Cruising!

Hello everyone! After a one year break from the blog, here I am. Matthew has graciously written the last several blogs to get us back up to date (a task far too daunting for his lazy lazy wife), so here is my attempt to KEEP us up to date! During the week of June 8th, I was able to take a week of leave to spend some time with Matt during his post-deployment leave block. Now, being not so hot at planning vacations, the week was quickly approaching with no plans made. Two days before my vacation was to start, we STILL didn't have anything on the books. Now, I'm not one to complain about lack of vacation plans...I am generally just happy to lay around at home and not work; but, Matt and I did want to take a real vacation (our first ever!). Thus began the last minute vacation search! We decided on....drumroll please....a cruise! Matt had been on a cruise before, but I hadn't, and well, who doesn't like the concept of eating like a piglet for 5 days and seeing some pretty sights!? Well, we got a great deal out of Long Beach that sailed to Catalina.

So on Monday, June 8th, the puppies headed to their temporary home at the vet's kennel, and we drove north to Long Beach. We arrived at the ship a few hours early, so we got on and enjoyed our "lunch" (by lunch I mean enough calories for several WEEKS), and waited for the ship to set sail. We participated in the normal safety drills and the ship got underway around 5pm.

Without regaling you with all the details of the 4 day cruise, I will give some highlights!

Day 1: Catalina- We dropped anchor in Catalina on Tuesday morning. To get to the island, we had to load up on teeny transfer boats (more about those later) and be taken into the docks. We went over with the plan to participate in a scuba tour in the afternoon, so we had a few hours to kill. We rented bikes and rode around the beautiful island for two hours. The most exciting part of our bike ride was riding up to the top of Avalon to the Wrigley Memorial. and Botanical Gardens. It was a long ride and the Bike Rental place failed to tell us we would need cash to enter the gardens. After finding the admission fee minus .50, I asked the "nice man" at the admission counter to the park if he had a military discount or some other such discount that might allow us to enter the park for $7.50 instead of $8.00. He laughed at me and made a sarcastic comment, for which I wanted to leap across the desk and strangle him. Sooo, I scrounged some more in the backpack and my wallet and came across the FINAL .50, so that we could actually go in.

We had a nice time looking around and climbing the monument. The view from the top overlooking the harbor was AMAZING. Once we finished up and rode back to the harbor we decided it was far too cold to do the snorkel tour (the water was 57 degrees and all you wore was a shortie wet suit) so we rented a sea kayak instead. We paddled our kayak around the island to a little private beach and looked for shells. I was there we found the biggest sand dollar I have every seen. See for yourself!!

If you ever have the chance to see Catalina, I definitely suggest you do.

Day 2: Ensenada- For several months, cruises were not allowed to take port calls in Mexico because of the swine flu scare. Originally, our cruise was not supposed to make a port call, but surprise surprise, when returned from
Catalina on day one we had a letter on our bed announcing that our cruise would be the first to make a port call in Ensenada in over two months! Because the locals and the excursion staff on the cruise weren't prepared, there wasn't much for us to do in Mexico. We got off the ship expecting to be able to go winetasting (nope), or to the beach (nope), or to take a horse ride (no, again); however, there was an excursion planned to the market and La Bufadora. I'm afraid I don't have too much to say about Ensenada except that I had the best taco of my LIFE at the market. Other than the tacos, the random retiree who befriended us, and a very very cute chihuahua puppy, the excursion was a bit of a bust, just because we were hoping for something a bit more exciting than shopping and looking at water shooting out of rocks.

Days 3 and 4: For the rest of the cruise we spend alot of time eating (who? me? NEVER!), reading, and just spending time with one another. It was nice to be totally disconnected for a few days...no cell phones, no computers, etc., and really be able to focus on one another. I think I can say that we came back refreshed, relaxed, and about 10 pounds heavier (no, I'm not joking).

I realized it took me over two months to post this blog and I am a little embarrassed about it! However, I am recruiting to my friends out in blog-land to keep me honest about updating this blog at least once a month. If you see I haven't updated (or you know we did something exciting that I'm not sharing!), email me or call me, and I will try my hardest to get on it! I'm looking forward to writing a few more blogs in the coming days to update you guys on July and August!

I would also like to take the opportunity in this blog to say "thank you" to all of our friends and family, who helped Matt and I get through his deployment (now that I am a little less emotional, and can do it without getting all weepy!). I am especially thankful to my "California Family"- friends who acted as family during the holidays and on those weekends when I just didn't want to get out of the house. You guys kept me occupied, laughing, and happy...essentials when you are counting down a very large number of days! Another thank you goes out to all of you who sent emails, motomails, letters, and packages to Matt in Iraq. I know that he really appreciated everything and enjoyed those little pieces of home when he could get them! It was a very hard 7 months, because being apart for that long just stinks, but with all the support we received from you guys, it went by a quickly as possible!

Bad Breath, Baseball, And Bathing Suits!

Bibs! Bibs were definitely a must as Rory and I found a new place to eat! It's called 'Auggie's House of Crab' on the Pacific Coast Highway. We haven't found a place that has Blue Crab on the west coast, UNTIL NOW! This place was AWESOME! Although they didn't use Old Bay Seasoning on their seafood, it was still very good! Together Rory and I ate a pound of Shrimp, a pound of Stone Crab Legs, a Blue Crab, an order of Steamed Mussels, Fries, and a small Salad. We wanted to make sure we were eating right so we ordered the salad instead of the soup, too many calories! We knew it was a good place to eat when the waitress was strapping bibs around our necks as we sat down. I didn't really think it was necessary and nearly took it off before we got our food, then I started eating..... keeping the bib on was a GOOD idea! After the meal I had seafood on my shorts, my face, my hands, my arms, basically everywhere! Thankfully Rory had done the same! I wasn't the only one. YES! Rory went to wash her hands after eating and came back from the restroom laughing. I asked her what she was laughing about and she pointed to her hair. Apparently when she was breaking open a crab, some meat flew into her hair. I think she was just saving it for later, at least that's my excuse for saving all the sauce on my lap! Anyway, that was our experience.

Now for the baseball! Big Brother Big Sister (BBBS) had a fundraiser for Operation Bigs, which is the BBBS program on base that Rory works for, in San Diego. The fundraiser was a huge success and raised $25,000! Rory had a Big and Little that were introduced and walked the game ball out to the pitcher's mound. It was really cool being able to see how happy they were to be out on the field! Rory and I had a great time at the game and did what we always do best, EAT! We had Phil's BBQ before the game, garlic fries during the game, and a snow cone (pictured right) after the garlic fries! We didn't stay for the whole game, mainly because neither of us are Padres or Phillies fans, but also because Rory had to work the next day. As you can tell from the picture, it's a normal June day in California! It has been really cool lately, not only at night, but during the day as well! Our seats were in the about 30 feet from the Denver section! At 5,250ft, we weren't at the highest seats, but very close! Anyway, it was a good time. So yesterday we

decided to go surfing since we haven't gone in a while. The waves decided they wanted to be difficult and not let us far enough past them to actually surf without being tossed about a thousand times! Fortunately we were finally able to make it out and try a couple waves. We still aren't 'great' by any means, but we are working on it! There were some waves that were a good size for learning, and then others that were a bit 'big' for us! As you can see from the picture on the left, we were able to get on a few waves and do our thing. Unfortunately for the little black dot (another surfer) right in front of that surfboard, we aren't the best at turning yet, and 38 stitches, 2 casts, and a new surfboard later, we are hoping to get out there again soon! If you're reading this and think that picture is Rory and I and think this story is real at all, then I'm sorry but you need to get to know us a LOT better! Actually, we can barely stand up on a wave and are holding off from taking pictures until we actually can! So that is it for today's blog! WE ARE FINALLY CAUGHT UP WITH LIFE! On the blog that is. It is completely up to date. If I left anything or anyone out of what we've done lately, than deal with it! I mean, sorry! Hehe! Thanks for reading and check back soon!

A post a day will keep me on here always!

Rory and I had a great start to our Memorial Day Weekend! We began by travelling to Virginia Tech for the wedding of our friends Amy & Jeff! They were married on campus at the 'Inn at Virginia Tech' where they both graduated from. It was a beautiful wedding and we were both extremely happy to be able to make it! We wish them the best and are happy to be with them at this mark in both of their lives. That weekend also marked the start of my post-deployment leave. Rory will be off the last week of leave, so we are planning on doing something during that week. Other than that, we are just trying to take it easy and continue doing what we've been doing. Rory has been doing a lot with work lately due to it being the end of the school year, so she is definitely deserving of a break as well! The dogs have
been working hard as well. As you can tell by the picture they have been trying to rest and catch up on the sleep they've been missing. They have such a hard time sleeping that they decide they should jump up into the bed and see if they can sleep better there. Somehow they always wait until we're asleep before getting in bed. I sometimes wonder if they know that when we're asleep, we can't tell them to get off the bed...hmm? Weird! Anyway, they are doing well and Boomer is even learning to catch the tennis ball when it's thrown to him! Sprite still hasn't learned the point of fetch yet. She believes more in the 'watch the ball leave mommy and daddy's hands so they'll be free to pet her' way of playing! She will be needing to go on a diet soon if she doesn't stop eating all of the food, then sniffing around like a little hoover searching for more food! Well, that's all for now! In the next post I'll be blogging about Shrimp, Snow Cones, Baseball, and surfing! Thanks!