A couple of nice photos

I know, three posts in less than a week. Quite a surprise, but I really wanted to put these two photos of our kids on here. These were taken during the cruise on one of the formal nights. We paid an extra $10 just to get them in their original digital format. I think they look very nice.

Winter Wonderland

We have more snow in our area than I can remember seeing, ever. Apparently there was more back in 1968 or 69, but I was only 3 or 4 and can't remember it. We currently have 15 inches of snow, which is a lot considering we are at the 200 ft level of Oregon. Oh, the Cascades get a lot more than this, but they are mountains. This is unusual for the valley floor.

Here are a couple of photos of our home and area.



Below is a little path I had to dig for our dog to get through to the bare area under the trampoline so she would go outside to do her business.

Back from another cruise

We have just returned from another cruise. This one was on the Carnival Legend and my parents went with us. Since the Legend makes port at Tampa, Florida, we arrived a day early and visited Busch Gardens Theme Park. Also, the itinerary for this cruise was a little different, we visited two new areas, Belize and Roatan Honduras, along with two of the standard ports, Grand Cayman and Cozumel Mexico.

Busch Gardens
The trip to Busch Gardens was a blast. They have some of the better roller coasters there. One of them hits 70 mph and starts by dropping you straight down. We always enjoy seeing he animals and they have a very nice area for the smaller children.




Grand Cayman
We spent the day on 7 Mile Beach. It was a warm day and I spent most of the time in the water. The girls had a good time playing in the water and digging in the sand. All in all, a nice relaxing day.




Cozumel, Mexico
At Cozumel, we tried out the all inclusive private beach "Nachi Cocom". It was much better than we expected. The food was fantastic, the drinks were plentiful (we drank a lot of virgin daiquiris). The fresh water pool was a lot of fun and the beach was excellent and nearly deserted. We got the girls hair braided here, which they loved.



Belize
In Belize, the weather had started to turn. The seas were rougher and all of the beach and snorkeling trips were canceled. We had already booked an inland tour however, so everything was fine. We went to a nice private ecological preserve. There was a beautiful pool there and we toured their excellent butterfly habitat. They also provided an decent meal of some traditional Belize foods. This consisted of a rice and bean dish (with some coconut), some spiced chicken, an interesting potato salad and several fruits including papaya and pineapple. It warmed up enough in the afternoon that the kids were able to partake of the pool, with its waterfalls and slide.



Roatan, Honduras
This is a gorgeous island. One of the most beautiful that I have ever been to. It is very green with lots of hills. They have 12 month growing season and we saw lots of fantastic looking produce. The weather was still acting up here. No rain, but lots of wind and rough seas. Again, the beach and snorkeling type tours were canceled, but again, we were lucky and had booked a horse back riding tour. This tour was excellent. We did not book it through the Carnival, but booked it ahead of time through the Roosmarie at www.barriodorcasranch.com. They took very good care of us and led us on a nice 90 minute tour of the West End of Roatan. It was very neat to ride the horses right through the quant little town. It was the highlight of our entire cruise.


The trip home was a little hairy. After 75 - 80 degree weather for an entire week, we returned to Oregon where it was 24 degrees. We had a nerve racking drive through the ice and snow, at midnight, to get home, but we made it. Here is a picture of the next morning.