Carnival Spirit

On December 17th, we got on the Carnival Spirit in Miami and went to Karaoke and the Welcome Aboard show.

For the first formal night, I wore my blue dress and we went to the comedy show, newlywed game and the travel plan talk. We also went to the Piano bar and sang songs. The cruise directors are Michael and Jeni Mullane, a husband and wife team, both excellent singers.

On December 20th, we docked in St. Maarten and went on the island tour bus ride and shopping. Vendors kept bothering me, asking me if I wanted my hair braided. The evening show was Singin' with the Big Band, a tribute to Sammy Davis Jr. and Frank Sinatra with Christopher Alan Graves.

On December 21st, we docked in Barbados and took an island tour bus. We saw the Knobby knees competition, the guest talent show and went to the Midnight buffet on the lido deck where we danced the Macarena, and Los Ketchup dance.

On December 22nd, we docked in Martinique. Dad went snorkeling while Mom and I walked into town and went shopping. We saw the Village Idiots Comedy show. For the second formal night, I wore my red dress. . We also watched Survivor and the "High Spirits" musical.

On Christmas Eve, Dad got picked to play trivia and got a ship on the stick for second place. They had a Christmas show with Santa and a comedian.

Today, we disembarked the ship and sat on Miami Beach. We also talked to Ryan on the phone on our way to the airport. It was the first time we got to talk to him since he left on his mission.

John Mayer

David Boreanaz

Island Park

To celebrate Mom's 47th birthday, we drove to Island Park and stayed at Uncle Don's cabin. We drove up to West Yellowstone and saw Oklahoma! at the Playmill Theatre.

Orlando

On July 19th, we flew to Orlando, Florida, with a layover in St. Louis. We went to the 192 flea market, Downtown Disney and Pleasure Island. We went to Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Animal Kingdom, and MGM. We went to the Maingate flea market, an outlet mall, and went miniature golfing. We ate at Sonny's BBQ.

Island Park

We drove up to Island Park on July 4th. You can tell you're in a podunk town, when you see 2 people racing each other on Tractors. Mom is still sick from her Vertigo. She gets really dizzy when she walks, so she has to hang on to one of us. It's about 70 degrees up here, so it feels good to get some clean fresh air. It's so peaceful.

We went to the Playmill Theatre in West Yellowstone and saw Deadwood Dick. It was a really good western play. During intermission one of the girls kept hitting Dad on the shoulder with her stack of programs just to be funny. This guy named Ryan gave Dad the dirtiest look when Dad told him he wanted some popcorn instead of fudge. We pointed out that we had already bought some fudge from him. After the play, we went and ate pizza at the Gusher and walked around the shops

Yesterday, We went to Big Springs to see the big fish. There wasn't many fish this year. A little girl dropped her toy off the bridge into the water and cried because she couldn't get it back as it floated downstream. We sent Ryan a postcard from West Yellowstone. We went back to West Yellowstone when we woke up from our nap. Mom bought a bear and a moose antenna topper for her car. We were driving back from the Hardware store and saw a pair of missionaries. Dad rolled down his window and yelled, "Yeah Elders!" They smiled and waved at us.

Anaheim

We drove to Las Vegas and stayed at the Excalibur on May 8th. We also went to the forum shops at Caesar's Palace.

We drove to California on May 9th and stayed at the Holiday Inn Select in Anaheim. We also went shopping at Downtown Disney.

On May 10th, we went the O.C. swap meet and walked through the ports of call shops at Long Beach before we picked up Ryan at the airport.

On May 11th, we went to Universal Studios and since it was Mother's Day, they gave Mom a rose.

On May 12th, We went shopping at the Block at Orange. I spent most of my money at Border's. We also drove to Huntington Beach. Mom and I found a lot of really big seashells.

On May 13th, we went to Knott's Berry Farm. It was practically dead. We wore our ponchos on the river raft ride.

On May 14th, we went to the NBC Studio tour. We saw Pat O'Brien from Access Hollywood and we got to see where they film Days of Our Lives and the Tonight Show. We also drove to the Santa Monica Pier and drove past Pepperdine University and the homes in Malibu.

On May 15th, we ate lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe in Newport Beach. We went shopping at Fashion Island.  We drove back to Las Vegas. We ate dinner at the Rio Carnival World buffet and stayed at the Best Western. On our way home today, we stopped in Mesquite and looked at condos. It would be nice to get out of the snow, but all there is to do there is to golf.

All in the Timing

Mom and I went and saw the play, All in the Timing for my humanities on the internet class. It was pretty weird.