Home Sweet Home

No - this is not my home sweet home! But was a good substitute for 5 days~

Cool looking boat. Can you guess where I took this picture?

My precious niece, Campbell. This is my favorite dress of all time. Behind her is a pack (?) of flamingos in their natural habitat. But, as you can see I photographed the important subject!

This was a tough day. This was at the very back of the ship. It was a very restricted area, but they allowed us to come down there for part of my Aunt's ceremony. You can kinda see my cousin, Kim throwing my Aunt's ashes off the ship. It was a special time and I know that Carolyn would have been pleased with how everything went.

This is Jake - my cousin Scott and his wife Emiko's son. He is sooo cute and only 10 months old - but a big boy!

This is Taylor swinging Campbell in the pool in Progreso. She loves swimming!

Caught some brotherly love going on. This is Max and Spence - Kim's boys (Kim is my cousin - Carolyn's daughter) . Looks like Campbell isn't sure what to think about sibling rivalry - that will come..

Max learning safety rules - I think Kimbo wanted the boys to wear these the entire time they were one the cruise. They are very active and we were all a little nervous they might bounce their way right off the ship.

Spence learning too. Spence was not quite as active b/c he had a stomach bug and had to spend 4 out of 5 days in his cabin - poor little guy.

Yesterday I got back from a 5 day cruise with my mom and her side of the family. This was the cruise that my Aunt Carolyn had originally planned, but passed away

shortly before it.

There ended up being 20 of us on the cruise. We had a great time getting to spend time together. I had a cousin from Houston, one from Kansas, and one from Japan. My brother, his wife and my niece went. My Aunt and Uncle, Cousin's wife's parents, Aunt's x-husband's sister and her husband ;-)....anyways - a lot of people were able to go. I have never been away by myself with out either Luke or the kids. I was gone for 6 VERY long days. Even though it was hard to be away from the family for that long - I really needed a break and know that it did me good. My mom gave me a great book that her Bible study teacher wrote. It is called Tune In by Jan Hatmaker. It's about hearing God when you live a crazy-busy life - right up my alley. It was a great book and I highly recommend it. Jan is hilarious and the book is an easy read. I loved being able to relax and have time to focus on Him.

We went to Cozumel and Progreso. In Cozumel we did a little shopping and then we took a bus to the beach. The water was clear blue and more importantly - the sun was shining! It was about 85 degrees and beautiful.

In Progreso we took a private tour. So much to tell - when I get all the pictures up I will go into more detail as to where we went.

Needless to say - Luke was VERY glad I was home. All the kids were still breathing and I don't think any blood was shed (but Luke might have paid them to be quiet ;-). Ryder looks a little rough - his left eye is black, a gash on his forehead and a bump on his right side of his head. Just the normal signs of a toddler.

I had an awesome time and look forward to cruisin' again...with mi familia!