{Home Sweet Home from the High Seas!}

{Mike on the gangplank to the Carnival Paradise!}

{The view up into the Atrium Plaza from the 7th deck}

{The Long Beach Cruise Terminal}

{View back towards our lovely Long Beach with the Queen Mary in the foreground}

{Night 1's turndown service and rabbit? towel animal...Mike's favorite part? The chocolate mints on the bed every night!}

{The view out of our cabin window of Avalon, Catalina Island}

{Mike on the tender over to Catalina}

{Hamilton Cove...friends of Janet's had her and I over to their place last summer that is right under the Wrigley's penthouse and has a BEAUTIFUL view back towards Avalon!}

{The view of the ship as we were tendered over to Avalon}

{My friend, Capt. Jim, lives in Avalon and does the Glass Bottom Boat tours for the Catalina Island Company. He was over on the mainland when we were there and let us borrow his golf cart to get all around the island! How nice to not have to rent one for $40 an hour! We have GENEROUS friends!}

{What a beautiful view of Avalon from the back side!}

{Another view of just mainly the harbor and the green pier}

{Look! It's our home!}

{Mike is SUCH a stud! That's a big ship you're lifting, babe!}

{Descanso Beach where Lesley and I took our Girl Scouts a few years back to kayak and play!}

{We saw a TON of woodpeckers on our way to the Wrigley Memorial!}

{William Wrigley Jr. Memorial}

{Mike and I at the top of the memorial...lots of stairs!}

{A beautiful tree in bloom}

{Mike and I in the famous bathroom doors @ the Marlin Club where Janet and I have closed the bar down and done dishes a few nights! (Oh wait...I think Janet was playing POOL while I did dishes!)}

{Mike on the deck of the Emerald, the UnderSea Tour that our friend, Capt. Mike, does in Catalina! We got to do all of our tours for free...once again, we have VERY nice friends!}

{Shot of the beautiful artwork and lighting in the Casino's theater}

{Me @ the top of the Casino building with the ship in the background}

{Towel animal and turndown for night 2}

{Looking over the bow towards Ensenada, Mexico. Mike and I didn't get off the ship because we've been to Mexico before and didn't need a bunch of touristy stuff and there really wasn't anything we were excited about seeing...so we just relaxed!}

{Mike and Ensenada}

{That's ONE BIG flag! Look how small the people are @ the base of the pole! NUTS!}

{Mike and I played a round of mini-golf on the top deck of the ship. He won...poop!}

{Towel animal and turndown for night 3}

{Towel animal and turndown for night 4}

We really enjoyed our time reconnecting with each other on this relaxing vacation! We are SO blessed to have such wonderful friends that took care of Meghann and Lani while we were gone. And a wonderfully grown-up daughter that came to the house each morning to get ready and brought in the mail, made sure everything was okay, etc. What a young lady we've raised...so responsible and loving! We look forward to taking another cruise with some friends sometime soon...that would be REALLY fun to do! But like always...there's NO PLACE LIKE HOME! ♥♥

{Bon Voyage!}

For a combination Christmas present and birthday present, Mike and I are going on a cruise to Catalina & Enseñada tomorrow! Wow...a getaway vacation for just the 2 of us! We haven't done one of those in a long time, as we really enjoy doing things with our Meghann and Lani-poo as a whole family. This will be a nice change of pace for us!

Mike has never been to Catalina, even though he grew up in Lakewood. Kinda weird...but whatever! At least I've been quite a few times and have friends that work over there, so we didn't have to book any tours through the cruise ship, we've got free tickets to do whatever we want to AND a friend is lending us his golf cart to run around in while we're there! How awesome is THAT? We have such a wonderful group of friends...we're truly blessed! So we'll be doing the Undersea Tour with our friend, Capt. Mike, and the Casino Tour with ???, we'll see if it's someone I know when we get there!

Then off to Mexico! Nothing all that exciting there, we don't need any "tourist crap" souvenirs, so we'll probably just head over to Señor Frogs or Papas & Beer for lunch while we're there. Then a nice "day @ sea" where we can just relax. It'll be fun! We'll both miss our Meggie and Lani, but it's only for a few days and I'll bring my laptop to send emails to them both! (Hee, hee!)

So...Bon Voyage and we'll see you soon!

{We're Baaaaaaack!}

We are home after a WONDERFUL Spring Break up in Yosemite with the Romeros. We got back around 10:30pm yesterday and are going to unwind today and unpack the trailer. We only got sporadic internet service up @ the RV Resort, so I couldn't post more pictures after the other day...due to rain. We went to Mercer Caverns on a rainy Wednesday and had a great time! Here are some more pictures of our trip:

{This was the only thing in the caverns that we were allowed to touch. It's called "The Twins" and you can see from the dark color that it's been touched a lot. It no longer "grows".}

{This stalactite has broken off because people's heads have hit it!}

{Can you spot the "Melting Skull"?}

{"Bride's Veil"~The purest formation in the cavern}

{Do YOU see the "Jellyfish"?}

{As we were driving out of Yosemite the 2nd day, Mike had just finished saying how there are probably tons of animals in the woods that you DON'T see as you drive by because it's too hard to see them as you're driving. Suddenly, Frank yells out "BEAR!!!!!". We totally thought he was joking...then we saw it way back from the road. Mike swung the car off the road and we...yup, chased the bear! Only to find out that it was a Momma bear and her cub came out right behind her! AMAZING! What are the odds?!?! It was a BEAUTIFUL sight and a wonderful end to our day!}

{After our hike to Vernal Falls, we were driving out of the park and saw a ton of cars pulled over...we were lucky enough to get a spot in the parking lot to the right (people were just stopping and parking IN THE ROAD!) and this bear was hanging out on a log! So Frank took a MILLION pictures of it...(this was before we saw the Momma & Cub!)...so here are a couple!}

{On our hike to Vernal Falls, Mike found this nice rock to climb on...so he, Meghann, Michelle and Joel climbed up the back and posed for a photo!}

{We took the shuttle a few times and Mikaela LOVED it! She saw everyone grabbing the
poles, so she had to get in on the action!}

{Diana took a picture of Meghann taking a picture!}

{Vernal Falls}

{A small fall off the side of the road!}

{A Few Yosemite Photos}

We are having such a wonderful time up here in Yosemite with the Romeros! We had the BEST weather the past few days. Today it's supposed to rain, but that's okay...because it was the day that we'd planned to stay @ the RV resort anyway, so it worked out perfectly! We ran into the Sullivan family @ Yosemite on Sunday...they are a family from church. It was pretty funny because their son (they have quadruplets...2 boys, 2 girls) recognized me in the meadow eating lunch as they were riding by on their bikes, and his parents didn't believe him! :-) He was right! Here are some photos from our trip:

{A river running through the snow...}{We saw a lot of deer on this trip}{Mikaela takes a nap...hiking wears her out!}{Yosemite Falls~Upper and Lower}{Half Dome}{Bridalveil Fall}{Us @ Vernal Falls}