Caribbean Cruise - Day 3 (Cozumel)

If you missed any of the other installments, you can find them here:

Day 1 - Boarding in Galveston
The Diet Soda Debacle
Day 2 - At sea

---------------------------------------------------------

Day 3 (Cozumel)

We decided to play a game with our room attendant.  He left us a towel dog watching cartoons, so the next morning we left the towel dog sleeping in the bed with a "Do Not Distub" sign:

Then we headed ashore in Cozumel, Mexico.  Outside the port we got in line for a taxi and got a ride to Chankanaab National Park.

First we watched the sea lion show:

We each got a kiss on the cheek from a sea lion too!  It was decidedly un-liability-paranoid-American the way they let us walk out across a slippery walkway to the stage and be right next to the animals like that.  But I don't have a photo because the only photo they allow is the one they took that they want you to pay an arm and a leg for.  I decided my memory of the event would just have to suffice.

We walked around some gardens and archaeological replicas, then went on a short tour of their dolphin encounter area.  Again, no photos allowed but here is a shot of one of the dolphins that I took before we went out on the tour:

The cutest part was the baby dolphin!  It was about 2 months old.  But mostly we got to watch other people (who I'm pretty sure must have had to leave their first born child as payment) get in the water and play with the dolphins.  It was actually pretty fun even to just watch.  Also on the tour were a couple of manatees.   Very cool.

After lunch on the beach, we rented some snorkel gear.

Warning:  From here on out, the photos are going to get even crappier.  Already we had only taken the point and shoot off the ship with us, but now the point and shoot is in a waterproof bag.

Here is a view from where we snorkeled of the cruise ships in the distance:

Here we are rockin' the snorkel gear:

This is me, G, in case you couldn't tell.

And this is M, in case you couldn't tell.

The snorkeling was gorgeous:

This was probably the clearest photo we got.  They just go downhill from here, sorry.  It was a partially overcast day, so most of the time there just wasn't enough light.

This is the other clear-ish shot.

Everywhere we went were a lot of these sergeant majors:

They were totally not afraid and would often swim along with us.  More than once they got so close we would end up bumping into them.

And there was totally a school of... something:

This photo is the best I could get. (If you saw the others, you'd think this one was pretty good.)

And then just when we felt like we'd pretty much seen everything and were going to head in, we saw an eagle ray:

It was a very fun day.

And in case we had so much fun that we lost track of the days, never fear!  The elevators back on the ship were always there to remind us of the day of the week:

The outside of the elevators were pretty cool too:

We finished the evening with some time in one of the hot tubs!

Meet Noel

A week before Christmas, my parents came home and found that a lamb had been born:

It's a girl, and since she was born so close to Christmas, they named her Noel.

The lamb was born to one of the more newly acquired sheep, and she must have already been pregnant when my parents got her.  Sorry Shaun, you're not the father...

We'll see, but it looks like most of the sheep are pregnant.  Some look ready any day now, so I think we'll be seeing a lot more adorable lambs over the next few months.  Squee!

Perfect Way to Spend a Cold Rainy Day

I didn't realize how much I missed hot chocolate tea parties with Claire now that she's outgrown them.  But today I rediscovered them with Kate:

Kate and I were stuck inside today while she waited for antibiotics to finish de-contagious-fying her strep throat.

The cups are so tiny they are almost impossible to hold.  Kate spills everywhere - the mess is horrific.  The tiny sticky teacups are a total pain to wash (by hand I might add). The hot chocolate is so full of creamer and vanilla syrup and marshmallows that it's practically like taking shots of syrup.

The only thing sweeter than the hot chocolate is Kate's excitement.

Totally worth it.

With a Drizzle of Crazy

Random weekday cake balls:

I seriously need school to start back up...

Caribbean Cruise - Day 2

If you missed any of the other installments, you can find them here:

Day 1 - Boarding in Galveston

The Diet Soda Debacle

Day 3 - Cozumel

---------------------------------------------------------

Day 2 - At Sea

Our stateroom really was quite comfortable, but let's talk about the bathroom.

I didn't expect anything huge, don't get me wrong.  In fact, it had more space than I expected what with the medicine cabinet and the shelf under the sink.

But the shower.

The shower was rough.

I mean, I understand that space is at a premium, but I enjoy being able to retrieve the soap if I accidentally drop it.  In this shower if the soap falls, then unless you are a contortionist, just let it go, man.  Just let it go.

I might be exaggerating slightly.  But it was definitely no walk in the park to try and figure out how to shave my legs in that thing.  Especially if I had any dream of not getting my hair wet.

But anyway.  Onto fun stuff.

After leaving Galveston, we spent the whole next day at sea.  We explored the ship a bit.  Here is the "main drag" inside the ship:

We did a few fun things around the ship, but not very much out on deck.  It was a very windy day. The wind made mini golf less a game of skill and more a game of luck!  (Thank goodness too, because if actual skill was involved, I probably wouldn't have beat M!)

We spent the day eating, reading, eating, exploring the ship, eating, watching the ice skating show, eating, looking at art, eating, watching a music and dance show, and eating.  Did I mention that the food was really really good?

Then we got all dressed up for the first formal night and went to eat some more!

The main dining room was pretty cool:

3 stories high!

We were on the 3rd floor in the "Sound of Music" dining room, with tables decorated thusly:

We got to watch these fresh alstroemerias open up in the vase on our table all week:

Because it was the week after Thanksgiving, the ship was all decorated for Christmas and it was really pretty:

When we came back to our room for the night, we saw the first of the towel animals our stateroom attendant left us - a little dog:

He was watching cartoons: