from the white sand to the white snow

We were invited tubing with our dear friends, the Schuchs, Cooks and Hendricks. The girls were thrilled to actually get a snow-day! (homeschooled kids still have school when it's too snowy/icy for public schools!). We drove to Ski Liberty and went tubing for 2 hours. The girls had a great time!

Don't even THINK about it, chickie!

with the Cook boys

Emily

Photo credit: Tim Cook

The girl van - Kim, Em, Rach, Alyssa, Michaela, Di

Last port of call - Nassau, Bahamas

Our last port was Nassau.

We docked next to a Disney cruiseline and it was much bigger than ours!

I thought this was a fun view our our ship.

We went through this very cool Pirate museum which was very appropriate b/c Rachel's big research paper is about Pirates. It had tons of neat info.

Here are the girls during the YMCA song at dinner. They are with our very fun tablemates, Kristin and Sarah from Michigan.

Sunburned

Emily and Brian got the most sun. Rachel and I, not as much but we're still a tiny bit pink.

G57 ~ B I N G O!!!

As a family, we played jackpot bingo last night. The big jackpot is divided among all the winners. OUR FAMILY was the ONLY winner – can you tell from this picture how much we won?? (sign language)

another day at sea

Pillow fight!

Don't feel sorry for Emily. Brian gets ganged up on a ton!!

This is a picture in the "lobby" area looking at all the different levels.

I can't post many pictures from yesterday at Grand Turk b/c they are all in a cheapo-underwater-camera that will get developed when we get home. But it was beautiful.

I have included a picture of the boat at the dock at Grand Turk just so you can see how BIG the boat really is. See all the tiny people on the dock? (our boat is on the left)

And TODAY we went to Half Moon Cay (pronounced 'key'). It was *exactly* how I pictured a Carribean Island! White sands, blue water, "beachy" trees... This is the first view after getting to the island. We had to take a tender from the ship to Half Moon b/c there's not a big pier. That's our boat out in the water. This island is owned by Carnival and other than the 35 residents (not kidding) it is used only by their guests. Pretty neat.

:)

Had 5 pics to upload but I can't get the others to work. Having fun but I'm not feeling great...

Here is our room which is quite cozy

When our ship embarked, we went to the back of the ship which was very cool.

photo credit: RLCz

Miami - Day 1

Having trouble uploading - internet must be dial-up so it's taking *forever*. Another picture on Flickr. We're in Miami and heading to the ship soon. These were taken on Sunny Isle Beach here on Sunday. Hoping to post a pix a day from the ship .

We'll see... :)

Misc. November

Good GRIEF, I'm behind!

Here are some final pics of November so I can finish up 2007 with December.

Rachel has had her MC Fair 4H and her Youth Retreat wrist bands on since AUGUST! EEWWWWWWW!

She won the contest with her friends, she wore hers the longest. I tried hard to convince her it was time to be done with them and she finally agreed. My favorite memory with the wrist bands was school pictures. The photographer gave a not-so-sure look and asked, "Can you take those off for the picture, honey?!" We said, "No, they stay on. Any chance you can you position her so they don't show? thanks."

Flashback: I so remember a very large turquoise butterfly ring that my mom would have loved for me to stop wearing. Oh my, I think I was 13 or 14 and I thought it was the greatest thing!! But she didn't make a big deal about it even tho' I looked SO goofy, I'm sure. I bet she danced a jig behind closed doors the day I decided to retire it and put it in my keepsake box.

Remember that, Ma?

Next are photos from working with Operation Christmas Child during collection week. We worked with friends at a local church collecting shoeboxes that have been filled with goodies for needy kids around the world. Boxes come in from all over our area - and the kids welcome these groups by carrying their boxes into the building, sorting and counting, running a shoebox "hospital" and the grouping the boxes for shipment. The boxes arrive from various churches, ministries, schools, clubs, businesses and individuals. Sometimes 3 boxes come in from a mom and her kids. Other times we received several hundred boxes, maybe from a Christian school or a Girl Scout troop. The girls and I worked 4 days that week and had a great time. Special thanks to the Gallaghers who are in charge of this drop-off location. They work the WHOLE week, from open to close, so joyfully! We enjoyed our time with you 4! The shoeboxes have to be packed in cartons. It's like a puzzle, trying to get as many shoeboxes as possible into one big carton. Emily is very good at it! The cartons are then loaded onto a tractor trailer each night. At the end of the week, this full tractor trailer heads to Charlotte or Boone North Carolina. The shoeboxes are distributed to their final destination from there. Here Emily helps (or watches? :) Grace G. stack the cartons in the back of the tractor trailer. Just kidding - Emily worked hard all week!

THANKSGIVING DAY

We went to Berkley Springs, WV to enjoy a yummy Thanksgiving dinner with Brian's family. Here is a shot of all Mom and Don's grandchildren - we were all together this year! First time in many years! So we had to get a group shot.