Day 4 Belize

Another early morning and let me tell you the wind was blowing hard today. I was either fighting to make headway or get blown down the track. Another thing I forgot to mention is using the GPS to track our miles didn't work so well on the ship because it also tracked the movement of the ship so I was doing 2.5 to 3 minute miles, threw us for a loop that first day but we ended up just using it for the time walked. Made for real interesting downloads of the walks when I got home.

Today I did four miles and because of that I was able to get my shower done and see the sunrise and it was one to see.


We pulled into Belize and because of their coral reef we had to tender. This was the boat that came out to the ship to bring us ashore. It was a very quick smooth ride.


While we were waiting for the rest of the people on our tour I happened to look over and who do I see but the gang getting off a tender and getting ready to get their picture taken.

Still getting off.

Ok that is Dennis bringing up the rear.

Now getting into position for the picture.

The rest of our tour finally arrived and we walked about 100 yards and it was time to take a bathroom break. Most of the people had just come from the ship, don't they plan ahead? I guess not because the break was about 15 minutes long. We were finally on our way and then we found out we would be riding on a school bus for our tour and that was an indicator of how our day went. We really couldn't hear the tour guide, so of course we just quit listening.

The next two pictures are pretty much what we saw for the next hour that we rode the bus, not very interesting or appealing.


She did pass around some of the local money which of course Dan is always interested in so he got some to add to his collection.


The chickens at our Sights and Sounds of Belize.


The dancers, they were pretty good and really looked like they were enjoying themselves but we were inside with no a/c so it was kind of uncomfortable. The one thing I could say was the bathrooms were very clean and that is always a pleasant surprise.

This was the only excursion out of the four we took that fell below our expectations so we were pretty pleased with that because you never really know what you are going to get when you sign up for a tour.

Our bus trip back was much shorter, we went a different route. This is the cemetary we passed on the way back.

Every corner seemed to have one of these carts selling stuff.

Got back to the ship and went to eat lunch, found out later we were all eating lunch at about the same time but didn't run into each other.

Spent some time wandering around the ship and then went to check out our photos and bought the ones we wanted.

Off to dinner and of course it was delicious. After, Guillermo kept us entertained with two forks and two toothpicks. He connected the forks together at the tines and put one of the toothpicks into the tines and used the other toothpick to balance all of that and then we passed it from person to person and everyone was able to do it with it falling. Found out this was quite a feat we accomplished because later in the week he tried it again and couldn't even get it through two people.



After dinner Dan and I were off to get some stamps for our postcards and we got down to guest services (deck 3) and realized we had no cash with us, so up the stairs to deck 10 and got our money and back down we went. Going down is nothing but that coming back up is a killer. I sure wish there were some hills in this part of Florida so I could get use to walking up.

Stay tuned, Costa Maya coming up next.

Day 3 Cozumel

Today we set our clocks back an hour but I ended up just staying on eastern time because for three days it wasn't worth trying to get use to the change. Dan changed his watch so we knew when we had to be at our appointed places throughout the day.

This meant I was up at 0445 ships time to go walking and this worked out really well because then I was done before six and didn't feel rushed to get ready to get off the ship.

Here we are pulling into Cozumel, did you know that Cozumel is an island off the coast of Mexico? I didn't until we starting planning this trip.

I always like the pretty color the water turns with the side thrusters are used and it is amazing just how easy the Captain makes it look when he is pulling the ship up to the dock.


The area where we got off the ship.

We got off the ship right after it docked, walked to the end of the pier and crossed over to another pier because we were taking the yellow boat to the mainland to visit the Tulum Ruins.

It took us about 45 minutes to get to Playa de Carmen. Forty-fine very long minutes, it was a very bumpy ride with the smell of diesel, but we finally arrived and all that was put behind us.

That's our bus up the street on the right.

We had about an hour ride to get to the ruins but Angel our tour guide made the time go by very fast with all his stories of the Mayans. Just so you know there are still Mayans in Mexico, a lot of them are 100% Mayan and speak one of the many dialects of Mayan.


This is the Mayan calendar which is set to end Dec 21, 2012, but that doesn't mean it is the end of the world just the end of that 5,000 year calendar.

Our first view of the ruins. It was a much larger area then I thought it would be and in very good condition.

Us, just before walking through the wall into the city.



Angel our guide, he was very passionate and knowledgeable about the area. Both of his grandmothers are full-blooded Mayan, so he learned the mayan language to communicate with them.

We learned so much that it is hard to remember. Buildings facing east to west were temples, if there was a thatched roof it was a dwelling. This whole area was mostly for religious activities.

There were iguanas everywhere we went and most of the ones we saw were pretty small.




Stairway leading down to the beach. After our tour of the ruins we could go to the beach but there was only about 50 minutes until we headed back to the ferry so Dan and I opted to walk around some more and then try some of the fish tacos. We were glad that we tried them but I don't think I will have them again, just not flavors that go together for me. Dan also tried one of the local beers, which he did at every port we pulled into. Had to get those beer caps for Jared.

And of course you can't get away from the good old USA.

Our trip back to Cozumel was much better because we were on a bigger, faster boat so it didn't seem so rough. Got back on board the ship at about 1730 and walked up the ten flights of stairs to the cabin, have I mentioned we walked a lot of stairs this weeks. Only took the elevator twice on the whole cruise.

Waiting for dinner.

Entertained tonight by the staff of the dining room, they sang and danced to "Won't You Be My Girl". As you can see Kim, Breann, and Michael were our dancers.

Another great day under our belt, can't wait to find out what happens tomorrow.

Cruise Days 1 and 2

Well we are back and it is time to start telling the story of our cruise. We had a wonderful time and can't wait until next year when we do it all again.

I thought the morning was really going to drag but had so much to do that the time just flew by and before we knew it we were at the terminal for the Carnival Glory.


Waiting patiently for the menfolk to park the cars and meet up with us so we can all go into the terminal together. Had to fill out the form stating we weren't feeling sick or anything like that.

Some very happy vacationers.

The terminal seemed to be a madhouse but the line went very quickly and we were on board before we knew it. Not many areas of the ship were open to us to begin with and our cabins wouldn't be available until 1330 so we went up to the Red Sail. This was the buffet and we got our first meal of many.

Got all settled into our cabins and then checked out the balconies. All our cabins were right in a row. First: Tammy, Tom, and Sami, then Dan and me, Kim, Dennis, Cole, and Breann were next and Mum and Dad on the end. Tommy and Micheal had an inside cabin down the passageway a bit.

After dropping off all the stuff we were carrying with us off we went to explore the ship. There is no deck that goes all the way around the ship so we will be walking on the jogging track. It is 9 laps to a mile and that is going to get a bit tedious but is better than making turns to walk back and forth on the outside decks.

Of course our first official act was the lifeboat drill and we found that being early didn't pay off.

Doesn't this look like a trouble-making threesome.

Here we are all set for the drill to begin.

This is what it looked like about a half-hour later, just before we were dismissed. We had six rows of people and let me say not a bit of the breeze (if there was one) was getting to us.

They weren't kidding about pulling out of the harbor after the boat drill, we didn't even make it back to our cabins before the ship was moving.

Caught our breath for a few minutes and then it was time to head down to dinner. We were seated at three tables that were placed end to end and that worked out very well for the whole cruise. Met our waiter Guillermo and his assistant Ilona and it turned out they were one of the best things about going to dinner every night.

We were in the dining room for about 1.5 hours but it really didn't seem that long.

Time to head out and walk off some of the delicious dinner.


After doing some more exploring it was time to head back to the cabin and call it a night.

Day 2 was a day at sea and we really enjoyed just wandering around and dropping in to participate in different activities.

Kim, Tammy and I walked just about every morning, I started with a long walk because we had no where to be. Sixty-seven and a half laps later I was done with my 7.5 miles. We didn't eat breakfast until about 0830 because of the walking but hey we are on vacation.

We checked to see if any new photos were available and then we were off to the Fun Ashore Tour Talk. We were early and the Famous Faces Challenge was about to start so we decided to play. It was a pretty easy Challenge and Dan and I got 24 out of 25 right so we were awarded a ship on a stick.

This is a very coveted item and we were lucky to bring one home on our first full day cruising, okay not really but we had a good time.

Dan went up to cabin after this, his goal on the cruise was to see how many books he could read and he used our two at sea days to accomplish this. I was off to Scrapbook Making and met up with Kim and Tammy, we were very disappointed because it was just a sales pitch to buy the scrapbooking supplies they carry on the ship.

By this time the three of us were hungry for lunch so up to the Red Sail we went, just so you know I only rode the elevator twice during the whole cruise the rest of the time it was the stairs. Usually it was about 5 - 6 flights at a time. Most everyone had eaten by the time we got to the buffet so they just sat with us to keep us company.

Kept our afternoon full with lots of activities.

Watched the kids come down the slide.

Chess games.

Kim admiring her medal after winning the Turbo Trivia.

Watched the disco lessons and the bingo game, both were very entertaining.

One of the several towel creation we found in our cabin over the course of the cruise.


This is one of the few sunsets we saw because usually we were in the dining room at this time. Tonight we ate at the buffet because it was elegant night in the dining room and we aren't the elegant type.

That wraps up the first two days, tomorrow we pull into Cozumel where we break up into three groups for excursions.

Time Keeps Marching On

I can't believe how fast the summer has gone by and how busy we have been. Since we got back from Disney we have been pretty busy. Beside my normal stuff; Weight Watchers, which has been going very well and walking, I'm up to 7.5 miles for my long walk each week and I walk 23.5 miles a week right now, I have been getting ready for our cruise that we leave on a week from today. Hard to believe we made the reservation 555 days ago.

Riley spent the night with us last weekend and we all had a great time. This car set kept him and Baapa busy for a long time. He really liked that we gave him a shoe box to store everything. The next day we went out to do errands and had some more fun, even stopped at Panera for a bagel.



Today Dan and I went out to Downtown Disney to have breakfast at my new favorite place. Can you guess where that is Andy?


I'm sure you got it right. It was Andy's idea to come here while we were at Pop Century and it is one of his best ideas to date. It is nice getting there early and no one else is around.

We walked around a bit after we ate and then went into a couple of the stores before we headed home with stops at Wal-Mart, Books-a-Million, Lowes, and Publix. Didn't get home until almost noon.

Long Weekend at Disney

Spent five days at Disney and had a great time. This picture pretty much sums up the whole weekend. Riley hadn't wanted to get near the characters the last several times we had visited but this time he was really getting into the whole thing and giving Pluto a hug was just the icing on the cake.


Here is just a quick list of what we did for the five days we were there.

- Checked in on Wednesday at the Pop Century Resort.

- Got rained out so couldn't go swimming.

- Thursday was Blizzard Beach, we ended up leaving just as it was getting very crowded, about 1400.

- Andy and Nikki did the Summit Plummet, 120-foot vertical free-falling slide, can you say wedgie.

- Cross Country Creek (lazy river) was a big hit with the kids, Riley especially liked the cave.

- The bobbing pool, Melt-Away Bay was very crowded but we had a good time.

- Friday I did my 7 mile walk because we didn't have to leave the resort until late.

- Earl of Sandwich has a breakfast menu and the sandwiches are delicious.

- Disney Quest hasn't changed much but Riley was able to do lots more things then we thought he would be able too and he loved them.

- Dinner at Jiko in the Animal Kingdom Lodge was fantastic. I would recommend it to any and everyone. It is pricey so I don't know when we will go back but so glad we got to enjoy it on this trip.

- Typhoon Lagoon - voted the best water park by this group.

- Typhoon Lagoon Surf Pool; be afraid, be very afraid or at least be prepared. No glasses, nothing around your neck, not holding small children, we made all these mistakes and came out in one piece finding everything we lost.

- Shark Reef; swim with the sharks and non-swimmers can watch from the underwater viewing area, this was Riley's favorite thing.

- Character Breakfast at Chef Mickey's is the best I have been too. We saw Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Donald, and Pluto plus had a good meal.

- Kaleigh has moved into the "I don't like the characters so don't let them near me stage."

All in all this was a great trip and just doing the water parks at this time of year was the way to go. Can't wait for our next visit, Dan and I are going again in October for the Food and Wine Festival and the Race for the Taste 10K.

Tammy's Graduation

I was sorting through stuff before putting it back into the computer after the rearrangement and I happened upon these slides and I just couldn't not scan them. So here you go a trip back through time.

Tammy did wear a dress at least once in her life.


The shed and Dad's motorcycle.


And a couple of the ceremony.


Hope you enjoyed this trip.

Another 10K Down

Today was my second official 10K and everything went pretty well for me. The race itself had some problems starting with getting into the park and parking. We didn't realize we had to pay the day fee for Moss Park and I'm guessing most people didn't know because traffic came to a standstill and it took us 28 minutes to get through the gate. After that it was smooth sailing.

We checked out where everything was located and I got my transponder for the race time and headed over to the 10K start. The race ended up starting about 20 minutes late because of the gate fiasco.

When we first started I was dead last for the 10K because everyone else started out running and as you know I'm a walker and I don't run for anything anymore. The course was two laps and the forerunners in the 10K passed me when I hit 2.13 miles so you know they were moving. I think the overall winner finished in about 32 minutes.

The course was pretty nice, flat, fairly smooth and mostly shaded. The only problem was there were six water stops and by the time I got to stop 4 and 5 they had run out of cups or water so I wasn't able to get water. I was very glad to reach the sixth stop and see cups of water on the table. The finish was only about .2 miles after that so I finished up strong. My overall time was 1:27:14 which is a pace of 13:53 a mile and that is right where I wanted to be. It is a bit faster then my everyday workouts but that is to be expected.

Just so you know, even though I started out last I ended up passing about 6 or 7 other participants because I was doing a steady pace and they were run and walk, run and walk and they just got slower and slower.

After the race Dan and I headed home so I could shower and then it was off to the commissary. It doesn't pay to be three hours later than normal. It was very busy and ended up taking us about two hours to shop. But now shopping is done for another six weeks or so and that is a nice feeling.