My Boys

Super Ammas

We got a free "blanket" from HEB this week. Seems too small for an actual blanket but its the perfect size for a cape.  Adam ran around the house for an hour.  "Super Ammas"  He doesn't say his name quite right yet but he doesn't like it when you call him by his pet name. He says, "Not Ammas.  Ammas!"

I love it when these boys get along so well together.  Phoenix and Adam figured out how to share the tricycle and now they ride around together all the time.

My Awesome Birthday Present

I got a GPS for my birthday.  I love it.  I use it all the time.  I even have it direct me to the kids' school and back, a whole .9 miles.  So fun.

The rest of the photos

We never bought one of the gazillions of photos the cruise of us. But thanks to our tablemate, we do have a "sitting a the dining table" shot. (Note my jacket, another one of the cold days.)Sunset

Leaving Cozumel

On the beach in Progreso.

Downtown Progreso

Sometimes it was so windy on the top deck. This was on the way back to Texas. It was starting to get a little cold too (but no where as cold as at home where they were having an ice storm).
See a windy video at the bottom of the post.
And congratulations to Cortis on his win in "Who wants to Act Like a Millionaire." Well, congrats to Cortis and thanks to the other couple who kept talking about their answers and were quite knowledgable.

On board the Carnival Ecstasy

This ship looked EXACTLY like the ship I went on with Mom and Dad in 1991. So sparkly and shiny. It looked like Las Vegas circa 1985.The hallway outside our room.
Our room was nice though. Not so sparkly. The bed was comfy. The one problem with sailing on a Caribbean ship in January is that they didn't seem to feel the need to put a heater in the thing. See that extra comforter on the bed, that helped.
The other side of the room.

Our tiny bathroom.

The shower.This was the view from our room. We were in the back of the boat so we could always see where we'd been.

Kayaking in Progreso, Mexico

Our next stop was Progreso, Mexico where we got to go kayaking. We were supposed to go through the mangroves and see all kinds of plants and animals but the water level was too low, so we got to kayak near the mangroves. It was still lots of fun and we kind of dug the exercise.

I have to say that it is surprisingly difficult to manouver 2 kayaks next to each other for a photo plus avoid getting beached on the sandbars.
Next to the mangroves. As we kayaked by, we could see openings in the trees that I presume you kayak through during higher water levels

Cortis

Selene

You can see the water level is pretty low. Sure is pretty.

ATV

I thought of bicycling or maybe the "Amazing Cozumel Race" but Cortis said "ATV's." Well, at least if I'm driving my own I don't have to drive to fast.

This was awesome!!! Really noisy, bumpy, and I drove as fast as I could keep myself in the seat (with all those huge rocks, sometimes it was a real challenge). I recommend this one.
While driving around, we stopped at a cave on the island. Armed with only my underwater camera and no flash, I came up with this photo (with a little help from iPhoto).
Here we are at the cenote. There are no rivers in the Yucatan so all fresh water comes from the cenotes. This one looks kind of mucky but that's only because it's 60 feet deep. Our guide filled up a water bottle from this cenote and it was as clear as the water in our water bottles. (FYI I'm holding Flat Heidi who came along on our cruise with us).
No hands Cortis? (really, he's stopped)

Our Cruise

Cortis looked at me before his birthday in December and said, "We've got to get out of here. How about we skip birthday and Christmas presents and buy a cruise instead of gifts?" Me? I thought it was a great idea. We found a great 5 day cruise out of Galveston (no plane fare) in January (cheap prices). We flew Cortis' mom out to take care of the kids. And then hopped in the car and took off.

Here we are in Cozumel. Loved it. This is us at the end of the day after our many adventures in dirty and wet clothes in front of the cruise ship.
We got to go snorkling at the coral reef. This was the best time snorkling I've ever done. When I first put my head in the water, I just couldn't believe how beautiful it was. I had an underwater camera to play with so I took a lot of blurry photos. It was super fun!
The other neat thing was that it was a snorkling TOUR so we had a guide showing us cool things. The guide found a lobster under this huge rock. We couldn't actually dive down to see it (it hurt my ears) but the guide was nice enough to take a photo with my ultra-cool underwater camera. The lobster is just to the right of the yellow fish.
This is my least blurry underwater photo. A starfish (oops, I mean sea star).
Cortis and I tried to take pictures of each other. They came out pretty weird looking. Here is Cortis, but his eyes are closed (you get so spoiled with a digital camera).
Here is my weird picture. I look like I'm about to explode.
I could stay a week in Cozumel. It had so many cool things to do there. And that reef! Wow. I can just imagine staying at a hotel there and waking up every morning to snorkle. It was so neat. Just float and watch the fishes swimming by.