Hope For The Holidays again this year!

Many of you may remember last year when Vic's dear friend Sue was in the hospital fighting for her life against cancer. I blogged about it here: http://whathollyhasseen.blogspot.com/2010/12/hope-for-holidays.html and here: http://whathollyhasseen.blogspot.com/2010/12/hope-for-holidays-in-action.html and here: http://whathollyhasseen.blogspot.com/2010/12/second-visit-hope-for-holidays.html.

Well a year has gone by and Susans children continue the hope.....

Kids Hold Sleeping Bag Drive In Mother's Memory « CBS Sacramento


*an update on our local homeless people in Venice, Fl is sad...right before Thanksgiving they were kicked off the land that they were staying on and have been re-located to parts unknown as of right now. http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20111020/ARTICLE/111029960?tc=ix

Thanksgiving Crab

This Thanksgiving was very different from any other that I've experienced in my 44 years. We didn't have games before dinner, we didn't have turkey, dressing , noodles or even my moms famous 7-up salad. She always told us one day we'd be sorry that we teased her about it every year and we'd miss it....yep..I missed it!!

My older sister and her family went to Missouri to spend Thanksgiving with her husbands family this year. My dad moved to TN a few years ago and doesn't come back for the holidays. My younger sister spent the day with her boyfriends family. Vic was home sick in bed. So I went up to my mom and Greg's (her significant other) house. Two of their tenants  joined us and we had a crab boil out by the water (which is also their front yard..so it's pretty cool)  I think it was almost 80 degrees out and everyone walking by had on shorts...so it was a beautiful day to be outside saying thanks to the spirits for all that we have.

We had crab legs and shrimp, sausage, potato's,carrots and onions, chocolate sheet cake, pumpkin pie and corn on the cob (mom cut my corn off for me because ever since my days in braces I have not eaten corn on the cob....I love that she spoils me this way even at 44 years old!)  Dinner was yummy, the conversation pleasant and the view ...priceless.

I left just in time to catch a beautiful sunset on the beach for my drive home...A very different Thanksgiving but one I'll always remember. I hope that your holiday was just as memorable and spent with those that mean the most.

Back from Ecstasy

We are back from our cruise!

I am so thankful that Vic did so much research before we left. I have been on several cruises before but learned a lot from doing a little homework before taking off! We saved a lot of money by parking at the Radisson and taking a shuttle over to the ship. ($5.95 per day vs $15 a day)

Getting on the boat was a breeze. We were in our rooms by 1:30 and ready to go explore the boat. We had the early dining with eight other people. It was nice to meet fellow cruisers and we ran into them all over the ship! Several of us had a common interest in the Casino!

The food was not impressive but we did not go on the boat for the food. I was just thrilled that we could have someone else decide what was for dinner for so many meals! No cooking, no clean up, sounds good to me!

I was very impressed that everyone called us by name. It was even more impressive because I didn't do much of the ordering, Vic did...yet they knew my name and remembered it every time they saw us! Not sure how they managed this, but I liked it.

Our ports of call were Nassau and Freeport. We found a nice man named Albert to show us around Nassau. We did the tour and then stopped in a few of the shops for the items we wanted to buy. It was very busy and we were tired from the late night before so we headed back to the boat after a few hours.

Freeport: We paid for an excursion prior to taking the cruise. It was a boat ride over to the shopping district (Lucaya) The boat ride was a bit rough but we really enjoyed it! (Light rain and all) We saw dolphins, nice houses, we watched our guide do a killer limbo! Go to my youtube page for videos of that (the link is at the top of my blog). We ate breakfast at a little place and I enjoyed some coconut french toast.

We heard from several people that they were offered drugs when they got off the boat in Freeport...this wasn't our experience though.

We had a great time at the shows, in the casino and just walking around the boat. I won a ship on a stick by participated in a Family Feud style game show. It really is true that the more you get involved the more fun you have! Some of our best times were watching Karaoke, there were some GREAT voices among our sailing mates.

We are planning our next cruise now..can't wait to go again! It was so sad to leave this morning.

More photos from our trip:

Dogs in Hats!

Scout in his Birthday Hat

Dog at the Doxie Derby in his colts visor

Scout in his sun visor

Scout in his Boston ball cap

Posted because we saw this adorable blog: 

http://fourleggedviews.blogspot.com/2011/11/hat-challenge-and-contest.html

Come Sail Away

We sail in 15 days!!!
We've gotten our passports, inspected our luggage, ordered a few items from amazon.com that we think will come in handy. We've downloaded and printed a packing list we found on http://www.cruisecritic.com/ , watched every youtube video out there that has our ship in it. Made arrangements for the furchildren. We've been shopping for clothes, shoes, watches, etc. Now all that is left is the wait...

This will be my fifth or so cruise and Vics first. We are going to the Bahamas....where have you gone and what helpful hints do you have for us?

One of the most helpful videos I've found is right here: