"Tis the Season to be JOLLEY!"

I have been really blessed that I have been able to stay home with my kids. This year, since all of my kids are now in school, I have become really active with the kids at school. Being room mom to both classes, as well as a board member with PTA. And while it does get hectic and overwhelming sometimes, it makes me feel like I am a contributing member of society. Since I do not work outside of the home. And I have also made some amazing friends.

This past week has been filled with organizing class parties, collecting money and shopping for class Christmas gifts for each of their teachers. Both of the girls had their parties on the same day. One was in the morning and one in the afternoon, which made for a tiring but fun day. I don't know how their teachers do it day in and day out. Here are some pictures of the festivities.

Emily in her Reindeer Hat she made.

A class full of kindergarten reindeer. Is there anything cuter?

Megan and her friends as Rudolph

We also had the Ward Christmas Party. The best guest of the night was of course....... Santa!

(It has been really warm here lately hence the shorts)

We are getting ready to head to Ohio for Christmas. I think my girls are in for quite an awakening as to what winter weather really is! My kids are hoping to see and play in some snow. Any bets as to how long that will last?! Merry Christmas!

Mariner of the Seas- What an amazing ship!

The Royal Caribbean Mariner of the Seas is an amazing ship. It is like a floating city. It has the capacity to carry 5,020 people (that includes the crew of 1,200) They said in the course of a week they serve 105,000 meas (that includes the crew) Isn't that the name of the game when you cruise anyway, to eat, eat, and then eat some more. And to work it all off, there is so much to do. Here is just a few examples of the fun to be had on the Mariner:

Dave on the Rock Climbing Wall

The Main Pool Deck

The Solarium adult only pool area

We never got in the pool but spent a lot of time in the hot tub

We also spent a lot of time in the lounge chairs with our books and magazines sleeping and watching the waves roll by

Dave Playing Volleyball on the Full Size Basketball Court

Nine Hole Mini Golf Course

The ice skating rink

(This picture was taken on the last full day of our cruise and I was just hoping my pants would still fit.....and they did.....somewhat?!)

You could also in line skate as well on the sports deck

Also the usual ping pong, shuffle board, arcade and many other ways to keep busy

The Savoy Theater was where most of the nightly entertainment was held. We saw some amazing guest performers during the week, and have not laughed that hard in a long time!

Formal night in the dining room.

It was fun to get all dressed up and have dinner with my Sweetheart!

The Royal Promenade

Our room overlooked this, as you can tell by the windows. This was the shopping center of the boat. It was also a great place for parades, parties, but most of all those late night cookie and cheesecake runs!

The Christmas Tree on the Promenade

It was fun to have the boat decorated for Christmas!

Each night during turn down service, our stateroom attendant would leave a chocolate mint on our pillow as well as have an amazing towel animal for you out of your pool towel. This was our favorite, a monkey wearing my sunglasses. There also was a swan, bunny, dog, stingray and other cute animals. It was fun to come back to our room after dinner and see what was waiting!

The ship was also filled with fantastic art work and statues. We dined on the Sound of Music Floor in the the dining room, so here is a statue of that. It was really cool.

This picture is a little closer up and you can see the painting of the children in the background.

Well this is my last post, although it appears first thanks to blogger. (Kind of bugs me) This was the most amazing vacation ever. It was everything I had hoped and waited for, for the 18 months it took us to save the money and go. I highly recommend cruising, and I can't wait to go again! (Unless you couldn't tell) The Mariner of the Seas was the best and we have made many wonderful and lasting memories!

Fourth Port of Call- Cozumel, Mexico

Cozumel from the pier

Other ships docked with us. You can see a Norwegian Cruise line in the background. That day we had 4 cruise ships in port which made for a lot of people!

Today was our day of shopping. The ship docked later in the morning, so we had a chance to sleep in a little bit. A lot of of our other mornings were a little early due to long excursions in ports. Sometimes I thought I would have to come home and take a vacation from our vacation.

We picked up some inexpensive t-shirts for the girls by the pier (thanks to a tip from a friend-Thanks Sara) and then took a taxi to downtown for our main shopping. I had forgotten what it was like to be in Mexico with the locals saying "Come in lady and see what I have for you, you like jewelry? Your husband can get you something for Christmas! Let me show you, let me show you." We shopped for a while, and got all the gifts we had come to get. Then we wanted to go to the beach.

We took a taxi to a beach called Paradise Beach. It was very beautiful and had lots to do. It made me wish we would have brought our swimming suits, but we lounged in the chairs and ordered some Chips and Salsa to share on the beach. I had to go to Mexico and try some authentic Mexican food. The salsa was fantastic and you could tell it was really fresh.

You could para sail or there were water trampolines and other water toys.

Or you could catch a boat at the pier and go snorkeling.

Or you could lounge in these great chairs with your MP3 player and listen to the waves under the beautiful palm trees and eat, which is what we did =)

We took a taxi back to the pier and called the kids for a little bit before we got back on the boat. We were thrilled to find out all was going very well at home. That night at dinner our captain said he would be holding the boat for a few extra minutes hoping that the 70 passengers still not on board would make the boat. Cozumel is pretty famous for watching some very drunk people run for the boat! =)

Third Port of Call- Georgetown, Grand Cayman

The weather was not the best today. It started out with a lot of wind and rain, but got better as the day went on. We had booked another local company for a day of snorkeling. We got got on a bus and were driven to the pier where they had their boat. On the way there we were told that there are 522 banks on the island. The guide said they also do a lot of laundering on the island as well....;-)

We got to the pier and got on our boat and headed to our first snorkel spot. We were on a large boat with about 12 other people. One of which works with Dave at JEA. How crazy is that? We ran into him on Formal Night on the boat as well. It is a small world.

The weather somewhat cleared and we snorkeled for about an hour in the first spot. Dave really enjoyed it and did very well. I struggled with the fact that I could not use my nose to breath. And I don't really enjoy the salt water all that much. When we go to the beach here I will go out and jump the waves but don't really swim. The seas were also very choppy. So I snorkeled for about 20 minutes and was done for the day. I used the rest of the day to soak of the Caribbean sun on the boat which was just fine by me. The captain of the boat got out and dived for conk shells. He cleaned out the conk and used it to feed the fish and stingrays. Then each couple on board got a conk shell from the bottom of the ocean to take home. Very Cool!

Dave enjoying the snorkeling even getting some underwater pictures.

We then left our first snorkel spot and went to Rum Point Beach and had lunch they provided Then we lounged on the beach. Sun, waves, a lounge chair and an MP3 player make a beautiful combination! The water is beautiful in Grand Cayman, that is one of my favorite memories of our trip. It was amazing!

Rum Point Beach

The Beautiful Water at the Beach

Some Island Humor- Click Picture to see it larger

After lunch we went out to Sting Ray City. It is a sandbar you can stand on and be in a sea of stingrays. The Grand Cayman Government closed it that day because of the rough seas but our captain decided to go anyway so we could see the sting rays. None of us were allowed off the boat, and while we were there a police boat sped out to meet us to make sure were were not getting into the water. They eventually asked us politely but firmly to please leave. We went to a nearby spot to snorkel with the stingrays and they watched us like hawks until we left.

The Police Boat at the Sandbar at Stingray City

(Click on the picture see the police boat better)

A guide with a stingray while snorkeling close to Stingray City. They are very soft and very smooth.

We had a great day and Dave got to see "Dory" and a lot of other fish. Did not spy Nemo though.

Second Port of Call-Ochio Rios, Jamaica

Mariner Docked in Ochio Rios, Jamaica

The landscape in Ochio Rios. Very beautiful!

Jamaica is a beautiful island with fun and colorful people. We docked in Jamaica and found our local tour guide we had booked, named Mark Morris of Mark Morris Tours. He was so fun and so knowledgeable we had a fantastic time. We traveled with a two other couples from Oxford, England.

Dave, Lori and Mark Morris of Marks Morris Tours

(Yes, I can't believe I am posting a full length picture of me in a bathing suit on my blog!) CRAZY!

The highlight of the day was climbing the 600 foot Dunns River falls. You basically make a human chain and a Jamaican local guides up the falls. It as so fun and very cold. The guides are extremely lively and fun, with their "Yah Mon, no trouble Mon".

The Guide who was taking our picture kept saying "Kiss your woman, Kiss your woman!" I know it is cheesy, but I think this picture is so cute!

Very Fun and Very COLD!

After the falls we went sight seeing, and then Dave and I went tubing down the White River. I wish I could have gotten pictures of that but I had no way to keep the camera dry. It was very beautiful though.

A beautiful beach in Jamaica during our sightseeing

When our tour guide picked us up, he had a fresh coconut for us to have some coconut milk. Very cool. Afterward he took us to his Fathers house, who makes pottery. This is very big in Jamaica. He showed us how the pottery comes to be, from beginning to end. After that Mark took us to a local joint for some authentic Jamaican Jerk Pork, and some rice and beans which they call peas and beans. Very spicy but very good.

After that we headed back to the boat after a long and great day soaking up some of the local flavors and colors of Jamaica.

That night we did not go to the dining room for dinner, but had a reservation to one of the speciality restaurants on board called Chops. It is a steakhouse and the food was out of this world. Easily the best steak I have ever had.

I was thinking about getting a baked potato but it was it was huge. Probably at least 2 lbs....I kid you not. It could have just been a meal in its self. Dave and I decided to share some mashed potatoes. We both had the 10 oz Fillet Mignon and topped off the evening with a piece of Mississippi Mud Pie that I am still dreaming about, and probably will be for a while. Some of the best money we spent the entire trip.

Our First Port of Call- Labadee, Haiti

Labadee is Royal Caribbeans private island in Haiti. The boat is to large to dock so they had to tender everyone to shore.

Haiti is very green and has mountainous. Very beautiful! This was our view out the window during breakfast.

We spent the day relaxing on the lounge chairs on the a beach called Dragon's Breath Beach. It was beautiful, and you could watch the people going down the zip line. It started on the mountain and then came out across the water. Dave and I were going to do it until we found out how expensive it for was for about a minute and a half of fun and decided to buy new camera instead to catch some great photos of our entire trip instead. That is just my practical side coming out I guess.

On the side of hill you can see the platform where the zip line begins. Click on the picture to make it bigger.

Someone on the Zip line over the ocean

The boat catered a barbecue lunch on the beach. And after lunch Dave with haggled with the locals for a hat. (see the below picture) The guy started at $40.00 and Dave ended up paying $8.00 for it. I look forward to the next time we have to buy a car or something to see if he can do it again! =)

What an amazing and relaxing day! Haiti was awesome!