time in their schedule very well.  We took this picture of them as they were leaving us with their assignment.

After lunch at what the kids now refer to as "the grazing area" of the ship, we played cards until they could take a few more runs down the 115-ft. water slide.  

Following that, they played another round of putt-putt.  They had decided we would have dinner in the main dining room tonight to get one last serving of the warm chocolate melting cake.  Our waitress, Alma, has served us the whole cruise, and she was lots of fun.  This is a photo of her serving us our final warm-chocolate-melting-cake of the cruise.

After dinner we went to see two different comedy shows, both very good.  This ended a very busy day at sea.  These kids really know how to plan a day's activities!  Tomorrow morning we end the cruise portion of our trip, but we begin two days of fun in New Orleans.  We are not done yet, so stay tuned.

Tuesday : Mayan history day

By 9:30 this morning we had eaten breakfast and were on an air-conditioned 57-passenger bus headed for Chichen Itza.  The ship had docked this morning at Progreso in Yucatan.  Progreso boasts of having the longest pier in the world, but in spite of its size, the pier could be better described as "under construction". That did not bother us since we were not spending the day in Progreso.

Our guide on the bus was part Mayan, dispelling the rumor that this group of people no longer exist.  He gave us excellent information about the Mayan culture and the Chichen Itza site during the two-hour bus ride.

Basically, the roads were very good for rural Mexico, with some quirks, like speed bumps here and there on the main highway.  We made one comfort stop during the trip, and when we got back on the bus we were given a bag lunch and bottle of cold water.  The sandwich was good, along with the other items, but we were most interested in the "Sabritas" (potato chips).  We thought it appropriate to take a photo of Sabrina with the Sabritas.

We passed through the large city of Merida, with a population of one million.  We even saw a Wal-mart there.  After that we were in a rural area most of the rest of the trip.  There were no mountains in this area of Mexico, and the land was extremely flat.  We drove through small villages where the housing was fairly primitive.  Many of the houses had roofs made from reeds. It was easy to see how a major hurricane could devastate an area like this.  One village had a local school where the students were outside playing soccer.  Soccer players Maggie and Sabrina took note of that.

Finally we arrived in Chichen Itza, the largest and most famous archaeological site in Yucatan.  Our tour took us to many fascinating structures, but we were told that what we could see today was only a tiny part of all the structures yet to be uncovered In the area.   We took the once-in-a-lifetime picture of Samuel, Maggie and Sabrina in front of the temple of Kukulcan.  How impressive!  This structure has 91 steps to the top (sorry, no climbing) and is 24 meters high.  Do the math to change meters into feet.

Then the kids wanted to take the traditional jumping shot at that location.

They posed by the structure used for human sacrifices.  From the direction Maggie and Sabrina are pointing, apparently they choose Samuel for the family sacrifice. 

 However, before the girls could carry out this plan, it was time to return to the bus, and eventually to the cruise ship.  We were all tired from the day's activities, so we spent the remainder of the evening in the area of the various food stations.  We played games and ate various foodstuffs (including salads, fruit and other healthy items) off and on for about four hours before retiring to our rooms for the evening.  The ice cream consumption during this time period was at an all-time high.  Vacations and unlimited ice cream on cruise ships make an unbeatable combination for teenagers.  

Tomorrow will be a day at sea as we make our way back to the port of New Orleans.  More exciting events ahead for tomorrow...and perhaps even some more ice cream!

Monday: Docked at Cozumel, Mexico

Apparently the late-night pizza run last night was successful, but it was a bit more difficult getting everyone awake this morning.  We enjoyed room service breakfast.  One of the special treats of being on a cruise ship is that room service meals come with no extra charge, and it is extremely convenient for in-port days.

Today we docked at Cozumel.  At the end of the dock was the Three Amigos Restaurant and Bar.  We did not stop in that establishment, of course, but could not resist taking a photo of our three amigos by the sign.

For a shore excursion in Cozumel, we had chosen a semi-submersible boat trip.  We went down into the boat where there were windows all around, giving excellent views of the underwater life. Fortunately, the boat was far from full, so we had unobstructed surround-views.  Good job!

The guides took us to a shallow coral reef where among other underwater life we were able to see a giant spotted ray.  Even our guide was impressed with this sight, as he took photos like the rest of us.

Unfortunately, fish do not stop to pose for photos, so many of my pictures were blurry, but it was an excellent trip.  Our "three amigos"  oohed and aahed when we passed schools of beautiful colorful fish or other sea creatures. 

After viewing the shallow reef, we went to deeper water which had completely different sea creatures and types of coral.  We floated past scuba divers on an excursion.  

About an hour and a half later we returned to the dock where we purchased shaved ice and sat in beach chairs to enjoy the treat.  For those of you who think I should occaionaly put in a photo of myself, here is a self-portrait of me in Cozumel.

I as not alone.  Everyone else also enjoyed a shaved ice.

The girls did shopping in Cozumel, but Samuel and Olen were able to enjoy the shopping experience much faster than the girls, so they returned to the ship earlier than the rest of us.  When the girls finished their shopping, the three of us walked back to the ship and went to the snack bar area for lunch.  We found Samuel and Olen there, having just finished a hamburger and ice cream.  The girls and I picked up a variety of items for our lunch and ate with the guys.

After lunch we sat on the deck for a while enjoying the beautiful blue waters around Cozumel.

So, it was "good-by" to Cozumel.  What a lovely day.  We look forward to Progreso tomorrow.

Saturday: Begin at the beginning

We left north Alabama at dark-thirty, and by late afternoon we were on a cruise ship leaving the port of New Orleans headed for Mexico.  But, we are getting ahead of ourselves.  

The trip to New Orleans was fairly uneventful, thanks to hand-held electroinc games, kindles, and a coloring book with markers.  A movie called Big Hero Six contributed to the quiet in the truck, as did the numerous games of tic-tac-toe.  Apparently the "cat" is better at this game than any of the grands.

While riding, the game of "I am going to Grandma's housse and I am going to take..." was adapted to our situation by changing the name of it to "I am going on a cruise and I am going to take..."  They went through the entire alphabet, naming many things that would neither fit in our suitcases nor be allowed on the ship.

The kids debated the attributes of cherry sours and did an in-depth comparison of Dollar General's cherrry sours as opposed to Walmart brand.  FYI:  Dollar General won hands-down.

Once we were on the ship, we went to  our staterooms, unpacked, and explored each deck as much as possible.  Many "selfies" were taken and the entire ship was thoroughly digitally recorded.

The top-rated food at dinner was the dessert, which was "warm chocolate melting cake".  What is not to like about that?

  Following dinner, we found a table where we could play card games that was within walking distance of the 24-hour ice cream.  Yes, we finished the day with softserve ice cream, even after the "warm chocolate melting cake".  This is spring break...and a vacation...and we are currently operating under "Grandma Rules"...

You can never know everything

As it turns out, there IS internet on our ship, but it is not strong enough to support posting a blog with photos, so we will attempt to post when in port.  Sorry for the inconvenience, parents and others, but this type of thing happens in blogworld.  We are having a wonderful time, just can't share it right now.

Time to set sail

“When is your next trip?”

Now we have an answer.

If you read this blog occasionally, you may remember that it is our plan to take a small group of our grandchildren on a special trip with the two of us when the children get in the old-enough-to-take-care-of-themselves category, but not in the old-enough-to-have-a-job-category.  (It is a small window of time.)  We took Jacob and Bailey with us on two trips several years ago…one to New England, and another one to Ohio to campaign during the last presidential election.  We took Emily, Kara and Lacey Beth on a whirlwind week-long trip to Italy in the spring of 2012.  We knew it was time to start planning a trip for Samuel, Sabrina and Maggie, but we had no idea what we might do or where we might go with them.

And, suddenly we got a message about a 5-day cruise that sounded interesting…and affordable.  This cruise is to the western Caribbean and leaves from the port of New Orleans.  It makes port stops in Cozumel and Progresso, giving us an opportunity to see the famous Chichen Itza ruins on a day-tour.  We will also have a couple of days to explore New Orleans before returning home.

We are scheduled to leave on Saturday, March 21 (tomorrow!), and we will be gone during their spring break week.  We always try to make a family experience out of announcing these trips, so on a very cold and snowy day in late February we called the whole family in to make the big announcement.  A cruise sounded like the perfect choice for this year since our winter weather has been slightly challenging, at best.

Please pray for us to have a safe and enjoyable trip with these young people.  We plan to update this blog daily and post photos while we are gone.  Keep in mind that internet on a ship is only semi-dependable.

This picture shows Maggie, Sabrina and Samuel on the day of the “big announcement”.  We would be honored if you choose to read about our trip as we enjoy our days with these precious young people during their spring break.

Another day...another hike

So sorry:  Once I got home I realized that one of my posts was still in the "draft" file.  So, here it is…better late than never, I guess.  This is the post from September 3…and having read this post makes some of the comments on September 4 make a little more sense I suppose.  Oh well, these things happen.



After our usual grab-what-you-can breakfast, we headed for the train station for a ride to Wengen.  Once there we explored the area a few minutes, and Norm and Tabatha had time to set up the large chess set in the recreational area.

We rode the lift from Wengen to Mannlichen where we enjoyed a fantastic view of the Alps and also a breathtaking view of the Lauterbrunnen Valley.  We took more pictures from that spot than we care to count, but it was a perfect place to set up group and couple shots.  

However, it was very cold there so early in the morning, and after we had taken pictures we retreated into a lovely new restaurant that made the best use of the view.  Hot chocolate for everyone!

After we were refreshed with the hot chocolate, it was time to set out on the one hour and forty-five minute hike from Mannlichen to Kleine Scheidegg.  At least that was what the sign said.  For our group with all our camera gear, to took us close to four hours. 

 We took several interesting shots along the way, including this one of Barbara Jo in the distance.

We stopped many times to pose for photos...and rest.  Sometimes we set up shots just for fun.  (Do you see Olen in the picture?)

Then there was the "girl shot".

We stopped and ate our picnic lunches at a fairly scenic spot.  How wonderful it was to share our lunches surrounded by such natural beauty and wonders.

Shortly after lunch, Norm decided he just had to leave the marked trail and climb a mountain to see what the view would be from the top.  It was definitely a steep climb, the type where he had to dig in his hiking pole with one hand and pull himself up with the other hand.  It was definitely an adventure, even though he never reached the top.  About three-quarters of the way up he ran into a covey (flock? bevy?) of marmots or rock badgers.  The first one that saw him sounded the alarm to the others, which rattled Norm's confidence somewhat.  However, the adventurer he is, he continued upward until he got into an area that was claimed by a herd of ibex.  If you are not familiar with this animal, it is about the size of a very large deer with extremely large horns.  To make a long and extremely funny story shorter, a single ibex spotted Norm, called his friends and immediately began charging toward Norm.  As we watched, laughing hysterically, Norm bolted down the mountain in leaps and bounds, probably jumping over some of the same rock badgers he had seen on the way up.  Thankful for his extremely long legs, he finally reached the hiking trail and safety.  The rest of us, and many strangers on the trail which we did not know and hope we will not meet again, were still laughing when he arrived on level ground.

Back in Lauterbrunnen we discovered that today was the day of their once-a-year street fair.  This called for some shopping time.  Tabatha bought a Swiss cowbell, and Bonny found a lady who told her she could have anything she could put in the basket for the price of only eight Swiss Francs.  Of course Bonny could not resist that bargain!   

After shopping, we decided to go to dinner at the Hotel Oberland an enjoy true Swiss food.  We talked them into seating us on the front porch looking out on the street scene of Lauterbrunnen with the Alps in the background.  Beautiful!  We ordered rosti, which is basically potatoes, cheese, other meat and vegetable items baked and served on a very hot plate.  The food was great and the view and the company was super!

We ended the day as usual with a stop at the local grocery for foodstuffs for our lunches tomorrow and dinner for tomorrow night.  Of course we also had to buy our Magnum bars to eat on the climb up the hill back to the chalet.  Before darkness set in, we posed for a photo sitting on the bench in the backyard of the chalet with the waterfall in the background.  We have so much to be thankful for today...not the least is that Norm was not eaten by wild beasts.

Sunday: Sundays are always special

As soon as we got on the ship yesterday Olen secured a room for us to use for our worship service on the Lord's Day.  It was too late for him to get an official announcement in the daily bulletin, but he made signs and posted them at a couple of spots on the ship.  We were afraid not many would find out about the service, but we assembled in our assigned place promptly at 9 AM.  Our assigned place was the Romeo and Juliet Lounge.  That sounds strange, but the lounges are not in use on ships early on Sunday mornings, and this lounge was off to itself, with confortable seating, and very quiet.  We liked it very much.  The girls and I prepared the communion and Olen greeted the guests.  We were thrilled to have thirteen people present for our worship service.  They were all very friendly and complimentary of the service and expressed gratitude for the opportunity to worship with us.  Olen directed the service and Samuel assisted him with Bible readings and passing the items at communion.  It was an uplifting service and an opportunity to study with others on the ship.

Following our worship service we took some more time exploring the ship, ending up near the location of the 24-hour pizza, which turned out to be the popular choice for lunch.  We settled ourselves at a table where we could graze the food islands and play card games at the same time.  We eventually added salads, deli sandwiches and other items to our lunch diet...of course topped off with a serving or two from the 24-hour ice cream machine.

The kids spent part of the afternoon trying out the 115-foot long, two-story water-slide at the salt-water pool.

After washing the salt-water off, they tried putt-putt (very difficult on a moving ship with the wind blowing) and shuffleboard.  Then look tough, don't they?

Samuel wanted to play the giant chess game, but three of the pieces were missing at the time. Dinner was the ship' formal affair...lobster and prime rib, and of course warm chocolate melting cake as one of the dessert options.

Following dinner we attended a performance by an on-board comedian. His presentation included comments about Grandmas who are on Facebook embarrasing their grandchildren.  This series of comments put our kids rolling on the floor with laughter.

More pre-bedtime games before we retired officially, but the grands had other plans.  They wanted to "sneak out" at 11 PM an go for more pizza.  Since the "sneaking out" part had been run by us for approval, and since they are now more familiar with the layout of the ship than we are, we decided it would be an acceptable adventure for them.  So, their day ended with an adventure.

What a blessing it is to share these days with these precious young people.