Bon Voyage!! Day 2 - Roatan, Honduras

Our first of four stops was Roatan, Honduras. It is a small island off the coast. Interestingly enough the primary language is English, the British maintained control until the 1960's when the island was officially turned over to Honduras. These two native island dancers let us get a quick snap in before we went to find our excursion sign.






We decided to do a an excursion we found on the internet. I'm so glad we did, it was just us and one other couple which made the experience so much more personal. It actually was hosted by an American couple who sold their corporate achievements 1994 and decided to buy land in a quiet village in Roatan.
We go to the dock where they have a pontoon boat, I thought to myself, " this looks familiar." We had a pontoon boat all growing up.





As you can kind of see in the picture there was a ship wreck that we snorkeled around. The boat wrecked about 100 years prior and was pretty fascinating to see all the new reef life that grew on the boat. Next they took us to a barrier reef drop off (just like Finding Nemo) it was the coolest thing. Hal, only then had I wished we would have been scuba diving. Although looking down kind of freeked me out but I absolutely loved it, it was quite spectacular in the reef's depth and beauty. Hundreds of tropical fish, coral and plant life. I could have spent the whole day there.






This little boy is Avee. He and his family live on the American couple's property and work for them. You should have seen Avee's face light up when Richard said he could drive the boat. He did a good job.







This is Barbara and Richard. They host the excursion and then make an authentic Honduran lunch. The lunch was an appetizer of humas and chips(ok, not so Honduran but really good) soup with potato and tomato, rice and beans and watermelon, really good watermelon.




Our lunch was yummy. You can see my glass bottle here in the picture, they bring the bottles back to the factory for reuse. (Post snorkeling hair pictures are never good.)






A local Roatan store, it is very typical to see mongril dogs everywhere. I think Dave had the urge to pick up stones and chuck them at the dogs, nah.... all the dogs we came across were friendly.




Dave did pick up a "box drink" and "petates" aka cookie. They were really good not to sweet.




I snuck a picture of this lady she was really using a ribbed washboard to wash laundry.





This is a barrel with pork cooking in it. I think Dave really wanted to try some but it wouldn't be done in time so we went else where to find food.







This is where Dave ate his second lunch. He chose the second item for today's special. Stew Beef.






Looks can be deceiving, it was actually very good. I would have eaten too only I still full from my soup and watermelon. After we ate we got caught in a rain storm and still had to get back to the Pearl. We ran through the streets and out of nowhere cam this little boy and he held an umbrella for me to run under. He definitely got tipped. Loved Roatan, will visit again someday.







Yeah dress up party again! Taking my time and doing my hair was so fun for me. That night on the Pearl ( love calling our ship "the Pearl") they had a comedy group, pretty good. We hit the ice cream parlor and grabbed a few cookies which then and there became our nightly ritual. (Ohhh...I think I'm getting tanner. Did I hear there was snow in Idaho today :)

Glimps of Innocence

You'll have to indulge me for a moment, I don't know what it was about these children that just drew me in. None of them were afraid to talk to strangers, their parents didn't mind either. Some of them could speak English while there parents could not. I just loved them, how they looked in their natural setting- beautiful to me.








Sorry, I'll move on.






Children in a class room Rotan, Honduras.



This little boy is just about to get his hand slapped for touching the orange peeler.


Carefree.


I don't know what this boy is saying, but I don't think she's buying it!




See Gavin, you can still do homework with distractions. :)






I asked this boy if he takes good care of his sister, as you can tell by the way he holds her, "Yes mam." Was the quiet answer.


These boys passed Dave and I on the street and asked us for "One American dollar" and I said, "whatcha gonna do for it?" They started laughing and kept walking and making fun.

Bon Voyage!! Day 1

The Norwegian Pearl our home for 8 days and 7 nights- oh yeah!!



For starters they make everyone take part in the evacuation procedures. I made Dave take a picture in the mirror. Lovely little life vests don't ya think!!



Checking the "Norwegien Pearl" out, the pool and hot tubs-deck 12. The night Dave and I sat in the hot tub there was this kid who jumped in with us hot tub with us from SLC!! So I asked, "Are ya LDS?" The kid said, "R U kidding!" And then I said, "nice weather were having??!?" Haha!!



Dave and I are so excited to leave the kids in Portland at "Grama's house" and set sail from Miami to the western Caribbean.



We got dressed up, ok, I got dressed up for dinner and entertainment on the cruise ship.


I loved having time to actually do my hair. I'm so vain, I made Dave take a picuture of my hair because I wanted to see what the back of it looked like. The idea was from Taylor Swift on her Love Story the music video this is how I tried to do my hair. If you go to pursebuzz.com this cute girl gives you tips on how to do hair, make up etc.




Dave never got tired of looking over the railing. It brought him back to his days when he lived on his Grandpa's boat. See the wood part where Dave's leaning on? On his Grandpa's boat it was Dave's job to sand the wood railing down and then give it 20 coats of laquer. I would frequently see Dave rubbing the wood railing and I knew what he was thinking about.

All Smiles

I told Gavin I wouldn't blog his picture until he had a chance to show his Grandma in person his new smile. Just after we got home from Christmas break Gavin lost both of his front teeth within a week. I just look at him and think "you can't be this old already, you just can't." and then tears start welling up. Well, Gavin couldn't be more proud of his smile.







Hey Shelley, where do you think they learned how to sleep like this? I always sleep with my hands above my head. It must be hereditary because Autumn does it too.
Gavin and Noah catching some ZZZZZ's






Here's a pic of Dave's Birthday cake. What else besides Grasshopper Pie. I have made this for his Birthday for as long as I can remember. He hides it from the kids and eats the whole thing himself. I guess for your own birthday you can have your cake and eat it too!






This is a picture of our Valentines dinner party. I had each of our kids (Dave and I too) make Valentines( and they couldn't come to dinner until their cards were made -got to motivate some how) for everyone else at the table. Then we came to dinner and exchanged cards. The cards were so funny. Then we watched the Little Mermaid. After the movie Autumn went to bed and the rest of us played a mean game of Monopoly!!!! I don't know what thrilled Gavin and Noah more: beating Dave and I at Monopoly or staying up until 11:30!






Gavin was the only one who didn't have his valentines finished for dinner so here he is making his "green" valentines. He couldn't bear the thought of pink, purple or even red(guy thing). His valentine was actually very thoughtful. What a fun night we had.






On Valentines Day I made a treasure hunt for the kids to find their Valentine Treasures. One of Autumn's Treasures was a case of hand sized Disney story board books. Next day, I was cleaning up lunch and I kept wondering what Autumn was doing, I had that little buzz in the back of my head that some thing wasn't just right, just a little to quiet. So I went on my own treasure hunt to find what my daughter was up to. I found her in the play room with her new little Disney boards books all lined up in a tidy row with a dab of ketchup on each one. My motto is "When you feel upset grab your camera, it makes you feel better when you take a picture." (I promise it really works.) What a beautiful creation. I mean look at that smile, she was really proud of her work. One last thing to say, Oxyclean- I Love You!!!