The beginning...of the Cruise (Warner)

“They say when you are missing [something] that [it is] probably feeling the same, but I don't think it's possible for [it] to miss me as much as I'm missing [it] right now.” ― Edna St. Vincent Millay

Not sure who the heck Edna St. Vincent Millay is, but I really love the quote and thought it expressed well my feelings about how much I miss the cruise and each port.  Awwwww...oh well.  Life goes on.

On Sunday we got up and dressed in our Sunday best to go down to breakfast.  It’s weird not being in Utah and seeing people dressed in regular clothes on a Sunday, but I realize that not everywhere is Utah and not everyone dresses up for Sunday.  I noticed that Max was the only one that wasn’t dressed up yet, but it didn’t spoil my breakfast.  The food was good and gave me the energy I needed until we got on the ship.  I noticed that the dining room was much more crowded than I expected.

It was a beautiful sunny day in Tampa and noticeably very muggy.  Janey and I decided to go for a little walk after breakfast.  We walked around the parking lot and that was enough for us to work up a sweat and head back into our air conditioned room.  Everyone was back in their room to get freshened up for our Sunday devotional that we had planned before Max was to be ordained an Elder. 

Everyone met in our room because it was a better place to hang out.  We had a song and a prayer and then I gave a thought, followed by some great talks from Rosey, Nick and Blaine.  The priesthood holders then gathered around Max and gave him the Melchizedek Priesthood.  It was a really neat experience. The spirit was there and I was grateful to be a part of it.

We still had a little bit of time to kill before our shuttle was to pick us up and drive us to the port.  Instead of watching TV, playing games, or taking a nap, we all secretly got together and decided to charge Blaine and Kristi about $5.60 worth in text messages.  I don’t think they appreciated our swindling ways, but we enjoyed it nevertheless.  Just kidding it was only like $3.20.  Once we got the group texting figured out we decided to get a little more casual, I took off my tie, and got all of our bags and stuff down to the lobby and ready to be taken to the port.

While we waited in the lobby, the USA men’s basketball team was in the gold medal round versus Spain.  We were pretty sure we would win and yes, the final score was a whopping 107-100.  I personally thought the USA would have done better, but as they say, a win’s a win.  Our shuttle driver seemed like he wanted to stay and watch the game but we were too excited to get going and wanted to get to the port so that we could hurry up and wait…in the line…which really wasn’t that bad.

We got to the port safely, no crazy illegal U-turns or holding up of hands inside the car to let people know we were about to cut in front of them, that was Saturday.  We unloaded our luggage and made our way to the check in area with our passports and boarding passes in hand.  Remember, no photography allowed in this important area.  It was interesting to see the difference there is between airport security and port security.  We didn’t need the TSA to ask us to turn our head and cough and honestly I liked it more and still felt very safe.  Who knows, maybe the TSA will work their way into the ports in the next couple of years.

Janey and I were the first ones through the line and we sat and waited for everyone else to get their ship card.  How exciting my first ship card.  We soon realized that there was a VIP among us.  Blaine was lucky enough to sport the Gold Ship Card.  We were happy for him and knew he deserved it.  All that cruising is hard work; I can only hope to be a professional VIP cruiser like Blaine someday.  Thank you for giving me a goal to work toward.  We all got together and decided to take a last picture before we crossed the ramp from shore to ship.  We were in a picture friendly zone thank goodness.

This was my first time on a cruise liner and a ship of this magnitude.  It met every one of my expectations.  I didn’t really know what to expect, other than a really big ship with lots of people.  It’s smart to have people leave such a dull area at the port of call and then enter a magnificent grand lobby as the first sight you see.  It was a beautiful lobby and I just stood there and took it all in. 

 

I had trouble finding the front of the ship and got lost trying to find where our room was located.  I remembered, from looking at the ship map online, that our rooms were toward the front of the ship.  I had my room number memorized, but that didn’t help me much yet.   Next, I realized that the room numbers are divided into even and odds.  I felt good to myself noting that little pattern.  Whoever designed the ship numbering system was very smart, I would have done it the same way. 

Finally, we found where our rooms were going to be but we couldn’t enter until 1:30.  What time did we board?  Around noon?  Noon thirty?  Baggage didn’t come to our room until about 3:00, and for Max it was even later.  He had me getting a little worried, but I remembered that we unloaded all of our bags from the shuttle at the port and even paid a person to get our bags on the boat.  I was hoping that Max’s $2 would not go to waste.  Max did get his bag and everyone rejoiced.

Some of us, maybe all of us, decided to walk all around the boat and check it out.  That was fun.  The weather was a little disconcerting.  We had sunshine in the morning and early afternoon while we boarded.  As the ship was leaving the port the clouds moved in very quickly and it even rained for a little while.  I remember Blaine checking his iphone and the iweather was predicting clouds and rain pretty much every day at every port we planned on visiting.  Whatever, I was on a cruise and I was going to enjoy it despite the crummy weather.  (Thankfully it was sunny every day and pretty much perfect.)

It did rain during our muster station drill.  I was surprised at how hard it was raining, but thankful that I was standing out of the rain.  I was amazed at how many people they could fit on that deck and I was hoping that we would never have to use the life boats.  They don’t hold as many people as there are on the boat.  But I guess if they carried enough boats to fit all of the passengers for one large boat exit that would increase the costs of the cruise and just be more of a hassle, so I stopped thinking about it and made creepy faces at Nick’s camera instead.

Dinner was served at 6:00.  It was delicious.  I was in heaven and so was everyone else.  It was my first experience ordering from a menu that had no price, and no fine print demanding that I pay a 15% tip for a party of 10.  It was wonderful.  Despite the fact of not having to pay for the food as we left the dining room, I still felt that I had to finish everything and I couldn’t waste a bite.  I was very stuffed, but very delighted.

 

After dinner we attended a game show and the opening show in the theater.  That’s where we first met Peter (pronounced Peetah) and James (said in your best Queen’s English while pinching your nose).  Oh and how could we forget Showtime?  The game show was where we also met Kevin and his funny girlfriend.  We saw them everywhere and they looked really in love for having known each other for only 3 days.  After the game show was a round of Bingo and then the opening show.  (By the way, Janey just informed  me that the game show was before dinner, oh well, that's what I get for waiting so long to write this.)

What more can I say?  It was an amazing first day and I loved, and now miss, every second of it.

Thank you so much to mom and dad.  We love you.

Saturday: The day of anticipation!

Hey everyone! Sorry its taken so long to get this out there. School has been a bear! But I'm loving every minute of it! (I'll save details for another post :) )

Saturday, August 11th: The day of anticipation.
     At the Bret Bassett home, we got up at about 5 ish to get bags together and head to the airport. Some of us (me atleast) didn't really sleep much the previous night so we were pretty darn tired, but our excitement superseded that! Uncle Ted came at about 6:00 to drive Mom, Dad, Rosey and I to the airport. He told us that he was on his way to Yellowstone (?) for a tour after dropping us off. As we unloaded our stuff, Janey and Warner pulled up right behind us with smiles on their faces. Warner's dad was very nice to drive them. We walked into the airport where we met up with Nick and Stef and Blaine and Kristi. We were all soooo pumped up (and a little nervous for the long flights.) We didn't wait long for our flight to Las Vegas. We got to watch Romney announce Ryan as his VP. All I remember about that was Ryan's messed up hair.
On the plane, I sat next to Mom and Dad, and talked about packing for school and such. (Its funny to think how nervous I was to move down here. And to think it was only a month ago; CRAZY!!!) Anyways, we landed in Las Vegas successfully. You could tell we were in Vegas because there were slot machines everywhere! We even got in trouble for loitering next them too long. I especially had to move, due to the fact that I was "too young." Just a couple more years, and I'll be there! ;) Just jokin. Once we found our gate, Rosey convinced me, Kristi, Stef, and Nick to go to Jamba Juice to get a "light snack." I was pretty darn hungry and I had a couple gift cards so I ordered a lot. Of course, they didn't accept gift cards in the airport and my personality is too white to say anything, so I ended up paying 13 bucks for a burrito and a large smoothie. It was good, just not 13 dollars good. I'm sorry but I can't remember what everyone else got. After getting our food, we realized how soon our flight was leaving. Nick commented that he wasn't scared to miss the flight, he just didn't want to stress dad out. haha We sprinted back to the gate where they were boarding. Luckily we found Mom and Dad and got on with them. It was a stressful trip to Jamba, but we all enjoyed having some REAL food before our long flight to Tampa.
On the flight to Tampa, I sat between Blaine and Kris. I talked to Blaine about my feelings for school and about life. I was very impressed with Kris and her ability to hide her fear during the flight. She only had to grab my hand once. ;) But honestly, I never would have guessed that Kristi was even remotely nervous about flying. Way to be Kris!! :) Not sure what everyone else did on the flight, except I know Nick watched Bourne Identity and Rosey slept (I only know because her snoring kept me awake the whole flight) ;) hah just kiddin Rose! I felt the flight wasn't too bad overall! We finally arrived in Tampa!!!!! As I took my first step on Tampa soil, I could taste the humidity. I immediately felt sticky, but I didn't care!  Anticipation began to grow as we rode the shuttle to our hotel. As we checked in, everyone grabbed a (what's the name?) sucker. Everyone then had to decide which room to put Rosey and I (the stragglers). Our rooms were very well kept and nice. Nick, however, immediately stunk it up. ;) haha
We then decided we were going to go to CPK (?) for dinner. We thought our technology failed us when we realized we weren't headed toward the CPK, but after some argument and discussion, Nick found the way (I think it was Nick) We somehow didn't end up at CPK though, we ended up at the mall food court, which was just as tasty. I went with Blaine and Nick to MAX ORIENT. And yes, my name being in the restaurant's was a deciding factor. ;) Others went to Chik - fil- a and Sbarro: "Michael Scott's favorite New York slice."
After a tasty meal, we headed back to the hotel where we got our 2012 family Christmas photo under the highway.
Back at the hotel we enjoyed "In Time" in both rooms and decided to go swimming/hot-tubbing/ listen to the man sing in the bushes. What started as a fun, leisure activity turned into an Olympic sport as Nick and I raced there and back in the pool. We had to swim fast, not just to beat one another, but to beat the big lightning storm headed our way.
After that, we both split our separate ways, off to bed. In our room, we watched the REAL Olympics. We watched Stef's favorite diver lose the gold medal.
As I laid down to go to sleep, I felt, along with everyone else, that anticipation grower even more as I realized that tomorrow was the big day.

Thank you so much Mom and Dad for the wonderful trip! I love all of you so much! As the novelty dies down here at school, I'm beginning to get more and more homesick. Don't get me wrong, I love it down here! But I am so grateful to have such a wonderful family that will support me. It's good practice for my mission, which is coming up REAL soon!
I do read these posts and its so fun to hear how everyone is doing. So thank you for writing!!
I love you guys sooooooo much! :)

Love, Max!
ps I'm off to a sunday night dinner so I don't have time to proofread this. I hope it all makes sense!
Loves

Cozumel (blue water city)

Anticipation was high that Tuesday morning. We had spent the day before on the ship and were ready to get off! The evening before had been full of anxiety for me as max and I were getting ready to leave mom and dads oom for bed and dad stated, ( in a serious sort of way) "you guys need to be careful tomorrow, your head could blow up." Boy did I sleep well that night :) Max and I made our short walk down to our room discussing our anxieties for the next day, we got to our room and prepared for bed as the boat gently rocked me enough to be sick (due. To my previous conversation with dad). As I finally settled into bed and read The Hunger Games, there was a knock at the door. Naturally, I needed to answer it because. Max was still in the bathroom getting ready for bed...a pattern that followed every night. I opened the door to Kristi saying, "hey girl, wanna party?" Let's just say she was sitting in a lot more confidence and zest than I was at the present moment. We ended up staying in our room chatting about our. It scuba diving trip for the next 45 minutes or so before B&K wandered back to their room. It was a lot of fun, and Really helped me get more excited for our adventure that would be taking place the next morning.

So, now for the real day...sorry for the background, I just had to share the story from dad that was all to similar to when he told me there were still bad guys in the world. B,K, Max and I all woke up early to eat a big breakfast and then get off the ship so that we could catch a taxi to meet our guide at some random port. We sat and waited for our guys to pick us up at the port, the water was beautiful and I kinda felt like we owned the port because we were the only people around. We sat and took pictures and max got attacked by the friendly neighborhood pelican, and then finally, they (insert names) arrived in their little boat with our scuba gear.

The scuba trip was SO FUN and unlike anything I've ever done!  We drove our little boat to a spot right by the cruise ship and just like that, it was time to jump in and get started (he literally talked to us for like 10 minutes and then it was time to jump down into the ocean in hopes of survival).  Our first dive lasted for like 30 minutes...it could've lasted up to 45 minutes but dear sweet Max is an oxygen sucker (to quote Kris, "I worry that there is not enough oxygen in this world for both Max and I." )  Max, Blaine, and Kris all had no problem getting down on our first dive, but BOY did I struggle!  I would get down about 10 feet, and then I would just panic and shoot back up.  Luckily our instructor was very patient and worked with me, but then the problem became my wimpy ears.  I just had to descend very slowly.  Kristi later told me she felt like she had a guardian angel because every time she looked up I was floating above her, looking at all the same things as she was, just from above.  I did finally get to the bottom which was super exciting.

After our first dive, we got back in our boat and drove 45 minutes to our second dive.  Our little boating experience was as fun as anything for me because the water was just so lovely.  Not to mention we had a pretty little bird fly onto our ship and fall in love with me.  It seriously just chilled on my head all the way over.  On the drive over we ate cantelope and rolls and listened to our guide talk about how he is not a father (to his knowledge).  Weird.  Anyway, when we reached our second dive, I think we were all feeling a bit more confident.  I was able to get down quite a bit quicker, and we dove a bit deeper.  Again it felt like we were in a different world full of color and beauty.  It was so neat.  Upon finishing that dive, we drove back to the place they picked us up, and then we decided to walk back to the cruise ship, because we had time.

Bad idea.  Max, Blaine, and I had chaffed so badly by the time we made it to the cruise ship port that we could hardly even talk to each other.  Kristi was still chipper and went off to shop, but I just couldn't even hardly have a good attitude.  Not to mention we were spent.  Back on the ship we showered and headed over to play laser tag with Warner and Nick, disappointed to find out that you had to pay AND that it was about the lamest thing of all time.  So instead we all went up with Mom to watch the ship depart.  As we sat there Mom told us about dad walking out of the shower to the girls in the cruise ship across from ours staring back at him.  Awkward!  The night ended with a delicious dinner with good old Win, Margaret, and Mr. Too Many Consonants in his last name.

I wish I could remember exactly what we did the rest of the night, I just remember that my ear hurt the rest of the night (and for two weeks after that) and that I probably ate WAY too much food.  Regardless of what we did, I'm sure we had a wonderful time.  Stop number 1 on the cruise was definitely a success!

Thanks Mom and Dad!

p.s. I will quickly add what I know about what Mom, Dad, Nick, Stef, Janey, and Warner did while Max was sucking up oxygen at the bottom of the ocean....They all slept in a bit later and then took a taxi to some fancy beach resort where they paid 20 bucks to scuba dive and chill on a gorgeous beach, complete with a fun looking swimming pool.  Everybody did some scuba diving, and Nick reported to me that Dad was quite good at diving down...who knew!?  Mom, Jane, and Stef all had anxiety attacks as they would place their faces in the water and feel like they could not breathe (little did they know that all they had to do was lift their faces back up and they were in the "real" world).  While at the resort, Nick taught some local boys how to do cool tricks into the swimming pool, and besides that, I don't know a ton about their day.  But they all reported that it was a good time!  

Any more? (mom)

Hey guys,

I have loved reading everyone's reports.  I think we still have three more days to cover: that would be the day we flew, Saturday August 11 (max),  Sunday, August 12 (Warner)  and Saturday, August 18. (Blaine). It jut occurred to me that all three of you are in school.  Hmmm.  Try and get to it if you can.  I love you all.

The Beautiful Isla Roatan

August 16, 2012 - Thursday



On Thursday morning I groggily fumbled up to the Unicorn for a quick breakfast, as I sat down and looked out the window I nearly burst in to tears because Roatan was SO BEAUTIFUL! Don't get me wrong, our other ports were beautiful with clear water and gorgeous beaches, but Roatan struck me as so mountainous and green, the kind of island I wouldn't mind getting marooned on.


On the recommendation of my dad (and about 5,000 tripadvisor.com reviewers), I had booked an excursion for our family with Roatan Christopher Tours ($25 per person). It was kind of a buffet style tour where we could decide where we wanted to go and our guide would take us for the day. I had originally booked the tour for our group of 10, but had extended the invitation to our fellow LDS friends from Washington.

We all gathered and exited the ship together. We posed for some pictures by the big Mahogany Bay sign, enjoyed listening to some guys play some pretty music on the [insert name of musical instrument here]. For a small donation several of us were also able to get the first (and only!) stamp in our passports.

We made our way through the mob of people wanting to take us on tours and walked up a hill to meet with our tour company. Kevin, our driver for the day, was right there waiting for us with his 14 passenger van. We all crammed in and those of us who were close enough to Kevin to hear him got to hear about the demographics of the island, etc.

I think all of us would agree that a highlight of that drive was when we drove actually down the empty pristine coastline. And I don't mean on a road on the coastline, I mean on the actual coastline. Apparently driving on beaches is no big deal. The beautiful beach was deserted, which I thought was weird, until I realized that it was only like 7AM Honduras time :) 

We enjoyed the scenery on our 20 minute ride to the Monkey Farm/Zoo/Place. I was happy that Kevin advised us to not participate in the zipline at this stop since it apparently was the most dangerous, unregulated one on the island :). After paying our admission to the Monkey Zoo ($8 per person), we met our guide [insert guide's name here]. We were escorted (sans bags and purses) into a cage with two White-Faced Capuchins [ See: the monkey from The Testaments]. We stood in a circle as the monkeys chased eachother around the cage, and eventually they started hanging out on our heads, shoulders, arms, and cameras. They seemed to have a particular interest in Blaine, even reaching down into his pockets in search of a treat (which I have to admit was very intuitive on the part of the monkey). The guide bribed the monkeys to sit on each of us with the reward of sunflower seeds. We were all impressed with how nimbly the monkeys shelled the seeds, and how soft their feet and hands were.


At one point Rosey did something which sent one of the monkeys into hysterics and she got a little love bite :), and then the monkeys got pretty ticked at eachother and had an all-out brawl while both hanging upside down on Max's arm. I, personally, was impressed at the wide variety of facial expressions that Stef had while holding the monkeys, she's pretty funny :).

After a good fifteen minutes spent in the cage we were escorted out of the cage. We meandered through paths and saw several other animals, including spider monkeys, some anteater/racoon (?), squirrels (even the squirrels were pretty in Roatan!), deer (did you guys get to hear Stef ask our guide if they bathed the deer? Ha ha!), etc. We were able to go in to another cage to play with the baby White-Faced Capuchins. They were pretty fun and cute to watch and hold.

Before we knew it our time at the Monkey Zoo was done and we were piling back in the van with Kevin. Our next stop was West Bay Beach.


The beach was gorgeous! We parked and packed our stuff in and found a nice little spot by a restaurant to stay. It wasn't even ten seconds before we were accosted with vendors selling jewelry, carved stones, hammocks, back rubs, and everything. Seriously, it was a constant barrage of people selling stuff. The only place we could find any sanctuary was in the actual ocean, which was no problem as the water was warm, clear and inviting.




The boys (Blaine, Nick, Warner, and Max) decided to zip on Roatan's famous canopy zipline. I had been excited to do this, but my fear got the best of me -- or I guess I could say I stepped down in honor of it being a brotherly bonding experience :). Kevin took the boys to zipline, and since I wasn't there here is all I can tell you: The zipline was amazing! The view was gorgeous, the lines were high and long. And their guide apparently was a guy with questionable morals (which they got to hear all about as they zipped!). 

Meanwhile back on the beach: I had hauled my friends snorkel gear halfway across the world and all over Roatan and I was excited to use it. I must have misread in my research though because the shore snorkeling was dismal from the beach. Which is sad because I thought I had read that it was amazing (apparently I wasn't too far off though as I talked to some people later who were at a different part of the beach and had a way better snorkeling experience).

But- Kevin to the rescue!  Apparently their company has ties to snorkeling two and there were two guys over in a little (and I mean little!) boat who were ready and willing to take us snorkeling for $20. Since I kind of had my heart set on it Rosey, our Washington friends, and I went out snorkeling. On the boat ride out I had mentioned that I really wanted to see a sea turtle. All at once our boat stopped and the guys were chattering away in some other language. Apparently one of them had seen a turtle surface for air. He had his gear strapped on and was in the water before we knew it. So we all hurried and followed him. I have NEVER, and I repeat NEVER, swam so hard in my life. He was hauling it to catch up to the turtle. Rosey and I eventually caught up to him and saw the turtle! We even got to follow it around for a while. Our Washington friends didn't quite make it in time though (sad!). After the turtle we were impressed with our guide's spotting and diving abilities. In a sea of seagrass he all the sudden just dove down (like 15 feet) and picked up a live Conch shell. We then snorkeled over to the reef and it. was. amazing! We saw barracuda, tons of sardines, lobsters, parrot fish, and more. It was really cool because the reef was just inches under the surface of the water, so we really could see a lot. Then we passed a big crevasse that seperated two reefs. This is where our guide really showed off, that kid could dive down DEEP for a long time. I don't know how much free diving you've done, but after about 12 feet your head starts to explode :). These guys were talented.


We enjoyed our our snorkeling and then headed back to the beach, where we met up with the zipliners and the beach bums. Dad enjoyed some Conch Fritters (which he was SO NICE to share), then Max and I bit the bullet and shared some as well. Blaine got a good rub down/massage from some of the vendors, which he seemed to enjoy almost as much as the lobster dinner earlier in the week.





We continued to enjoy our last little bit bumming around the beach. Lounging on chairs, playing in the water, eating good food, until eventually (all too soon) it was time to go.

Kevin drove us back to the ship a little different way, so we were able to see the airport, lots of school kids and different parts of the town.



Back at port we decided to get one last big family picture, and our poor Washington friend...as he was handing mom's camera back to her it slipped out of his/her hand and the camera glass shattered on the ground. You could tell that he felt awful and mom was quick to assure him that it was no big deal. The camera still works but the glass is smashed. A not-so-fun souvenir of an otherwise perfect day.

Blaine and I bought a little bookmark for Gwen, and he bought his cologne at the duty free shops

Since we were back on the ship so early there was plenty of time for playing before dinner. Some went to the hot tubs/pools, some slept (holla!), I bet some ate, and some just lolligagged around :). Dinner was our second formal night, where most of us enjoyed snails :)


I'm not all that sure what we did at night, there are
pictures of us at some show, but I am not sure what it was :) Was this the night that Max sang karaoke? Someone please fill free to fill in the gaps ;)


Well, a picture is worth a thousand words, and I think this sums up how we all felt about Roatan...












Thanks Mom and Dad!

Belize (Nick)

Dear Family,

I can't believe how much time has already gone by since the cruise.  I apologize I haven't taken time to record "my day" yet, but here it goes.

Belize was our second day of the trip.  We arrived at the port early morning and had to tender 2-3 miles into the port.  Blaine and Kristi had made arrangements in advance with a company called Butt's Up (more details to come on that) and Nick and Stef joined them.   We were up and off the boat first thing in the morning...somewhere around 8 am.  The night before we had been up looking at pictures taken by photographers from around the ship, and Blaine noticed a familiar face of an individual from one of his law classes.  Well, on our 10 minute boat ride to shore who should we sit down next to, but his classmate and the rest of his family from Orem Utah.  Small world! Stef and I talked with the parents while Blaine and Kristi spoke with his friend.  Turns out they were headed to do the same activity; we had booked through cavetubing.com...they had booked through cavetubing.bz.  Originally we were feeling a little nervous about not going with a cruise excursion but we started feeling better when we realized that at least we were with the .com company and not the .bz.  Haha!!  We got to shore a little later than expected and by the time we made our way back to the meeting place the main bus had already left.  Luckily, a couple of the workers stayed back waiting for us.  We jumped in a smaller bus and took off through the streets of Belize.  Kristi was great to bring up the fact that we were from Utah and the fact the we were LDS.  Ironically, the main thing "Speedo" (our tour guide) knew about Utah was not necessarily Mormons, but Karl Malone.  Anyway, Speedo knew enough about Mormons to know that we didn't drink and lived virtuous lives.  For the remained of the trip he was constantly making tasteful "mormon" jokes about not giving us alcohol etc.  We eventually caught up with the big bus and rode the hour drive out to the place.  The drive out to the became a favorite part of the excursion for all of us because Speedo and the other tour guides basically did stand-up comedy the entire way out there.  One of their jokes was about where the name of the company came from.  They explained the when the water was low in the river, whenever there was a big rock coming up they tour guide would yell "Butt's Up" to prevent possible injure.  They went on to describe that there are a few signature rocks to look out for that over the years had gained names.  The names included things like jewel snatcher #1, jewel snatcher #2, the twin separator, etc.  Anyway, we enjoyed our travel up.  When we got there we were literally in the middle of the rain forest, in our swimming suits in the POURING RAIN! Everything was beautiful and green.  We began our 30-45 minute hike through the tropical jungle to where we would start the river run.  On a personal note, this was definitely a highlight of the entire trip for me.  We were wading through rivers, walking through/near big caves and getting an overview of important plants in the jungle.  When we reached the top our tubes were there waiting for us, and we carried them the final 100 yards of the hike.  All of us besides pregnant Stef that is.  They were so wonderful to make sure she was well taken care of...they even gave her an extra life preserver for back support.  The actual float down the river was fun and really pretty.  When we reached the bottom the rain had long since stopped, we climbed out and hiked back to the bus where they then took us to a shack out in the jungle for a yummy home-made chicken tamale.  We got Fanta and chips for a $1 a piece and enjoyed a delightful (basically free) lunch.  We then climbed back on the bus and drove back to the port.  On the way they showed us where the church was which was really neat that they all knew where it was.  We got back with probably about 30 minutes to spare before the last tender.  As we exited the bus we were totally mobbed by people selling everything from bracelets to wooden instruments and everything in between.  Nick and Stef bought a little bamboo instrument for about $15 as well as a $5 slingshot.  Blaine and Kris bought a couple of little things as well.  We all agreed it's hard when people are so pushy and that there really isn't a way to get out of those situations and feel good.  After working our way through the mob, we were exhausted but had enjoyed an absolutely wonderful day!  Special thanks to Kris who helped make it happen.  It was just the right blend of adventure and fun.  Definitely a day to remember.

Meanwhile, Janey & Warner, Rosey & Max, and Mom & Dad all got to sleep in a bit and eventually made it off the boat to find out what the day's adventure was going to be.  My knowledge of the details of their day is quite limited, but here is what I know: while they were riding the boat in, one of the drivers of the boat approached dad and asked him what the family was doing for their activity today.  When dad explained they were going to find someone to take them around, the guy kind of got serious and said that he need to go and find Murray.  The driver assured him he was the best driver there was.  When they got off the tender and walked out into the huge group of taxi drivers, Dad explained the they were looking for Murray...that Murray was their man.  It's as if he were a national celebrity (and in some ways, he was a very well known soccer player), but it was as if they became a top priority.  People quick bugging them and quickly went and found Murray for them.  Turns out, Murray was as good as they had hoped.  He was a younger fellow who had played on the national soccer team, and now had a young family.  He toured them around through the very poor city and showed them sites that included where he learned to play soccer, his home, the church, and more.  Ultimately, he took them out to see some old Mayan ruins.  The family spent a couple of hours out wandering around old pyramids and other cool structures.  The weather held up ok and they took some fun pictures.  While they were there Murray got a call about something that he was apparently in trouble for from his boss.  I don't think we ever really found out what it was, but it seemed like it was a pretty important issue.  Anyway, they made it back in plenty of time to do some shopping and get back on board the ship.

Once we were all back together again, we enjoyed a yummy dinner (as always with warm chocolate fudge cake), we went and listened to a comedian (although I can't recall which one it was), and then we had a fun time up going through dad's Q-Game.  We even discussed the various roles each of us would play in the business if it ever started to take off.  So keep the ideas coming everyone!!!

On another side note, I attended a "lunch-'n-learn" activity today at work that was talking about research done on happiness and success.  One of the items that was mentioned as an important element to happiness was that it is so important to invest in memories and not things.  I kept thinking how true that is, and that because of Mom and Dad's generosity, we will all have that memory to cherish forever. I hope that as our children continue to grow, one of the ways we can show our gratitude to mom and dad is to pass this tradition on to our own families.  I know we all feel a deep sense of gratitude for the countless fun memories they have given us over the years...let's all keep the tradition alive.

With love,

Nick

(ps...I haven't proofed this so I apologize.  I'm sure to the writers in the family the letter was more painful than anything but I had to get it done before some of the specifics of the trip started to fade.)