Thursday, January 31, 2013

January Art

Acrylic with Marker:

Collage with Acrylic and Pencil:

Collage:

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Carnival Glory

Saturday:  We had 3 hour early morning flight to Atlanta Georgia,  with an hour layover, we had to walk from concourse A to B.  We a 2 hour flight to Miami.  Dad went to open mom's carry on bag and peanuts spilled out of her bag all over on of the plane chairs.   An old lady went to sit in her seat on aisle 16 and another lady was sitting there.  Turns out they had the same first and last name!  How weird.  When we landed, we were waiting for dad to get a luggage cart, and this lady behind us says,  "One way or the other.  Beep Beep!"  I just had to laugh at how rude she was.  We ran into Torch, one of our former neighbors in Layton, who now lives in Coconut Grove.  We took the metro rail to the rental car center and got our car.  We stayed the night at the Ramada Miami Airport North.  The Westland mall is across the street, so we walked through there and ate at Chili's for dinner.  Then we went to Walmart and got some breakfast items for the next day.





Sunday:  After breakfast, we went to Walmart to buy stuff for the boat.  We checked out of our hotel and returned our rental car.  We took a cab from the rental car center to the port, which costs $25.  We got on the boat, after waiting an hour in the VIP lounge, checking in and waiting for our sail and sign cards to be delivered from another area.  When we got to our cabin 8343, our luggage was there, waiting for us.  We ate lunch on the lido deck. I tried the new pizza from Pizza Pirate and some Mint Chocolate Cake.  We unpacked and booked our excursions through the TV.  The safety briefing was at 4 PM.  I sat on the balcony while we sailed away from Miami.  We went to find our table, 376, in the Platinum Dining Room, which is a table for 4.  For dinner I had the fruit plate,  a Caesar salad,  Sweet and sour shrimp, and the Black Forest cake.  We headed for the Amber Palace, where Dad played turbo trivia, we watched 60 seconds or less, which is Carnival's version of Minute to Win It.  Then we watched Family Feud.





Monday:  Our first full day at sea.  After breakfast,  we went to the Fun Ashore Fun Aboard talk with Josh and the Shopping Talk with Jay.  We walked around the photo shop and had lunch on the lido deck.  I had peach cobbler and some fried Mac and Cheese with a salad.   It was our first formal night.  For dinner, I had the Greek salad, the strawberry bisque, the prime rib, and the warm chocolate melting cake. The waiters sang to "That's Amore."  We had our photos taken with a white backdrop.  A little toddler girl kept running in front of the cameraman and putting her dress over her head, which made us laugh while we posing.  After dinner, we went and saw the family friendly comedy show of Eddie Clark. We went to the show, Motor City, in the Amber Palace.  The performers taught us a dance to do, during the song, "Rockin' Robin."





Tuesday:  We docked in Cozumel, Mexico.  This was my fourth time, being here.  We were docked with the Carnival Triumph,  Liberty of the Seas, and Mariner of the Seas.  We walked around the port shops, collecting the freebies from Mom's coupons in her Fun Finds book.  We got Disney t-shirts at the Del Sol.  We walked downtown, which is about 2 miles.  We went to the new Punta Lagosta Mall, where the Carnival Glory and Jewel of the Seas were docked.  All of the vendors kept yelling out to Mom, they had free parking for her wheelchair in their shops.  We took a taxi back to port, which costs 7 dollars.  We ate lunch on the lido deck, where I had a burger from Guy Fieri's Burger Joint and some Banana Cream Pie.  After my nap, I went out on the balcony and saw a guy in his towel on the Triumph.  For dinner, I had the fruit plate,  the Southern Fried Chicken, and the Diet Lemon Cake.  After dinner, we went and saw the family friendly comedy show of Butch Bradley.  He reminded me of Conan O'Brien.  We went to the show, Latin Nights, in the Amber Palace.  We went to the photo shop and got the photo we had taken as a family.









Wednesday: We were supposed to dock in Costa Maya, Mexico, but the weather was so bad, they couldn't dock because of high winds and waves going over the dock.  We each got refunded $11.33 for country taxes.  It was a surprise day at Sea. We walked around the shops.  Mom got some postcards and necklaces.  We sat on the lido deck by the aft pool for a while.  We ate lunch in the Golden Dining room, because we had a free drink voucher.  I got a raspberry smoothie, the clam chowder,  a chicken Caesar salad, and the vacation sundae.  For dinner I had the peach chilled soup,  the farfalle with turkey and peas, and the Bitter and Blanc.  After dinner, we went and saw Hasbro: The Game Show.  They played Sorry Sliders and Operation: Sam Dunk.  A young Asian child picked the Battleship card for his prize and when the cruise director asked him why he picked that card, he said, "To fight the Japanese."  Josh was speechless and kept laughing.





Thursday: We docked in Mahogany Bay on the island of Roatan, which is part of Honduras.  This was my second time being here.  We were here from 7 AM to 3 PM.   We went on the "Best of the Island Tour," which had a late start because the tour guide was late.  We drove east on the island to The View.  We drove to Punta Gorda, where some kids were holding a big snake on a hook, they planned to cook and eat.  We drove to the West Bay and went through the shops and stood on the beach.  Throughout the tour, we saw many free roaming dogs sleeping by the street.  After the tour, we walked through the port shops.  Dad bought a wooden bench, carved with homes, and mom bought a Mahogany wooden carved bowl.  We ate lunch on the lido deck.  I had Chicken Tacos and the Key Lime Pie.   The captain made an announcement about high winds and having to shut off the outer decks.  After our nap, Dad came back to our room and asked if we had felt the ship list again like it had done on the Liberty last year.  We said no, wondering why there wasn't an announcement from the Cruise Director.  We watched "The Game of Love," we had missed, on TV.  For dinner, I had the fruit plate, shrimp and fries, Chocolate/Raspberry/Vanilla cake.  We went to karaoke and Dad got up and sang "Kokomo" by the Beach Boys.  We then went and saw the Divas Show in the Amber Palace.  Mom was sitting in her wheelchair under the fog machine.  Little pieces of plastic kept landing on her and burning her skin.  She moved back a row and after the show, she went to Guest Services and complained.







Friday: After breakfast, we went the shopping talk for Grand Cayman and got our tender stickers.  We tendered into Grand Cayman in the Cayman Islands.  We were out shopping from 10:30 AM to 12:30 PM.  Mom used her coupons from the Fun Finds book and got some bamboo socks, free charms, free refrigerator magnets, and a tanzanite necklace.  Dad went on the Coral Gables and Stingray Sandbar Tour at 1:00 PM, where he got to snorkel and swim with the stingrays.   Mom and I ate lunch on the Lido deck.  I had a beef burrito and some cherry cobbler. When we got back to the 8th floor, the hall and our room smelled like Gasoline.  We opened our balcony door and let it air out for a few moments.  We found out later, the aft pool had had a pipe burst and it flooded some of the cabins on deck 8.  Dad came back at 5 PM and thought he had lost his watch, but I found it in his snorkeling mask.  It was our second formal night.  For dinner, I had the cherry chilled soup,  The Chateaubriand, and the fresh fruit plate.  The waiters danced to "Gangnam Style."  We watched both the family friendly comedy shows of Al Romero, a Cuban-American, and Jerry Goodspeed, a ventriloquist.  We walked through the White Heat club, where later they dispatched the CERT team. I went and got some popcorn on the lido deck.  It was pretty stale and needed some butter.  I finished reading the book,  Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho.  








Saturday: It was our last full day at Sea.  After breakfast, I packed two suitcases.  We went to the shops and got 2 for $20 t-shirts, one for Grand Cayman and one for Cozumel.  While I was in the shop, I tripped over the wheels of one of the displays and almost landed on the wall of necklaces.  We attend the Ultimate Mind Game Challenge and I got 8 out of 20.  We sat in the lobby for awhile.  When we went back to our room, there was a fishing boat sailing passed us.  I finished reading the book, Veronika Decides to Die by Paulo Coelho.  We went to the punchliner brunch in the Platinum Dining Room.  On our way there, as I walking into the elevator, the door tried to close and smacked my arm and my hand.  For lunch, I had the Parpadalle Pasta and Churros with chocolate dipping sauce.  The waiter at the service station next to me dropped some glasses and splashed me with ice water.  I got sauce all over my shirt and had to go change.  Jerry Goodspeed, the ventriloquist, performed again. Dad and I went and saw Hasbro: The Game Show, where they played Yahtzee Bowling and Simon Flashers.  For dinner, I had the Mango Chilled Soup,  The Panko Crusted Shrimp, and the Grand Marnier Souffle.  The waiters sang, "Leavin' on a Fun Ship" and did an encore of their dance to "Gangnam Style."  We went to turbo trivia and I got 10 out of 19 correct.  We went to the Q & A with the cruise director, Josh.  Mom asked him what the crew does for fun aboard and Dad asked him if all the captains are Italian.  We helped team 5 during the Scavenger Hunt.  I gave them a trivia sheet and Dad gave them his shirt and his belt.  We packed the other two suitcases and put them in the hall to debark.









Sunday:  We got off the boat after eating breakfast.  We were in port with Carnival Valor and Carnival Breeze.  We took the Alamo shuttle to get our rental car.  We then drove up to Ft Lauderdale.   We got groceries at Walmart. We walked around the Sawgrass Mills Mall and I bought two books.   We drove around the cruise ship port and the Beach in Ft. Lauderdale.  We checked into the Ramada Airport North.  We had dinner at Di Piazza, a local pizza restaurant in Miami.








Monday:  We woke up and checked out of our hotel, returning the rental car to the airport.  We had 2 hour flight to Atlanta Georgia,  where we had a 2 hour layover.  We had to ride the train from concourse B to concourse F.  We ate lunch at The Varsity.  We had a 4 hour flight to Salt Lake City.  The plane showed the movie, Trouble with the Curve.